Matter of Fact by
Stewart Alsep
WHAT IS RUSSIA LIKE?
Moscow What is Russia
REALLY like? The best answer
seems to be that Russia is like
whatever you want it to be like.
In the Soviet Union, you can
find what you have come to find.
Suppose, for purposes of argu
ment, that you are a visiting
"progressive," as pro-Communists
are called in these parts.
You can then report with en
thusiasm and unchallengeable
accuracy to the comrades back
home.
You can report that Moscow
has broad streets kept scrupu
lously clean and lined with hand
some buildings. You can report
that the people look reasonably
well fed (the ladies a trifle too
well fed, by Western standards)
and fairly decently clothed. You
can report that the standard of
living has risen continuously
since the war.
You can report that industrial
production is increasing at a con
siderably greater rate, in per
centages, than in the United
States. You can further report
that the Soviet Union has scored
great technological achievements
notably in such key fields as nu
clear energy and jet propulsion.
IF YOU happened to be in the
right place at the right time,
you might even be able to offer
eyewitness proof of such an
achievement. This is unlikely,
since Moscow is a very big city
and the sky is often overcast.
But as all Moscow now knows,
the Soviets have been flying
their remarkable new aircraft
over Moscow continuously, al
though at irregular intervals,
ever since the famous' overflights
in early May.
As a "progressive" your list
would by no means end with
such technical triumphs. You
could point also to such marvel
lous artistic achievements as the
Moscow ballet. You could even
report accurately, in the view
of all Western observers that
the Soviet people feel a greater
sense of personal security than
they have felt for years.
All these things, from the
clean streets to the jet planes,
are unquestionably true. But sup
pose that, instead of being a
"progressive," you are a "de
cadent bourgeois." On the most
decadently selfish level, you may
complain of a lack of such small
luxuries as well turned out wom
en and good food in pleasant sur
roundings. But your doubts may
go a bit deeper than this level.
For example, behind the hand
some buildings on the clean
streets, you may find strange
shantytowns which remind you
of the American South in the
thirties. With their unpaved
roads and hand pumps and sag
ging walls, these wooden vil
lages inside a great metropolis
are a curious phenomenon, odd
ly out of place in Utopia.
Again, as a decadent bourgeois
you may be surprised by the
close packed, shoving crowds in
Babson on Investments
Babson Park, Mass. (Special
to The Mail Tribune) Last
week I showed that Uranium,
Aviation, the Telephone, and
Television are opening up the
entire world to businessmen
with vision. I will now offer
some suggestions to INVESTORS
with vision.
J. R. Govett
For the past 100 years English
and American promoters have
sought "concessions" to invest
money and do business in for
eign countries. These conces
sions consisted of railroad and
trolley lines, electric power
plants, manufacturing or mer
chandizing operations, and later
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every store and market, and dis
mayed by the prices these
crowds are willing and eager to
pay. In Western eyes, these
prices look strangely un-Utopian.
IJUT WHAT you miss most,
naturally enough, are pre
cisely those "decadent, bour
geois" things that make up the
Western and especially the
American manner of living.
Drive in to Leningrad from the
air port, for example, as this
reporter did on his arrival in
Russia, and you suddenly realize
how immensely wide is the gulf
which separates you from the
summer life of the lawn mower
and the open air movie.
Instead of the mushroom
growth of small houses you see
in the suburbs of a Western city,
you see great, imposing, clumps
of apartment buildings for work
ers, hideous but functional. And
instead of the bumper to bumper
traffic, you see a surging, un
ceasing flow of people on broad
streets, purposeful, industrious,
antlike.
What most dismays the "un
progressive" Westerner, in short,
is that this is a system totally
alien to anything he has ever
known. There is, it must be said,
no sense of fear here at all, at
least for the visiting foreigner.
But there is a kind of scruffy
selfrighteous uniformity. Above
all, there is a lack of that easy
free spdkenness to which de
cadent bourgeois types are ec
centrically attached.
But this lack should not be
permitted to obscure the fact
that ; this alien system works.
This Soviet way of life functions.
It increases industrial production
at an impressive rate, it produces
nuclear weapons and remarkable
aircraft, and at the same time it
feeds and clothes the people ade
quately by their standards. To
the "decadent bourgeois" way of
life, the life of the lawmower
and the open air movie, 'the
Fifth Amendment and the right
of dissent, it represents a greater
challenge than this reporter had
realized before.
(Copyright, 1955.
New York Herald Tribune Inc.)
mining and timber rights. Some
were unprincipled exploitations,
but most have been honestly op
erated. All, however, have given
little attention to the local peo
ple of these foreign countries,
almost none of whom have had
a stock interest.
These "one-sided" agreements
have caused many diplomatic
misunderstandings and even
revolutions "against the white
man." Where the "white man"
has insisted on his "pound of
flesh" and has refused to volun
tarily give up anything he has
ultimately lost; but in Burma
this has not been the case. I have
in mind Burma Mines Limited,
Burmah Oil Co., and other for
eign developments. Burma has a
wonderful climate and faces on
the the Bay of Bengal midway
between Indo-China and India.
During World War II Burma was
sacked by the Japanese, and
Burmese companies were forced
to reorganize. J. R. Govett, of 37
Dover Street, London, formu
lated a plan which will be used
world-wide.
The Burma Plan
Mr. Govetfs Plan divides
stock ownership, and member
ship on the Board of Directors of
the foreign-owned companies be
tween the old stockholders and
the foreign government AT THE
START OF THE REORGANI
ZATION. One half of the stock
goes to the old stockholders,
and the other half is put in trust
in a Rangoon bank to be deliv
ered to the Burmese Govern
ment as it contributes labor and
native supplies. The Govett Plan
insures that the profits hence
forth will be divided fifty-fifty.
The foreign nation supplies the
ore, or oil, or customers if it is
a utility, while the English and
American investors supply the
"know-how" and management.
I not only believe in the fu
ture of these Burma "50-50"
companies, but also I believe in
other companies in Africa, Aus
tralia, and Argentina which are
considering the Govett Plan.
Powerful Standard Oil interests
have just adopted a similar plan
for Argentina, and the St. Joseph
L.ead company may follow. A
great opportunity for the Govett
Plan lies with the American &
Foreign Power Company which
has holdings in Argentina, Bra
zil, Mexico, Venezuela, Colom
bia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Pan
ama, Chile, Cuba, Costa Rica,
and China. Most of these proper
ties I have personally visited,
including the Shanghai Power
Company.
Shanghai Power Company
This was a most valuable prop
erty in a city of 6,000,000 popu
lation. When it was expropriated
by the Communists, it probably
could have been saved by adopt
ing the Govett-Burma Plan; but
the American & Foreign Power
Company, which owned it, hesi
tated to make such an offer fear
ing to set a precedent. As a re-
Thursday, June 30, 1955
MEDFORD (OREGON) MAIL TRIBUNE FIVE
Is That So?
OVER HUDSON BAY, With
SAS Early this morning as our
plane left Greenland, the air was
clean-swept of clouds, clear as a
crystal goblet, having traveled
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a cloud no bigger than a hand
appeared on the horizon. Now as
we are almost across this great
bay, the world's largest cumulus
clouds are below us.
How and why do these wool
en, fleecy clouds come and go?
First there must be water
vapor invisible water particles
suspended in the atmosphere.
But this is not enough. It is
quite possible for the air to be
full of water and yet to be with
out a cloud as it usually is at
night and early morning. Yet,
under other conditions at mid
day, atmosphere with but one-
tenth as much moisture in it can
be as thick as peafog.
Which brings the second re
quirement: the vapor-holding air
must be subjected to a tempera
ture change. There must be a
cooling and warming of air to
bring the cloud and take it away.
Just as in the cup of hot cof
fee which the attentive SAS
hostess brings me the hot cof
fee can dissolve much more
sugar than a cold cup. Stir as
hard as I like, the cold coffee
will always have sugar left in
the bottom. So, too, warm . air
can blot up more water vapor
than cold air. Actually, at 80 de
phere can hold over five times
as much vapor in the invisible
state as air at 32 degrees, or
freezing. The reason, incidental
ly, why my breath steamed when
I left chilly Copenhagen last
night but will not be seen when
I step off the plane at warm
Los Angeles this afternoon.
Now to transform invisible
vapor to visible, the warm moist
air must get to a colder place
where the excess moisture con
denses out in exactly the same
way as breath becomes visible.
when it is puffed from warm
lungs into cold air
This is done by an , upward
movement of air which anyone
can see taking place at the top
of a smokestack on a windless
day. .
Thus! on this day of 'June, the
warm moisture-laden air rises
upward and at first it held all its
water vapor. But as the day
became warmer over Hudson
Bay, the air rose higher and
sooner or later reached a point
where it had a surplus of water
vapor the condensation level,
and here the visible cumulus
clouds formed.
When the sun's heat is shut
off, then the cumulus cloud will
start to fall but as descending
air warms up under the in
fluence of compression, the
water particles will evaporate
and so vanish into thin air long
before they will have reached
the earth's surface.
Thus, ordinary fine weather
cumulus clouds in a day in June
rarely survive "nightfall, dissolv
ing away completely. And so, as
evening falls, the miracle of the
day is repeated clouds vanish,
and nothing" stands between man
and the hard-polished stars.
FREE: By special arrange
ment with the editors of the En
cyclopedia Americana, my panel
of judges will award each week
to the reader who sends me the
best true-life nature adventure,
or the best nature observation,
or the best question on nature
and wildlife a complete 30-vol-
sult, the Shanghai Power Com
pany bonds, sold to U. S. inves
tors originally for $1,000 each,
can now be bought for $5 each.
The properties are still men
tioned in the annual reports, but
no capacity, output, or earnings
figures are included.
Certainly the stork of the
American & Foreign Power
Company is one of the most in
teresting of foreign investments
today. There are 7,224,238 shares
of common stock outstanding,
and a large debt. The stock paid
S0.75 in 1954 and sells it about !
14.
If the Management has the
vision and courage to gradually
change the ownership of its for- j
eign properties over to the
Burma Plan, this American St
Foreign Power stock could sell
much higher.
This would especially be true
if Congress should pass certain
tax legislations favoring foreign
investments. If, however, the
Management and Congress are
stubborn, this . stock could be
come valueless. Several times I
have personally talked this prob
lem over with the Company's
famous founder, the late Sidney
Mitchell, but it was wasted
breath on my part.
He was an honest and re
markable man, with technical
training and great energy; but
he was a hard dictator with very
little social vision. Unfortunate
ly, this applies to the heads of
many big Corporations today
that "have large foreign investments.
By EUGENE BURNS
Ranger-Naturalist
ume set of this world-famous
reference work in a handsome
Sealcraf t binding.
Each week new submissions
will be considered. Sorry, I sim
ply can't answer your many
friendly letters. Please address
your letter to IS THAT SO! c 'o
Medford Mail Tribune, Box 575,
Sausalito, Calif.
Pere Mesta Tells of
Chats With Soldiers
Tokyo (U.R) Perle Mesta
paused briefly today in her
round-the-world tour to tell of
her chats with American serv
icemen. "I'm very fond of our sol
diers," said the famed Washing
ton hostess. "When I get to a
new place, I find out where the
soldiers are to talk to them."
The former ambassador to
Luxembourg said she makes
wire recordings of Americans in
uniform so she could send them
home to their families.
Mrs. Mesta said of her three
day stay in Korea that she found
President Syngman Rhee a
"very wonderful gentleman with
great charm."
She leaves tonight for For
mosa and Hong Kong.
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