SOVIET SLOGAN

Hokitika Guardian, 13 December 1935, Page 6

SOVIET SLOGAN

A MAN WHO LOST A TOE

LONDON. December 9

The whole ot Russia is enjoying a ‘“joke” repjited in the official Pravda, states a Moscow correspondent of- the Daily Mail.

That the incident is not a joke to the leading character or even to the medical profession under the Soviets is overlooked in the efforts to “brighten” the reading matter of Soviet newspapers as ordered by Stalin. Anatole Klimovich is a young Communist who is a gieat enthusiast for Soviet slogans, and yet his simple faith in a slrgan has led to trouble and suffering. One of the latest Soviet slogans, in Qicir propaganda against quacks, is “Take Your Troubles to the Doctor,” and young Anatole did as he was told.

For some months past he suffered from a very had corn on a toe ot his right foot; recommended remedies proved useless, and Anatole was not only in pain, but he was unable to continue his parachute practices. So with the aid of his membership card he fought his way into the surgery of the local clinic and was there seen by Dr Bondareff, who promised to remove the corn next day.

Arriving at tne appointed tim,e tbe young man was seen by two other doctors, speedi'y taken to the operating theatre, and before he know what was happening, the two doctors smilingly presented him with ... a whole toe from his right foot. They, it appears, heard something about a toe, and so they cut one off, and—this is what rpinovs Anatole: mostly—a perfectly healthy toe without the corn, leaving him the troublesome toe “in the previous condition.”

Tht operating meant that the young man spent several weeks in hospital and is still on the sick list. He is, however. being assured that “even the great doctors in Western countries have been known to. make mistakes,” and that after all there is no moro fear of a corn developing on the toe which they hav e removed.