The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1920-12-24
RESUME TRADE WITH RUSSIA AND
GIVE EMPLOYMENT TO OUR LABOR

Mr., Nanderlip was then asked by
his interviewer about the conditions
under which the working people and
their women and children live in Rus
sia today.
THE children are very we'll looked
after and are considered next to the
soldiers in their food supply. |
visited d little girls college where
/ 800 girls between the ages Of 6 and
II were taken care Of partook of
their meal at MONDAY, and had a bet
ter meal than in the palace at which
| was housed by the Russian govern
ment. In fact" he added smilingly,
81 received better food in the political
prison than ! got at the palace.
Women only work eight hours a
day There are lyiug-in hospitals
where women can go two months be
fore childbirth and two months after
on full salary, if they are working
women.
"There is no prostitution in Rus
sia,' Mr.. Vanderlip said, because the
ncentjve-money-has been remov-
ed. These women are all at work
now. There are no Illegitimate'
children. All children born out of
wedlock are considered as legitimate
as the others, and when not cared for
by their fathers or mothers are cared
for by the state and taken into the
same schools as the others.
There are rest houses which
were the homes of the old mobiles and
and which have all the lovely things
in them which formerly belonged to
ha
90 to these rest houses which cor
respond to our sanatoriums, on pre-
senting a doctors certificates. | saw
a large number of them in Petrograd.
Sameness of Food.
The people get enough food to
keep them from starving, but it is
the awful sameness of food which
makes one lose his appetite. For
breakfast they get black bread and
tea. The noon meal consists Of soup,
rice or 'kasha,' and a piece Of meat.
The evening meal is the same. At
first | couldn't stand the sameness
Of it. | lost my appetite and couldn't
eat. One day the butler called up
the foreign office and told them I
was not eating. They offered to send
1 4
out the same as the rest of them
did. l found that when l got very
hungry | could eat the same food as
the Russian people. But | did lose
20 pounds he added.
Mr. Vanderlip was asked what eff
feet the blockade had on Russia. He
said ''The ones who felt it most
keenly were the children and the sick
people. l visited hospitals where
there was one thermometer for 200
and 800 babies. | found an entire
absence of surgical supplies. In some
hospitals only as much as any Amer
lean family keeps in its medicine
chest"
Russia Needs Clothing.
When told about the present labor
conditions in New York, particularly
in the garment trades, where tens of
thousands are out Of work, Mr.. Van
derlip said:
"There isn't a decent suit Of clothes
in Russia. All these workers could
be supplying Russian people with
clothing that is needed so much"
The American Labor Alliance for
Trade Relations with Russia has of
fices at 81 Union Square and is carry
ing on a national campaign in labor
circles for the lifting of the blockade
and the resumption of trade with
soviet Russia. The organization be-
lieves trade with Russia would solve
the unemployment problem and are
planning to hold a series Of mass
meetings throughout the country to
protest against the continuance Of
the blockade.