The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1922-11-16
DIR. W. D. NICKELSEN
TELLS EXPERIENCES

The following letter, just receives
from DR.. W. d. Nickelsen, son Of Sen
ator and Mrs. j. r. Nickelsen, tells o
his experience on the return from Mos
cow where he was located for SOM
time with the American Red Cros
Association:
"Here | am back in London again
and it seems quite nice to hear Englisl
spoken by everyone, even though some
of it in the Isles is very difficult Il
understand. | had rather uneventfu
trip the two days travelling from Mos
COW to Riga. That is, it was rather
uneventful to me as | have travelled or
Russian trains so much. Four of us
came out together, MIR. Harringer, OF
Harkoff; Mr.. Cobb, of Sarotoff; DR..
lKameneff, my assistant, and |.
Zone must first sprinkle liberal
Iamounts of napthaline everywhere and
get the place recleaned out. There are
no blankets, sheets or pillows, so one
in Russia usually travels with a bed
ding roll. There are now no lights on
the trains so everyone goes armed with
at least q dozen candles. There is no
1
tunity to try out ones culinary ability
before the trip is ended. That's about
all there is to do and travellers in Rus
sia spend most of their time frying or
boiling on the kerosene or canned heat
stoves which have been brought along.
'Western Russia is rolling and very
little of it under cultivation, the small
bull pines spreading out over the en-
tire landscape. Riga, Latavia. is the
end of this first lap. 1t used to,be the
cleanest city in Europe but is little
better now than the Russian towns.
America has done a great deal Of re-
lief work here in Latavia and Amer
leans are we'll treated.
1.-THE next important stop on the
way out is Kauna, the capital of Lith-
uania. The Lithuanians seem much
more progressive and one sees fine,
fertile fields stretching out for miles.
There are many windmills here used
for grinding the grain. rode on from
here with the American consul who
told me a great many interesting
things concerning the country. He
said the people went wild and had the
biggest celebration they have ever had
when he announced officially that
America had recognized their little
republic.
EAST Germany appears to be suffer-
ing from being cut off from the rest
of the country by the Polish corridor.
Eydtkonnen, a German town, which
was completely destroyed during the
German war on the eastern front, has
been entirely rebuilt and is quite
modern.
Zone crosses then the Polish corri-
dor, a strip of land extending to the
sea, which Poland has acquired from
Germany in the recent war.
Germany is the busiest country of |
all and they are straining every effort |
to return to their old prosperous posi-
tion. Living conditions, however, are
rather bad, due TO the fact that food |
prices have jumped upward much more
rapidly than wages. A man can earn
at hard labor 200 to 300 marks daily.
This was in former times $50 to SIS,
and seems very high until one finds
that good beef costs 400 marks per
pound and butter $50. The people of
Germany are just able to get along by
living on the simpler things. Most of
them do not have butter, beef, etc.
The Germans all asked me about Rus
sia and all say that Germany will soon
be as ''schlecht" as Russia. The
people generally are all complaining
about the government and the streets
are filled with marching labor organ
cations singing the international and
waving the red banners of socialism.
The German people are afraid this ele-
nent will destroy what is left of their
but they are powerless, it
seems, to stop them.
81 made a very interesting trip
iorth from Berlin to Hamburg, then
lorth from there across the Kiel canal,
lp through Schlezwick- Holstein to the
Danish boundary and then by boat
vest to the island of Fohr, out in the
North Sea. This island formerly be-
onged to Denmark but now is under
ierman control. would advise any
me making the trip into Germany not I
o neglect seeing Fohr. The people {
Iere are Freisians, who speak their I
wn language, have their own paper
nd have no more love for Germany '
han we do. although they were forced I
o fight with the German armies in the
asst war. The country, like Holland.
) lower than the sea and for that I
eason is surrounded by dykes and 8
reversed by numerous canals. The {
ouses are all Of brick with roofs made '
( reeds from nearby marsh land. C
here are Is towns on this island, al
hough 1t is but six miles wide and 6
ight miles long. The towns names a
II end in sum, as Alkersum, Oltsum, \
'ilsum. The people here have pre- i
srved their native customs, and still a
ear the old beautiful costumes and \
cad dress Of the Freisians. A great \
nmber of these people are living in d
alifornia and 25 families from there n