Evening star., 1920-09-30
PEARL Of RUSSIA
POSES AS REPUBLIC
Georgia, in Far Caucasus,
Is a Democracy With Com
mune Features.
BY Cable to The Star and Chicago Daily News
t-onvr;0bf 1000

By Cable to The Star and Chicago Daily News.
Copyright, 1920.
T1FLIS, Georgia, September 29.-This
| little republic of Georgia, in the far
Caucasus, was invented about two
Years ago and sanctioned by the Euro
Ipean powers a few months ago. Its
iILa abitants claim an ancient lineage,
ind on the strength of it almost every
other man one meets. be he the owner
of only ten hogs and two goats, calls
himself a prince.
Georgia. which before the bolshe-
visit revolution used to be called the
ipearl of Russia. claims the right TO
rule itself because it has nothing in
common with the late empire, its re-
ilgion, language and race being to-
tally different. When the bolshevist
revolution broke out the Georgians
procla lined their independence and de-
cided that the country should be d
socialist republic. with communistie
Georgia fought with her neighbors,
Armenia and Azerbaidjan. The boil
sheviki, however, settled their quar-
rels by taking ever Azerbaidjan, and
giving the Armenians such a hard
time that they could not think Of con-
tinuing to fight the Georgians.
So G orgia settled down; d president
was elected and a government was
appointed The cabinet contains all
kinds of ministers, but the most i'm
portant is the minister of supplies,
former tram conductor. The minis
ters have very vague ideas of organ
izing new country: SO they let ma.
ture and time be their main cola bo-
ratorS.
Trains on Hit-or-Miss Schedule.
The only thing they have really sue
ceeded in organizing is the railway
system. The trains do not only run on
schedule time. but some times. when
foreigners of mark are on board, they
arrive a couple of hours earlier than
they are expected. 1t is quite relief
to be ahead instead of about nine
houys behind, as is usual on trains
in most countries in the near, east.
The cars. except for the large num-
bers of bugs. are comfortable. and, as
a sign of democracy, there are sleep
ing accommodations for everybody,
rich and poor. The third-class traveller
has bunk almost as good as the
first-class passenger, though there is
a great difference in the prices.
Tifis, the capital of Georgia, is
large town. One would call it almost
civilized were it not that the inhabi-
tants wear long gowns-of bright coll
ors and each man carries huge pis-
tol at his side and a large knife IN
front. The town has grand opera
house, but this was closed during my
short sojourn, the leading lady being
in Jail for the theft Of some jewels.
The Georgian police claim to be demo-
cratic and things like this theft, to
which the police of the czar would
have shut their eyes, are not easily
forgiven by the new body.
There are more foreigners in Tif1is
now than ever before. Georgia has
rich manganese ore mines, immense
walnut forests and much wool and
silk. These goods seem to be coveted
by British and Italian as we'll as
American firms. Representatives of
these three countries are competing
the American business men have lost
the game.
All Wealth Goes to Nation.
The republic being socialistic, all
the wealth belongs to the nation
has been taken over from the private
owners by the state, which controls
everything. Now there are only two
ways of eating at the state One is
by & political hsrd cass se and r te sams e.aes
more apt to succeed, since the Of
fcials. realizing that their tenure of
office may not be permanent and that
some morning the country may be
swallowed by Russia again. are eager
to assure the future of their families
in some foreign currency.
For the time being Georgia is un-
der two very opposing influences; one
is that of Great Britain, to which
Gorgia owes more money than she
can pay: the other is the Russian
soviet government, which controls
practically every department Of the
Georgian government.
The boisheviki could take this coun-
try any day they liked. but it is more
convenient for them to have an out
let to the sea through so-called
independent republic than to be the
official masters of this country.
Through .Batoum, the Black sea port
which was. handed over to the
Georgians by the British on July 10,
the bolsheviki can get any amount
of goods from Europe and the United
States. An agreement has been signed
by the Georgian and the soviet repub-
lies by which the Georgian govern
ment undertakes to allow the transit,
duty free, of all goods from Batoum
to Baku, which is in the hands of
the soviet government. / am told
that no transaction is concluded be-
tween the Georgian government and
foreign countries without the con-
sent OF the bolshevik commissioner.
Kiroff All the allies except the
United States have diplomatic mis-
sions in Georgia. Their main role
is to put screws on the Georgian
in order to get fair busi-
ness conditions fol. their cOuntrymen.