Sovietisms

An owl perched disapprovingly, last week, on the locomotive of the Leningrad-Vologda express. The engine began to chuff. The owl hunched down and fixed two luminous, menacing eyes upon the smiling engineer.

Roaring now, the express touched 50 miles an hour. Wind blown, the owl sought support by hooking a long sharp claw into the mechanism of the air brake. Instantly the valves tripped, setting all brakes. Passengers pitched higgeldy piggeldy from their seats, cursing. The owl, its claw caught in the tripped mechanism, was captured, disentangled and preserved alive by the kindly engineer.

Commissar (Minister) of Health N. A. Semashko dolefully reported last week that Russian peasants privately distill "at least 140 bottles of samogon (moonshine vodka) for every bottle which they buy from the Soviet Spirits Monopoly. Irate officials of the Monopoly estimated, last week, that "30,000,000 buckets of samogon are illicitly distilled each year." By "a bucket" they declared that they meant 20 tall "vodka bottles.

Since the rural population of the Soviet Union numbers some 117,000,000, the con sumption of samogon would work out roughly at only 1/4 bucket (or 5 bottles) of these potent, whisky-like spirits per peasant per year.

Correspondents cabled from Moscow, last week, the following price quotations on necessities for tourists: 1) Room & bath $10 per day, increasing to $12.50 when the cost of both water and taxes are added; 2) Table d'hote lunch or dinner $2.50 up, with a luxury tax of 10%; 3) Cigarets 23-c- to 75-c- per package of 20; 4) Razor blades of U. S. make $1.50 each.

While the prices apply for those who must live in hotels, a Russian family with several children can live fairly well at home in Moscow for $2 per day.