AMERICAN JOURNAL Photo from A. P. Cruger RUINED GREEK THEATER AT TAORMINA JUNE, 1926 Consider One Day’s Production by Dodge Brothers, Inc. / Did you ever see 1500 automobiles at one time? Parked in one place they cover more than 2,657,160 square feet. Driven in a line, five feet apart, they make a parade more than 53^2 miles long. Packed for shipment they fill more than 825 freight cars. And yet this is simply one average day’s output at the great Detroit plant of Dodge Brothers, Inc. Production on this vast and ever increasing scale permits economies in the purchase of equipment and materials which faithfully reflect themselves in the low price you pay for Dodge Brothers Motor Car. DDDBE BROTH ERS, INC. DETRQ IT - - ---h.j-irvr* * DODGE BROTHERS MOTOR CARS FOREIGN SB JOURNAL PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE AMERICAN FOREIGN SERVICE ASSOCIATION VOL III. No. 6 WASHINGTON, D. C. JUNE, 1926 Par Rigu By J. S. GITTINGS, JR., Diplomatic Secretary, Riga IF ANY traveler thinks that Riga, because of holm by water, or via Helsingfors, he will again its adjacency to Prussia and its Teutonic an¬ be surprised to find that, barring the use ot tecedents, can be reached while using the fellow voyagers or ships’ officers as interpreters, German language alone, he is mistaken. O.f the language of Goethe will not suffice. All of course, exception must be made here if he come which is simply to show that Riga, despite the by sea direct from Stettin, or if, in a cowardly Germanic appearance of the “old town” and the way (most of us are cowards!) he seek sanc¬ undoubted Teutonic blood of the Balts — they tuary in one of the excellent Wagons-Lits claim Teutonia started here—has other surround¬ coaches which run through daily from Ostend ing and composite elements. and Paris. Even so, our traveler had better It has. For one thing, there is a considerable journey merely with hand luggage, if he wants Slavic overtone. Outside of the “Moscow” to carry out his “German only” policy, for the quarter this may not be so striking, except for possession of trunks (or the use of a German a few Orthodox churches. The Moscow section train as far as the Lithuanian border) may very of town is fascinating, containing several Rus¬ probably require a descent from the Olympus of sian churches and cemeteries, the low wooden one’s car at Wirballen. Wirballen Station is houses, the human types, the wagons—and espe¬ about as far from Prussian Eydtkuhnen as Babe cially the interesting poorhouse with its chapel Ruth can swat a ball, with a nice space for a decorated with literally hundreds of ikons from diamond in between. But in that distance one floor to ceiling, and its altar, where liturgia is might, just possibly might, miss German-speaking said without the requisite screen and curtains of porters in Lithuanian Virbalis, and would then the eastern communions—an exception due, ac¬ have to opt between the tongues of Bassan- cording to the dvornik, to the fact that the avicius and Tolstoi. And if our travelers should women are segregated in a corner and behind a try to reach Riga from Copenhagen or Stock¬ wooden partition so high that they can not, at GREEK THEATER AT TAORMINA 330 feet. The theater stands in a natural bowl (MESSINA) and is so situated that an incomparable view of the Mediterranean is had from any point of it. The ancient Greek theater at Taormina, near Mount Etna, its peaks covered with snow, looms Mesina, Sicily, shozvn on the cover of this issue, above it in the background. Every winter the is the second largest of its kind on the island. theater is visited by countless tourists, who come It is a beautiful example of Greek architecture to Taormina from the four corners of the globe and is still in excellent state of preservation. to bask in the sunshine and to admire the pano¬ The stage measures 110 feet across, while the rama of the sea stretching away to modern maximum width of the hemicycle is said to be Greece beyond the horizon. 173 r_ ^HE^/^EERICANpOREIGN SERVICE t JOURNAL any time, see the altar! But the slavic overtone stitutions and public services makes one wonder is present in Riga, and many people there are, at the ability of the people behind them. Upon Russian in temperament and language, if not in looking into the matter it will be found that for blood or present-day nationality. Certain lines years Letts occupied important administrative, of trade, such as bootblacks, cab drivers, car¬ educational, and professional positions in Tsarist penters, fruit-stand operators, grocery and pro¬ Russia, that it was, in fact, from present-day vision men, and the like, seem to be strongly Latvia and its people that the Imperial Govern¬ Slavonic, just as the Teutonic strain appears in ment drew much of its efficient and so-called hook stores, drug stores, watch making, and kin¬ “German” element. But still, without inherent dred activities. ability, no amount of training or experience It might be supposed from the foregoing that would account for the Letts’ success as builders the Germanic and Slavic elements alone shared and managers. these businesses in Riga. But nothing is further From the material angle alone, Lettish effi¬ from the truth, and it is merely the first impres¬ sion of the newcomer, ignorant of Lettish and ciency is striking. Many of us nowadays are the Letts. inclined to forget (if. indeed, we ever knew!) The Letts, who form racially about 80 percent that fighting by no means ended in the region of the population of Latvia, are very much to that is today Latvia when the November, 1918, the fore. In the short period of their national Armistice was signed. Warfare of one kind or another, with devastating consequences to such existence they have made extraordinary progress r in organizing and developing their Government an industrial center as Riga was, continued until and country. The excellent tone of national in- practically 1920. For the Letts, therefore, starting with nothing, to have put a new nation on its feet as well as they have done in a period of five years is really remarkable. The Latvian region may not have received as intensive de¬ struction as certain areas on the western front, but neither did it have the advantages of pub¬ licity and world sympathy, nor did it form part of old and going nations with credit available. From a war-worn, clean-swept town of only about 185,000 in 1920, Riga now has nearly 340,000 inhabitants. The shops are again full of good merchandise; the police force, fire de¬ partment, and other public services are in excel¬ lent running order; the parks and streets are being carefully tended. Life has become normal¬ ized once more, and yet so rapid is present prog¬ ress that one can notice it even in short inter¬ vals such as a month. Taxicabs appeared almost overnight in the spring of 1925. Municipal works are now the order of the dav.J And al- though housing conditions still leave a good deal to be desired—due to the large influx of people to a town which for seven years suffered destruc¬ tion and deterioration—repair work to existing houses and construction of newr ones are now well under way. For educational purposes, particularly in east¬ ern European matters, there is probably no better post than Riga. From a central position one sees entirely new states being organized, and former states being resuscitated. One can study the al¬ ways interesting contrasts between Slav and Ger¬ Photo from J. S. Gittings, Jr. manic and other stocks, smaller but not less RATHHAUS PLATZ AT RIGA worthy. Then there is the political-social clash 174 between the huge area to the east now given over BOMB AT BUENOS AIRES to Communistic experiment, and these newer na¬ tions who fear nothing so much as that. And In a telegram dated 3 a. m., Monday, May 17, as for languages, it is hard to see how anyone— 1926, from Mr. Peter Augustus Jay, the Ameri¬ unless he spends his time in a darkened room can Ambassador at Buenos Aires (Argentina), with no visitors and is not allowed to look at newspapers—can stay in Riga very long and not the Department of State was informed at at about pick up at least a smattering of Lettish, German, 11.05 p. m. Sunday a time fuse bomb exploded and Russian. If the Foreign Service Officer is in the doorway of the Chancery. It was esti¬ very young, and has a complete head of hair, mated from pieces picked up by the Naval and he may succeed in gaining admission to courses, Military Attaches that the bomb weighed between in some of the local schools, where English and 8 and 10 pounds. No one was injured except the French are taught, and thus, in company with Ilga, Gretchen, and Xenia, learn something of proprietor of the cafe which is opposite the Chan¬ these three languages by a sort of reverse-Eng- cery. The proprietor received a slight wound in lish process. There are signs, in the three his arm. In addition, there was a certain mate¬ tongues, on most of the shops. One has news¬ rial damage caused by the explosion of the bomb, papers, periodicals, books, theaters, and even including broken windows across the street. church services, in all three speeches—one church going so far as to supply Polish, Lithuanian, and French besides.