Evening star., 1941-07-13
Moscow Is Tranquil,
With Little Evidence
Of War Observed
Reporter Finds Everything
Normal Except Used
Car He Bought
BY ERSKINE CALDWELL.

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Foreign Correspondent of The Star and PM.
MOSCOW.-Peggy and bought
secondhand 6-year-old Plymouth
sedan yesterday and took 60-mile
trip into the country north of Mos
cow and three-hour drive through
the city. Everything was normal
except the car.
To begin with, the American
owner had gone to Stockholm for
the week end two days before the
outbreak of war, and he probably
will be there for the duration. This
unforeseen incident undoubtedly
soured him on life, and by telegram
he laid down some rather uncom-
Portable conditions of sale.
The most ruthless promise he ex-
tracted from me was that I was
never to slam doors, because he
would hate to think that his car
was not receiving considerate
treatment
Bob Maxwell, who runs a second
hand car lot on Sunset Boulevard
in Los Angeles, undoubtedly will be
glad to hear that even in Moscow
the traditions of the used car busi-
ness are being respected. Ambassa-
dor Steinhardt heard about the deal
and insisted that the gas tank be
filled to half its capacity before we
drove the car away. 1t would be
unprincipled, he said, for Americans
to make deal such as this over a
secondhand car and not give the
new owner enough gas to get to the
other side of town before the car
broke down
Hitch Develops.
The only hitch was that nobody
had any gas tickets he was willing
to part with, traditions or no tradi-
tions, and the Ambassador reluct-
antly drained gallons from his own
car
My Russian chauffeur drove me
six blocks and stopped in the middle
of busy intersection. He then got
out and looked at the car critically
for several minutes. BY then traffic
was in a snarl and the traffic cop
with each step.
Both the police officer and I
wanted to know what the trouble
was. The chauffeur said the car
was not fit to drive until he gave it
thorough polishing job. The traf-
fic cop sided with the chauffeur and
there was nothing I could do
about it.
gave the chauffeur 5 rubles to
buy bottle of polish, but when he
came back I told him to take me
home and call for me when the
polishing was finished. He came
back two hours later with book of
government-issued pale lavender
gasoline ration tickets and a dazzl-
1ng-looking car that looked as if it
had just come off the assembly line.
Little Evidence of War.
We then drove off into the
country, where it seemed as though
everybody in town who had a holi-
day was picnicking and swimming.
There were no German parachutists
floating down, no Finnish sharp
shooters knocking off peoples hats.
During the trip we had to show the
cars passport two times. The only
other indication that war was on
was that everyone who had a job
to do was hustling And when a
Russian hustles, you'd better get out
of his way.
Late in the afternoon we came
back to town and drove for several
hours through every section of the
city. There were no bomb craters
in the streets, no bomb-wrecked
buildings. But there was plenty of
activity. Women were washing win
dows and street cleaners were
sweeping sidewalks. Moscow looked
like any peaceful European city
four years ago.
Anybody who comes here and tries
to create disturbance will have a
lot of angry citizens to reckon with.