Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1920-12-11
RIGA, F0RMERLY ,
BALT|C'S PEARL,
IS NOW A WRECK
Before the War, Half a Mil
lion People Lived There;
Now There are 100000
inhabitants.
fnr rhs Associated pressl

Riga, .IatNla, NOV. ZV.-- t1lSa'
which was known before the war
as the pearl of the Baltic and
ranked as Russia's second port, Is
one of the saddest monuments 20
the destruction wrought by SIX
years of ceaseiess Fighting, mueh
of which took place on the soil OF
the new republic, of Latvia, erected
on the ruins Of the old Russia gov
ernments of Livonia and Courland.
Half a million persons lived IN
Riga before the war and over 4Ov
large factories kept it busy anu
prosperous. Now there are only
about 200, 600 inhabitants and less
than a score of factories are ope-
rating. The empty shells of vari-
Gus industries stand awaiting the
return of machinery which the
Russians shipped eastward petore
the German advance Lenlne ana
Trotzky have promised to return
all the machinery which belonged
to Russian subjects. But many OF
the factories were owned by for-
eign capitalists and consequently
cannot hope to recover their
plants.
Great rubber plants, carshops'
wood working shops and saw milis
stand idle awaiting capital to puy
machinery. The river DVina ana
various lakes and inlets lying about
the city are filled with logs bu'
there are no mills to convert theln
into timber, no ships to carry mem
into foreign markets. The oock,
are idle. Few trains operate ana
those are fired with wood.
OF the 100000 persons In Inc
new republic, nearly all are de-
pendent uSon agriculture Tor a
living. The crops were a failure
this year and consequently the out
look is blue for the new govern
ment headed by Ulmanis, the
american trained minister-presi,
dent. But the Let's have slearneo
the Joy of freedom in their Re"
months of independence. They
fought bravely against the Dol
sheviki and later against the baitle
barons who tried to enslave them
under General Bermondt. Ano
they are courageously building w
a national life and a national con
seriousness in the face OF terrible
\ odds.
Unlike most parts of Russia, Lat
via was a country where educator
was general and only O small pro
portion of its population was un,
able to read and write. II ma
been we'll in the line of European
culture. It's ports of Riga, Lina'
and Windau had always attracte'
MANY foreign traders. The coun
try had been so attractive to Ger
man business men that German
culture was firmly embedded II
the leading cities. Riga IS NOR
German than Russian in It's ap
pearance. It's broad streets mag
nificent. well-kept parks and dig
nified public buildings give II TN
air of a German city. It's hurner
Gus Lutheran churches are simlia
to those found in any of the nan
seattle league cities. It's unlVerst''
is organized along German lines
But the great majority of its PEG
ple have no sympathy with Ger
many's effort to continue its infiu
ence in Lativia through the Ger
man barons, whose estates nav
been confiscated.
The opera in Riga includes al
the standard German, French an,
Italian operas in the LettlsI
language. It's schools teach Let
fish. The state theater gives play
in I.ettish, chiefly translation o
the great English, scandinavia
and German masters. One OF tn
new plays recently produced Il
Riga was written by Lett aoou
the life of Weesters, a Lettisl
knight of the fourteenth century
who attempted to resist the Ger
man domination OF Lettland, II
bitter in its denunciation OF Ter
man methods and has been WEI
received by a public which seem
thoroughly determined to maintain
its in6ependence at any cost.