The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1933-03-24
Howe About:
A Proud Human Being
Russia's Plight
Something Wrong
D. En unxIYr
By ED HOWE

g. 1888 Bell Syndicate.-WNU service
THE proudest human being ] have
ever encountered turned up today
as In elevator operator in depart
menf store; girl OF nineteen and
rather good looking. The floor man
ager told me she received So week
What is the base OF her pridef Prob
ably the talk of love in moving pic
ture plays and in magazine stories.
the exaggerated compliments the man
pays The woman when trying to enfrap
her. find no fault with the girl; sne
is the product of an age in which eV'
eryOne pursues wrong policies: prop
ably her father is as proud because ne
is voter as his daughter lis because
she Is a girl.
common and mistaken notion Is
that the people. after living many
thousands of years. have failed to nno
the easiest and best way. and Still
stubbornly and meanly persist in trav-
cling the wrong road. | have scarcely
Known nan who did not make this
charge or offer remedy. One Dr.
| W. j Robinson. OF New York city,
had the idea very strongly. and wrote
to broadcast it. Speaking of Russia
some months ago. he said: 1T Is the
only country which holds aloft bea-
con of light and hope: the only coun
try which is taking mankind out of Its
rut and putting 1t on another track
from the one II has been following
Dlindly and stupid. for these thou
sands of years since 1t emerged from
the jungle"
| During the past summer Doctor Rob
insOn went to Russia, and on his re
turn tells an entirely different story.
He saw crowds of workmen In Lenin
grad returning from their summer va
| cations. and wrote of them: "Our
poorest steerage immigrant arriving al
| Ellis island looks like a prosperous
man in comparison. The impression
was very depressing. and it was inten-
sified wherever | went" He found the
road trains like pig pens. because of
the general inefficiency. In the rail-
road stations there was always suf-
locating. overpowering stencil; mobs
of ragged. barefoot people lying on the
floor. He visited the largest and best
hospital in Leningrad and said an
American dog would not eat the food
offered patients.
AT Moscow he visited the dining
room where workers In textile fac.
tory ate their meals, and says the
prisoners in Sing Sing have better and
more abundant food The average
pay of the workers in the factory was
70 rubles a month; the purchasing
power of ruble varies from to 1C
cents. Everywhere he saw long lines
of people waiting to purchase sup.
plies; one man had waited six hours
He found Kiev had had Is changes
of administration in two years. each
vieing with the other in the work OF
destruction. He declares the Soviet
government an intolerable tyranny
the people in a terrible plight 81 re
luctantly conclude" be writes, "that
the whole system Is wrong; 30 pei
cent of the people of Russia are now
in a vast prison, a hopeless hell, be
cause of the iron attempt to make the
entire country conform to the rules OF
Marxism. or Communism" He went
everywhere. and wrote at great length
about his visit, but found nothing tc
commend.
Before starting on his trip he hat
declared that Russia was the one
country in which the relations between
the sexes had been put on healthy
normal basis: on his return he sale
he did not see single happy woman,
face; scarcely a decent. comfortable
looking or contented man.
| tn t. 18th n.