New-York tribune., 1922-01-15

Ana, speaking as military man, natu-
rally think that the most efficient is the army
he concluded
Speaking in perfect English acquired
through many years service as a Russian
military attachc TO the British army and
through other years residence in the United
States. Colonel Bek proceeded to explain his
meaning.
hen you write about me-" he began, you
can say that / am a Boshevik But do not
forget also, that | am an old soldier; that |
have sat at the feet of the French strategists
AID tactclans; and thac | regard Foch as the
worlds greatest military genius of to-day
why is the Red army one of the few cf-
tcicnt institutions that we have left? Because
at last the control of it has been turned over
to soldIers-men who know their business
When the peace of Brcst-Litovsk was signed
VIC scarcely had army. Discipline was
gone; organization gone; equipment was
gone.
During the civil warfare Of the past three
Years we have learned our lesson DO the
people Of America still think that the army
commanders take a vote among their men
Whenever an order is given? can assure you
that they do not. AS matter Of fact, we have
lcntroduccd discipline which is as strict as
that of amy force in the world. We have re-
called many Of the old Czarist officers and
put them IN charge Of training schools
and our staff colleges. We arc organizing
promotion by merit. And we are getting an
csprit-mind you, do not say that we have
1t as yct-which the old army never did have"
1t was not very long before | had an oppor-
'unity IN u small way to sec a part of the Red
army for myself.
On The morning of Sunday, September 2G.
10000 men of the Russian army paraded in
Moscow" the occasion being the celebration Of
tho graduation of this years class of officers
from tho Army Staff College, With another
American correspondent walked through the
cnllI autumn drlzzlc to the Iberian gate of the
Red Square, Krasnaa This gateway by
the way, Is ono of the holy places of Russia
which even the sway of regime which counts
itself opposed to all religion has not affected
The tiny chapel in the center of it, built in
1869, emerged almost unscathed from the
revolution. and the droshky drivers still re-
move their caps and cross themselves as they
pass it.
Across the slope leading up to the gate from
tac Noskresscnskaia Square there was a line of
suards, dressed in the long, mud-colored over
coats which every Russian soldier wears, and
with canvas helmets Of type somewhat re-
calling that of the German Uhlan In the center
al each helmet tive-p pointed red star
the Red army insignia. All the guards had
rifles. with bayonets fixed, slung across their
hacks. which seemed to me an extraordinary
bit of hellicoseness until | learned by observa-
tion that the Russian soldier never takes the
trouble to remove the bayonet from his rifle
even though he be indoors.
'Propis tovarishi," demanded one of them as
We approached-me meaning that he wished to sec
passes.
Here a difficulty arose. The other corrc-
soondent and myself were equipped with passes
from The Foreign Office admitting us to the
ing stand within the Red Square. but,
Know ING that Trotzky was scheduled to speak,
and beng unable to understand Russian we'll,
We had brought along Interpreter. And we
had forgotten to get a pass for him.
So we told him to argue with the sentinels
about it,
Then stood aside, while for a minutes
and 80 seconds by the watch the interpreter
delivered to the guards (who had forsaken
thelr posts u group about him) an impas-
stoned appeal He paused for breath, and
corporal began to answer him. His discourse
lasted 81 long that our hands got cold, forcing
Us to snap our watches shut and return them
to our pockets. But at last he finished and
tic Interpreter turned to us
He says No." he explained, leaving us to
marvel at the richness of a language in which
one could say NO.. for five minutes or SO on
end. But the negative was final, and so we
entered the square alone
The famous inclosure, half mile long by
two hundred yards wide. was beginning to fill
with troops A Cossack officer on horseback
obviously survivor of the old regime directed
us across the open space to roped-otf portion
under the kremlin wall.
We took up our positions there, with our
backs TO the simple slab of granite which
marks the grave Of John Reed, and to the
wreash-heaped graves of the first victims of
the 1917 revolution. Facing US wer. the i'm
mense, three-storied arcades built thirty years
ago TO house luxury and curo shops, and now
bearing the omnipresent r. s. F.. S. r."
'"Russian Socialist Federated Soviet Repub-
llc'o above their gray granite doorway. At
the left was the medieval gate and chapel,
through which we had entered, and at the right
vas the Cathedral of st. Basil, with its fan
tastlc and many-colored domes, its grotesoue
carvings and minaretS, neither Russian nor