The original suspicion that two American Citizens who disappeared in Soviet Russia some weeks ago had in fact been arrested by the Soviet authorities has now been confirmed the action of the United States' government in requesting that an American consular offi-cla] be allowed to interview one of the prisoners whose citizenship has been definitely established. The nationality of the other prisoner has not yet been established, though it is clear that both of them were travelling under false passports. There is an agreement between the United States and the Soviet Government which provides inter alia that representatives of the United States would be allowed to see any of their nationals taken into custody without delay. It was by reason of that pi sion that the request was made. It has been rejected by the Soviet authorities on the interpretation that the provision permits such interviews only after the Soviet authorities have completed their own investigations. These, experience shows, usually take a very long time, even as much as six months, and if that proves to be the case in this instance it will mean that the prisoners will be without whatever assistance the American consular authorities may be able to give them. A similar interpretation of an agreement with Germany allowed the Soviet authorities to refuse a like German request some time previously. It is preferable that a speedy interview and ready access should be granted consular officials in such cases, though from the Soviet point of view six months should be ample for an accused person to recover from anything that might happen to him in the course of such "investigations."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.