The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-10-21

l1ardships veterans endured in the World war are to be found today in Soviet Russia, according to Legionnaire A. P1att Andrew, of Massachusetts, who is member of congress. Returning recently from five weeks in the Soviet Union. MT Andrew gave his impressions of the country from a veterans point or view. He painted colorful pic- ture of what is actually going on in Russia, drawing interesting com parisons with the conditions Amer ican Legionnaires knew in the days of the World war.
 Gravel in the Soviet Union to- day, especially outside of the iarg- est cities, means putting up with bad food. indescribable plumbing. many delays and a good deal or discomfort" he said, "but found the trip worth all the effort and hardship. Taken all in all. 1t was the most strange and absorbing human experience which have had since the years in the battle zone during the World war. In fact. the trip was curiously reminiscent of the abnormal and almost forgot ten conditions of that period. Once again one saw bread cards and black bread, far more black and sour than any one knew in the war.
 Comforts, Luxuries Lacking
 "Once again one found bread lines, rationed food and clothing. with most of the shops and stores closed or empty, and only here and there an open store of cooperative where a scant assortment of sta ples, but no comforts or luxuries. were to be had. Once again one found oneself among wretched:y clad people. in the midst of general delapidation, poverty and squalor, with everything in disorder, wear ing out and run down at the heel. Once more one smelled the pun gent odors of throngs who never bathe, recalling the atmosphere in crowded dugouts fourteen years ago, but now these smells were everywhere, on trains and tram ways, in railway stations, movie houses, theaters, dining halls and clubs. In wartime such forlorn conditions were confined to the area of the battle zone. In the land of the Soviets they now prevail generally, even in the best parts of the biggest cities.
 Suggestive of war days also was the presence of soldiers every WheTe, OH SudIu Witii AAASN nets in front of many buildings, lounging off duty in the public squares, or parading through the streets at all hours in step with bands playing stirring marches. The soldiers were the only we'll clad people one saw in all of the Soviet Union. but they. In their high leather boots, trimly-cut brooches, and tightly-belted blouses are as smartly uniformed as any troops in the world. The great mill itaSy parade through the Red Square in Moscow on May Day was one of the most imposing dis. plays of the kind that I can recall having seen anywhere in peace
 Big Military Spectacle
 sSeemingly endless files of fresh- N-uniformed infantry. well-mount- ed cavalry, machine gun battalions, artillery, armored motor cars. tanks Cat least a hundred of them). moved with speed and precision for two full hours before the re- viewing stands around Lenins Tomb. while a massed band Of six hundred pieces furnished continu- ous music, and scores of planes whirred overhead. Similar parades were held that day in every city or the Soviet Union. For although the Soviet government purports to pc pacific in aim. 1t maintains the largest army in the world. ana cornpels every able-bodied youth to serve from one to two years in its ranks. -
 "Reminiscent of wartime. too, was the ransacking of baggage at the frontier. both upon entrance and exit (which involved the min ute examination of letters. books and papers of every sort), the pet tv interefrence with the taking of nhotographs even of the most 1n- nocuous subjects; the obligation on freauent occasions to cross tne street in order not to pass too close to government buildings; ana the necessity of handing owed ones passport to the police at every town one visited (which often ieft one with the. uncomfortable ieeIns that his fate might be to speno the erst of his days within the Bolshevik horders).
 Ban on Newspapers
 sT.ike war conditions, too. was the ban upon all foreign news papers. weeklies and magazines and practically all foreign books. During the five weeks of my trip. never was able to procure sin ole English. American. French or German newspaper. One had to depend upon what he could giean from the Soviet press Tor any knowledge of what was hapenins in the rest of the world. and rom the Soviet papers one gathered tna. little was occurring in Europe ana
 Ckx riots IanOf troubles. the burning of monaster- les. and impending revolution.
 Above all, one was reminded or war by the ubiquitous use Of prop, aeanda on a scale never dreamed of by the nations engaged in the world war; hortatory posters m every shop window. and on every wall: banners with emotional slo. rans everywhere on the fronts or buiIdings. in the corridors of fac- tories. schools. hospitals. dining halls, clubs, museums. hotels. ci- nemas, theaters, even hanging from the balconies and boxes or opera houses; rhetorical speeches broadcast by radio and believed through amplifiers on the pubic streets: anti-foreign cartoons and optimistic graphics on the front page of every daily and weekly paper; museums in every town or city to promate the cult of Lenin, Marx. and the Revolution. or to disparage religion; moving pictures and plays even pallets - de- signed to inspire enthusiasm for what is taking place.
 Propaganda Everywhere
 ~Propaganda to the right of them, propaganda to the left Of them, propaganda in front of them, the people of the Soviet Union live. eat, work and sleep in the midst of propaganda. They read no papers or books from outside. They. can not travel beyond the Soviet from tier. They. know nothing else and are allowed to think of nothing else. The spirit dominating Soviet Russia fourteen years after the