The Alaska daily empire., 1923-03-23
MOSCOW STUDENTS MUST FIGHT
 FOR CHANGE TO MAKE LIVING

MOSCOW, March 23.-Amerlcan college students, who frequently complain that their allowances are too small. would learn what rough | ing it in search of an education actually means were they to come to Moscow.
 Investigators IvT tne American Relief Administration has come across tragic comedy or comic trag
 cdy in every nook and corner of the bare clad dormitories which the Soviet government provides for Rus sian youths at the big universities in Moscow and in the provinces. Last September, when the college term opened. there were approxi- mately 50,000 students registered in the higher institutions of Moscow. Approximately 10000 of these were capable of caring for themselves; another 10000 were to be taken care of by the government, but many of the 30,000 literally had to sleep in the streets, because no quarters could be found for them in the overcrowded city.
 One member of the committee found the task of relieving needy students almost hopeless because of the indefinite addresses given by the applicants. Peter Popoff, who was given a pair of shoes and was to receive a food package later. in formed the comnittee that he was rather a difficult person to find, be- cause he slept in a different door way every night. Two young men from the electrical college were per- feetly willing to be called upon, they said but doubted that they could be found in the crowd at the railway station, where they slept. Study Impossible.
 So much time and energy is spent trying to obtain food and shelter that many of the students find study impossible They are always, on the lookout for odd jobs that will give them a bed a meal or a few million rubles. Three girls in one of the universities sew four hours day for corner to sleep in. After meal at the student kitchen at o'clock in. the evening, they attend their first class. Rus sian universities always ran toI night work, for even in the old days the terms student" and poor were synonomous,
 Conditions in the universities Of Moscow today are said to be infin- itely worse than those endured by the poorest students before the rev. olution. Sleeping forty in a room, some with and some without beds, many of these earnest young seek CTS after the truth about science, philosophy or medicine play bala-
 laiNas and sing songs even when 1 they are hungry. Two cheery lads, owning one suit of clothes between
 them were lucky enough to find a ranged their classes so that one could stay in bed and study while the other wore the suit to the lec-
 lures. Another youngster had three useful pcsscssions, blanket, sack of potatoes, and geometry. Wrapped
 in one, he used another for a pill
 low, while he read the third. Urge fer Education.
 Two girls, taking a mathematical course, had consistently guarded their >rocm. but one evening they went out for a moment to buy some food. When they returned they found their belongings in the cor Iridor and a new lock on the door Two young men had moved in The urge for education is strong CT throughout Russia these days, particularly among sons and daugh- ters of the working classes. than lit has ever beens before, and regis tration in the higher schools in some cases has increased more than 200 per cent.
 In the old days at the Russian universities there were no dorlni- tories. the students renting rooms and paying for their own board Now the government is attempting both to feed anH house students, and pays them monthly subsidy, amounting approximatel to two dollars in American money In pre- revolution days, ten dollars month would keep Russian student in ragged but happy. comfort.N
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