The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1892-07-28

ST Petersburg is rich city and money
spending city, and the life here is perhaps tue
fastest of that of the great cities OF Europe
This is how il appears on the OUTSIDE, ana 10
the eyes of the stranger.
The real state of affairs is far different Rus-
STA is doing great deal to relieve the famine
The famine exists in all its horrors STILL but
the stricken regions are 900 miles from
here. and it is in central and eastern Rus-
sis that the greatest trouble lies. The famine
district covers, all told, territory as large as
half the United States, and this territory
has in times past been the richest in Russia.
The soil of the most of it is so fertile that the
mere scratch Of the wooden plows has almost
always turned out great yield, ana 1t might
be called the granary of the Empire. Ii has
population of thirty and more millions: and OF
these. fully 100000 are now living on what
the rich of Russia give them. Think OF 20
100000 mouths to feed daily Suppose each
person TO eat oaly the small amount of five cents
worth of food and you viii SEQ that the total
amounts to the enormous sum of Sl.oOoc0o a
day Wel Russia has been giving twice this
amount for the past six months.
The sum spent already the famine is
equal to So COO, 900 day for more than SIX
months. and the end is not yet. What countries
except Russia and the United States could stand
it? Not one in Europe, il is safe to say. But
the Russian officials feel ssnguine as to the out
look, and they tell me that two or three years
of good crops will put the country on its feet
again.
The Russians everywhere are deeply affected
by the gifts of America to Russia. The money
we sent was but drop in the bucket in CON-
parison with what the Russians themselves
have given and giving but the people APP
preciate the gift and the whole Nation is thank
full. The American supplies. including the
-four, grain, and money received, aggregate
perhaps value Of 100000.
The amount spent by the Russians them
selves is about 500 times this, and it is fast
climbing toward half billion OF dollars. One
of the heads of the Interior Department told
me yesterday that this famine would cost
Russia in the loss of its products, in charity,
and in the effect it would have upon business
at least billion of dollars, and he estimated
the amount already spent directly upon the
people at nearly billion rubles. This is an
almost inconceivable amount and one wonders
where the money came from.
The greater part of this came from the Rus
sian people themselves. They have gone into
the work of helping their people as Nation
and individually, and they have proved them
selves among the most charitable people of the
world. Vast sums are being spent by private
parties, and thousands upon thousands of
people are being kept alive by single indiyid-
uals and families.
In order to realize the Russia of to-day you
10 existence here very much the same as in our
Southern States save that the planters of Rus
STA owned in many cases vast numbers of serfs,
often running into the tens of thousands.
When the people were freed they received
some land from the Government. and they bad
also a portion of the land of their masters, but
the bulk Of it still remained In their masters
hands. The serfs were and are like such of the
negroes the United States who have remained
in the backwoods Of the South, impractical,
non-accumulative, and dependent on the adj
vice ana help of their former master. They
worked for wages his plantations and
looked Up to him as their adviser and friend.
In the present trouble the great propretors
have taken up the work among their old serfs,
and they doing all in their power to relieve
them without troubling any one else. ! know
of men who are feeding q, 600 day, aud have
been doing so for the last six months. i hear
of Others who have mortgaged their estates to
procure food FOR the starving villagers upon
them, and / learn that ia ali Of tho towns OF
Russia relief societies are at work, and the
women OF the land are doing much as the
women Of the North did for the soldiers at the
time Of the war
Money has been collected from the well. TODD
and the poor, well as from the rich, and
their private gifts have amounted to about
$lo0oOO00O or more than has been collected
from any other source The Government itself
has given nearly as much, and the Gar End
his officials have cut down their own salaries
IN order 10 give to the people. The eldest sou
OF the Gar, young fellow of %, is at the head
OF the relief organization and the money sent
from America, well as that collected in Rus
sia, all passes through his hands.
The relief funds and the supplies are system
atically managed, and reports received here
from the various centers give the daily status
oil the ADMINISTRATION districts From such