The Washington times., 1936-08-07
POULTRY DIE 5
AT FAST RATE
IN RUSSIA
BY ARNE sTRoM

The conference began at 4
e'elgek.
All its members came up 10 me
and welcomed me politely. The
American expert sat down next to
me. 1 fully realized that he was
the sort of man who knew how
to keep smiling.
Thumbs in his arlnholes, Mi.
Smith asked me with ironically
raised eyebrows how the chickens
were dying in Peveri1e. I replied!
"Excellently, quite excellent
~"
He then asked me whether 1
had succeeded in finding a single
thing which the Russians had not
done wrongly. yes" 1 answered
full Of Joy. II went to the opera
last night"
"Then you'd better take that
little 'Jane.'" he pointed to the
stenographer) with you to
Faust. We can all so together.
I've got tickets. " "But can we
do that?" / asked. "Have we got
time for the cOhference?"
He smiled and shrugged his
shoulders: During the first
two days people will do nothing
but read aloud about the terri
BILE conditions on all the poultry
farms and they'll be busy prov
ing that it isn't their fault.
Neither you nor 1 need listen to
that. We can tell ali this much
better ourselves"
EXCELLENT ORATOR
New Mikailevsky was speaking.
He seemed an excellent orator.
who knew exactly when to
sweeten his dry subject with a
Joke or two. what a pity could
not yet understand all he said.
"He puts the responsibility on
the W0rkmen," whispered Smith:
che says they are stupid and
lazy, unwilling and uninterested.
The man fOrgets that they never
get q chance Of learning any
thinE, that they go hungry or
At best are underfed. He forgets
several other little Details"
Smith whispered, "but then the
most important things are al
ways left out of these reports,
for instance the fact that the
werkmen themselves live like
pigs.
II have only just returned
from The show place Of eur trust.
tEe farm at KuChina-f0r our
trust, like all the other state
undertakings in the Soviet
Unieil, has a show farm which Is
shown to unsuspectins foreign.
efs, in this case to give them q
fOed impression Of the Russian
poultry ihdustry-sO that they
can tell about it when they are
he4le again."
HANDSOME, INTELLIGENT
Mr.. Smith, being of Russian
Jewish descent. spoke excellent
Russian and did not need an in
teFpfetef. He was a handsome. and
intelligent man, ana rather foxy,
this colleague Of mine.
Smith asked me whether l
would like to Share his room With
him. He had got a large one
which was comparatively free
from bugs, as the house was still
being built. The painters had
not yet begun work, and the place
smeiled Of plaster and fresh wood.
On the third floor three steps
mad fallen down, SO we had to
take a long stride before we could
80 on.
''H6w on earth can a thing
like that happen?" 1 asked.
Smith laughed. "The cement
mixture is too weak. This sort
6f thing often happens in new
buildings but, provided one isn't
on steps as they fall. one doesn't
Ray the slightest attention to
little mishapS like that"
LOCK WOULDN'T WORK
The lock In the door to Our
room would only turn halfway,
ana Mr.. Smith lost his temper,
As people often bring the truth
out on occasions like this, will
quote his words:
"These swine don't season
their wood properly before using
it for building, and that's why
neither doors nor windows ever
fit in the new houses in Russia.
Please I1ete that all the walls are
massive and from two to three
foot thick. I've spoken to many
architects from Germany and
other lands, and they tell me
that the Russians went believe
them when they say that in
other countries they have given
up building heavy wallis long