Evening star., 1921-09-04
Russian Factories Rot and Rust,
Says r. c. KeeN; Freed Engineer
BY the! Associated Press.

II
RIGA. September 3.-Industrial
plants and machinery in Russia are
steadily disintegrating, declared Royal
c. Keely, the American engineer who
was a prisoner in Moscow for many
months and who arrived here today
on his way to America.
Buildings are painless and rotting
and Industrial machinery is rusting. /"
he declared while narrating to the
correspondent his vicissitudes since
leaving New York in May. 1919.
He said he saw no appreciable gene
raj improvement in the Industrial
situation in Moscow over the period
between September. 1919. and May.
government officials. Before his ar
rest, he said, he had travelled through
out Russia in q special car and had in
spected many industrial plants. and
he had informed Nikolai Lenin, the
soviet premier. In personal letters that
the situation was terrible.
"Good-Bye to Your Liberty
Mr.. Keely related how. when he left
New York May "a, 1919, with Pro-
fessor G. v. Lomonosoff. formes head
of the Russian railway mission to the
United States, the latter turned to him
as they were passing the Statue of
Liberty and remarked:
Here's where you say goodbye to
your liberty"
He was Joking" said Mr.. Keely.
but developments proved the truth
of his statement"
Upon arriving in Russia in Sep
temDer. 1919, Mar. Keely said. he was
dustry. and he found conditions SO
hopeless from his viewpoint that he
asked permission to leave. This was
frequently postponed. he said, and
finally he left Moscow May Z. 1920.
only to be arrested as he arrived May
of Camburg. He was sent back to
Moscow and imprisoned.
Trial Was n Joke.
His first trial was April "a. 1921.
when he was sentenced to two years
at a concentration camp. charged
with communicating information to
the press of bourgeois nations"
the only defense he had was by a
soviet attorney appointed for him by
the bolshevik court.
He was freed August 1 last,
and has had q month of freedom in
Moscow to talk to many persons of
Mr.. Keely. who left Moscow on
Thursday, said that only four other
Americans - Harold Carlson, Mrs.
Carlson and their two children-had
obtained the necessary vises to leave
Russia, while many others were held
up because Of technical difficulties.
such as lost or stolen passports, and
lack of money.
He said the power of the Cheka or
the bolsheviki inquisition was still
very strong in Russia and that its au-
thority was increasing since the re-
cent arrests Of the Gorky famine
committee and the alleged plotters.
recently reported.
Americans Still Delayed.
He said the famine was extremely
bad, but that Moscow was full of food
for those able to buy and that 1t was
easy to live on few dollars day
with American money. Since the
equivalent of only IL cents to a few
dollars monthly they are able to buy
little or nothing. he said. Mr.. Keely
said that Ludwig C. A. K. Martens.
former soviet Ambassador" to the
United States, now was the head Of
the metal industrial department Of
Russia.
Among the Americans whose depar-
ture from Russia Is delayed. he said.
are Maron Hipman and DR.. William
Lanbie and Mrs. Lanbie, both of whom
are dentists. He said they were held
at Moscow because their passports
were stolen when the Cheka arrested
them and that now they cannot leave
until they find the documents. Besides.
he said, each of them must pay $23 in
gold for fare to the frontier, a sum
next to impossible for the refugees.