Salt Lake Telegram | 1921-11-02 | Page 13 | Russia Survives on Pushcart Market

RUSSIA SURVIVES UN ON PUSHCART r t M MAR MARKET KET Potatoes and Diamond Diamonds s Often From Same Peanut Stand MOSCOW Nov 2 By the Associated Associate a I Russia Press Pr Press ss Russia gives a foreigner the Impression Im ira pr of being a great nation whits whit which h is s trying to live on a peanut stand basis There Is magnitude to nothing but th the e population 1 persons are dependent dependent de de- de pendent nt upon the supplies afforded b by pushcart dealers In Moscow Petrograd Samara an another ant and d other cities CIties trade conditions are th thE tho same Basket S peddlers le street r comer corne jt III stands s a and small woo woe gO shops with wit empty cartons cartons' and fruit scattered over eve their shelves to make them seem full provide all the food that is available Bread potatoes onions meat sugar sunflower seed red pop are offered b by these dealers who have come Into existence ex ex- since the embargo was raised o on or trade in foods One sees few full fulI loave loaves of bread in these shops hops The bread i Is II a sold by the pound and most customers customer cannot afford an entire loaf loat Occasionally a a. tin of American Amerlan salmon salmon sal mon or American condensed milk is seen i ia In Ina n a shop window or on a market wagon But Bu such luxuries are gobbled up b by Y customers who happen to be ruble mil Comb honey also appears spasmodically spasmodically spas spas- medically In the larger shops it is 35 rubles for less than a pound and pears rapidly Rusty tins of ot Argentine and Australian Australia corned beef beet also come to light in unexpected unexpected unexpected places and a few tew tins of at America army hardtack find their way Into the markets No dealer ever seems to have more more- than one tin of these and the source of at the supply is mysterious A member of ot the foreign trado trade council counCi t who was asked where supplies of this sor sort t came from replied that they were probably proba proba- bly supplies which the bolshevist government government government govern govern- ment had bought abroad and which h had slipped Into private hands Most 1 of the merchants are persons who ha have ve been forced to open stands as a I means of livelihood Half Halt of them ar are e women Frequently everything from diamond diamond dia dla- mond bracelets to potatoes is offered fo for tOI r sale on the same stand Nearly all dealers dealers deal deal- ers era buy and sell seil all sorts of commodities I Mediaeval e village I methods etto of barter an and sale are transferred r rr to the e b big g cities tIt The fair of ot past centuries has been revived revived revived re re- re- re in the streets while the great shops shop on the main streets stand empty Their Theli staple goods were all aU requisitioned lon long g ago b by the toe government and no new sup sup- plies piles are coming in Shoemakers and watchmakers are again agal opening little shops and living on repair work Barber shops are reopening Beauty shops millinery milliner shops and corset shop shops s were never all aU closed