Evening star., 1937-12-31
BY JOHN T. WHITAKER.

ny JOnN L. VIII AMIN,
Chicago Daily News Correspondent.
MOSCOW.-You become aware of
the purge as soon as you get to Mos
COW.
II want to see Mr. Blank, over at
the foreign Office" you tell a colleague.
Il liked him very much on my last
trip to MOSCOW"
Your colleagues eyebrows go up.
BLANK is not there anymore" he says.
You 60 to the foreign ONCE your
self You tell the press officer about
mutual friends, Russian diplomats
abroad who sent him greetings. The
press officer says nothing He just
waits for you to change the subject.
No official in q Moscow office says
anything about anybody.
The press officer knew that there
was a dictagraph in the room. If he
spoke cordially about a Russian and
later the Russian became a suspect,
he might be arrested. too Sixteen
diplomats with the rank Of ambassa- =
dor, minister or chief Of division in
the commissariat for foreign affairs
have already been caught in the purge.
You try to find secretary. some
body who can translate the Russian
newspapers and help you around town
You can't find one. Russians cannot
have relations with foreigners now.
No man or woman is going to become
suspect and risk being arrested or
killed for a few weeks salary.
Social Visit Stunned.
You are invited to a formal diplo-
matte reception by the foreign office.
Amid the color of gowns and the
tinkle of glasses you find an old
acquaintance who is one of the host
esses You greet her warmly and
ask if you can call while you are in
Moscow.
L think you had better not" she
says-an answer which says nothing
or much.
inadvertently YOU use strong words
in talking with the intourist ONCE.
You explain that you must have your
passport back in order to identify
yourself and get into the Red Square
for the great anniversary parade. "You
had better have that passport in my
hands by o'clock tomorrow morning.
you tell the girl. "or I'll shoot you. u
And then you wish YOU could bite
your tongue out. The girl grows
deathly pale and reddens. That idle
phrase is full of meaning in Moscow
today.
Don't Ask About Anybody"
One of the best friends you ever
had, . Russian journalist, Is missing
Can you ask If they have killed him
or banished him to Siberia? Can
you call on his wife?
You had better not" say the Mos.
COW residents. Don't ask about any
body; don't go to see anybody"
You begin to read the newspapers
Ten found guilty and executed as
Fascist -Trotzkyite traitors in sukhumi
down on the Black Sea. Nine killed
in Baku, on the Caspian. One days
toll. You talk with your colleagues
THE best of Russian airplane de-
signers Is missing-I've checked it
but the censor won't pass it yet,
says one. 1T looks rs If there were
purge on the way in the navy-two
admirals missing, but nothing about
them yet" says another, who adds
that the censor will now pass. the
St ry about Natalie satz, head Of the
Childrens Theater MY estimates
show they are killing about 400
month now" says . third journalist
They might be talking about produc-
ton in the tractor plant.
In the of1icial magazine Of the tex
tile industry you read that looms are
breaking down under the extra shifts
in the speed-up process because work
ers are careless. Engineers, managers
and workers alike must understand
once and for ALL" says the magazine
that such care of equipment. though
1t arises only from neglect and sloven-
illness or only from . lack Of re-
sponsibility for national property
comes in effect to the same thing q
wrecking." What . thing to be ar
rested or killed for, you think.
"A Purge in . Zoo. @
II that 10 grotesque, there Is even
humor, though Of . grim kind, IN this
purge. DO you know that they had
. purge in the zoo?" asks . friend
well, they did. The newspapers
were full OF it. They found the soc
keepers were killing animals. They
said they threw tacks into the spur
zsl oase, for instance"