The Washington herald., 1920-11-30
RUSS CABMAN
BCAPITALIST
Charges 5000 Rubles an
Hour Where Men Earn
5000 a Month.
HOW SOVIETISM WORKS
System Of Food Distribution
Reported to Be in Cha
otto State.
HOW SOVIETISM WORKS
By Special Correspondent to
The washington Herald.

The Washington Herald.
PARIS, Nov. 29.-It is a curious
fact that under the Soviet regime
cab drivers are the only group of
workers that has not been nation
allied. The cabby, therefore, is al
lowed to charge what he can get
from those who find it necessary or
can afford to employ him. At the
present time a horse cab costs about
5000 rubles an hour. Since the
wage of the skilled mechanic is only
5000 rubles a month and Lenine
himself is said to receive only 1900
ruoles a month. it would appear that
the business of cab driving will soon
become the most desirable and most
crowded of all the walks of life un-
der the Communist system of gov
ernment- The Soviet leaders them
selves, who realize the unusual earn
ings of this fortunate class. fire.
quently refer to them as the present
capitalists of Russia.
Pay In Supplies.
Under the system of nationaliza-
tOn of workers and professional
men. which is in effect in Soviet
Russia, the members of these clas-
es are supposed to receive much of
their pay in the form of food and
clothing, which. however. is deliv-
cred to them at very infrequent in
teryals, in irregular quantities and
in entirely insufficient amounts
The whole system of food distri-
button is in a chaotic state. This
distribution is based upon a clas-
sification of the inhabitants of the
work which they perform for the
city made in accordance to the re-
sponsibility and Importance of the
government. In accordance with
this system a man holding a high
position and doing brain work is
put in the same category as far as
the distribution of food is concerned
as a highly skilled mechanic en-
gagged in repairing locomotives. He
would, therefore, receive more and
better food than one IN a subordf-
nate position or an unskillad labor
er- 1t is obvious that the attempt
to apply this principle results in
endless complications. There is
constant rivalry between the en-
ployes of various government de-
psrtments and between employees of
different factories on account of diff
ference in size and quality of their
ration. Each department. naturally,
assumes that its particular function
sumes that its particular function
is of infinitely greater Importance
to the government than that of any
other department.
Feels His importance.
The engineer or the skilled me-
chanic. the Product of whose labor
Is tangible and material. is clearly
convinced that his contribution to
the welfare Of the country is Of
considerably greater value than that
of the government functionary
whose efforts produce only red tape.
The latter class, however, is most
favorably situated. Since it Is the
government which determines the
value of the service performed, the
officials are not inclined to under
estimate the Importance of their
own services. AS a result of this
il is said that some of the higher
functionaries in the government live
extremely well. though some con-
scientious officials submit them
selves to the same regime as the
people.
The Soviet League Of Physicians
is a result of the application of the
principle of communism to a pro-
fessional class. After some protest
the physicians OF the country were
nationalized under the arrangement
that they give six hours of their
time daily to the state in return for
the necessities of life furnished by
the government. During these six
hours the physician is obliged either
to visit patients or to receive the
sick who have the benefit of medf-
cal attention free of charge. Pre-
scriptions are given to the patients
which are filled free of charge, or
for an insignificant sum, by the
state drugstores in so far as these
have any stocks left. After the
physician has devoted six hours of
the day to the government he is per-
mitted to carry on as much private
practice as he wishes and charge
whatever fees he can collect. The
naturalization OF women, which re-
ceived so much publicity some time
ago, has been proved to be a myth.
The significant thing with regard
to naturalization of workmen and
professional men is that when this
principle comes to be applied. it rep
resents a compromise of communis-
tic theory with the principles of
competition and private enterprise
of burgeOis states.