Evening star., 1921-08-14
BY MACMILLAN HARDEN,
Germany's Foremost Publicist.

Germany's Foremost Publfcist.
BY Cable to The Star.
BERLIN. August 13.-Only one who
has listened to a quarrel about the
property in one room as the dying
mans groans come through the hair
open door of the next can wholly
grasp what this week has meant to
the old world In the front parlor the
allied supreme council has hurrleo
along its disputes. while in and oo-
scure back room the feeble voice OF
diseased Russia was audible only TO
those who listened attentively.
Europe's chiefs act as if Russia
already was dead, but when she re-
,-;yes again Poland, while perhaps
keeping her autonomy. will not De
able 10 hold sovereignty over the I'M
mense territories now claimed py her.
When Russia revives. there VIII oe
no possibility of restoring irish
rule in Europe, and France no iohs
will be able to continue her policy OF
unconditional favoritism to Poland
Such a policy inevitably would drive
Russia into an alliance with Germany
against the French republic.
FavOrx Russin's Enemies.
For twenty-seven years an alliance
with the Russian empire was the pa sis
of French foreign. policy. Now sne
patronizes Poland and Turkey. the
oldest and bittcrest enemies or the
Russian people. refusing to heed t'e
melancholy and angry question:
"Do you French really believe l am
dead?"
nation of one hundred and forty
millions cannot die. The terrible
crisis the Russian people are now ex-
periencing can be healed II the worIo
will acknowledge it's duty OF solidarity
in distress. The Russian people nave
often had to starve under their czars.
In a country of great landed estates,
where 80 per cent of the 1nhaolt-
ttants lived on agriculture, there were
only six acres for each peasont. AFTER
a normal harvest the peasants stu
lacked one-third of the food for
nroper nourishment. The state was
Obliged to appropriate $75,Oo0.O00 to
feed the peasants. but at the same
time exported quantities of meat.
fowls eggs. fats and sugar The poun-
ties and subsidies given to encourage
exports made Russian sugar cheaper
and more plentiful in London than IN
Moscow.
Paper Money Worthless.
When the bolshevists came they
gave the land to the peasants. but
they took away the strongest men
for the army and forced farmers to de-
liver all their. produce above the
barest necessities. paying them in
paper rubles Today it takes $4,000
rubles to equal a thousand marks. or
twelve American dollars. The peas.
ants have whole cupboards full OF
the all but valueless paper money.
and do not desire any more. Hence.
they cultivate only sufficient land for
their family and animals.
Last summer nearly all sections had
less than half the food necessary for
have been two crop failures. Albumen
and fats are scarcely obtainable, and
any one can imagine what has hap
pened since the scorching sun shrivel-
ed the harvests. leaving. twenty mil
lions literally without bread.
AS ! have already pointed out in
these dispatches. the period of mill
tary communism in Russia has been
stabilized, and the peasants are al
lowed to trade their excess products.
Heretofore. however. the soYlets sent
as many men as could be fed into the
factories. The result was laziness and
the ruin and robbery of business. 1t
was Impossible to expect intensive
work and absolute honesty from men
long underfed. Many sought work.
while others speculated. Anybody
nowadays who still possesses something
Is a speculator, earning more in a
rev nOuTS imam VOulu Uc pOSSlUle III
a workshop in month. Only the
great industries are working now di-
rectly for the state and remain ma
tionalized. Unproductive one have
been abandoned and small ones have
been leased to corporations. Thus
state-controlled industry has been
largely restored to private enterprise.
Eager Now to Work.
The state is abandoning free elec-
trio light and free railway and street
car transportation, which resulted in
enormous waste. Hundreds of thou
sands of returned war prisoners. while
relating their sufferings. nevertheless.
have changed the minds of many of
the Russian people by their. stories of
how other peoples live. Today the
Russians long for systematic labor
and modern technical equipment.
Even the moujiks demand farm ma
chinery, which formerly they called
engines of the devil. But everything
is lacking-even seed for the next
sowing, Even the fireside industries.