811.003 Wallace, Henry A/76: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Harriman) to the Secretary of State
[Received June 24—2:18 a.m.]
2242. I spent two days with the Vice President in Tashkent and accompanied him for one day to Alma Ata. I was accompanied by the Chinese and Mexican Ambassadors,75 the former under instructions from his Government and the latter upon the invitation of the Vice President. Although the Soviet officials we met were formally correct in their relations with the Chinese Ambassador their attitude toward him was noticeably cool and was in direct contrast to the friendliness of their reception of Vice President, the Mexican Ambassador and myself.
The public was manifestly sincere in the ovations given Mr. Wallace at the special theatrical performances which were given in his honor in Tashkent and in Alma Ata.
The population of Tashkent has increased by over 400,000 since the war largely, we were told as a result of the influx of evacuees, and the population of the city is now 1,000,000 of which about a half are Russians or Ukrainians and the others principally Uzbeks. For the present the Uzbek Government is not readily according permission for these evacuees to return to their homes, particularly if they are engaged in industry. The President of the Uzbek Government is an Uzbek, one of the Vice Presidents is a Georgian and the other Vice President a Russian. While it appeared that Uzbek language, culture and traditions were encouraged—and the local population takes pride in this—it was obvious that the Russian language and Moscow direction were firmly established.
We visited several agricultural experimental and selection stations and a collective farm where the Vice President was greatly impressed with the application of science in the development of agriculture.
[Page 971]The work in cotton selection was, according to the Vice President, as good as any he had ever seen. We were told there had been an increase in irrigated acreage under cultivation in the Tashkent area of over 30 percent in the last 5 years. Fruits and vegetables have been particularly fostered, also cotton and sugar.
Although there were complaints of a shortage of farm labor and mechanical equipment, men out of uniform appeared in greater evidence than in other parts of Russia I have visited, indicating that less drastic drafts had been made. On the other hand, at one collective farm where we were told there were 140 families, 200 men were in the army. As only six of these had been killed, however, it would appear that their induction into the army had been relatively recent.
Little progress appears to have been made in implementing the decision to establish local defense and foreign affairs commissariats,76 We were informed that the commissariats were being formed but that commissars had not yet been appointed. There were representatives of the old USSR Commissariat for Foreign Affairs functioning in both Tashkent and Alma Ata. The population appeared to be well fed and, allowing for the difference in level of civilians, healthier than in Moscow. There were no commercial stores in operation in either Tashkent or Alma Ata. Fruits and vegetables were plentiful in the Tashkent market and prices reasonable as compared with Moscow.
Alma Ata is a cleaner and more progressive looking city than Tashkent and shows more evidence of Western standards and energy. Since the railroad reached the city in 1925 the population has increased from 40,000 to 350,000. It has not received many evacuees. In the short time available we were able only to inspect an apple selection station where we were told that about 25 percent of the fruit crop in the immediate area had been destroyed by frost. We were also informed that five hydro-electrical stations had been or were being built near the city. The industrial development is largely in food processing. I was struck by the fact that a large theatre where a special performance was given for the Vice President had been completed since the outbreak of the war, thus showing the importance the Soviets attach to the theatre in maintaining morale and developing Soviet culture. The Russian agriculturalists were obviously impressed with the Vice President’s knowledge of scientific agriculture, and the Soviet officials by his friendliness and sincerity, and I believe his visit has made a substantial contribution to good Soviet American relations.