The Parodox of Life Between Reds and Whites A gorvespondent of the ""Mau-chester Guardian' writes as follows from Vladivostok Many hundreds of Englishmen who have been to Vladivostok (command of the East) may be interegled in present, day life there. othe ordinary traveller rushing through things might appear exactly the same as in former years. Great crowds are to be see on the main street, the Svaitlanskaia. Here are to be met people from all parts and corners of the great Russian Empire, who have fled hitherto from the Soviet rule. "What are all these people doing and how do they exist!' is a question frequently asked; but nobody can answer it, The complete absence of money amongst 75 per cent. of the population probably accounts for the great number of bandits, murderers, etc., with which the town is infested. To go any distance from the main street after sunset is simply to ask for trouble. The police force, who are poorly paid, and whose pay, moreover, is always about fow months in arrear, are often discovered acting in concert with the robbers. It is impossible to pick up a paper without reading daily of a murder or robbery, the latter' in most cases with violence. An easy way of getting money is to seize some rich man, as a rule out in the country, and then demand a big ransom from his relatives. A few weeks ago the son of a rich meat merchant named Fomen was seized at the door of the Gymnasitm which he was on the point of entering, and carried off under the eyes of his companions to the hills behind the town. A ransom of 100,000 yen was demanded. The boy's father had a rendezvous given, to which he sent one of his relatives as his representative to treat with the bandits. At the third meeting this man carried 10,000 yen as an advance. The bandits detained this man too, and demanded a large sum of him also. During all this time the Sevret Police had been asking thesboy's father to disclose the hiding place of the robbers, but he refused to do so, fearing reprisals. However, the police found out where the two were detained and swrounded the house, but a Chinese on guard warned the robbers, who immediately shot the boy and his relative, rushed out of the house, fired on the police, and made their escape. This is a sample of present-day life in Vladivostok.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.