Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-19

,Df large bol0mg, Wnere she lett the coat
and fur.
About o'clock the next evening she received
a telephone call in q male voice, asking that
she come at once to the dressmaker's for
fitting She did not return for dinner with u.s.
as promised, and by midnight We were becom-
ing very uneasy about her. Then she came
to our hotel room, pale and trembling.
Her story was that when she entered the
shop for her fitting she found it full Of OGPU
officers and badly scared women. The dress
maker had been arrested for engaging IN private
business in opposition to the government Each
customer who had appeared in the course of
the day had been detained although several
OF them had babies at home requiring atten-
ton. The husbands of some had been tele-
phoning anxiously, trying to locate them but
in every case an officer had replied gruffy
that no such person was there.
Finally, when the night well along,
all were allowed to go, but were warned that
they might yet have to answer for patron
izing such a monStrous offender against the
proletarian dictatorship. Requests that they be
allowed to take away their garments were curt
ly refused The clothing was all confscated.
1t is a constant cause of evaporation to
foreigners employed by the Soviet Union that
they cannot make purchases with the same
freedom accorded tourists. Whatever / wanted
] had to arrange for through the trust that
served, the SvetTetvoloto. Once a month
made out a requiSition that was scrutiniZed and
stamped and reStamped and checked and re-
checked before a permit card was issued. If
forgot to list something that was needed, or
saw something in the store that struck my
fancy, I was out of luck.
I Usually I tried to get my permit cards in
- Moscow, for the commissary conducted
there for foreign employees carried a larger
and better stock than the one in SverdlovSk.
Even in Moscow it was unusual for the store
to have more than half the simple articles
that listed.
Tourists were encouraged to visit shops where
they could show their Intourist Bureau Gre
dentials and buy pretty much what they
wanted For their benefit there was a booth
in the lobby Of the Grand Hotel, where excel
lent candies and scented soaps were sold at
reasonable prices. But just let any Russian
or hired men of the Russians try to purchase
any such Injuries!
After a time, though, another American
and found out how to outvit the whole Soviet
regime We would wait until the booth was
surrounded by crowd Of tourists, then walk
up boldly and call for soap and candy The
attendants in charge knew us, knew that We
were not supposed TO enjoy any of that bait
spread before sightSeers at less than the cost
of production; but how could they shoe us
away without betraying the fact that their
wares were not there for anybody who had
the price? They scowled they cursed under
their breath, but they sold and sold until he
and I were gorged on sweets and loaded down
with enough soap to have cleansed a droshky
driver-which is lot of soap. Ours was a
childish trick, of course but under the circum-
stances it gave peculiar satisfaction.
I am not sure that the rulers all believe
it, but the populace believes, having been told
so, that every tourist who visits Russia goes
home to preach the glories of Communism and
persuade his countrymen to adopt the system
of Lenn as amended by Stain. Certain it is
that the leaders go to great pains and
pense to make sure that tourists see as little
as possible that is unfavorable and as much
as possible that will convince them of the
magnificent success of the MARKHAM experiment.
Astounding cunning is exercised in imbuing
travellers with absolutely false conceptions.
There is a now classic story, probably true,
Of the globe trotter who a long line Of
people waiting to present their food cards at
a Communist store. When he questioned his
guide he blal.dly informed that those peo-