The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1957-10-01

but because becoming a factory
worker or farm hand is humili
ating. A skilled mechanic makes as
much as high school teacher ano
often more than an office worker
The Russian would however choose
the less lucrative white collar int
In preference to the better paying
factory job. Social qualification
is closely tied to the income diff
ferential. A maid earns 200 rubles
a month. or the equivalent of $40.
Obviously. on her earnings she car
barely keep herself clothed or buy
tnc Da est necessities. The lot Of
elevator women. street cleaners,
and janitors. is hardly better :.
Compare now the living standards
OF famous professor whose home
I visited. He had all to himself a
four-rOOm apartment. beautiful and
and luxurious by anybody's stan
dards. He owned car and a coun-
Try estate. In addition to a maid
e employed chauffeur and a
,eepel for the estate. His salary
t 1900 rubles $4,000 a month was
50 much above his needs that he
could not spend 1t. But the professor
IS a member of a small elite con-
sisting of writer's. generals, top en-
gineers. factory managers and dis
tinguiShed artists. The Soviet gov
Nrnment does not want to repeat
he mistakes Of the Tsars, and does
everything to win over the intellec-
tuals.
Audiences everywhere who have
seen my movies have been pro-
'oundly impressed with the beauty.
cleanliness and modernity Of cities
such as Leningrad. Moscow. Kicv.
Odessa, Kharkov. Yalta, Tbilisi. But
hese cities are now used as show
places. Get off the arranged timer
ary. or go out Of town in any direc-
ion just few miles. and what you
see is an unrelieved picture Of urban
md rural slumS. What else could
me expect with the widespread in
ertia. inefficiency, bureaucratic red
ape, waste Of manpower and time.
almost criminal negligence II not
downright stupidity. and utter disre-
gard for human safety?
How could such a country. where
lnefficiency is the way OF life, pro-
duce an efficient and powerful war
machine? It is obvious that
Russia's military power has been
bought at the expense of untold hu-
man hardships and latent discon-
tent. When this is taken into &C
count wonder whether her war po-
,ential has not been greatly exag-
yerated
was profoundly impressed with
what the Russians do for their
children. Life for adults may be
iull. drab and weariscme bust
less. For children Of kindergarten,
elementary and high school age. life
S glorious and exciting. They look
healthy, happy. well disciplined and
Hell-manered They love school,
IRE fond Of their teachers, seem
xe1l-adjusted, mentally alert and
Eager to learn Less of course
,an be done for children in the
'ural areas. Fewer of them COM
)lete the equivalent of our high
school. In the first four grades of
he l0-ycar school rural children
city children three to
me In the last three grades. the
9TH, 9th. and 10th, the proportion is
eversed. The farmer is the forgot
en- man economically and cultur-
ally. In the United States IS per
cent of the children who enter first
grade complete II years Of gram
mar and high school. In the Soviet
Union only II per cent complete
he l0-year school.
Much alarm has recently been
DICED in connection with Russia s
reserve Of scientific and
echnical personnel as compared
With ours. In making these COM
PARSONS many seem to have forgot
en- to take quality into account We
ilso seem to have confused training
With education, with liberal educa-
ion. Our hope in the struggle with
communism is to provide the tech