The New York herald., 1920-12-05

ing down at the same rate we shall have
SO per cent. out of action within three
months, which means a total breakdown of
our transport system, and therefore of our
system of government. These engines must
be repaired. The men who repair them must
have food and fuel. The railway lines must
be cleared of snow Wood must be cut and
brought to the railways. The Ural fac
tories must be started This means that all
must work, work, work"
He certainly painted a picture gloomy
enough to warm the heart of. say, Winston
Churchill, but he did it with a purpose; he
wanted to alarm his followers thoroughly
and to make them that the economic
situation was extremely serious. He did
not go so far, however, as. to make them
despair, and l afterward discovered that
he deliberately understated the actual ex-
tent of the economic breakdown and omitted
altogether to touch on many very disquiet-
ing features.
He ended on a note of robust confidence
and caused a sensation by announcing in
conclusion that six hundred million rubles
in gold had been captured with Kochak, al
though he must have known that the amount
was only three hundred million. This news
by the way, had been carefully withheld
from the public until the head of the Red
army could use 1t. as he did, in an effective
peroration.
Red Leaders Appeal Reechoes
Over the Whole UraI District
/ was surprised at the rapidity with which
this speech was, by previous arrangement
echoed and reechoed all over the country.
"The Fight Against Economic Ruin" became
a catchword like Wait and See" or I'VE
want eight and we won't wait" or any of
the other famous catch phrases of British
politics. 1t became a stereotyped newspaper
headline. 1t stared at one from placards on
all the walls To Judge from the reports in
the press, IL was repeated by every village
orator throughout the Urals. At meeting
of the Ekaterinburg Soviet which / attended
1t was the principal subject of discussion.
and at a meeting OF the Communist League
of Youth which Trotzky' attended. Miss
Iurovsky, daughter of the Cars murderer
and president of that league. delivered a
speech on the same lines. Trotzky must
have smiled his Mephistophelian smile when
he heard all this parrot outcry. most of II
almost a repetition Of what he had said him
self
Trotzkys treatment Of the working classes
was marked not only by an absence of fiat
terry but even by an autocratic touch which
one would never have expected. Finding on
his way from Moscow to Ekaternburg that
the workmen i'm a certain Ural factory were
not working hard enough he had fifteen or
the worst "sackers" arrested and placed on
their trial before workmen's tribunal in
Ekaterinburg.
At one point on the lire his train was
stopped by snow. whereupon he had the
whole of the local Soviet taken into custody
for disobedience to the order for removing
snow from the track They also were tried
before jury of their peers; and, while the
case was still sub judice, Trotzky wrote,
over his own name in the newspapers, a
ferocious onslaught on the accused. whose
condemnation was thus made certain. He
did not say anything about their delaying
him. but he inveighed against them for de-
laying "the trains which brought bread to
the women and children of Moscow and to