In Russia

There is an economic theory, gaining ground, that the material advance of a people is measured by its consumption of paper. Of all kinds of paper Russia consumes about one pound per capita per annum, while the U. S. this year will use over 45 pounds per capita of newsprint paper alone.

Latest data obtainable shows that in all Russia there are only 299 dailies, and that their aggregate circulation is 993,000 (less than that of the London Daily Mail). This is an average of one copy to 150 people.

The largest is the Izvestiya (News) which, together with the Moscow Pravda (The Truth), is the official Soviet organ. But no part of the press can be said to be independent of the Government. The last press conference was held in the Kremlin, and no ordinary person enters the Kremlin. Bukharin addressed the conference, saying: " Thanks to our press, which has always furthered the recruiting power of our slogans and made the exalted nature of our ideals clear to the masses, we have been able to devlop our power and to strengthen our Soviet system."

The decline in newspaper circulation (due to publishing costs) has alarmed the Soviet leaders. In some townships, every peasant owning a cow must subscribe to a Soviet paper.

A few magazines have revived, but they are badly done. They carry pictures of current events, fashions for women, and the usual "boilerplate " stuff.

Books are controlled by the State Publishing House which plans to produce 310,000,000 copies of 2,250 titles this year.

In general, it is believed that the Fourth Estate of Rusia cannot revive until the original Soviet idea has disappeared.

Further substantiation of the charge that American newspapers are not "covering" Russia is given by John Cowles, young publisher of Des Moines.

He has just returned from the countries east of the Elbe and Danube. He reports that Russian conditions are misrepresented, or at best inadequately described by the daily press of the U. S. Many news despatches about Russia emanate from border countries hostile to the Soviet Government; the false bias of these despatches is not properly discounted by American news receivers.

The correspondents at Moscow are competent, but too few. Bolshevist censorship is active.

In Spain

William R. Hearst* (whose personal wealth was recently put at $25,000,000) is generally credited with having an audience of 25,000,000 native-born, foreign-born and aliens in the U. S.

These 25,000,000 have been kept cognizant, morning and evening, of Mrs. Hearst's present European tour. A typical despatch from Madrid:

"Mrs. William Randolph Hearst was received this morning by Queen Victoria in private audience in the intimacy of the royal apartments, an honor distinguished by its rarity.

" Queen Victoria was extremely gracious. She asked Mrs. Hearst many questions about America and her recent visit to Ireland. She also asked about Mrs. Hearst's children and about Mr. Hearst.

"Mrs. Hearst wore a black satin dress trimmed with ermine. "

She has been especially honored since her arrival here, as this was her second visit to the Palace this week, the first being on Monday. ... The difference was that Monday it was a visit in State, Mrs. Hearst being brought to the Palace in the royal carriage surrounded by Guards of honor, while today Mrs. Hearst and Queen Victoria simply chatted intimately, as one woman with another. ...

" The British Ambassador and his wife, Sir Esme and Lady Howard, are giving a dinner in her honor tonight at the British Embassy, at which all the principal dignitaries of the Directorate, as well as the leaders of Spain's nobility, will be present.

" At a dinner given by the [American] Ambassador last night, Dictator Primo de Rivera sat next to Mrs. Hearst, who was the guest of honor. They carried on a lively conversation, Mrs. Hearst manifesting extreme interest in the dictator's description of events leading up to the overthrow of the old regime. . . . " Tonight the Infanta Isabel-- will meet Mrs. Hearst at a reception at the Embassy."

Conferences

If journalists are the best informed men in the country, then President Coolidge is acquiring knowledge. He has quietly been calling leading newspaper publishers to his office for conferences. Their numbers include Robert Lincoln O'Brien of the Boston Herald, Adolph S. Ochs of The New York Times, Walter. S. Dickey of the Kansas City Journal, Frank Knox of The Manchester (N. H.) Union, John C. Shaffer, publisher of a group of papers in the Middle West.

Too Good?

The Pall Mall Gazette is dead. It was " a paper written by gentlemen for gentlemen." Among its editors were the late John Morley and Lord Milner. George Eliot, Anthony Trollope, Matthew Arnold, R. L. Stevenson had contributed. Was the Gazette too good for its public?

-- William R. Hearst is sometimes given credit for having started the Spanish-American war. Incidentally, it was Mr. Hearst's papers which sent Eastern children and nursemaids shivering to bed by the headline: SPANISH FLEET SIGHTED. Next morning it transpired that the fleet had been sighted in the far-off Caribbean. --The Infanta Isabel (born 1851) is the aunt of King Alfonso.