New-York tribune., 1921-02-06

~NAS~ AooKi paint is peeltng on, win
dows are cracked, some are broken and
boarded up, some still display a few
ny~olown relics of stock in the win
COW; some have their windows covered
with notices; the windows are growing
dlm, the fixtures have gathered two
years dust. They are dead shops. They
VIII never open again.
The electric streetcars are still run
ming and busy until o'clock. Every
one scrambles on the tramcar. If there
Is no room inside you cluster outside.
In the busy hours festoons. of people
hang outside by any handhold; people
are frequently pushed off, and accidents
are frequent. We saw crowd collected
rosnd q child cut in half by a tramcar,
and two people in the little circle in
which we moved in Petersburg had
broken their legs in tramway acci-
dents"
Mr.. Wells does not hold the Bolshe-
wiki responsible for the extreme
misery and destitution Of Russian life.
He is inclined to lay the blame on
other causes, the political oppression
and economic backwardness of car
ism, the terrific strain of the war, the
civil wars which have devastated
Russia during the last three years, the
Allied blockade. Had England been
subjected to q similar ordeal, he be-
lieves that the same results would
have appeared.
Soviet Government Described
He finds the Communist government
crude and amateurish, but honest and
energetic. He sharply criticizes the
Bolsheviki for their stubborn ad-
herence to extreme Marxist formulas,
for their hasty and ruthless suppress
sion Of the old agencies of trade and
distribution before they were pre-
pared to substitute anything new. But
he believes that the Communists are
the only group capable Of carrying on
government in Russia to-day. In his
opinion this comparatively small
party of devoted enthusiasts forms the
vital leaven in the vast, sluggish mass
of Russia's population.
Wells formulates a comprehensive
plan for solving the Russian problem.
He advocates the opening of trade re-
lations with the Soviet government on
a large scale by the formation of a
gigantic national or international
trust, representing q single power, or
a group of powers. Such an arrange
ment, he contends, would again open
up Russia's vast stores of raw ma
terials to the commerce of the world
and would avert the serious danger to
western Europe, which would certain
ly ensue If Russia, succumbing to the
policy of hostility and isolation, should
sink back into a state of industrial
stagnation and Asiatic barbarism
Wells asserts that he was agreeably
disappointed in his interview with
Lenine. Expecting to meet shrill,
oplnionated, doctrinaire MARKHAM theor-
ist, he encountered man whose hard
and narrow theoretical background
was enriched by practical sagacity,
mental fexibility and imaginative
scope. The conversation proceeded
along two separate lines. Lenine per-
sistently endeavored to find out from
Wells why the social revolution did
not arrive in England, and Wells
piled Lenine with questions about the
future plans of the Soviet govern
ment. The Bolshevik Premier placed
great faith in a grandiose scheme of
electrification, designed to furnish all
the necessary power to Russian in
dustry, agriculture and transporta-
ton. When Wells observed that he
had seen only sketches and begin.
nings Of new social order. Lenine
retorted.
Come back and see what we have
done in Russia In ten years time"
Hardships of 1ntellectuals
amid the general wreckage of Rus
!