The Washington herald., 1920-07-21
SOVIET "BEGS'
FOR ENGINES
Special ENJOYS Ask Baldwin
Works to Accept Orders
For Locomotives.
BAN PROHIBITS SALE
u. S. Government Refuses
To Let Merchants Ex-
port to Russia.

Baldwin Locomotive Works. said to
day that six special ENJOYS n the
Russian Soviets had called upon him
within the last two months and
literally begged him to accept or
ders for 6 large Eumber OF engines
''If the ban on the export of To-
comotiIes anu other rolling stock
to Russia were lifted tomorrow"
said Mr.. Vauclain, Il would be alb c
to sell at least zoo locomotives to
the Soviets fhe rext day. Such an
order alone would ktep my men at
work through all OF next winter.
The prohibition or bu-iness with
Russia, however, has not yet been
modified sufficiently tt make Su~h
transactions rassihle. is was lea IL
cd today. There Gtill is ban on the
exSort OF locomotives and Othcr
railroad materials.
Need Special License.
Warrington dispatches received
e here Wednesday niEht stated that
engines and rolling stock might be
sold to So ne: Russia with sre-
cial trade license from the Stare
Department Eut men in close
touch with the situation interpreted
the new ruling as meaning that
such business vas impossible for
the present
The regulations" enc Cf them
said. carry with them the prrvisp
that the exporter must furnish CON
vincing proof that the materials
shall be used for civil purposes
only As the railrC aGs I'm Russia
are owned by tic government, and
as that country is now at war with
Poland and other natiops. II is not
humanity possible to- furnish such
convincing proof who shall ssay
whether the Soviet government will
use the locomotives for the trans
portation of he grain OF for trocp
mcvementsr
Refuses Russinn Business.
Mr.. Vauclain asserted lie would
not think of doinE any business
with Russia as long as sp1c al
trade license was required.
Il would not bother with it," he
said. 4 either will sell my goods
to the Soviets directly. or not at
all. have enough business to
keep the Baldwin Locomotive
Works running without EoinE
through thetrouHle of applying foL
special licenses cnd furnishing con
vincing proofs
"Of course. my terms would be
cash in New York before delivery,
in other words. the gold would have
to be in the bank before the ship
with the Baldwin locomotives would
sail"
Business with Russia on a bar
-tering basis" is an impossibility.
NNW Il
view on that subject was shared bv
several other manufacturers and
merchants.
No One to Barter with.
There is no one to barter with"
said PercivaI Tattersfield, of Tat
tersfield Company. wool importers
and exporters. %ho did an extensive
Russian business before the war.
There is no government; there is
no solid foundation for business.
Nobody Is responsible. You cannot
trust anyone.
Conditions in Russia just now
are rotten to the core. No sane man
would do business with the Soviets
on a barter basis. That is of course, 7
the reason for the explicit statement
by the United States government
that Americans doing business with
them do so at their own risk.
1T is true that they have raw
materials But in what condition
are these raw materials? Who
would handle them? A lot of thieves.
And who would see to it that they
were delivered properly to the prop
er parties? Nobody.
Plenty Of Gold.
They have plenty of gold. No
body knows whose gold 1T is. But
il is a fact that they have it. And
they will give that gold only in ex-
change for the things they most
need, such as railroad material and
ammunition. 1 know from years of
experience that 1T was difficult
enough to do business with Russia
under the old regime, but at pres
ent it is absolutely impossible, un-
less gold is deposited before de-
livery. so far as exports are con.
cerned.
"As for importing materials, that.
too. is out of the question. 1t
would require the importer to be
right on the spot and handle and
transport his own goods. No matter
in what way you look at 1t, 1t is
impossible"