Evening star., 1923-02-12

character. The principles of commun-
ism continue to prevail and. in the
opinion of the American government,
make relations with the soviet gov
ernment as impossible as ever. The
soviet leopard gives no reliable sign
of changing its spots.
Friends of Russia" are going up
and down the land clamoring that
"readmission of Russia to the family
OF nations" is az essential to Euro
pean rehabilitation as settlement of
the reparations question. 1t is noted
in Washington that Europe itself
holds no such view. No first-class
European power has recognized soviet
Russia. Great Britain has entered
into trade treaty with her, but re-
fuses diplomatic relations.
Those Giving Recognition.
The countries that so far have rec
ognized Russia are Germany, Turkey.
Poland, Persia, Lithuania, 1+atvIa,
Esthonia and Finland. The four last
named states were formerly part OF
Russia, and with Poland the soviet
! made peace after war on the basis
OF recognition. sJoffe, a prominent
soviet leader. recently arrived In
Japan for negotiations with the Toxic
government. The soviet made bold
| bids for recognition of the western
European powers at the Genoa ana
| Hague conferences, and only recent
| ly at Lausanne. Washington author-
| tiles point to the futility of Lenin
efforts to secure 'readmlssion 10 inc
! family of nations" at Genoa, Ihe
! Hague and Lausanne as classic vim
dication of Americas refusal per-
maturely to recognize the soviet.
| American recognitionists are FOND
| of arguing that the time has come 10
| establish relations with the soviet
| because the Lenin government IS tne
| only wartime" regime still in eX-
! or
| inets of all other European powers.
That is nominally the case, but there
| Is believed to be little real substance
behind that mere fact The genera
servers, is not improving. Agricul-
| ture, once the country's bulwark. is
probably not half of what it used to
| be. Industry is not more than
quarter of its one-time volume. II that
much. The peasantry Is in sullen re-
volt against the soviet central gov
ernment. whose actual authority is
| confined practically to the cities and
other urban communities dominated
| by Trotsky's bayonets. The urban
| food, which is extorted by the soviet
| from the peasant producers in the
guise of taxes in kind
Peasants Complain.
| Peasants complain that they have
recently been "bled' for excessive
food contributions by a soviet fake
| crop estimate. which fixed the total
! yield at an excessive figure, SO as to
permit the communicating of i'm
mense supplies on the 10 per cent
I tax in kind" basis.
| American authorities are doing nc
guessing as to how long the soviet
| regime can hold on. 1t may last
months or years. Doomed, they con-
| tinue to believe it is, whether ii
I; totters early or late. Lenin's demise
| it is felt certain will speed the col
| lapse, though even his disappearance
| may not Immediately spell the soviet's
I end. He is unQuestionably the key
| stone in the communist arch. and
! when he finally breaks up the struc-
! ture will unquestionably begin to
| tumble.
Washington officials are called upon
more or less regularly to remind peo-
pie that the United States since 1926
has placed no embargo on trade with
Russia. Anybody that loves adven-
ture can trade with the soviet 1t Is
observed that although both Great
Britain and Germany enjoy formal
trade agreements with the Moscow
authorities. the volume of commerce
resultant therefrom has been infini-
tesimal. American trade with Rus
| sia, even before the war, always was
| insignificant. 1t accounted for hardly
l per cent of our total foreign busi'
! ness.
| Copyright, 1921