New-York tribune., 1920-01-03
Siberia To-day
Captain Moore Not
Favorably Impressed

SIBERIA TO-DAY. Nv r.s
Moore. D. Appleton & Co. New Nuvr,ca York s.
Captain Moore spent six months in
oloerlasas an intelligence officer of ~.
American Army. AT the end of +b.t
period his two outstanding impressions 3
were chaos and dirt. He found tbe
siberian people lazy, ignorant, unclean.
~ ana sunk in welter of political con-
luslon compared with which outrieh+ :
anarchy might almost be considered
state of order
Inc city of Chita, where the author
was assigned to duty, offered an excel-
lent Illustration of the conflicting in
eerests which prevented the conserva-
tive forces from forming united front
against the Bolsheviki. The citv was
ruled by the Cossack chieftain Semen
or, who defed Supreme Ruler Ko,chal
with the secret encouragement of thu
Japanese. Semenoff's rule, as CAPTAIN
moore describes it, was largely main
tanned by wholesale shootines. var;e !,
ny drunken orgies, in which the ch,er-
tain and his officers particinated L.
iact, taste for alcohol seemed 70 ha
tne one bond which united Siberian, :,
o. an ranks, classes and factions,
Naptaln Moore, commenting bitterIv
upon suggestion that American a;d
TO Russia might be extended thronoh
tne zemstvos or local governing bod;es
observes that all the members of onc
zemstvo with whom he was personally
acquainted aSet were habitually drunk and
tn .nae tne only way to cooperate with
e9em would be to buy them a bottle
~ VODKA. he also tells the story Of
an engineer who suddenly stopped a
trans-Siberian express and refused "a q
proceed until he had obtained a hottie
OF the same fiery fluid. '''
than historical; the author onIv IN
cldentally mentions the political and
military events which took nlaca ~
ing his sojourn. He relates his az
pperlences with spirit and vividness:
Duc ne evidently did not enjoy eating
raw salmon roe, travelling on crowded
trains where pitched battle was the
price OF seat and living in poorly
nsaeeo rooms IN climate where the
temperature often fell to fifty or sixtv
degrees below zero.
as practical, hard-headed American
captain Moore was not impressed bv
IAe 'ldeallstic" Russian temneramant
re expresses his opinion on this sub
ject as follows "D-
read an. article by a Russian
woman in this country who ascribes
cnls iazlness OF her countrymen to an
artistic temperament-they need a GER
tain amount of dreaming, and their
spiritual condition is better than that
OF the American, who is always too
pussy to enjoy life and understand the
inner meanings of life. That NAV be
SO, but l believe that the average
American working man who arrives at
his work punctually and quits with the
whistle gets as much of the inner
meanings of life as the Russian who
reaches the factory an hour late, and
then wants to assassinate the owner of
the factory because the boss scolds the
Russian for being late Maybe this
yearning for assassination is indicative
Of understanding the inner meaning
of life"
Captain Moore censures the policy
of the American government in send
ing troops to Siberia without adopt
ing any definite policy toward the vari-
Gus factions which were struggling for
supremacy. He is convinced that this
action has made the United States dis
liked and suspected by Bolsheviki and
anti -Bolsheviki alike. His final recon-
mendation is that we should intervene
effectively, extend economic aid effec-
lively or keep our hands off the whole
situation.