New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1922-04-14

anne time an economic and political
Ypollcy. 1t is an economic policy to
political ends.
SAID professor to me. Russia to-
day is built like table. The four legs
OF the table are urban industry, agri-
cultural production, Transportation and
the managerial class. On the table are
the Russian army and the Russian gov
erning classes. When the legs break
the government must fall. The gov
ernment must try to prop up the legs"
Everywhere in Russia one hears dis
cussions and sees evidences that a
new policy is in force in Soviet Russia
In the Russian cities the signs arc
seen in the new shops opening up on
, the streets the windows are being
cleaned; the showcases are filled with
tempting array. The tailor, the fur
rler, the tinsmith are getting out their
tools. The first faint sounds of indus
| try are heard in the land.
In the rural places the signs of the
new policy are seen in the diff ferent
manner by which the government col
lects its dole from each peasant But
! the greatest evidences of the new
! policy are found in the capitals of Eu-
| ropean countries where purchasing
commissions are busily buying goods
| for export to Russia.
| Many reasons are given for the in
auguration by the Soviet government
of new economic policy, but the CEN
| tral reason that covers all others lies
in the complete exhaustion of food
/ supplies and the necessity for the OBJ
tanning of larger stocks if the army
and the government are to be sup
| ported. In this problem the govern
ment saw two factors. The first was
the direct encouragement Of agricul
! tural production. The second was con-
cerned With the method Of obtaining
these supplies for government and in
| dustrial use, after they had been
! produced.
| Surplus Is Requisitioned
To Feed Hungry Populaeev
Enough has been said to indicate
that the present government has not
! solved its agrarian problem. 1t has
/ placed Russian agriculture in the
/ hands of amateurs. 1t has expro-
priated the great estates. Under its
rule harvests have steadily declined
Nothing was to be expected from direct
measures for the increase of agricul-
| tural production. In these circum-
stances the government had recourse
| TO indirect means.
Stocks of food are drawn from the
peasant in two ways-by direct barter
| or purchase on the one hand, or by
means of government levies on the
other. The first of these systems mad
long ago collapsed. Industry had
failed to produce manufactured ar
ticles. Money had become valueless.
In the effort to keep the people fed
the government had turned to a system
of requisition of the surplus.
This, then, was the situation in 1890
an exasperated and rebellious peas
antry; a city population giving al
ways less and demanding always more;
government eXasperated and de-
termined. The summer of 1920 brought
Russia to the verge Of civil war. All
! that the government could force out
of the peasants did not amount to
half of what was required.
The turning of the ways had come
and the Russian government read the
writing on the signpost New and
more productive systems of trade and
| industry were introduced. In the hope
of securing commodities for exchange
against foodstuffs small trading in
various matters of private necessity
was made free and the manufacture
Of these in small numbers was en-
couraged.
At the same time the old system
of requisition of the surplus was ex-
changed for the more concliatory sys-
/ tenn of a natural tax; in other words, a
tax in kind. The difference between the
two is largely a matter of emphasis.
In requisition the foodstuffs are
collected from the peasant. With q
natural tax the peasant delivers the
supplies to the government in his own
carts The natural tax of 1921 was
not successful 1t was hoped to Sc
cure from this source $50 billion pools.
| Instead of this but little more than
| 5O,OOO,000 was collected
The new economic policy was intro
| duced too late to have any appreciabe
influence upon the agrarian situation.
It did have great influence on the
situation of small trading, transform
ing the life and the appearance of the
cities within a space Of three months.
Now shops begin to open and the city
streets take on the activity described
in the early articles of this series
| That much of this activity was super
| fetal has been shown.
Nevertheless, the new economic
policy had introduced initiative into
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