Evening star., 1923-10-03
Can Europe Hold Togethetzr?' g
XX--Is Russia Coming Back?
BY JOHN r. SINCLAIR

other nfty-one of them were man.
l ayers In private industries. y
| Steel at 10 Per Cen of Pre-war
Production. e,
In the coal industry production has
| increased during the past year from
| 25 to 35 per cent of the pre-wars pro-
duction. The iron and steel industry
| Is in the worst shape, with less than
The pe eelief fh In RI Russia is that sSess IN
dustries win be the last to revive,
| for the credit problem with them has
not beeH satisfactorily solved, -
This brings 'us to the government
/, budget. =
InI91s it took $3.50. 200. .Oo0. 600 to run,
| the government Of Russia. and there
| was no deficit. In 1923 the expenses
! are expected to be 1915, 100000 and
! ence. SOS. 100000. is made up by the
| government Issuing new, unsecured
paper rubles.
In 1920 Russia raised less than 80
per cent Of her expenses. In 1921
this was.increased to As per cent. In
expenses and 1928 she expects to
raise IS per cent. Beginning. with
| 1925, the commissioner of finance. ex-
| poets to. make his receipts balance
Russia will continue to issue new
paper money trubles). just as she has
| since the revolution, and the paper
| ruble will continue to go down In
value. In 1913 an American dollar
would purchase 2 rubles.. Now it will
/ purchase 0,096, 900 of them.
| At f1rst the soviet government de-
| liberately debased the currency, 50
/ as to eliminate money as the medium
\ of exchange 1t now sees the fallacy
! Here again Russia has completely
| changed fronts. The government OF
Russia is giving to no problem more
study than. that Of money and credit.
Recently II secured the services Of
| Prof. Gustav Cassel Of Sweden to act
i asihnanciat adviser. Prof. Cassei is
recognized as one Of the greatest au-
thorfties in the world on the whole
subject of money and credit: AS a
result the State Bank Of; Russia has
been reorganized. with paid up cap
| ital and surplus of s30.000.000. 1t has
+ now 220 branches scattered through
| out Russia.
Believe Now In Gold Standard
/ Yes. we believe in the gold stand :
ard. The State Bank of Russia IN is-
suing its new money is proceeding on
that basis" declared Mr.. Scheiman.
president of the State Bank. The
| law under which we are organized
requires US to carry 20 per cent goio
reserve against our total bank notes
| issued and outstanding: We have to-
| l.. y
quirements. The new Russian money.
/ the czerwonetz. is equal to 10 gold
| rubles (S5.15) and is the best secured
| currency in Europe today. :.
On August 16. 1923. the State Bank
, of Russia had issued and outstanding
notes. This amount is secured by
| sac. 200, 900 in gold reserve. This is a
! gold reserve equal to A per cent OF
the notes outstanding. The new
Y t., fod m N
| don market at a higher figure than
1.-THE English pound sterling.
| Mr.. Scheiman. will you give me
gold IL l present a czerwonetz to your
| bank for payment" l asked.
NO. we will not part with our gold.
| But l will give you American dollars
or English pound sterling for your
czerwonetz. That should be satisfac-
/ tory"
| OF course. Russia's paper money
toutstanding in 1913 was worth sS25,-
100000, and she had nearly s6o0.000,-
i'00o in gold to back it up. Today she
| is far down the economic. and finan-
1 cial scale. But the problem is less to
determine how far down she is than
to see if, economically and financially
speaking, Shells moving in the right
direction. Her record since March,
1921, shows, that she is. She is re-
I covering her financial poise.
| Russia, the rich child of nature, has
|
ling the past six years. Gradually she
has come to realize that her saliva
| tion would not come from without.
but from within Russia. That she is
on the road to. economic andvtinancial
+, recovery: within her countryf<shefs
can be no,.doubt. She has resolrtelv
set to work to bring her government
expenses within her receipts. She has
ire establ isbed the gold standard in or
der to rebuild her shattered machine
Nt1,~
along these two lines during the past
! two years has been very striking.
Russia is coming back.
l. I left Russia with one thought up
permost in my mind: Russia fs~1Io "
i far more able to. live without Europe
than Europe is to: live without Rus
sia. .
Copyright, 1923. in United States and Grea,
T. Britain by North American Newspaper
y Alliance. All rights reserved)