MONEY GRABBING.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 70, 23 March 1935, Page 13

MONEY GRABBING.

A RUSSIAN ART. WARNING FOR TOURISTS. MOSCOW, February 24. One of the first shocks which the tourist receives upon arrival in Soviet Russia is the discovery that money is not only accepted but is grabbed with both hands by Soviet citizens. Even beggar boys ask for "valuta," which is tho Russian word for foreign, but particularly American money. Cashiers at hotels and on trains not only accent American money but usually have on band a considerable supply of change in small coins and notes, most of which is of ancient vintage, no longer circulated in the United States.

One occasionally receives American bills so old and worn that it is difficult to determine the denomination. But the cashiers at the official banks and retail shops are equipped with magnifying glasses which they use to inspect foreign currencies.

In Vladivostock a sailor on a tramp steamer took advantage of the Russians' craze for American money by unloading on the official store a number of oni. , - dollar bills which had cleverly been raised to look like ten-dollar bills. Ho escaped before the deception was noticed.

The so-called "sequestration" of foreign, particularly American money, is a matter of state-policy in the U.S.S.R. and, since the official and monopolistic tourist agency, known as Intourist, is the agency which has been commissioned to do the job, it means that few Americans entering Russia arc able to leave with anything except a few miscellaneous coins. While the extraction of money from American tourists has become a flue art all over Europe, it has nowhere reached the strong arm methods used by Intourist.

An American, familiar with the Russian language, recently told the following story: A professor from a middle western university arrived in Moscow on a thirtyday tour which had been arranged by Intourist. This meant that the professor had paid in advance his railway fare from the border to Moscow and return, as well as his hotel service and meals. When he crossed the Polish border he was compelled to make out a statement showing exactly how much money he had in his possession, including travellers' checks and currency. When he arrived in Moscow he went to the Intourist office and explained to the English speaking oflicer in charge that Jic was interested in the achievements of tho Soviet Union, and wished to spend most of his time in making a study of educational methods and institutions. The Intourist ofiicial, speaking in Russian, turned to his assistant and said: "Look through those papers on my desk, and eee how much money this American carried when he crossed the border at Negoreloye."

After he had obtained this information the official proceeded to make out a schedule for the American professor that was so arranged as to absorb practically every . cent tho visitor had in his possession.

Tho Intourist agency is staffed with a highly trained personnel drilled in two branches which the Soviet authorities regard as essential, namely: The dissemination of propaganda and the extraction of money. Often, however, the demand for money is so persistent that the attempt to propagandise the tourist is entirely neutralised, causing the tourist to leave the country in a state of righteous indignation.