Show p Ghost of Latvia Recalls Memories of Better Days By fly BAUKHAGE News Analyst and J Commentator WASHINGTON WASHINGTON-At At the end of one of those few pleasant summer days davs which Washington gi gives es us I was walking homeward from a mission In a part of ot town which I hadn't visited recently I found myself in a neighborhood which seemed to produce a slightly nostalgic feeling feUng The street treet took a quick up turn and for lor a short hort bl block ck wa was quite Most ost of 01 the houses were new but there was one with a colored glass glas window such as graced many a home that I visited as a child Such windows win dows were usually on the staircase landing a at t the turn and when the sun un shone through them It tossed tOiled a handful of 01 jewels on the carpet I always wanted to pick them up That I 1 thought as 81 1 X walked along is 11 nostalgic childhood I memories But I was wrong Soon I that the memory which th the stained glass window evoked was much more recent But it did stir ghosts the ghost of 01 a man J and and the ghost of ot a na nation for tor there Is no rea reason son why T dead nations which really never quite oI El died must not live Ia E on In some form torm And Washington Is Js not without such disembodied sov soy i S 4 I had seen the man whose memory the multicolored multicolored multicolored multi multi- colored window had stirred BUrred for lor the tho first time when he be was descending a n stairway with just such a window behind him He was Alfred Allied BU- BU mania and be he died in July of ot this year lie He was the minister of 01 the republic of Latvia which had died eight years ago but according to the state department was WOl and Is of ot such corporeal quality that along with its Hs sister Ister republics of ot LithuanIa Lithuania Lithuania ania and Estonia it still possesses diplomatic representatives who are recognized on equal terms with those of living nations S It U was In August of 1910 that thai the Red army marched Into the lie Baltic states and they became by force majeure territorially A part pari of the U. U 8 S. S. S It R. But the three little democracies were prepared politically if diplomatically A month or so earlier by due process of parliamentary parliamentary parlia parlia- law a decree was promulgated promulgated pro pro- which made the Latvian minister to London chief of the Latvian state If the Russians took over her territory Today Charles minister to Britain remains remains remains re re- re- re mains the head of the diplomatic corps of the republic of Latvia continued to serve servo his government ghost S in the United States after atter the Russ Russian an seizure Up to then he had helped to keep th bonds firm between us and his little country whose people reached the shores of oI the Baltic back in the early days day of ot European history along long with the only two other remaining remaining re re- re- re groups which are at least if U not ethically related re re- to the Latts the Finns and the Magyars The last president of 01 the free Iree republic of 01 Latvia Carl was American trained He Ho lived In Nebraska where he ho waited In exile and worked tot for his country's Independence Inde lade lie He studied agriculture ture tore and when be he returned to Latvia In Lu that hopeful of Europe's new republics afterWorld after afterWorld afterWorld World War I J he ho carried back Ideas One of ot them was the 4 II clubs Latvia was 60 per cent agricultural agricultural agricultural tural and among its population of ot only two million the H 4 movement grew adapted of ot course to its new environment to when I 1 heard beard of It U last before the e iron curtain curtain cur cur- tam tain descended There were Interchanges of visits between the countries and and whenever whenever when when- ever the big H 4 encampment took place In Washington the little Latvian Latvian Lat Lat- vian legation echoed to the cheerful cheer ful ZuI chatter of ot American children who drank lemonade and heard beard the big bie smiling man with the expressly sly Iv ruddy hands tell of ot his country coun count try and show how pictures of ot the chil dren there at work on their proJects projects or going through their folk dances dance in the gay costumes of their land The American kids looked at atthe the paintings painting that covered the walls watts walls for s was quite a collector The They were sHowed owed gingerly to II try tho the great peal chair which Napoleon had bad taken back to France from Moscow 1 examIne ex- ex amIne the delightful little IvorIes Ivor Ivor- les Ies the china and the other dart d'art which filled the te ration And then theD one on by one they I I tripped up the stairs stain to look at the sue size model of ot the Latvian girl in the traditional robes robot of the country wearing the symbolic necklace mad made of great Ireat discs of ot amber ember Amber had bad been ben a Latvian article of ot export since the earliest traders from the Mediterranean I made their way to this thI northern land for tor it was wu a muck much admired I ornament for tor the ladies of ot ancient Rome and Greece A good lood necks neck I 1 lace was w supposed to be worth wor an n i i Arabian mount If It there la Is any iny amber ember being col cot I le ted on Latvian beaches beachu today tody it ft I j I is being turned into the coffers o othe ot of the Kremlin I can well Imagine what happened to the H 4 organizations when the Reds stepped Inthey in inthey In- In inthey they are about as 81 closely akin to the Communist youth as the boy scouts were to the Hitler jugend But if It we are to believe all we hear Latvia Is resisting communization Only this week I received a copy of the Baltic Review printed in Sweden Here is one paragraph With the coming scholastic year war games will be Introduced as an obligatory subject In the schools of ot all the constituent Soviet republics writes Cina the th organ of ot the Communist party In Latvia The paper goes on to say that the International situation demands that children be taUght the art of ot war as early as s possible Military discipline should hould be Instilled in them even before they come to school Their toys tys should be model mode tanks and planes and so childrens children's or building boxes should consist of parts whereof these objects can be con con- The author relates about his trip to Russia Rusala to study Soviet education and military training and remarks that in this respect the Baltic republics are ry backward as 81 yet Pupils of seven and eight in the schools of ot Moscow had displayed displayed dis die played quite surprising knowledge as 81 regards military matters Ten year olds had been experts with the rifles and girls had been as competent as boys Even tiny tots four tour and five had known the rudiments rudiments rudi rudi- ments meats of ot military drill How useful this proficiency may be in a guerilla guerll la Ia war exclaims the author What Is going to happen to the tho next generation In the tho U. U S. S S. S It IL itself and In the countries dominated by her Listen to this further extract from the Baltic Review Communists Communists' Ideas Idea About Education Every Soviet school manual every work of ot fiction for tor children and young people every periodical for tor the rising generation Is a manifestation man man- of ot a war-like war spirit worthy of ot the Huns of ot old Innumerable Innumerable merable are the glorifications in them of ot all sorts of 01 heroic exploits of Soviet people during World War II to enter a military school Is represented as the highest aim of ot every Soviet boy and 80 SQ per cent of ot the pictures show how guns tanks infantry or cavalry exercises Picture Picture Pic Plc- ture books for tiny tots exhibit children playing with rifles tanks tank I and grenades every game taught to the young has haa a military pur pose The little bit of ot spa pare that is left over from these aggressive and ALFRED BILl IANIS I ghost of 01 nation tullo bellicose writings is used to extol the merits of the Communist party and Its leaders Lenin and Stalin All this literary production exudes such ucb a hate for lor the whole world for tor the Imperialism and capital that the books book of ot the Hitler jugend seem mild nursery nunery rhyme rhymes In comparison That I. I not the kind of 01 a state late of ot which Alfred Allred dreamed He lie hoped one da day to 10 return with his hi valuable po pos sessions lenlon and build A museum In his hi own oon restored country Though be continued to serve as al minister hi his hi funds rund ran low and be he bad to t. part pari with Ith many of 01 his things thing However be did save lave some of 01 the painting Napoleon Napoleons chair haIr and the lad lady and her ber beads bead Perhaps someday others othen rna may realize reaUze his hit dream some dream some happy day when day when freedom In Europe U S returned and the ghost republics of ot the Baltic become real once more tot for be the people who inhabit them |