As every able-bodied adult must work in Soviet Russia, I wondered who went to the advanced technical schools. Each local Soviet elected its group of students to attend schools for special training for terms varying from three to six months. At the end of the training the students returned to their communities to teach, and a new group was sent for similar training. The schools were free; the students were furnished with food, clothing, living quarters and books, and were provided with tickets for theatres, concerts and other entertainments. All students were granted loans, to be used for spending money while in school, if they preferred to purchase their own clothing and other necessaries. In Moscow the average loan was 1,200 rubles, varying according to the rise or fall of the ruble’s value. Throughout the country homes for the aged had been established where men over sixty and women over fifty were cared for by the government, provided they did not have children or relatives who wished to keep them in their own homes. In the latter case they were given adequate pensions. [Illustration: MRS. LENIN VISITING A SOVIET SCHOOL The children, under the supervision of their teacher, are busy in the garden. ] I found less of the “institution” atmosphere in these homes than in those I have seen in other countries. Books, pictures, a meeting-room, and dining-room, and a general atmosphere of comfort and freedom seemed to make the elderly people content and happy. They are not considered “paupers” or “charges on the state,” but human beings who have contributed their service to society and are entitled to all the peace and comfort society can give them. I have dwelt upon the organization and spirit of the Red Army and upon the education and care of the children more than upon anything else, because these are the things that made the strongest impression upon me during my stay in Soviet Russia. They stand out above all else in the memory of weeks crowded with a multitude of rapid and various observations. The soldiers and the children come first in the consideration of the government. Here the greatest ingenuity and energy have been applied, and here the best results are evident. It has been the purpose of the Soviet leaders to make the first line of defense—the army—unconquerable. Government officials claim they have succeeded in this, and point to the map as evidence. The children, they say, are the strategical reserves of the communist state. They are aiming to keep them healthy in body, despite the privations imposed by the blockade, and to develop them mentally and physically to carry on the future state. No one can deny the large measure of success realized. ------------------ CHAPTER X GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY AND AGRICULTURE THE SOVIET STATE