Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-07-01
WHERE SUGAR IS MORE
PRICED THAN GOLD
In Murmansk, Russian Frontier
Town, Money Has Little Value;
Cost of Living Enormous.

London, June 30.-Murmansk. the
northern terminus of the great Russian
kola-Petrograd railway, is a mushroom
town which has sprung INTO beng on the
shores OF the Artlc Ocean Stree the war.
When The Associated Press correspond
cnt visited on his way out with the Amer
lean Red Cross Mission to Rumania. it
contained about 5000 inhabitants, more
than half of whom were refugees.
The houses in AIurmansk are little
more than frame shacks ard the construct
lon OF the whole town resembles that of
klondlke mining camp. During Il e
winter the temperature drops rs low as
30 below zero, for MurmauSk Is $50 miles
Forth of the Artic circle, The most
picturesque feature of the town in winter
Is the abundance of reindeer slcdgcs vi ich
jingle up ard down the struggling streets
carrying supplies OF fonI and freight.
There Is one Amer an among the per
manent population {; NiurmanSk. He
Is a young army man, I.icutcnart Martin
of Meridian. Miss. who hravcly fires an
Amer can flag from staff on the ioof of
a railway car which constitutes his Office
and residence
Lieutenant Martin is officially dcSgna-
ted rs the United States Passport Of
fccr. He IS a person OF great Importance
in Alurmansk He speaks Russian fluent
~ and Is not only highly regarded ly the
French and British officers Of the port.
Iut is also spoken OF by the Bolshcviki as
''one Of our leading citizens. He Is
actually ex-otiicio chict advI> 70 the
local BOlsheviki and attends all the
meetings of their sovicts and committees.
The Nurmar SIX Bolshcyik ar2 not a
had sort. and are an good terms with all
the Allied military and naval men This
Is perhaps in part accounted for hy the
fact that they secure nearly ell their fooi
supplies from the British Admiral. For
many months they have been eating -four.
sugar. canned meat and condensed milk
all from America
Every Murmansk Bolshcvik wear, Amer
lean shoes. and Murmansk is almost the
only place in Russia where shoes arc cheap
\ pair II good shoes in Moscow or ,lassv,
costs about sixty dollars In Nurman~k
the correspondent was offered an eN-
cellont pair made in Lynn, Mass, for
FIVE dollars or five pound, Of sugar
Money has little value IN thi, CorthcIn
port. The citizen Of Alurrnansk sriiT~ At
a handful Of rublc notes but hc is willing
10 talk business # YOU can show him few
pounds of sugar. can OF tobacco or a
bottle of whisky 4 fine fox fur for
which the owner refused five hundred
dollars changed hards instantly
for a bottle Of whisky and SIX ounces Of
tobacco
4 live reindeer highly priced alike as
daft arimai and for food sells on the
Murmansk curb market for about four
hundred ruhlcs. hut a man with i've or
ton pounds ol sugar and poci,ctful 81
cigarettes can 20 home with rs good a
reindeer n there is in the town
The ship on which the american Mis-
sion left Murmansk lay at one of the
naval docks. Not far away were several
Russian warships and dcstroycrs. aInos
entirely abandoned by their crews A
largo Russian cruiser which lay out in the
harbor had only twenty-onc of her crew
left after series OF Bolshevik disturb
anccS.