861.77/1145: Telegram
The Chargé in China (Tenney) to the Secretary of State
[Received October 20, 1919, 5:58 p.m.]
[From Harris at] Irkutsk:
426. October 18, 6 p.m. Referring to Department’s October 8 [9], 1 [3] p.m.80 That part of section 2 of railway agreement referred to by Stevens was temporarily suspended by Omsk Government Council of Ministers on August 12, 1919, and confined by [omission.] If Stevens will report to me all such special cases of complaints I shall attempt to get them adjusted here in Omsk.
[Page 534]Mr. Ustrugoff, Minister of Ways and Communications referred to, by [is] a graduate of the foremost transportation college in Russia, and a situation has arisen during the past ten or fifteen years in connection with railways in Russia which has enabled practically all of the positions of respectability and direction in the railway to be filled by graduates of this institution. The members of this so-called clique, by careful selection, have surrounded themselves with minor officials who can be trusted and the entire combination composes the directing personnel of the Siberian Railroad today. The perpetuation of control of this clique is only possible by continued observances of older rules and regulations, which means that continuation of the same obsolete, uneconomical and unprofitable state of affairs. I am informed that policy indicates that he is most strenuously working for the continuation of the old conditions under the guise of saving the Russian railways for the Russians. That is, he is afraid of losing his grip on the railway and that too much misled [Allied?] control would mean the dismissal and breaking up of the clique in which he is interested.
There is no evidence that Ustrugoff is attempting create difficulties for the Inter-Allied Technical Board and Committee for the purpose of compelling the Allies to grant recognition to this Government or supply it with money. My personal observations of Ustrugoff lead me to believe that he is a man who is attending strictly to the business of the railway according to his own light and is in nowise meddling in politics at all.
The railroad employees of the Siberian Railways consist of two classes: first, the Ustrugoff clique, outlined above, comprising two thirds of the railway official class, plus an insignificant portion of the rank and file of the employees; second, practically all of the railroad officers who clearly see the actual state of affairs but who are helpless to improve matters because of the control the first class has on their positions and livelihood. Harris.
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