The Washington times., 1921-03-20

TO Russia in An Evening.
What Happens Will Spread.
hlstory's Great Collapse.
n. G. Wells Excellent Book.
BY ARTHUR BRISBANE
Copyright, 1Ss1.)

We os W0tIS CACoU0Jtt oVVks
by ARTHUR BRISBANE
Copyright. lssiJ
Russia IN tho Shadows" by H.
6. Wells. published by the George
d. Doran Company, New York.
Every human being on this
earth is interested personally and
deeply in Russia, in what has hap
pened. is happening, and may hap
pen in that gigantic empire strug-
Cling desperately against chaos
and barbarism.
Whatever happens in Russia
haay spread to the rest OF the
world.
II Russia sinks down to abso-
I Lutte anarchy, famine, and disease
the famine and disease will spread.
II Russia's new idea in govern
ment should prevail, and it may,
that IDEA will spread. Those
well satisfied with things as they
arc should realize the possibility.
Visitors from {he outside have
gone to Russia and reported about
as accurately as the blind men
that visited the elephant
One seized the twisting trunk
and said, 'It's snake" One,
touching a leg, said, "It's tree
trunk" A third, holding the tail,
said, Its q rope" They were all
wrong, it was an elephant.
A blind enthusiast goes to Rus
sia, reports, "It's wonderful, beau
tiful, perfect" but it isn't. An
other, with different blindness, re-.
poEts, Tt's horrible, free love, no
marriage, anybody can seize any
! body, children mixed, everybody
murdered"
Wells book of a hundred and
seventy-nine pages is the best re-
port on Russia thus far. Wells
went without prejudice, kept his
eyes open. He is a first-class re-
| porter and tells what he actually
| sees.
He talked to Lenin, whom he
found, guarded like a prisoner, in
/ the Kremlin at Moscow. He talked
/, to the ablest Russian leaders, to
| the children in the schools, the
workmen in the streets. Read his
I, book and you look at Russia
. through the eyes of a man who
knows the worlds history and
!, human nature.
+. Wells sees the difficulties Of the
Russian experiment, the ludicrous
and pitiful side Of the effort to use
/ the theories of Karl Marx as a po-
/! litical prescription for the saliva
tion Of 100000 small villages,
| whose inhabitants cannot read.
Peter tho Great, disregarding
every mans rights and everything
except his own will, built up the
| Russia that collapsed in the war.
XThA .BOLSHEVISfS arc trying
to rebuild or keep life going in
4 Peters creation by applying liter
Sally the theories of Karl Marx,
/. who died in London forty years
ago. AS we'll try to organize the
savages of the Congo by applying
literally the theories of Plato's Re-
public or Moore's Utopia.
Russia at this moment represents
chiefly the death of an old system.
In what shape. if any, it will come
to life again nobody can say. The
peasants are still on the land pro-
ducing. Told that they now own
the land, they approve the govern
ment that gave it to them. But
they fight and often kill agents of
that government when they come
to collect food.
The government is honest, no
doubt of that. And those in charge
of it lead puritanical lives. But
there is great immortality among
the young, among boys and girls of
fifteen and sixteen in the co-edu-
cational schools. There is, how
ever, much after-the-war immor-
ality among the young outside of
Russia.
The death rate of Petrograd is
four times as great as in our
cities. The birth rate is cut in
two. Population ! as dropped from
1,2OO, 900 to 100000. People have
gone to live and work on the farms.
as they would go from any great
American city if all shops and
restaurants suddenly closed, IL
street car systems broke down,
food ceased coming in and killing
in the street were frequent.
Food is rationed in Russia, so is
! everything else. Buying and sell
ing are called "capitalistic" and
are forbidden. When you take
from men the incentive of gain
you take the only incentive that
most of them know.
People in the Russian cities are
miserable, thin, and worried. The
peasants are fatter and happier
than ever. That is true of France
as well as Of Russia, although to a
less degree.
For the worst conditions in Rus
sia Wells blames "The vindictive
French creditor. the journalistic
opposition;" also the subsidized
aids invasions. insurrections. and