New-York tribune., 1922-04-09
tceatiaasd rom pays enc,

Hai!Tsy lines and thrown directly into
the railway tenders. The result is tn Z
ore must so further and further from,
she !ines for wood supplies, and che
wood furnished is so damp as hardly
20 make steam.
One OF the chief activities o: the new
eominerc'al mission in Berlin is I'll.
purchase OF locomotives for the Rus
san railroads. Something more than
1000 have already been ordered in Ger
many and Sweden. The Russian govern
ment Ia now experimenting oa oil burn
iilg engines.
How important the 9enoralized .ran~-
rortation system Of Russia is in the
Ireseat juneture may be judged from
the fact .nat American relief work In
i,ussia IL now being retarded by the
collapse OF transportation. Transporta-
lion in tie Volga district is running
Lot better than Is per cent Of normal.
FROM the ports to distributing centers
transportation is reaching not better
than 20 per cent oG expectations.
Like Ants Crawling
On Billiard Table
know nothing so lonely as Russian.
right OF way across the steppes. For
Son.e reason tAs Huss!an horizon ia
wider than TIA horizon of western
Europe. Eagins and cars seem lost in
the great expanse OF snow and plain.
They seem Intellectual. almost paths.ic.
80 ants crawling across 9 billiard
able.
n all Russian transportation there Ia
something os this inefeceiveness. Ey-
c.eIient on the high roads. Il practically
disappears In the central provinces,
whcre getting to market is like crossing
the Atlantic for an American. Russian
transportation Is an index OF Russian
civilization, g civilization only skin
deep, not reaching the great mass Of
The peasants at sli. To the peasant
de continues 10 use the systems OF
transit common II the days Of Peter
and Catherine.
A goodly percentage OF Russian mar
ket materials never find their way
INTO railroad cars at all. These are
transported best in the winter time
over packed roads on snow-covered
prairie by sled&es drawn by horses.
Here, toe. there has been fearful
much as a horse is worti, to feed him
gor two weeks. AS q result 75 per cent
Of tho horses have been slaughtered.
transportation is available only for
indispensable freight and at enormous
rates. So great has been the slaughter
Of horses that over large areas the
camel has come to take his place
The Soviet government has much to
answer for. but no fair survey OF Rus
sian transportation can be made that
limits itselt to the period OF Soviet
rule. Just as the famine must be read
n the light Of Russian agriculture,
bresent transportation must be read
IA the light Of the transportation OF
The past.
If we want to understand where
Russia was and is in matters OF trans
oortation we cannot do better than
compare transportation in Russia with
transportation in America. In 1914
Russia had 10000 miles Of railroad, the
United States had 5000. This meant
one eighth OF mile per capita Of pop
u!ation for Russia; two miles aud q
half per capita Of population for tire
United States.
That VAS in peacc-time. To-day
duccd. But Russia is under many
transportation handicaps that 90 be-
yond matters OF mileage. Many OF
these are geographical and climatic
p 4 Narrow Coast Line
And Long, Hard Haul
Russia has been cut Of from The
commerce and the traffic Of the world
rot only by the character Of her peo-
pie. She has been cut off IS we'll by
the fact that her great hinterland
Gould not be brought into any CON
tact with the world market. It is not
alone the lack OF transportation that
Kept the peasant from trading in the
world market as does, for instance, the
French peasant with the products Of