Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-02-04

tionalization of their deposits in the
banks. are still able to draw out large
sums of money by paying commits
SION of 80 per cent TO the officials in
charge.
In this land of starvation. where the
poor inhabitants of the great cities may
often be seen fighting in the streets for
the carcasses of horses and dogs. all
luxuries of the season can be bought at
price from employees of the food de-
partment. who carry on fourishiug
trade with the stocks entrusted to them
for distribution.
Sacks of white -four and launches of
vCnison are delivered by the depart
liberal citizens. To be sure. it not in
frequently happens that these illegal
supplies are again confscated, few
minutes after delivery, by agents Of the
extraordinary commission for sup
pressing counter -revolutionists, act
ing in collusion with the dishonest food
officials, who are thus enabled 10 sell
them over again to other customers.
Inspectors Levy Blackmail
Even the terrible extraordinary
commission" itself is not immune
against the prevailing corruption. Many
of its raids are undertaken with the sole
object Of levying blackmail from ns
victims. The timely present of bot
tie of reach French cognac-an apso-
lutely priceless rarity--has been known
to save the life of prisoner sentenced
TO death and awaiting execution for
Conspiring against the government.
The Communist chiefs entertain no
Illusions regarding the corrupt prac-
ticcs and general ineticiency OF their
subordinates.
''The old czarist bureaucracy" ex-
claimed Premier Lenine bitterly in
recent speech. sis once more houriShing
in the midst of our Soviet administra-
tion. Our government Offices arc full of
opportunists whose only
is their personal interest
And Iinovieft. who defended Petro-
grad against General Judcnich' army,
speaking in the same pessimistic strain,
declared not long ago in Petrograd:
'Our officials are simply set of cow
ardly thieves who ought to be shot. The
ecute couple of hundred of them
daily"
As a matter of fact. Soviet officials
are continually being arrested. impris-
oned and executed. Public executions
of profteers and SPECTATORS have been
arranged by Djerjinsky. the fanaticaI
president of the extraordinary com
in the principal squares of
Moscow to serve as q terrible warning
TO all who live on bribes and the sale
of nationalized property.
BOlshevist newspapers are full of no
tees stating that the signature of COM
missaries whose names follow is no
longer valid, in consequence Of their
having been declared outlaws and en-
emies of the revolution for accepting
bribes or embczzling national funds.
But even the most ruthless terror
istic methods have proved Intellectual
to cleanse the Augean stables of COM
The simple truth is that legis-
lation tyrannically interfering in all
matters of private life and annihilating
every vestige of personal liberty, as in
stituted by Lenine and his followers in
their mad attempt to put the theories of
Marx into practice, inevitably breeds
universal corruption.
All the laws of human nature are
violated in Lenine's social paradise" ,"
and the result is general revolt against
institutions which render existence in
tolerable.
In order to cleanse the Bolshevist sty
Of corruption, Djerjinsky would have TO
imprison and execute most of the in
habitants of the soviet republic. includ-
ing his own agents, for virtually all of
them are either taking or offering bribes,
selling or buying 'nationalized" prop
erty, profiteering or speculating. in a
frenzied attempt to escape from the doc
Urinary fetters of communist legislation
Big Profiteers Enjoy Immunity
In reality, as is always the case, only
minor offenders languish in Djerjinsky's
prisons or face his firing squads. The
master protiteers and spectators of the