The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1920-02-07

Editors Note-HoW long can
the Soviet government last! In
this, the sixth and last article by
Ransome, he tells of the Race with
Ruin" that faces the Boishevik re-
sgime.)
I went to see Krestinsky, the Com
missar of Finance. I found him In the
the Ilyinska-st, in the Chinese town.
began by telling him that l did not
believe they meant to pay the loans.
He laughed and gave me precisely the
answer I had expected: "Of course we
hope there will be revolution in
other countries, in which case they
will repudiate their debts and forgive
us ours. But If that does not happen
we know very well that we shall have
to pay, and we are prepared TO pay
and shall be able to pay, in conces-
Isions, in raw material which they need
more than they need gold.'
Then, being myself neither an econ
omist nor a theoretical Socialist, I put
before him what had been said to me
in Stockholm by an Englishman who
was both one and the other; namely,
that, being isolated from European
finance, the Soviet government of
Russia was bound to come to an end
on economic and financial grounds
alone.
He said: '"That would certainly be
so, if rising prices. rising wages,
were to mean Indefinitely increased
demands on the printing machines for
paper money. But. while we are at
present forced to print more and
more money another process is at
work which, in the long run, will
bring this state of things to an end.
Just as in our dealings with other
countries we exchange goods instead
of paying in money, SO within our
own frontiers money is ceasing to be
the sole medium of exchange. Grad
ually the workmen are coming to re-
ceive more and more in other forms
than money. Houses, for example,
lighting and heating are only a begin
ming. These things being state mon
opolies. the task Of supply the work
mans needs without the use of money
is comparatively easy. The chief diff
ficulty is, of course, food supplies.
which depend on our ability to keep
up an exchange of goods with the
villages. If we can supply the viii
lagos with manufactured goods, they
will supply us with food You can
fairly say that our ruin or salvation
depends on a race between the de-
creasing value of money with the
consequent need for printing notes in
ever greater quantities) and our
growing ability to do without money
altogether. That is, of course, a broad
view, and you must not for moment
suppose that we expect to-do without
money in the immediate future. 1
am merely showing you the two oppos-
ing tendencies on which our econom-
ic fate depends
Prof. Prokrovsky told me a good
deal about the organization of the
Commissariat of Public Education, as
Lunacharsky, the actual head of it, was
away in Petrograd.
The schools are divided into two
classes-one for children from to II
years old, and one for those aged
from Is to IT. A milliard roubles has
been assigned to feeding children in
the schools, and those who most need
them are supplied with clothes and
footgear. There are many classes for
workingmen.
The Soviet government has earned
the gratitude Of many Russians who
dislike it for everything else it has
done by the resolute way in which it
has brought the Russian classics into
the bookshops. Books that were out
of print and unobtainable have been
reprinted from the stereotypes and set
afloat again at most reasonable prices.
X Among the other experts on the sub
ject of the Soviet's educational work
consulted two friends, a little boy.
Glyeb (who sturdily calls himself a
in Soviet institutions), and an old and
very wise porter.
Glyeb says that during the winter
they had no heating, so that they sat
in school in their coats, and only sat
for a very short time, because of the
great cold. He told me, however, that
they gave him a good dinner there
every day, and that lessons would be
all right as soon as the weather got
warmer. He showed me pair of
felt boots which had been given him
at the school. The old porter summed
up the similar experience of his sons.
Yes he said. "they go there, sing
the Marseillaise twice through, have
dinner and come home I then took
these expert criticisms to Pokrovsky
who said, 1T is perfectly true. We
have not enough transports to feed the
armies, let alone bringing food and
warmth for ourselves.
And II, under these conditions we
forced children to go through all their
lessons we should have corpses to
teach, not children. But by making
them come for their meals we do two
things; keep them alive, and keep
them in the habit of coming, so that
when warm weather comes we can do
better"
left MOSCOW with the twS
cans, Messrs Bullitt and Stef ems, who
had come to Moscow some days pre-
viously, and travelled up in the train
with Bill Shatov, the commandant of
Petrograd, who is not a Bolshevik.
hut fc,.,ront adrnirer. Of Prince krnra=