Work in Russia: General Introduction

[By BlDGAR SissoNj General Director of Foreign Section, Committee on Public

Information.]

The work of the Committee on Public Information in Russia and Siberia was the most arduous of the accomplishments of the organization, owing to the difficulties of Russia's immense area, as well as those of revolution.

Time will continue to show the importance of the whole achievement.

The chief credit goes to Arthur Bullard, who gave more than a year and a half of his time to the directorship of the committee's Russian enterprise, making sacrifices of every kind, including health.

The report that follows is set forth in sections, beginning with the account of installation, and continuing with the record of the succeeding work in Russia proper, and of the building up of the great plant in Siberia.

A few weeks after my own departure from Russia in the spring of 1918, it became definitely clear to me that the purpose of the Germans and of the Russian Bolsheviks was to bring about an untenable situation in Russia for all officials and citizens of Entente countries. The purpose was to limit their freedom and their activities more and more, and finally to expel them. It was my hope that all countries would see this and get their nationals out of Russia before they should be thrown out humiliatingly. But at that time the international political world could not believe that this outcome was inevitable.

I was sure, however, that within a few weeks it would be impossible to get material into European Russia. Accordingly, I took the responsibility of ordering Mr. Bullard and his American group, save one man, to remove themselves from the Bolshevik area of Russia.

Our chief office at Moscow, and even the office at Petrograd, remained open, the former in charge of Read Lewis, whose report is included, and the latter in charge of a Russian assistant. The Moscow office was finally raided and closed by the* Bolsheviks the first week in September, 1918.

It was necessary to shift the organization as a whole to a place where it could have a dependable base of supplies. Obviously, this place was Siberia, affording the opportunity for a sound and steady penetration along the line of the Siberian railroad as fast as order was restored along this railroad line. The eventual goal Avould be Moscow.

This whole project of transfer was successfully carried out. Two men, Malcolm Davis and William Adams Brown, worked their way out through Siberia, and in the early summer had opened new offices at Harbin and Vladivostok.

Meantime, Mr. Bullarcl, accompanied by Messrs. Bakeman, Glaman, and Tajdor, secured passage from Archangel to Halifax and about July 1 reached the United States. This nucleus was at once equipped for the remainder of the journey around the world. The additional staff included translators, teachers, moving-picture experts, and office helpers. Seven hundred and fifty thousand feet of the best moving-picture film was sent, together with powered projecting machines. Four weeks after he set foot on American soil, Mr. Bullard was sailing with the first contingent from a Pacific port.

Mr. Malcolm Davis' report (included) tells the story of the Siberian expedition.

When my forecast of the spring was proved by the forced flight of all allied nationalities from European Russia in the late summer, Read Lewis, of the Moscow office, on reaching safety in Sweden was at once ordered to go to Archangel and open an office there.

Mr. Harry Inman was also sent direct from New York to Archangel with moving-picture film.

Both Read Lewis and Harry Inman did notable service there throughout the winter of 1918 and 1919.

From Paris the first Sunday in February, 1919, I cabled around the world demobilization orders for all offices of the committee, except those of New York, London, and Paris. The offices demobilized by that order were Copenhagen, Stockholm,- The Hague, Berne, Prague, Rome, Madrid, Buenos Aires, Santiago, Lima, Colon, Mexico City, Peking, Vladivostok, Harbin, Irkutsk, Omsk, and Archangel.

To the Siberian and Russian offices the chief leeway in time was granted, but it was impossible to allow them to operate beyond March 15. The last members of the group did not reach the United States until late in June, 1919. Here is the roster of the Eussian-Siberian organization: Arthur Bullard, Guy Croswell Smith, Malcohn Davis, Read Lewis, George Bakeman, Otto Glaman, Graham Taylor, jr., Harry Inman, Boris Lebedeff, Dr. Joshua Eosett, Franklin Clarkin, Edwin Schoonmaker, Robert Winters, George Bothwell, Sid Evans, Prof. William Russell, William Adams Brown, jr., William Games, Lem A. Dever, Phil Norton, Dennis J. Haggerty, H. Y. Barnes, Edgar Sisson.

Edgar Sisson.