51c, 16c, 81, 3c?

Inside Russia her rubles are legally worth 51-c- each. By special treaty Soviet rubles bid at Japanese fish auctions are legally worth 32.5 sen (16-c-). These facts are plain. But recently at Irkutsk roving Correspondent Henry Wales of the Chicago Tribune stumbled upon a ruble puzzle.

Puzzle: Mr. Wales was told at the Soviet gold mines in Irkutsk that the cost of producing $1 worth of gold is twelve rubles, or $6.12 (if the Soviet valuation of 51-c- be placed upon each ruble). Is the Government then losing $5.12 every time its mines turn out $1 worth of gold? Production is being rapidly stepped up.

If the ruble is really worth 8-c- the Government is breaking even. If the ruble is really worth less than 8-c- the Government is making a profit.

Rover Wales was reminded that for a private person to possess gold in Russia is a crime. He was told that a Chinese caught in Irkutsk with 1,600 ounces of gold was "sent to the salt mines at hard labor" despite his foreign nationality.

Said a U. S. technical expert at Irkutsk to Rover Wales: "There are three big shoe factories here but I have never been able to buy a pair of shoes and neither has anyone else I know. We pay $7.50 a pound for butter and $1.25 a quart for milk." Dean of the U. S. colony at Irkutsk is former U. S. Consul Fowler who has lived in Russia for 30 consecutive years, likes the country.

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