the Commission, and thus for the Soviet Government, that not one of these were executed without some form of trial ; that it is untrue to say that at any time there had been indiscriminate killing or torture. On this latter point, the authorities are very emphatic, and here I am only giving their statement. I had hoped to bring back a complete set of figures, but these were not available when I left. The materials for getting them together are in the office of the Commission and will be published later on.
But it is a mistake to think that these fifteen men were brought into existence merely to hunt down counter revolutionaries. They had a great work to do in dealing with illegal trading, bribery and corruption generally. No one will deny that under the Czarist regime bribery and corruption amongst the official classes was not merely prevalent but was accepted as the ordinary every day condition of life. All at once to break with this condition of things would seem to be impossible, and the Soviet Government has had the very greatest difficulty in putting it down. They believe, however, that through the work of the Commission this is being done.
As to illegal trading, I have dealt with it elsewhere. Neither the Government nor the Commission hopes to succeed in thoroughly putting an end to this until food is more plenti-
