Pueblo chieftain., 1922-01-22
JOHN SEYKORA IS CONNECTED With
AMERICAN RELIEF Administration

Conditions in Russia are told graph
ically in q letter from John Seykora.
a Pueblo boy to his mother. Mrs. Anna
c. Seykora of 1921 East Sixth street.
Seykora Is connected with the Amer
ican Relief administration doing work
in Russia and other parts of Europe.
He served in the world war in the or
dinance department and when the war
closed he entered the relief work with
out returning to Pueblo. He has been
away from Pueblo about five years.
His letter concerning his recent cx-
pcriences in Russia follows:
While at Riga. I had "A trip on busi-
ness, to Revai and Hclsingfors which
was very interesting. Reval. as you
know, Is the capital of Esthonia, one
OF the new Baltic countries 1t is n
quaint. hilly old town, OF about "A hun
dred thousand; with narrow crooked
streets. and high hill in tho center
surmounting which is castle and the
cathedral both in Russian architecture.
IT commands good view Of the busy,
up-to-datc harbor on the way. over
to Helsingfors n storm came up and it
got so rough that the ship had to turn
around and come back. 1t calmed down
tho next day tho and We got across
without accident except that I felt
little spueamsh about lunch tlmo. Hell
singfors, the capital of Finland. Ia a
beautiful modern city with a wonder
ful harbor set back In behind some
little rocky Islands. It was tho latter
part OF October when l was there. but
there was already snow on the ground
and the sleighs were out.
Riga. before the war n city of moro
than half a million. now about three
hundred thousand. il quite an interest
ing place. IT suffered very much dur
ing the war aud for couple of years
afterwards from the Bolshcvil5 occupa-
ton and the German occupation under
Colonel Bermont of whom you've
probably read. 1t is an old town, built
as they usually arc around tho COW
paths along the river bank surround
ed by moat tnow a parkway an old
powder tower. n castle. etc. The mod
ern quarter has some fine boulcvards,
the principal onc-in the retail district
with four rows of trees down the
middle of It, some rather good build
ings. but abominabc pavcments.-
round cobblc stones very uneven and
almost impossible for woman with
high hcclcd shoes to negotiate.
The German influence Is somewhat
stronger than the Russian in Riga.
Nearly all the natives speak three
LANGUAGES, German. Russian and Lat
Wan. Tho town is just beginning to
show signs OF life now, shops and
stores getting good stocks etc. IN spite
of the tremendously high import duty. |
The government has stuck this on in
an effort to keep imports down In
some proportion to tho exports and
thus bring Latviau rouhlc into a moro
favorable position on the exchange. It |
docs help that some. but it is hard |
on tho merchants and makes all manu-
factured articles very expensive for |
foreigners.
. ] stayed in Riga longer than was
originally planned. as I WAS only loan
I'd by the Russian Unit to tho Baltic
Mission to organize the port and ship
ping operations because Of my Ham
burg experience. Miller. tho chief OF
'he mission. tried to keep mo there,
but Moscow finally became quite In
sistcnt. aud MIR. Brown tho director for
Europe, sent ono of tho mon from the
London office TO take my place and
asked mo when would be ready to
go, so here ! am. l was neutral about
It. a1tho know would have to come
TO Russia eventually
| left Riga. Nov. 2ath after n big
farewell dirrcr tho officer there gave
mo and arrived after an urcvcn'ful
but interesting trip thirtv-sx hours
afterwards II only took eighteen hours
to make the same trip before tho war.
The ratio OF deterioration holds good
In most things in Russia, but as
whole l should say Il is much worse
than 10 per cent IL such thing Is
possible.
The Russian Unit has a much larger
American personnel than any of tho
other A. II \. missions about ninety !
now including the secretaries and ste
rographers, and moro coming. but thcn.
nf course conditions demand it, Tho !