The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-09-12
Failed to Register
 for Draft, Refused
 Citizenship Papers
By Associated Press

gust Hermeier Wittenborg, of Ger man birth, and professor of anatomy in the medical department of the University of Tennessee, was today refused citizenship in the United States by J. W. Ross, United States district judge for west Tennessee Failure to register for military serv- ice during thS war was given as the reason for the dismissal of Witten- borg's petition for naturalization.
 
 VILLAGE GOVERNMENT IN RUSSIA From New Peasants of New Russia by Moissaye J. Olgin, in Asia Mag azine.
 The village soviet is chosen simply enough. All peasants and other work ing people of the village, aged IS and more, men and women alike, come to- 'gether and elect representatives,, one to hundred inhabitants. These rep | resentatives constitute the soviet Elections are held every six months Villages with population of less than 300 combine to form one com mon soviet. Thus the number oi members in soviet cannot be less than three. The upper limit Is 30 The soviet elects its chairman and secretary, who attend to the current business. The village soviet Is main ly an executive body. In the first place it carries out the orders of the higher administrations. In the second it carries out the decisionsof the will lage meeting.
 The village meeting is a permanent institution. It conveiAes to pass on the most vital problems of the vil- lage. The problem of the greatest moment has been the distribution of the land. The land belongs not to the individual peasant but theoreti- cally and legally to the state, ac- tually to the local village. The village is to see to it that each family re- ceives share of land according to the number of eaters" When a family becomes smaller the land all lotment is to be cut When a family increases more land is to be added. After the revolution this redistribu- ton of the land. as 1t is called, was made at first every year. But though it manifested the peasants tendency toward equality in the use of la ud it impeded agricultural prog ress the peasant was not willing to improve his land for fear of losing his strip, together with the invested labor in a new redistribution. This state of affairs finally compelled the government to issue a decree for bidding redistribution for the next few years. The village meeting. as well as it's soviet. has, however, much other business connected with the land. There, Is the question of the citizen who has no horses. The com munity sees to it that his land is plowed and narrowed by his fellow villagers. In return he must do work on the field of the neighbor who helped cultivate his lot. This is not a voluntary agreement, but duty imposed by the village. and no man possessing a horse or OK may refuse The practice has beens introduced by the revolution. Then there are the lots of the red army men, which are being cultivated and harvested by the community. There is also ques- tion as to t~e proper use of the meadows. There is the problem of shepherds and other village em- ployes and, it may be. of cbmmu hnity smithy or a brickyard. All such matters are considered by the gen. eral village meeting. which is form of direct government in local af- fairs The soviet is the representa- tive of this body between one meet ing and the other.