Evening star., 1938-12-23
BY EDMUND ]. LOWRY,
(As told to Selig Greenberg of the
Providence Journal-Bulletin.)

H1uHy OJ RUSSIA S Key nGuS71eS.J
BY EDMUND ]. LOWRY,
(As told to selis Greenbers of the
Providence Journal-Bulletn.)
PROVIDENCE, R. l., Dec. % IN.
A.NA).-A high Red army officer,
who would probably be shot if
revealed his name and rank. told me
after returning from fighting with
the Loyalists in Spain shortly before
left Russia in the fall of 1887:
Were not yet ready for major
conflict and it will still be a long
time before Russian military equip
ment can be considered on par
with that of other great foreign
powers"
This particular officer, whom I
had seen win a sham battle over
another Red army unit aided by a
large squadron of tanks because
many of the tanks either refused
to bulge or soon snorted to a stand
still, told me that the Soviet mill
tary equipment sent over to Spain,
including airplanes, tanks and guns,
had proved inferior to German and
even Italian equipment used by the
rebels. Similar views have been
expressed by Red army officers sent
to aid the Chinese against the Jap
aneSe.
Motors Prove Second Rate.
This was no surprise to me, be-
cause I have worked in many So
Wet plants producing motors for
planes, tanks, automobiles and lor-
lies and know from personal expe-
rience that, because of poor work.
manship and inferior quality of
metals, an-manufactured mo-
tors last half the time of Ameri-
can-built motors and usually have
only three-quarters of their pulling
power
On several occasions have seen
at least 10 per cent of picked tanks
chosen to parade on Red Square in
Moscow before Stain and other
Communist chieftains on May l or
November Z, the anniversary of the
Soviet revolution, fail to move at all
,or break down after covering
short distance. If this happens to
carefully selected machines on pa
rade before the Red czar, what can
be expected to happen on rough ter
rain under wartime conditions?
The same is true of Soviet cart
ridges and shells. have worked in
munitions plants in various parts of
Russia and have had numerous
occasions to observe the poor quality
of the shells when they we're tested
on the shooting ranges attached to
each arsenal. Out of each 1000
shells, an inspector picks out a few
at random and these are fired to
determine the percentage of mis-
fires. There are at least 25 per
cent of misfires, meaning that a
quarter of the shells picked at ran
dom either fail to explode at all or
fire improperly. There was SIM
liar heavy percentage of defective
shells in some of the American
munitions plants in which I worked
in 1916 and 1917, but by now the
number of misfres in this country
has been reduced to less than ! per
cent.
Home Front Dubious.
To my mind this fact of the poor
quality of Soviet military equipment
Is of the utmost Importance in dis
cussing Russia's military strength
and links up with the whole question
of the strength of the Soviet Unions
home front"-that is, her internal
economy and the morale of her peo-
Pile
The Soviet regime has not been
able to provide the great majority
Of the Russian people with the ele-
mentary necessities of life and must
therefore be considered a failure.
For, in my opinion, this is the cru
cial fact upon which we must base
our judgment, not only of the Stalin-
ist regime as whole, but also of its
inability to win long war
I came to Russia in 1890 with an
open mind and genuine sympathy
for an experiment supposedly de-
signed to eradicate poverty and the
injustice of man to man and to bring
abundance for all.
found that poverty has not been
eradicated and that the vast ma
jority of Russians are as far from
abundance as they were under the
Cars. I found that Soviet plan
ming" has caused immense misery
and is operating with the help Of
executions, mass jailings and other
ruthless coercive measures. I found
standard of living which workers
In the United States, England or
France would not tolerate for min
ute. I found that the new Russia
has reverted to the main character
istics of the Asiatic despotism of the
old Russia, with the only difference
that an entirely new class of op-
pressors has replaced the old ones.
Great Achievements, However.
Still, would distort the picture
of the new Russia if I were to deny
that the Soviet regime also has some
great achievements to its credit.
New cities have been built and
huge industrial regions developed
since 1917. The production of iron,
steel, coal, copper, oil and electricity
has been greatly increased. Russia