Evening star., 1948-07-11

| NOt>SO Secret
Plenty Can Be Learned
Through Soviet Press
and Periodicals
By Clarke Beech
Despite the so-cslled iron curtain
tons of printed matter on Russian
scientific and industrial activities
are being imported into this country
Soviet presses pour out hundreds
of magazines, newspapers and re-
ports covering an enormous range
of subjects. A few copies Of nearly
all of interest to us find their way
to some Government or private
library.
1t isn't propaganda for foreign
consumption. It's the same stuff
which is distributed to Soviet admin
istrators and specialists.
Russian language specialists here
say that any American who can read
Russian can learn practically as
much about the Soviets as any we'll
placed official in Russia outside the
Kremlin.
OF course, we are not receiving
any top secret material and no
Russian publication contains ma
tional production figures or infor-
nation of direct military value.
Translating Difficulties .g4.z
But trained statisticians say they
take. what information is supplied,
put the pieces together and come
out with a fairly clear picture of
what is happening in the Soviet
Union.
The export of some publications is
forbidden, under pain of extreme
penalties, but according to our ex-
perts there is very little we really
want which we can't manage to
procure.
However, the enormous amount Of
Russian stuff which is received here
is not being well used, according to
many OF the Russian experts. The
difficulty is both with cataloguing
and translating.
The Russians print very limited
number of copies of each publica-
tion-usually only from 1000 to
5000 copies each. They say paper
and printing equipment are too
scarce to print more. And only sur
plus copies are sent abroad.
Most of the few copies that come
to this country are sent to the
Library Of Congress or to other
Government or private libraries
with which the Soviet government
has exchange agreements-swap-
ping magazine for magazine, book
for book. The others are sent over
for sale, mostly through the -Four
Continent Book Corp, New York, a
Soviet government agency.
Often one library doesn't know
what the other one has.
One Government expert on Rus
sian production complained that
after trying for months he was un-
able to get the Soviet periodical
Steel. He assumed it couldn't be
had.
New Agency Suggested
I mentioned this to a private re-
search man in library few blocks
away. He looked surprised. He
showed me q complete file of Steel
on his shelves.
Another expert had been told
after diligent search that it was I'M
possible to obtain copy of the Rus
sian National photography, listing
all Soviet publications. A few days
later I saw two copies of this book
in another library.
What we need, one official sug-
gests, is new agency, either pri-
vate or governmental, to cataiog
everything received. The agency
would also have a staff Of trans
lators, trained chiefly for scientific
and technical work, which would see
that any information of value was
put at the disposal Of the Govern
ment or Of science and industry.
The Russians have such an insti-
tuition, connected with Lenin Library
in Moscow.
The Library Of Congress has made
a start at the cataloging process.
It publishes each month a list of
its own Russian accessions and
those of any other library which
will cooperate.
The Library got 298 Russian books
and pamphlets last month and is
now receiving regularly 273 Russian
magazines and II newspapers.
Many Of the experts say that
only a small proportion Of the Rus
sian material is being read, be-
cause qualified translators are not
available. OF all the mass of ma
terial received. the translators are
only scratching the surface.
Scientists say that what Russia'sI
scientists and industrialists are do
ing cannot safely be ignored.
Distributes b ths Associated Press,