Evening star., 1921-04-10
Pr0ducing Nothing Russia Lives on Labor of Past Year
BY Il. A. MACMILLAN.

By f. A. MAGELLAN.
ME was told. her hands were
gnarled and her face was WIN
kled almost beyond belief. Long
locks escaped from beneath the
shawl with which her head was covered
and struggled down to half veil the
rheurny eyes which were intentiy
fxed on a basket of eggs at her feet
Taking a handful of silver from my
rocket, I asked her the price
Chicken feed" was the answer.
II was astounding. Was this old
peasant woman in a Siberian village
quoting American slang to describe
the money 1 offered? No. she meant
exactly what she said. For money sne
had no use, not even the gold SOW
erefEn with which I sought to tempt
her, but she did want food Tor her
chickens For miles on every sioe
stretched fields which once had been
golden with ripening grain. but "hich
had for the last three harvests oeen
barren because the red commissi oners
had commandeered all the farmers
grain, even to their seed
That is Russia. Wealth in natural
resources lies everywhere. but undef
the bolshevist blight even the forces
of nature stagnate. The Alml ghty mas
ruled: No seed time. no harvest Ana
dreamers may not dream or talk his
law away. My old peasant woman
might not. probably did not, know OF
know that if her hens were to lay
tomorrow they must be fed today.
Gold was Of no value to her. for 1t
would not buy anything she wanted.
With me she was safe in her refusal
to dispose of the eggs for anything
but grain. but if she had declined to
give of them to a bolshevist COM
missioner In exchange for his worth
less paper money they would have
been confiscated and she would have
been shot, in all probability. for at
tempting to profiteer. This condition
gave opportunity to any one irvested
with a little authority. and t-s:s au-
thority need consist Of nothing more
than a red cockade and a r4he. to
q word, all the necessities Of life.
1t is impossible to modify human
nature by legislative enactment or
death penalties.
DEFoRE the arrival of the reds In
- Krasnoyarsk the spectators and
ordinary business people had asSici-
pated events to the extent of excEng-
ing all their money for necessary Jro-
visions, which they Immediately con-
cealed-
them bales Of their own paper money
which had been obtained in European
Russia for almost nothing.
The old law Of supply and demand
commenced to work in both directors
Food supplies were limited and monty
was unlimited, at least for the newly
arrived bolshevists, whereas the orS1-
nary citizens of the town had no money
at all and were forced to sell their
commodities at a very low price. It
was a common sight to see people in
the bazaar trying to sell such vaiu-
ables as 5ewelry, carpets, laces. silks
and other possessions for almost moth
ing in order to buy food at a rapidly
advancing price.
Tho profiteering reds, many Of whom
were commissars, Immediately bought
up an available supplies. and the price
quickly rose as money commenced to
circulate and food became scarcer
When the game was worked to the
limit. the prices went 50 high that the
people were starving. The next step
vas 10 legislate fixed prices to be paid
the peasants for their produce. The
maximum prices were 50 rtdicu1ously
loW thxt the peasants refused to bring
anything to market. so the next turn
in the tnexorable wheel OF tyranny
ciNsed all food supplies as contraband
In faet. any piece Of property that
took de fancy Of tho administration
was declared contrahand. It was a
lsGz9fzsd system Of robbery.
An Illicit trade In food naturally
sprang mp and the prohteers COM
menced to unload their supplies at an
enormo0s price. For example, tea cost
at nrst TIN rubies per pound and grea,
quantities were sent to Moscow by the
eommissar. It was sold there for over
q thousand rubles per pound.
Tho red officials then commenced &c
buy contraband foreign money with
their proffts. This they were able tc
dothrough their agents, who circulated