Evening star., 1922-01-17
BY F. A. MCKENZIE.

Especial Correspondence Of The Star and
Chicago Daily News)
MOSCOW, Russia. November 10
The millionaire game Is. believe me.
not all that it is cracked up to be.
speak feelingly and with authority.
for l am now a millionaire-a Moscow
here. The minimum wage for the
skilled worker is TO be. under the
new scale, from 100000 to 100000
rubles month. This is not all to be
paid in cash. Eighty-four per cent
is supposed to be taken out in kind
potatoes. -four and the like.
A ruble. according to the text books,
is the equivalent of half a dollar. One
would think, then, an income from
$4,000 to S1,250,00O a month would
satisfy even a bricklayer's ambitions.
salaries are reckoned in millions.
commodities are priced on the same
scale. A salary of even 1000
ruuls leaves not much margin for
joy rides.
Poor, Though Rich.
Before the war had an income of
10000 rubles (s20,000) year, a
Russian recently told me. I was
rich / travelled, I had my own riding
horse, and l never dreamed of want.
Now ! have a salary of 100000
rubles a month and l am very. very
poor"
Let me illustrate what high prices
mean. Just now we ara all thinking
of our winter coats. A heavy coat,
fur-lined for choice, is a necessity
here. If one does not have 1t. one
dies. Yesterday / saw handsome fur
coat offered in the open-air market
at the Arbat. OF course. it was sec
ond-hand. Price. 15.0OO.OOO rubies.
I decided to economize and do with
a fur collar to my padded coat. A
furrier demanded 100000 rubles for
that, Finally I beat him down to
], 800, O,O0O-rather a stiff price for a
skunk collar, even in a city OF mil
lionaires!
Boots $4,000 Rubles a Pair.
Clothes? Only profiteers buy new
clothes Boots one must have. One
can obtain a pair for about 100000
rubles. 1 have heard of some going
for 800, O,OO0 Friends of mine declare
that they can find nothing worth
wearing for less than 100000.
l grumbled when / had to pay 100.-
900 rubles for five pocket handker-
chiefs in Petrograd. Here the shops
ask $4,000 rubles apiece. A stick OF
shaving SOAP cost me $4,000 rubles.
II one belongs to the new wealthy
class - the profiteers -, patronizes
restaurants and drives in droskies, his
average car fare for a short distance
is 10000 rubles A simple meal OF
soup, meat. bread and a glas of tea
will cost $4,000. A pound Of sweets In
a good shop costs from 10000 to 10O.-
900. If one is tempted by the delicious
cakes and pastries and takes little
packet of them home he will not es-
cape for much under 100000 rubles.
That makes a big hole in the monthly
millions.
Luxuriex Not Thought OF.
But the average Moscow man never
thinks of droskieS, restaurants, can
dies or cakes. He finds it enough to
do to provide wood for his fire and
food for his table. Fuel is q very big
item. The fine old porcelain stoves.
running up to the ceiling, which were
the glory of most Russian living
rooms, are no longer used. Now one
has an ugly little iron stove In the
center Of his apartment. connected
with the old stove by an iron tlue
one does not watch 1t all the time out
it goes. But 1t burns very little wood
and one gets from 1t the benefit OF
every bit Of heat there is.
With wicked sarcasm, this stove Is
called the "bourjoie." which is Rus
classes. who. Of course, are very much
the under dogs in Russia today.
Where Dogs and Cats Go.
Meat is not much of problem, for
few people have meat. Sometimes a
stroke of luck brings supplies One
does not ask what they are. l have
noticed an absence of dogs and cats
here. I have seen only one cat in all
Petrograd and Moscow, and about a
score Of dogs. There is no secret
about what became Of them. They