New-York tribune., 1922-04-03
tcsntiassd from sscs ens)

lremaining belongings under the COM
mand of a Soviet commandant
tIt l have seen the Russian peasant
I,starving on his own land
slS | talked with people of all classes
fs When / left the city I Travelled over
sIwide places of the steppes, sometimes
IN passenger coaches, sometimes in
i.ears of lesser dignity. When railroad
lines stopped at the end Of the iron
s;trsii 7 pushed on with my companions
f:for hundreds of miles over wastes of
sssnow unbroken by timber
In this way I went into or passed
near three hundred villages: in many
s,of them interviewing the village Off
.Icers. who had come to the home of
s,the chief citizen to meet US. To them
sive were as the representatives of
,Joseph sent ahead to herald the COM
ling of corn.
\ From the mass of impressions that
'icame to me in this experience two OBJ
observations stand out with startling
iiclearness:
!, Russia is to-day dying nation, dying
i'in the midst Of unpa ruUeied riches
II! Though a dying ration Russia is not
I,dving IN chaos. She is dying on orderly
Siteath.
III They say that the Russian winter
sometimes becomes so cold that the
l,Icrows that people the branches of the
sil'rees in the park under the Kremin
slItall by the thousand, frozen from their
lIperches
falling under the poverty and the fam
inc that have put an icy grip on the
,old liberal life of Russia. And like the
1 sblrds they are falling silently. without
s!sa cry, without move to help them
s;tselves.
is,Russia Is Slowly Withering.
Flower. Branch and Root
7~ Russia is withcring as a plant with
ers. First the flower decays and the
i,petals are blown to the four winds.
IThen the branches that carry the sap
dry up and are broken. Finally the
,Toot dies in the ground.
The intellectual was the flower of
Russia. He has beer scattered over
Europe. And the best of Russian civil
'ization is under the ground.
/, The transportation and industry of
Russia are broken. Over all the coun-
try they do not function to 90 per
'eent of normal To-day death has
lattacked the root of Russian life and
the peasant is rotting in Russian soil.
i No consideration of the Russian sit.
uation can to-day approach adequacy
IhaC 1aliS TO treat RUSSIA as q W0rid
phenomenon. Just as the famine which
first attacked particular classes in Rus
sia and was localized in the Volga VAL
laey has now come to cover Russia as
"a whole, so the Russian problem, first
localized behind the shifting bounda-
ries of the Soviet state has now be-
icon,e world problem, and its solution
IS looked to as a key to the situation
in Europe.
,ment has maintained, on the field Of
battle and on the table Of diplomacy.
the offensive against the civilized
world. The Soviet government has been
united in policy; the world has been
divided in policy. To-day the offensive
is changing to other hands. The first
,tentatives toward world policy are
being made. There is not yet agree
A1nent as to what that policy shall be.
Great issues hang upon the decisions
soon to be made. Pregnant interests
sare at stake for Europe and the peace
sand progress of the word.
An understanding of the present sit
uatIon of Russia must be sought first
IN the policies of the Russian govern
mcnt itself and in a survey of the pass
to which these policies have brought q
once rich and powerful nation.
On November Ii of this winter I
sat in the royal box of the Great The
ater of Moscow witnessing what was
! believe, the most extraordinary off
cial ceremonial ever undertaken by a
modern nation. It was the jubilee in
honor of the completion of four years
of the Soviet Republic. The Russian
people were not there Admission was
by ticket vigorously countersigned and
scrutlnized. The audience was made
up of membe and employees of the
government alone and of the faithful!
OF the only political party that is per-
united to exist in Russia.
Lenine and Trotzky Remain
Fast Locked in the kremlin
One would have expected that on
such an occasion the heads of the
state-Lenine, who is responsible for
tine policies of the state, and Trotzky,
who has made the Russian army re-
spected abroad, or Tchicherin, who
handles with admitted skill the for
seign affairs of the would
appear before their people to give a
review of the state of the nation
These men remained fast locked in
the Kremlin. The only speaker for the
government was Lunacharsky, the head
OF government propaganda. The chief
'ngure on the program was an American
\ dancer who had shortly before come
to Russia, and had in the space OF
three weeks trained three hundred chill
dren in dance fitly representative of
the achievements of the government
In this way Soviet Russia celebrated
the end Of her fourth year in the
family of nations.
IS What would have been the result had
this jubilee presented faithful sur
sey OF the achievements of the Rus
sian government? For the Soviet
government cannot escape being called
before the bar of history and of world
opinion.
Among the duties of q government
two surely stand out and take a leading
place. The government must foster
hnd support the productive life of its
heople and the Royernment must n, al n,