Twin city review. [volume] (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-1929, 1926-01-22
Ry International Labor News Service

Nv International Labor News Service.
New York, Jan s0=srherc are
over 100 Soviet agents IN commercial
eenters IN America under temporary
oernats from the commissioner Of
Immigration 20 carry out the work
for which they were sent here by their
government They are not molested,
their permits are automatically eN=
tended and they are welcome in the
offices ef Wall street bankers and eN-
port houses, and on occasion afe vim
Ell and dincd. The purpose Of the
eommingling ~ capital and Soviet Is
just business.
The business conAsts of the Rus
sian government ageneles placing or
ders here FOR machinery. cotton, auto
mobiles, farming imnleme ITS, etc, and
of big business getting concessions OF
manganese and oil The entire far in
dustfy Is very closely connected with
Russia through the imports of mil
lions of dollars worth of raw fura
from the Siberian wilderness.
The entrance of Soviet Russia TO
business and financial channels Is
quite an open secret. Ii has been gos
ing ON. through the agency of the
Amtorg Trading company, with head
quarters at l65 broadway and branch.
IS In Washington and San Francisco.
This IL Soviet buying agency for
America and clearing house for all
imports and exports from Russia. IL
has the closest connections With the
Hartman National bank, the Bank
Of America, and other financial hons-
es that are heavily interested In com
merce with Russia.
How Soviet Agents Get In.
Russian passports are not yet recog
n,zed at American consular offices
except in limited cases. They are q
means 10 identify the alien, He makes
an affidavit as TO his birthplace and
his purpose In entering the United
States. This Is viseed by the consular
agent at the port of debaIkatlon. lh'
Soviet purchasing agents are then
lpAssed through the Immigration ~
spection with only cursory eAanan
alton ON shipboard and enter the un
| tied States with temporary permits al
lowing them 10 remain here from tMd
10 six months. Many of them have
been here for five years.
The chief Russian commercial
agents In this country who supervised
the expenditure of nearly $70,oOO,oOu
for American goods in 1925 were j,
J. Hoorgn and l.. Skliansky They
bought heavily in the American mar
ket for the Russian platinum trust
and other Soviet syndicates In tex
tile. clothing, aud mining industries.
They bought electric dredges ~ san
Francisco, farm machinery IN DeF
Moines, coal mining machines In PITTS
bnfgh.
The Big oncessionaires.
They were friendliest with the Hat-
fiman interests which last summer
obtained 20-year manganese con
eession In Chistoni, with the Sinclair
interests which have grip on Sibefe
ian oil wells. with the Rockefeller oil
combination and the Vanderbilt group.
The Importance of the Amtorg did
not dawn upon the general public un-
I'll the publicity resulting from the
drowning of Hoorgin and Skliansky
in Long Lake, in the Adirondacks
where they were amending vacation
last August The Communists of New
York turned out at the elaborate fu-
neral arranged on the arrival of the
bodies. Among the wreaths was one
from Leon Trotsky, former Soviet
war lord and then an exile from Mos
COW, who has since returned 10 power
In the Soviet dictatorship.
Soviet officials have not found any
difficulty in conferences with Amerl-
can authorities, group of them ar
riving in New York last September
10 confer with the Port Of New York
authority on technical details Of the
administration Of transport and ship
ping.
+. j. Ziez is the successor Of ]. J.