The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1921-11-07
Insect Powder Is Much Needed
 In Soviet Russia

Petrograd, Nov. 7.-Americans who contemplate a trip to Soviet Russia with an abundance of insect powder. patience, optimism, warm clothing, money and canned heat.
 They will need the insect powder long before they get to Russia. Bed bugs and cooties have taken a great liking to the railway cars and hotels in Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Els thonta They also enjoy life on the Baltic ships.
 Consequently it is difficult to reach either Riga or Reval. the two gate ways to Soviet Russia. without en- counterlng the crawling cordon. Filtering into Russia is a slow pro- cess. It is no job for nervous and impatient folks. Those who go to Reval to get permission from the Bol- shevist authorities usually wish they had gone to Riga Accommodating Danes have established an a:rplane between the two ports for uneasy folk who desire to ease down their nerves by flying back and forth and rap ping at both entries. It takes two hours to make the flight, while the railway trip consumes 24 hours. And so far vermin have not shown any liking for this air route.
 The Bolshevist legations at Reval and Riga present prospective visitors to Moscow with a formidable ques- ionnaire in Russian, including such queries as:
 What kind of immovable proper l ty do you own. if any? Describe it? What are your political views? | country? Did you participate in the 1 great war? What is your religion ?' 1 These questions are all pretty ditfi-
 cult for the ordinary bourgeois Amer | ican, who is a good hit of political mugwamp and hasn't much religion, l but Is anxious to say the thing which will facilitate his entry and not stretch the truth too violently. One haaTG all sides that the Bolshevists have been deceived so often by pretended liberals that even a Socialists of the parlor variety is apt to be scrutfnized more carefully than an applicant who doesn't assume to be sympathetic with Bolshevist ideals. In sheer desperation "Repub- lican" is written down in the hope that Moscow will offset MT. Hard ing's position on Russian recognition by the fact that Senator France is enrolled with Karl Marx among the immorta1s and Secretary of Com Merce Hoover is feeding a million Russian children.
 Then one hastily inscribes himself as a Methodist or a Presbyterian or an Episcopalian. It Is difficult to f1b about ones church affiliations. even to facilitate entry into a land controlled by a government which scoffs at re- ligiOn.
 There Is a great temptation to en- roll as a draft evader. That ought to be a guarantee of speedy entry into a land which doesn't believe in any wars except those 1t makes itself. But the new Russian secret service is more omniscient than that of the late Czar. so one admits the truth and prayerfully hands in his paper with the hope that the Moscow examining committed won't flung him.
 Here the endurance test begins. It may last six days. It may last six weeks. or even six months. There are not places on the Moscow train. There are few rooms for strangers in Moscow and Petrograd. Conse- quently the Soviet government weighs ly. If you are able to offer millions to develop Russia, you may get quick action.
 If you are patient enough the re- you leave Berlin or London in des- peration. If 1t Is affirmative. peace must be made With the American consul by turning over to him your per in exchange which induces the Latvian government to permit you to leave Latvia and return.
 The wise of the Bolshevist 1ega- tion comes next and a railway ticket is provided by the Bolshev:st officials who must be paid in English pounds or American dollars: There is no longer any coffing at the engravings of George Washington, Ulysses s. Grant, Abraham Lincoln or George V.
 If you happen to strike lucky night you Will be gwen O berth In a French international sleeping car. If it is off night you will prob ably get a couchette in Russian car. But it really doesn't make much difference They both require the same amount of insect powder.
 Your English-speaktng compan- ions on the train will probably be an English Quakeress. at least one La Dor member of the English Parlia- ment, who cannot talk without CUTS ing Lloyd George; a Greenwich Vil- lage upHfter, who Is sure the United States will never amount to anything until Jane Addans Is elected presi- dent and several purposeful looking young Americans, well-fed and hap py, headed for the Volga famine area in the hope of making life easier for cold and hunghy children.
 There will also probably be several vague Americans and Englishmen, who let 1t be known discreetly that they represent the largest combina- tions of capital the world has ever known and are on their way to offer assistance to the Soviet government. Eating stations are few and of un- certain character. Consequently all travellers carry tea kettles, which they fill at the hot water tanks afford ed by all larger Latvian and Russian stations. Hard alcohol Is produced to heat timed soup and bully beef and travellers have a taste of the cooking and dish washing which is the lot of hotel-1ess and cafe-less Moscow and Petrograd