The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-06-05
A BUBBLE BURSTS
Economic Problem Is Waking
BOlsheviki From Dream.
Forced To Call Capitalists To
Build New Industries.
MAD MONEY RACE ON IN RUSSIA
Printing Presses Vie With Ris-
ing Prices for Supremacy.
RubIeS in Strings Like Stamps
Plenty of Food.
MAD MONEY RACE ON IN RUSSIA
BY FRANK ]. TAYLOR.


Copyright, 1919, by the United Press)
Paris, June 5.-The economic
planks in the Bolshevik platform APP
pear to be the weakest part of the
soviet structure.
Rebuilding Russia is almost a super
man problem. Even the Bolsheviki
are beginning to wonder if it can be
done thru Bolshevism. They are also
beginning to realize that Bolshevism
stands or falls with the results of their
economic experiments since COM
munism had made every one depend
ent upon the state for a livelihood.
The Bolsheviki have voluntarily shoul-
dered the enormous task of feeding,
clothing and financing every one in
Russia. SO far they have been able
to meet the doubters with the state
ment: I'VE have had no chance to
develop the economic phases of com
munism owing to political and mill
tary opposition"
Race Between Presses ard Prices.
Soviet Russia is in the throes of a
race between the money run off the
printing presses and the increase of
prices and wages. BY confiscating all
the bourgeoisie's printing presses the
Bolsheviki have kept pace and they
have increased wages almost monthly
to meet the rising cost of living.
Every one has begun to wonder il
this financial marathon can be stopped
short of an actual collapse. The
peasants have become skeptical and
refuse to sell food for rubles which
the Bolsheviki print in huge pages
yard of rubles and hand it to some
one, who would tear off a string of a
dozen or more without bothering to
separate the individual 20 ruble pieces.
Strings like stamps are carried by
everyone
i
repla cling individual initiative is a
problem that bothers the Bo'shevik.
1t is not difficult to take over a num-
Der of factories and run them by
means of soviets. but establishing new
industries is another matter. A new
supreme economic mission has been
appointed in an effort to stimulate in
dustry and replace capitalistic initia-
tive. So far its accomplishment have
been confined to planning.
Call on Capitalists.
The greatest test of Bolshevism will
come when their army is demobilized
necessitating their coping with an
enormous unemployed problem. They
are offering concessions to induce cap
ftalists, foreign preferred, to build VI
the railways and new industries. which
the state would take over at the enc
of a number of years. But they want
the capitalists to grant the same labor
CONDITIONS DIS the ndIlOnaIlZeQ lnQuS-
tries, where the working day has beer
reduced to six or eight hours and
wages are decided by the unions. The
capitalists declare it is impossible tC
meet these conditions, since the state
makes up the deficits under which the
communized Industries are operating
Getting food to the industrial cen
tiers is difficult problem owing to the
Shortage of locomotives, which is due
TO military demands
There is plenty of food in Russia
Villages are overstocked while Petro-
grad and Moscow are starving or
rations-tho money buys anything. al
eXorbitant prices, from the street mar
kets which the Bolshevilli no longer
seek to control.
q. The average workman's wages are
80 rubles (about $50 a day. Witt
kour-fifths of the factories idle. rail
roads in disrepair, buildings run dowr
and nobody taking a personal interes
in anything, rebuilding Russia is al
most a hopeless problem, even for the
fdealistic BOlsheViki.