The Washington times., 1922-04-16
Tchicherin, Mystery Mind At Genoa,
Has Office Hours All Night Long
Russian Minister of Foreign
Affairs, Once Wealthy, Takes
Active Part In Stripping Rich
of Surplus Funds for Benefit
of Masses--A Man Of Eocen-
tric Habits and Customs.

NN ttubitS diid SNoAo'fS-
This Is chapter from the
Mirrors Of Moscos0," soon 10 be
Published By Louise Bryant, bril-
liant young soTiter tOho aoeat TO
Russia for the Hearst newspapers
and gained ultimate knowledge
of Russian leaders and Russian
conditions. This closeup study
of M. Tchicherin is of timely inn
portance ia vtep of the leading
part he is taking at the Genoa
conference.
by LOUISE BRYANT.
My first interview with George
Vassilievich Tchicherin was at mid.
night and my last interview was at
five in the morning. This happens
to cover a fairly complete rotation
of the official hours of the Soviet
foreign office.
One evening at a box party in the
Bolsho Theater. Enva Pasha remark.
ed: II have to kill time somehow foi
three hours after the play. Hall
Pasha and i have an appointment
with Mr. Tchicherin at Q o'clock.
In spite of his smiling Oriental in.
scrutability and a palpable diplo'
matte duty to conform to everything
Russian, one could feel an amused
disapproval over such official uncon.
ventionality.
This eccetnric habit of turning
night into day with every floor
OF the foreign office blazing like
a lighthouse In a city which by
municipal decree is put to bed
before midnight In order to save
fuel. naturally creates an air OF
whimsicality which is almost fan
tastic.
Night Better for Tasks.
Mr.. Tchicherin makes no ex-
cuse for this vice" as one OF
his secretaries very cleverly
phrased 1t; he simply finds night
more harmonious to his tasks
than day and with that lack OF
consideration which dreamers
always consciously or uncon-
sciously assume, he forces his
whole staff to follow his ex-
ample. The result is that his
clerks make a mad scramble to
get transferred into another gov
ernment department.
Everything about Tchicherin Is
as consistently contrary to an
ordered life as this inversion of
working hours. Born an aristo-
crat, trained under the Tsar for
the diplomatic service. delicate,
cultured, aIoof, with a fine ges-
ture OF Quixotic generosity he
has thrown his life and his for
tunes with the cause of the pro-
letariat with all the abandon of
religious fervor. HIS aloofness is
so evident that one can hardly
find any concordance about the
Astounding decision of such an
obvious aesthetic to become an
active part of revolution-which
is sweat and blood and violence.
Perhaps that explains why he
wraps his vision round him like a
cloak and shuts out the sun in
order not to be disturbed and
disillusioned by reality.
We were all brought up on
stories about kings who were
gay fellows well met and could
Guidance and out-drink their
soldiers; on. mobiles who turned
out to be Robin Hoods; but, alas,
who can imagine Tchicherin roll
locking at a workers picnic or
smoking friendly pipe with a
red soldier7
No simple person will ever feel
intimate or at home with his
super-class indifference to ma
terial surroundings. A scrub
woman is just as uncomfortable
in his presence as was the in
trepid Mrs. Claire Sheridan, the
English sculptor, who went TO
Moscow to make busts of the
Ia. Ar haV a
way of arching an eyebrow at
life upsets the best brand Of
poise.
Living alone in barren room on
the top floor of the foreign office.
he is as far removed socially and
physically from the lower as the
upper crust. Perhaps only an
aristocrat is able to attain this
dizzy height of indifference to
human contact with ones renown.
And / can't help feeling there is
something rather splendid about
such complete loneliness.
Outside Of politics, the telephone
and the cable, all up-to-dateness
offends him. He abhors new
clothes, does not like to ride in
automobiles, refuses TO have mod
ern office paraphernalia about him,
does every little task for himself,
like sharpening his own pencils
and running all over the building
on office boy errands. This atti-
tude produces the same effect as
IL he distrusted all his subordi-
mates. His secretaries stand help
less and i'll at ease while he
searches for a lost telegram or
answers the telephone.
Last winter they told an amusing
story of how Karekhan, who is
commissar of Easter affairs, lured
Tchicherin into donning a new
suit. Tchicherin's one suit vtss
literally in rags. and the Turk sh
treaty and the Afghan treaty aid
the Persian and all the other Orien-
tai treaties were about 60 be signed.
These affairs had to be arranged
with more or less bourgeise pomp
since the Orientals are rather keen
on ceremony.
Therefore, Mr., Karakhan, taking
long chance, went ahead and
ordered a new suit for Mr.. Tchi-
cherin from a Soviet tailor, and
me morning while Tchicherin slept
Karakhan changed the suits. In a
few minutes he came rushing back
again and exclaimed with emotion:
There's a new note from Lord
Curzontp TchtCharin was nm In