The Electra News (Electra, Tex.), Vol. 38, No. 33, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 25, 1946 Page: 4 of 6
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Electra Area Newspaper Collection and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Electra Public Library.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
V- ■ -■w
./ «I£ allowed this much,freedom, one
might want the rifeht to quit his fac-
tory job and start a crossroad store,
exploiting his neighbors by selling
them merchandise from a tempting-
ly convenient location, ,thus< disrupt-,
in? ;m plans' of 'the Soviet ‘‘Food
Commissariat.
They would point out that under
capitalism such little men often
make mistakes, locating crossroad
stores where there is no need for
them, and then go broke.
Here competition with the state is
outlawed, so inefficiency is protected
and 'the people accept" it ’■because
they know nothing better. Occa-
sionally some Russian expert -re-
turns from abroad with the news
that keen capitalist competition has
developed a cheaper, quicker way of
doing something. Then, if he can get
in to see the important commissars
'"and beat down the natural inertia of
a bureaucracy, the new system is
’installed throughout the Soviet
.Union. But more often than not capi-
’ taUsm pioneers, while socialism only
copies.
The Palace of the Soviets, a tall,
impressive building which towers
over the empty fields just off the
Russian women built many forti-
fications during the war.
highway. Its architecture is pleas-
antly simple; along the facade is a
row of tall, thin white columns,
which might be mistaken for mar-
ble.
Like most new Soviet buildings, it
reminds us of the structures that
.rise suddenly from the exposition
grounds of American world’s fairs—
always grandiose and impressive
—designed to amaze or amuse but
not intended to last after the gates
are closed.
Reporters tell me the Kremlin’s
new plans for rebuilding the
devasted regions show a sharp trend
away from these concrete workers’
barracks. Instead they plan cot-
tages, each with a yard of garden-
plot.
This reflects the whole change in
Bolshevik thinking — a move back
to the family as a unit — away
from easy abortions, community
kitchens, and free divorce.
We continue on out the paved road.
When it ends, we bump over ruts to
German fortifications; They are neat
and orderly like German entrench-
ments everywhere. At this point the
German line ran through a little clus-
ter of houses, which was a co-opera-
tive farm and had been heavily
shelled by Russian artillery because
near it the Germans located one
of the big siege guns which pounded
Leningrad. The Germans got their
gun out but its great emplacement
remains, a careful job of concrete
work and camouflage.
Already the people are returning.
We see three ragged women picking
about the ruins, trying to put on, one
end of a room a temporary rpof
which will shelter a stove from the
rain. A shy, chunky, nineteen-year-
old girl, dragging from another
ruined house a heavy rafter, passes
us on the path. She is in rags, but
they are clean rags. Her hands
have calluses as thick as those of a
stonemason.
Leningrad’s people are tremen-
dously proud of their city, and re-
gard themselves as culturally supe-
rior to the rest of Russia. They are
also proud that they were able to
hold the Germans for weary, starv-
ing months at the city’s gates, and
finally hurl them back. They are con-
temptuous of Moscow which they
have always regarded as an over-
grown peasant village, but particu-
larly now because of the panic which
swept Moscow when the Germans
were at its gates-.
Halfway across Leningrad we en-
tered the Church of St. Nicholas.
The church was built in two eleva-
tions and as we climbed the stairs,
we heard singing. We had blundered
in on choir practice. They were all
women in early middle age, very
well dressed by Soviet standards
and decently dressed by ours.*
, Presently there appeared a man
who apologized because the Father
himself was not here, but volun-
teered to show us the various altars
and the miracle-working ikon.
We asked how the money was
raised for keeping the church in re-
pair, and were told that the state
took care of this.
I had expected to find the church
deserted, except for a few ragged,
superstitious old women.
Bui those people, on our surprise,
sequence ‘'-^engineers; ;mayb9/;pr6«|.
ardizing this by attending' church.
Kirilov aind'"the”'other Russians,
with' *us: represented * a-:party> }and •’
a government which .has bitterly,
opposed their church. But they' stood
in no fear, nor did they make ah
obsequious fuss over him. '
Communist Party members con-
tinue their private contempt .for re-
, ligion. They regard such doctrines as
the'forgiveness'of sin and'the im-
mortality , of the soul as childish
superstitions on. a level with palmis-
try. - It is highly improbable that
anyone holding to any of these be-
liefs would be regarded as fit for
membership in .the Party,whifch in
Russia is the only road to' power.
However, the Orthodox Church is
now the officially established church'
of the Soviet Union, with .a rep-
resentative r on the'Council of Peo-
ple’s Commissars, corresponding to
a cabinet post in the Western coun-
tries.’ For this change, Hitler is'
largely responsible.
After the 1917 Revolution, most of
the Orthodox Church leaders emi-
grated to the Balkans, and Hitler
as part of his invasion plans for
the Soviet Union, seized on this his-
torical background. He established
a number of Orthodox churches in.
Berlin, including a cathedral, >,and
earmarked millions of reichmarlcs
for their support. After he invaded
France, he commandeered silk to
make religious vestments. When he
entered Russia, he proclaimed him-
self the Protector of the Russian
Church; every German army quar-
termaster was equipped with these
vestments as well as sacred
church vessels, and churches were
everywhere re-opened in the
Ukraine.
When the e Communists dropped
their anti-religious propaganda, and
suspended the official publication
for the Society of the Godless be-
cause of a “paper shortage,’’ their
critics in the outside world insisted
that these moves were only to im-
press foreigners.
These critics were wrong; the
Party had sounder domestic reasons
for changing their policy. For the
Germans were making headway in
the Ukraine with their religious
propaganda. Not only was it popu-
lar with the older people, but
many of the young were joining the
Germans. During the final stages
of the Ukrainian mop-up, the Red
Army came on entire regiments of
Ukrainians in German uniform.
As further answer to this German
propaganda in the Ukraine, three
dignitaries of the Russian Orthodox
Church were invited to see Stalin
and on September 4, 1943, a formal
reconciliation was effected and the
Church got its place on the Courfcil
of People’s Commissars. This is ,a
complete reversal of the action of
January 23, 1918, which separated
Church and State in Russia.
A further explanation of the
change is that the Bolshevik
Party now feels strong enough to
tolerate, even to recognize, the
Church.
The party has not overlooked
the fact that a patriotic, nationalis-
tic Church can be as useful to their
regime as it was to the Romanov
dynasty. The State printing presses
in Moscow are now turning out beau-
tifully printed religious books for the
use of the Church, and it has con-
sented tp the establishment of a
seminary for training priests.
Although the Church is now recog-
nized and tolerated, it is not official-
ly encouraged. The Party Realizes
.the new policy is popular abroad,
and strengthens in America and
England both its own position and
that of its friends in those countries.
Consequently, it encourages all news
stories and picture layouts coming
out of Russia portraying the new
state of affairs.
Something of the basic attitude to-
ward the Church, however, may be
seen in a little thing like electric
light rates. A state-owned store pays
only 1.16 kopeks per kilowatt-hour
for its current, a home user is
charged 5.5, while a church must
pay 41.
The case is far different with the
Church of Rome. This has become
important only since the-war, when
the Soviet Union absorbed the Bal-
tic States and parts of Poland, all of
which contain many millions of Ro-
man Catholics.
Some concessions have been made.
After Hitler’s attack on Russia, the
Soviet’s Polish prisoners of war
were released from internment
camps and organized into several
divisions originally headed by Gen-
eral Anders. The Soviet government
permitted the teaching of the Catho- I
lie religion to their children in spe- |
cial Polish language schools, organ-
ized by the Soviet Department of I
Hfer e'is 'the ^telegria^Syappar atus
connected. , with^ the line * laid** under
Lake. Ladoga,^Leningrad’s ojfly<com-
-mimication^with ■‘jfctie rest o£ Russia
during the’siege; There; are pictureS'
of, the transportation system across^
Ladoga’s ' ice ;' the! top ' layers had
melted,abut cars were traveling-huBf^
deep over dhe lower one/
A scale model-of Leningrad’s
bread factory shows how it oper-
ated without electricity or runniifg
water. A' collection of lamps- vrds
made from bottles after* the *eleo
tricity gave out.. There were also1
exhibits.’'of the daily bread ration
as it had to be successively reduced
because of dwindling supplies. The
smallest was 125 grams (abput A
ounces) on December 25, 1941.
We are shown pictures of people
pulling the bodies of their dead oh
sleds .through the streets toward
cemeteries. But the reporters tell
me that bodies frequently were kept-
in the house or buried after dark, so
the' survivors could continue" using,
the food card.
A most interesting series of mont-
ages is devoted to the partisans;
explaining how organizers are para-
chuted into occupied areas, how ttye
bands camp in the forests. There, are
photographs taken from German
prisoners showing the execution of
Russian girl partisans.
The famous Leningrad electrical
plant is named for Kirov, Stalin's
close friend, whose assassination in
1934 started the big political purge
of the Communist Party. It employs
only 3,000 people. Before the war
6.000 worked here. It now produces
no consumption goods—only genera-
tors, hydro-electric turbihes, and
electrical equipment for the Red
Army.
During the siege, the German lines
were only 5% kilometers away, and
more than 1,500 eight-inch shells
fell in the area.
At one point girls working at a
row of benches are winding and as-
sembling a small electric motor.
Eric says ^ it is a standard type
which sells for $55 in America. He
knows, for he makes and deals with
electrical equipment at his Spokane
factory.
They tell us 250 people work in
this division, turning out 400 mo-
tors a month. So we do a little figur-
ing. At American prices, these mo-
tors would bring a monthly total of
$22,000. If divided equally among the
250 assemblers here, each would
get $88 a month, which is almost
exactly the wages they do get, in
terms of the actual purchasing pow-
er of the rouble.
This leaves nothing whatever for
overhead or the wages of the man-
agement, nor does it allow for the
cost of the wire and metal parts,
since these people only assemble.
Obviously, if their factory is to
make a profit, that little motor must
be sold for at least double what it
would cost in America, and this be-
cause of the inefficiency of Soviet
production methods.
One worker turns out only 1 6/10
motors per month. Is it unskilled
management or unskilled labor?
Whatever the answer, the^picture is
the same in almost every plant we
visit.
The main Kirov plant before the
war, the director says, employed
32.000 workers. How many now? He
dodges—almost the only time any-
one has refused to give us a frank
answer. The plant functioned all
through the blockade, producing
mostly ammunition for Leningrad’s
defenders. Now‘its principal work
is the production of tank motors.
A particular grinding machine is
presided over by a beautiful girl-
tall, blonde and blue-eyed but her
Slav face is unusually grim. She
can’t be more than twenty-two. She
explains she works not for the extra
Watson at the home of her mother,
Mrs* Mary Henderson Watson,. <
the Henderson ranch in Clay county,
' 'West of Antelope on April 17, thirty-
five years ago. Rev. and Mrs. Co-
bum'have spent the intervening
years in pastoral and evangelistic
.work in northwest Texas. He is
now an evangelist for this district
and his activities includes that of
teaching tiie Mens’ Bible Class of
the First Methodist church in Elec-
tra. His, class programs are broad-
casted each Sunday morning over
radio station KVWC. Mrs. Cobum
is active in the work of the First
Methodist Sunday School and Wom-
en’s Missionary Society,
$
^ob^were;
honored at /their^ home _~,;on/Npr£h
Waggoner Street ' bn Wednesday
arranged by- their daughters, rin. ob-
servance' of‘their 35th wedding, an-
(•, .r.- ’ T •/-< - c_-r, , •_
mversary: Covers were laid for, Mr
and ' Mrs/Tommy ‘Rowe and daugtit-
ers, '-Sgt: and”Mrs. Bemarr M. Co-,
biim; Rey./and Mrs. E/H. Coburn,
and T^^s/Ma^;. JosepheneCoburn
i • .•I'-.;,-..
of. Electra and' Mr. vand Mis. Charles
Morrison of Wichita Falls.
/Rev. John Roach,’presiding,.elder
of this^ district in ,1911, officiated jn
the marriage of Rev. E. H. Cobum,
Methodist minister, and Miss Annie
was- hostess,
'Tqesdayi,,:^tOTobh^-tq ..members 1 of
the "Las/Madres, jClub, at her home
oh West Summit Avenue. Mrs. J.
r ^ if.
C. Cambron-'was welcomed as a new
member/' 7 ’
• ’ - y-
-Mrs. J. W. Tinnin presented the
program which included the follow-
ing topics: “Your Child’s Imagina-
tion”, 'Mrs,-S. E. Sayers ; ‘The Doc-
.tqr fSays'V Mrs."’Max Griffin; “The
Butler,
Downfall?, C. T. Hines,--R. C„ Hodge^i
A. B. Jones, Leon/tmicasteiv
Sheppard and Chauncey; Weiler. a ||
a
WILL APPRECIATE, YOTJK BDEffig,
IN MY RACE’
TORNEY.
RAY maktcst.
Most every man is/a' |cgd dresser/)
when a button"pops’bffv.K3s shirt.
Lt. (jg) Walker very recently
ly discharged from the US NaVy,
was guest of Mr. and Mrs. Joe Mat-
thews and family last week.
Miss Betty Matthews is visiting
friends at Cameron this week.
PROFESSIONAL
CARDS
Insurance
J
DICKEY &
MCGANN
i
106 N. Waggoner
PHONE 644
SUPERIOR
AMBULANCE SERVICE
JAMES B. TOTTEN
FUNERAL HOME
ELECTRA
DR. A. F. HOMME
Dentist
TELEPHONE 209
209 West Bryau
OFFICE HOURS:
9 A. M.-12 Noon—2 P. M.-5 P. BL
CITY AUTO BODY
WORKS
NEXT TO FIRE STATION
First class Paint and
Body Work.
All Work Guaranteed.
BILL COOPER, Owner
Watches - Clocks
and
Jewelry
Bought, Sold & Repaired.
PETTY & SONS
Jewelers
113 N. Main - Phone 522
Education. Anders was also per-1
mitted to have thirty-seven Catholic 1 Hundreds of thousands were made
chaplains for his seven divisions. i homeless In -Leningrad district.
Regardless of the basic conteihpt
RAY MARTIN
of all Communists for religion, the
Orthodox Church is a purely Rus-
sian institution, and its clergy are
now as completely obedient to the
Kremlin as they were once subser-
vient to the Czar. But the Pope, an
Italian living in Rome, is another
matter. The Soviet Government per-
mits outsiders to have little con-
tact with, and certainly no authority
over, the people within its borders.
So as long as the Soviet Union con-
tains within its frontiers a consider-
able Roman Catholic- population,
any agreement between the two
could only be an armed truce.
The Leningrad Defense Museum
turns out to be an enormous world’s
pay but from hatred—her father and
mother starved during the siege. At
the factory, she says, the workers
ate grease from the guns and oil
from the machines.
The Germans occupied Peterhof
and all Leningrad’s other suburbs.
For instance, Ligova Was a subur-
ban town of 35,000. When the Rus-
sians reoccupied it, they found not
a living stml. The same with Push-
kina, which had 50,000, and Peterhof,
which had 45,000. Peterhof—a beau-
tiful palace copied from Versailles,
but painted the Imperial lemon
yelloW. It stands in its beautiful
gardens, a stately roofless ruin-
burned by the Germans.
(TO BE CONTINUED)
LAWYER
550 Allison-Duncan Bldg,
WICHITA FALLS, TEXAS
DRS.
HARBOUR & HAYLEY
OPTOMETRISTS
805 Scott St.
Wichita Falls, Texas
>
“i?
L UP -
Summarize
*** YOUR CMtFOR
SUMMER DRIVING
Winter oils and greases won’t
do the job when summer heat
comes steaming down. They
should be replaced with the
correct types and grades of
fresh summer MOBILOILS
and MOBILGREASES. En-
gine . . . Gears . .. Chassis ...
Radiator ... all should be
checked and put in proper con-
dition for summer driving.
That is what Magnolia SUM-
MERIZE SERVICE means
... a seasonal preventive main-
tenance service, exclusive with
your Friendly Magnolia Deal-
er. It assures smoother, more
economical operation and all
the Flying Horsepower in the
new MOBILGAS. Get this
protection against the damages
of summer heat today!
THE SEASONAL SERVICE
ALL CARS NEED
ENGINE—Dirty, (htnnod wlnfer
oil drained and replaced With the
proper grade of the now detergent.
MOBIIOIL that cleans as it lufar/*-
cates ... a war-proved oil that
resists thinning under high heat,
and offers amazing new cleaning,
properties for valves, rings, pis-
tons and bearings. Gives you a
MOBIIOIL CLEAN Engine that Is
smoother running 'ond more ef-
ficient, with pew gas and oil econ-
omy.
GEARS—Dirty oils drained from
transmission and differential and
replaced with fresh, tough MO-
BILOIL GEAR OILS of the types
and grades to fit the make and
model of your car.
RADIATOR—Cleaned with MO-
BIL RADIATOR FLUSH. MOBIL
HYDROTONE added to KEEP Hie
cooling system clean and safe
from rust and scale.
CHASSIS—Complete Mobtlubrl*
cation of all vital parts, for pro-
tection against friction and wear.
24tMttyfue*iet£ep
MAGNOLIA Dealer
iWK-9
Copyright, 1946, Magnolia Petroleum Company
MobilgaSjMobiloil
Try our Wash and Grease Service.
O’BRIEN SERVICE STATION
119 E. Cleveland Phone 710
We offer you
quick-action,
low-cost
home loans
that you can
repay from
•L
income.
flo costly loan
renewal feofc
i M ,
no lumpr$9$
pay-offs, wii4
< you use out
modern, low-cost
home loan plan
ELECTRA FEDERAL SAVINGS AND
LOAN ASSOCIATION
Offices at Dickey & McGann
1/
Jm.
ffi
i?s
;,if3
-y.
%
t
*
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
The Electra News (Electra, Tex.), Vol. 38, No. 33, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 25, 1946, newspaper, April 25, 1946; Electra, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth892971/m1/4/?rotate=90: accessed July 7, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Electra Public Library.