The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1943-09-01
CHAPTER ~

time was, found, a good index
to the economic status of the Soviet
Union. Politically, Russia's posi-
ton was sound, both at home and
abroad: the Communist Party was
maintaining firm discipline domes-
tleally, while the western powers,
the United States and Great Brit
ain, were doing everything posi-
BILE to aid their eastern ally. Mill
tarily Russia's position was strong;
the Red army still packed an Of
fensive punch, as well as a defense
equal to anything the Germans
could hand out in any single Sec
tor. If the Soviet Union had a
weakness, it was economic.
There were no complete, exact
statistics by which this situation
could be judged. There were a
few general statements and par
tial figures. Industrial bases had
been evacuated successfully to the
east, and were keeping the Red
army well supplied with arms and
munitions. Cultivated in
non-occupied regions had been in
creased by more than 5000, 00d
acres for the 1912 summer crop,
and by 100000 acres for the 1912
43 winter crop. How far these
miracles of MANAGEMENT had gone
to make up for the loss of great
industrial regions like the Donetz
Basin, for , the wheatfields Of the
Ukraine, North Caucasus, and the
Kursk black-earth region, for the
tremendous drain made by t h e
front, could only be judged by the
economic life of citizen.
This story would have been best
told by a housewife, but there be-
ing no American or English wo-
man available to do it, and the
Russian women all being too busy,
I have taken off my apron, dried
my hands, and seated myself be-
fore a typewriter to do the job.
During the summer, on my re-
turn from Kuibyshev, I alternated
in living at the apartment and the
hotel. Walter Kerr, Larry Lesueur,
Lee Stowe, Eddy Gilmore, and
some of the other correspondents,
would order their nightly portions
of sausage, cheese, bread, butter,
and cake at the hotel with me,
and we would carry them to the
apartment. We did our own cook
ing, toasting cheese sandwiches,
frying the sausage, and liking it..
After supper, we sat in the long
summer twilight, talking b u t
home. When darkness fell about
II p.m.. we walked back to the
hotel, if we felt like it, or
stretched out on the be DIS and
couches and slept. Mornings.
Tchijova's maid, Natasha, came
to clean up, and make breakfast
coffee if there were any clients.
Once in while, we threw party.
I was registered at the Gas
tronome, for my food ration. This,
for correspondent, was equal to
an ambassadors ration. 1t provid-
ed:
Bread, flour Or cookies-one kilo
daily 1.-TWO big loaves of bread
Butter-three kilos monthly (six
pounds.
Meat-five kilos monthly eleven
pounds).
Fish-five kilos monthly eleven
pounds.
Milk-two iters every five days
Cittle more than two quarts).
Eggs-one daily.
Sugar-five kilos monthly I'll
pounds.
Rice or other grain-four kilos
monthly (nine pounds.
Fruit, vegetables - unrationed,
but limited according to supply.
My rations, found, were
enough, if I had company no more
than once a week. At that, l was
much better off than the average
citizen. Their rations provided, for
the three categories Of workers,
employees, and dependents:
Bread-600, 500, and 400 grams
daily.
Butter-8O0, 400, and 200 grams
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