Milford chronicle., 1954-02-26
ME WORKERS PARADIsE

All C@ACCPCAOlldlly VlVlQ picture OF lie uTl-
der communism is found in a long article
which Life recently featured. It was written
by Emmett John Hughes, veteran foreign
correspondent who is now on the magazines
staff. Mr.. Hughes applied for a Soviet visa
for the purpose of obtaining an interview
with MalenkOv. To his amazement. the visa
was Forthcoming. He never got the inter-
view, but ne was able to see a good deal of
Russia.
There were a few welcome surprises.
Taxi service was good and the hotels were
comfortable His baggage was not searched
and ne was not followed by police He en-
cOuntered neither hostility nor curiosity. He
found little of the blatant tOtalitarian prop
aganda he had expected. And Moscow has its
outstanding Sights-such as the magnificent
ballet at the BOlshoi Theatre and the unbe-
ieVably fabulous subway, with its 80 sta
tiOnS (which are the most fantastic under
ground structures conceived by modern
man."
But, Mr.. Hughes found, the pleasant as
pect OF Moscow is quickly exhausted -"the
rest OF the scene is painted in different col
Ors."
For instance, as he wryly observed, Mos
COW rs city where women have been bless
ed with literal answers to all imaginable
dreams OF equality with men," This means
that women must work at all kinds of hard
manual labOr-carpentry bricklaying, drill
ing. Gangs of women clean the streets with
spades and crude brOoms-a colossal task in
winter. And he discovered, beyond all else
Moscow is city of queues. People stand in
termlnabIy in line for Just about everything
especially, food. And the great masses Of
people are poorly and often inadeouatelv
dressed.
Mr. Hughes made a particular effort tn
learn all ne could about the life of the Soviet
Workers-his wages, diet, and housing. He
found that the people are the victims of "an
elaborate shell game played with numbers
prices, wages and production figures" He
cited the much publicized announcement that
meat prices would be reduced Is per cent and
!fult and vegetable prices so per cent. The
joker soon appeared. simultaneously. all meat
was regarded into II categOries-and the
more edible grades remained high-priced
ana the vegetables and fruits could not no
found in the state stores. ~
Inc state store, he continued, with prices
fxed by government decree, sis a sOciaIiSti-
cally pure institution" And the prices charg-
ed-saye for subsistence items-would STAG
ger anyone accustomed to Americas private
ana competitive retailing system. The aver
age workers wage in Moscow is ahouf csO
rubles a month. A coffee Dot costs % yT1
6les; rayOn shirt 12O; cheap serge snit
4,oOO. by this kind of price-fxing, the GOV.
Il e3Tninent swiftly and completely siphOns off
the peoples earnings, and makes enormous
PrOlILS AS an example, the state buvs baef
!or 10 rubles kilO (2.2 pounds) and sells
Inc relative few at the top, on the other
Aa91o-hlgh military officers, important Off
I!als' ana industrial Notwithstanding ar
!lstS-llVe extraordinarily we'll. The HIGHEST
Income income tax bracket is only 13 per cent on in
Il rsrrn1
hughes observed, is a "dispensation to
wealth enjoyed in no capitalist nation of the
west. 80 much for the workers paradisei
AMERICAS statesmen ARE
RESPONSIBLE FOR ADVANCEMENT
Everybody has heard Emerson's famous
apnoIlsm Build a better mousetrap. anJ fbe
WOIIo Will beat path to your door" ETt
- aapgea4ng as the thought is, the fact seems
- - De ehat Ine best mousetrap ever hasn't a
= .llelice 20 make any kind of splash unless
= y raggIessIVeLy sold in the face of public
tIu. esice ana skeptlclsm. That is the
tneine OF an article by Merle Thorpe.
Mr.. Thorpe cites long list of inventions
we now accept without question which at the
beginning, were given the coldest nossibIe
response. The Post Office Department ro-
lec5eo Morse's telegraph on the grounds that
u mad nc practical value. A great newspaper
regarded Edison's claims on behalf Of the
value OF electricity as a crazy notion. Langley
was lldlculed for saying that men could fy
n machines. Marconi fled Italy to avoid a iail
sentence imposed on the ground that his radio
Brltlsn Parliament passed law forbidding
Stevenson, the inventor Of the steam ENGINE,
to lay track-and, even afte1 this was res
ended, established a speed limit for his
locomotive Of eight miles an nour.
Mr. Thorpe's point is that there always
Is resistance on the part Of people to new
things and thatit must be hrol,cn down. And