Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-07-03

Geneva. July 3.-"Tell the western
peoples what you have seen! Speak
out! They must know how we have
been duped -
Such was the parting appeal ad-
dressed by the workers of a munition
factory in Moscow to one Of the 600
Swiss citizens who have just been re-
patriated from soviet Russia, workmen
like themselves.
Six hundred witnesses against Lenine
arrived in Switzerland on the train
bringing these Swiss refugees. the last
of their free and democratic nation to
leave his Red paradise. Their united
testimony Is just as valuable and re-
liable, to my mind, as any investiga
tions of international commissions
could be, and certainly worth infinitely
more than all the reports put together
of the delegations dispatched by the Eu
ropean Socialist parties to pay court
to the dictators in the Kremlin.
Naturally, have not been able to
see all these 900 refugees, but I have
seen and talked with many of them,
probably two or three score. men Of all
sorts and conditions, and their story
varies only in insignificant details. On
all vital points they are agreed, and
their unanimous verdict is that Red
Russia is hell upon earth, and that the
population of the soviet republic is
doomed to extinction within a couple OF
years unless a miracle intervenes to
save it.
Capitals Decimated by Disease
"In Moscow and Perograd the
sewers have not been cleaned for over
year." they declare. The inhabi
tants of the cities dump their garbage
and refuse into the streets or into the
rivers and streams. Last winter al
the water pipes burst and they hav,
never been repaired. SO it is from
Nthese same streams that the people takC
their drinking water. Typhus. cholera
bubonic plague, every Imaginable vari
ETY. of deadly disease is decimating thu
population. Wagon loads Of coffins ar,
driven daily through the streets. Anc
next winter the inhabitants who hav,
survived these epidemics will freeze Il
death, for not only is there no coal, bu
there is no more wood. Think Of it! Ii
this land of vast primeval forests Their
is no wood ~
The Red terror Is still in full foxce
assert all these Swiss refugees emphat
ically. Since the soviet authorities pre-
tended to abolish it, the activities o
the extraordinary commission" hav
in reality become more terrible thar
ever. for they are now exercised secret
ly. The victims are sentenced even be
fore their arrest and disappear mys
teriously in the night. Legally and Off
cially, very few executions take place
But Suspects" are seized and gaggs
in their beds by Djerjinsky's agents an
taken away never to be seen or hear
from again. When an automobile /
heard passing through deserted stree
at night every one wakes up in fea
and asks himself; Is it coming for me
For an automobile at night means tha
the extraordinary commission is maxim
its rounds through the city seeking ne,
victims.
How are women treated in Lenine'
Red paradise? Among the refugees ar
several young women. Swiss teacher
and nursery maids, who come frol
Petrograd. They were imprisoned i
concentration camp and deliberate
forced to associate with women of Ii
street. Later they were given work.
which consisted In cleaning the barracl