Dear Dr. Burt;

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP60-00346R000100090003-9
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: November 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 23, 2000
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: March 28, 1957
• Content Type: LETTER

Approved For Release 2000/05/22 :CIA-RDP60-(468
~`"~ TRB F`OREIE~N SBRVICB
UNITED STATES OP AMERICA
~~~~~~q~
OFFICIAL BQTSII9ESS INFORMAL
RDH-Poland-L-36 ~ .
Dear Dr. Burt;
28 Larch 1957
Recd: April 3, 197
This is in a manner of a general lettar carrying
items which should not be in the more serious letters which followp
These other letters will no doubt have a wider distribution than
normal and the remarks of this letter may eezm a little "out of
places one might say.
~xcaAN~~s A~.run
I have written that an exchange was made with the
university and listed the things which they want. I-can not impress
too much that the items from OLI/M to this exchange (and-the othex
I will mention in a moment, must not under .arty circumstance be
sent to the Embassy. Agencys in Warsaw are forbidden to have arty
contact with foreign Embassies in Warsaw_ without dealing through the
Foreign Office.. The FO will stop any arrangements and should any
material be sent to the Embassy for transmittal to any agency in
Poland it will probably aegate the exchange immediately, if not
soonero Please don?t send material except directly from Washington
to the agency involved. Don?t do it via the Polish embassy in
Washington either. Official paper can be used and, if necessary
the Department of State address as a return, If it can be avoided on
the envelope, so much the betterm If sot, it doesn~t make too much
difference. Put addresses inside of course.
I Bm bowing out of t~tese exchanges except for an
advisory basis. you can make them by asking for and supplying
material since the egencys involved really want to make the whole
thing work out well. gou,can, if you want to, make the~nore auto-
matic than I did. Mare of this later. QR 1~5~
~a
Dr. Arthur L. Burt
Special Assistant for Maps
Department of State
Washington, DoCa
State'~~eptVeaec~ass ficatiori in5structlons on0~i~e 468000100090003-9
 Approved For Release 2000/05/22 :CIA-RDP60- 0468000100090003-9
~.r co~IDE~3TIAL
EXCBANGE WITH THE PPWK
For your benefit and for the Embassy in Warsawy I
will put the exchanges in a forma]. despatch form for the record.
However I got into the CUOiK and its affiliate research organization
the Institute for Gieodesy and Cartography for several hours on
Monday of this week. They arranged on Tuesday to have a car pick:
me up at the hotel at 9AM oa Tuesday and take me to the PPWK. A
gala atmosphere prevailed as a foreigner was made welcome to the
unholy circle. I stayed there until. 31'M (without lunch - what I
don?t have to do for my countryo) and took tha $5 grand tour of
the organization. They were delighted about an exchange and the
information will be iven in the formal F`6Despatch by Monday.
The same limitation ~of not dealing through the Embassy) applys
horsy except more so, if possible,
I am also worY.ing on an organization report which
~wi11 take the batter part of a week to prepare. My notes are all over
including the sleeve of my beet nylon shirt. I told my wife not to
wash it until incorporated into the report. They would be delighted
however and are collecting a mass of materiel for shipment to me here,
This will take a t'ew days to compile and a week to get here and is
necessary for the report.
Depending oa how the FSD works.out- I may write
another 0$I on the PI~FiKo
Right at the moments the most vivid impression is
of the last de4y. It was a hectic affair and some how symbolized the
idea of Poland to me. All of its faults and certa~.y its strong
points, The day began with the usual effort to straggle out of bed
and to remember not to turn the room light aa. Whoa ever I did this
by accidents it blew all of the fuses on the first floor of the hotel,
For some reason or another this light fixture could never be repaired.
I have never figured cut if the electrician was- really a "plumber" or
if the tapg~ng device (said to be in every room on the first floor
of the hotel) was there. $owever~ I had to live with the minor
irritation of no main light in the room. I 8resaed and went to the
breakfast room and was asked by the waitress if I Wanted ham and eggs.
This seemed like a good idea since I would,~'b a flying at the noon hour
and. hence would have a delayed lunch.- Two minutes later she came back
(the breakfast room had been open for 10 minutes) to say that there was
no more ham but they had a nice pork steak. This did not appeal far
brekfast and so Y refusede settling for a couple of rolls and coffee.
I advise all future CAS traveling in Poland to bring a pair. of asbestos
glRR~~ves.since all coffee and tee ie served boiling hot in a glass without
hasPles. I have killed the nerves in the fingers of my right hand until
I overcame my American inhibition to "blow on my soup". After breakfast9
I went to the floor clerk and stated that I was leaving aryl would like
my bill. She took out three huge ledgers and an abacasa pencil and
Approved For Release 2000/05/22: CIA-RDP60-0034680001.00090003-9
CONFIDENTIAL
 Approved For R~erl~ease 2000/05/22 :CIA-RDP60-0068000100090003-9
c4rr~I~~~TI~,
-3p
paper. she took the figure 797.5p out of one ledger and then filled
the S~c10 sheet with a thousand. and one figures from tine other ledger
uttering stange inhuman sounds all of the time before arriving at
my total bill which was 799.30 z~. 'Ibis entire process of consulting
ledgers, abacas and paper took almost 20 minutes.
Then she asked if i had. money. Being a little
startled by this question since I had. dust asked to pay my bill,
I asked what she meant. She wanted to know if I ha,d z~oties and
I proudly replied "Oh, yes." She was sorry to beer this because,
she mumbled, she could get me abetter rate. NOTE: The official
z~ rate used to be four to a dollar. They gust made a new tourist
rate of 24 to the dollar. This rate actually is very favorable to
the tourist since a hotel room with a bath is about z~ 54 and a
dinner in a good hotel is about 25. I figured on west German
prices that 1$ to 1 would be coffiparable. However, to return to the
story, one ie not five minutes in a conversation before one i~ The
offered (cagily rates varying from 100 to 150 to the dollar.
poor girl was evidentally a front man and was disappointed that I
failed to realize the possibilities. This business plagued me
over and over as all sorts of people worked to get the gankee dollar
at completely A~nrealistic rates of exchange,
On going downstairs to await the car from the
Embassy, I decided to spend the last few 2~oties on some gifts
for my children and wife. 4n entering the small gift shop in the
lobby, I chanted to see a small painted box which looked like a
chest of drawers. I asked how much it was and the girls replied
that it was no flood and I did not want to bp~y it. "I+ooI~seeemed
an8 pulled the darn thing apart in front of my eyes:
everything I wanted was no good. There were some lively an8 lovely
She
8eco~-eted "caster eggs" and T bought four Pon the the kids.
remarked that they were real eggs but not to eat them since they
were Polish: On this confusing note, I crawled out of the hotel.
This some how was typical of all of the comedies,
in which I flayed the straight man. I cou]..d. have made a million with
a television cmunera-and e. pocket full of Parker 51 pens. Just think,
I waa offered almost 3,040 z~ for ones
The general attitude of everyone is anti-cormnuniatic.
Time sad time again I was shocked to hear the degree of the feeling
against it and against the people in the gcvernment. As I told you in
an earlier letter, I saw a 1:100,040 tops sheet and asked if I could
get tbem. I was told that the people in the government were very
bad people and were under the very bad influence of the Rusd~ia,ns and
their attitudes towards maps. In the end., they would be changed but
this took time because the people were so bado As one man put it
"We will make them change, but naw it is too early." In the PPWK,
I was told that they were sure that the Army Map Service maps of
Poland were probably better thaw the Polish ones.
Approved For Release 2000/06tbIIDP60-003468000100090003-9
 Approved For F~elease 20~~3,,~,IA-RDP60-068000100090003-9
It-was very heart-rendering to see the attitudes
of the people toward the U,So. They hate the Russians, fear the
tfermans and look only to the US for their ration. Their interest
in our country and its ways. is overwhelming. At the PPWK, we talked
over coffee for almost an hour on wages, costs, manner of living,
political freedom etc. in the~UOo "We" included the chief engineer,
the librarian (he runs the exchanges and speaks excellent English}
and the "political director" appointed as the administrator by the
ministryo He-was 'as anti-regime as the so-called technical people.
I was shocked since I expected a "cool" reception from him, Se
joined us only at the last minute. Se made up for~his late arrival,
however. -I have agreed to send the "kit" to them on a loan basis
and to make available some of the other cartograpbic reports-which
I have here. I would like this exchange to function as-well as
possible. Sou might write a general letter stating your demands,
desires might be abetter word. I will send the new AMS catalog and
the U~iAF one from here. It might surprise you to know that 1;1,000,000
is the largest scale they want.
A remarlc was made to me in the PPWK which I found quite
good. My-guide said that I should have noticed that most of the .people
were very young. In fact moat of them were so new in the business
that they could be considered as merely apprentices. He mused over
this for a moment and then went on to add "This you know ie the whole
problem in Poland. Everybody is an apprentice. Even the people in the
government =;~~:. apprentices P"
There was a story going around which is typical of
their attitude to the government and to the currency. When Nehru was
visiting Poland-and talking with the Premier, he was aske8 how much
the average Indian factory worker earned in a month. He replied that
it was about 300 rupees a month. The Premier then asked bow much it
cost the man to live. Nehru answered about 150 to 200 a month. The
premier appeared sur~rised and asked what the worker did with the
remainder.. It was now Nehru?s turn to be surprised and he aHieered
that they did not .ask since it was none of their business.
curiosity was aroused and he asked the premier what the average
factory worker earned in Poland and was told about 650z} a month.
Then came the inevitable question "How much does it cost to live for
a month3" The premier answered "About 1,2500" Now it was Nehru?s
turn again to ask "Where do they get the rest of the money ftromt?
The premier answered "Oh, we don?t ask, since it is none of our
businesso"
I guess with this note I wild.. drop my impressions of
Poland. There are many others such as trying to sleep in a bed with one
broken leg and slithering out onto the floor 8 couple of times a
night etc. but the general tone has been established. The duller
stuff must be done since it really is what counts. I?11 start the
exchange FSD this afternoon (it is new Fridays so it can b~sent
the firstr'?of the week. I also want to send some material to the
P~+iK to show that I mesa business v
J
Approved For Release 2000/05/22 :CIA-RDA 00090003-9
CONFIDENTIAL ~j n
`Y