The New York herald., 1921-01-09
Ry CAPT. FRANCIS McULLAGH.


Special Correspondence of THE NEW York
HERALD
Copyright, 1921, by THE NEW York HERALD.
RIdA, Dec. II. ;,
r ATVIA is one of the countries wherein
one can live for nothing. 1t is quite
- possible for an ordinary person to
get along on 1000 Latvian rubfes month,
for the Premier of the republic gets only
5000 and captain in the army gets ex-
actly 1000 without fuel and light allow
ances" or any other trimmings whatsoever.
Now, when I came here first, less than
month ago. could get TOO Latvian rubles
for e1 note, and fortnight later could
buy back that FL note for 500 rubles, thus
making 200 rubles on the transaction. If
had done business with fS0 instead of Fl
| could at one stroke have made clear
profit of as much as 5000 rubles-the Prime
Minister'S salary for one month.
AS matter of fact, have not engaged
in any little iutter on the exchange and
have no intention of doing SOL nevertheless,
the reader may be interested at this Christ
mas season in reading true fairy tale about
land where one can live for nothing.
of to the WiIdS OF wilma,
So Speaks Out Quite Frankly
/ am quite frank about 1t. because on the
day after tomorrow depart hence for the
wilds of Wilma and my life after that will,
for six months. be one of continual travel
Here in the most exclusive quarter of Riga
l occupy an excellenty furnished room, for
which l pay one shilling day, and find
that an eight room nat such as would cost
at least fs a week In London costs less
than f1 week here. good cook could
easily be had at ten shillings a month, and
the price of everything else, save imported
goods, is In proportion.
In Hsthonia, where one gets twice as
much for ones pound notes. conditions are
twice as good for the man who gets paid
from abroad and as bread, butter, milk and
the ordinary necessaries of life are absurdly
cheap (when reckoned in our money! the
wonder is that more English pensioners. off,
GERS and men, have not come to settle in
these parts.
One reason, perhaps why they have not
come is this: Fearing that they may be
swamped with foreigners bringing in large
quantities of foreign money, the local repub-
lies positively refuse to allow any foreigners
to enter their territory without some good
reason. They must be business men recon-
mended by the Board Of Trade, but even SO
they can get permit 10 stay TOT only TWO
weeks, at the end Of which period that per-
nit must be renewed. No unofficial for
eisrer. save an old resident who owns prop
erty In the town. has any chance of getting
a license to reside in Riga or Reval for a
year or even for six months
Since writing the above have got a long
list OF furnished houses for sale. only four
days from London, in the Kaiserwald, Riga s
most beautiful suburb. The most expensive
of them an eight roomed house, in perfect
condition, costs only f100 and will be worth
five times as much when the tramway line
is extended to that district. The owners say
that their sole reason for selling is their
desperate need of ready money, but in my
opinion two other considerations move them
powerfully--(D the fear that the Bolshe-
viks will come back and CD the fear that
the Lettish Government may nationalize all
house property or may pass such harassing
laws that house owners life will not be
worth living.