Evening star., 1932-01-10

soldiers in huge, Tapping overcoats, un-
buttoned at the collar, rest aimleSsly
against yellow stocked guns. In great
heap of untrimmed brush at the rivers
bank is dumped wagonloads of debris.
The frontier station is a ramShackle
house, unpainted since CzariSt days. The
gravel once strewn on platforms and
pathways has long ago sunken into the
mud. Huge balloonlike bundles, gray
and brown, are stacked by the entrance
to the station. Thick-coated mujiks and
booted women patiently squat by their
luggage.
Here in a restaurant, devoid of any
food except black bread and onions,
waited for custom inspection. Patches
of worn brown linoleum covered the lit
tie used portions of the floor. Dirt
encrusted boards, unscrubbed for many
months, lay bare in the aisles between
greasy tables. Dirt was drifted against
the baseboards. Windowpanes were
broken or cracked. The chair in which
7 sat swayed on it's loose legs and four
broken rods that had been its back
jabbed into me when I leaned against
them. So does Soviet sacrific leap upon
the traveller.
If it is true that IAN army moves on
its stomach" it is certainly fact that
the stomachs of the Russian masses have
paid for the heavy industry" The cas-
ual hardships which favored and cared
for tourists endured this year in Russia
because of food shortage are trivial COM
pared to the natives sufferings. The
tales of woe which disgruntled American
engineers pour out to travellers who hap
pen into isolated Russian towns do not
ring of the true want patiently suffered
by the worker and the peasant. have
visited in the homes of workers, Com
munist leaders and in the barren apart
ments of the dispossessed mobiles OF old
Russia. I have eaten, too, In factory
Kitchens, on communal farms and in the
community dining rooms of giant col
lectives throughout Russia and Siberia,
and in the Asiatic hinterlands of south
ern republics I have foraged my meals
in forgotten mud villages. Everywhere
was a stark dearth of varied food.
A dinner in the home of Russian uni
versity professor in one of the largest
cities reflected the typical hardship being
endured that the promised better day
might dawn. The home was single
room in a residence once the property
Of a foreign embassy Carved beamed
ceiling and a long mirror iammed be-
tween two pillars were the only relics Of
the apartments one-time grandeur. A
few NANCY rugs were scattered on the
worn inlaid floor Four beds lined the
walls. There was one upholstered chair
foaming bubbles of gray hair from abra-
sions in the cracked leather covering.
The other seats were plain, unpainted
stools. Though there was a communal
kitchen in the marble corridor, it was not
required for the preparation Of meal.
DINNER consisted of a can of fish and
two tins of peppers stuffed with car
rots. These were served in the opened
containers. Black bread and tea were
the other dishes on the menu. The
canned goods, bought on the open mar
ket," had cost approximately So, for they
were dehcacies not supplied to co-opera-
tive stores to be purchased on ration
ticket The bread and tea had come
through the ordinary ration card and
were, therefore, moderately priced.
1--WE had to go to the open market be-
cause we have already used our quota Of
meat for this seven days." he said. "We
are allowed only 800 grams three times a
week" He was explaining the apparent
extravaganza of canned fish and carrots.
The black bread was heavy and soggy
and loaded with bran. do you care for
it?" inquired my host
att is quite edible" lied.
"That," he replied, "is five-year bread
which means it is 95 per cent accom-
plishment and S per cent wheat"
"Aren't You DISCOURAGED at the contin-