Passaic City record., 1891-10-03
Distribution IN RUSSIA.
A State of Famine in Thirteen
Governments.
Straits to Which the Starving
Peasants are Reduced.

A dispatch from st. Petersburg to the
London Telegraph, describing the situation
in Russia arising from the failure of crops,
and detailing narrowing incidents OF the
famine now prevailing, says that not for
centuries has such widespread distress been
recorded. A circular has been issued by the
Minister OF the Interior, which enumerates
thirteen Governments In which the people
are completely famine stricken, and eight In
which a partial famine prevails.
The trouble is chiefly due to the Govern
ment, which, although well aware at the be-
ginning of the year that famine was I'M
minent, delayed taking any action to relieve
the distress until it was too late. What ben
eft would have been derived from the pro-
hibition Of the expectation of rye was nulh-
fed by the action of the Government IN
extending the time for the decree to go into
effect. In addition to the scarcity of food,
which has caused untold suffering, the dis
tress has been intensified by the enormous
number of disastrous fires that have oc-
Cured throughout the famine-stricken re.
gion. In many of the districts entire
villages have been destroyed. Added to
these cruel strokes of fortune came the cat
tie plague, from which thousands Of head OF
cattle perished, many families thus losing
their only means of subsistence.
What little food it is possible for the
peasants to obtain is OF the poorest descr1p-
rion. In many cases their only food is the
sweepings and refuse from the -four mills
In Saratoff the landowners found this refuse
SO injurious to their cattle that they would
not feed 1t to them. But the landowners
made bread of it and sold it to the peasants.
Bread made of finely chopped straw and
bran, mixed with a small quantity of rye, is
considered excellent. In many districts the
starving people are not able to procure even
these miserable substitutes for nourishing
food, and are reduced to the most dire straits
to procure anything that will proiong life.
In these districts the starving population
are keeping themselves alive by making and
eating what they call shunger bread" the
ingredients of which are dried dung, the
powdered bark of trees and ground peas and
goose-foot, plant more commonly known
as pig-weed.
Heavy rains have fallen and the ground is
so soaked with water that the potatoes are
rotting. The price of potatoes has already
doubled, and is still rising.
The peasant boards have sent petitions to
the Ministry praying that the taxes and ar
rears of taxes be wiped out. The petitioners
declare that the Government will be obliged
to maintain the impoverished people for
fourteen months, and that it will be utterly
impossible for them to pay the taxes.
The great fair which Is annually held at
Nl1nl NOvgorOu, ana WHICH rs a'eonoou ny
merchants and dealers from all parts of Rus
sia, was a failure this year. This was due to
the enormous number of bankrupts and their
consequent withdrawal from trade.
In many villages the peasants have nailed
up their huts, and have left their communes
to scour the country in search OF work.
Hundreds OF them have failed in their search,
and are begging along the roadsides. In
numerous cases the seed corn which was fur
nished the peasants by the Government has
been eaten instead of being planted, and the
land is lying fallow.
Notwithstanding the terrible condition Of
the peasantry, the taxes continues to be ex-
torted from them. Where the peasants dis
play any unwillingness to pay over their
means to collect the money from them. The
knout is extensively employed by the
officials of the tax-gathering department of
Russia.