The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1898-08-31
SHORT CROPS IN RUSSIA
IMpONERISHMENT OF THE SOIL
CAUSES FAMINE.
Consul General Holloway Reports Up
on the Conditions in the Empire of
the White Car

Consul General Holloway at st. Pc
tersburg has forwarded to the state
department the following article in
regard the famine in Russia:
"The frequent failure of the cereal
crop i'm the same localities in Russia
cannot be accounted for on any other
theory than that the soil is being i'm
poverished. The famine of 1891, as
well as the present one, was caused
by impovershment How can it be
otherwise i'm region which is over
head and ears in debt and has no way
of encouraging rural industry? As
is already known. in the central Cher
notion region all the forests have
been cut down. This has had unfa-
vorable consequences for the farmers.
Then, the changes in the tariff on
grain, and the low price of cereals,
owing to the conditions of the inter
national market, have destroyed the
agriculture of that region.
"Of course, poor harvest has al
ways sad results, but if a farmer has
reserve supplies, famine may not
ensue. But when such a harvest oc-
ours i'm region where the farmer has
not enough to eat and is prosecuted
by all sorts of payments, when the
grain just taken off the field is
brought straight to the market and
sold at a very low price in order to
pay the taxes, even a medium harvest
may not be sufficient to avert fam
inc.
This calamity has this year visit
ed the same localities as the famine
Of ,x-hn Of hn
meuts of Noronezsh, Kaluga, Kursk
Orel, Penza, Riazan, Samara, Saratov.
Smbirsk. Tamboy. lula and Astrak-
han, and some parts of the govern
ment of Nizhni-Novgorod, Kazan, Ufa.
Perm, Stavropol and Orenburg, are
again stricken, not only with the same
distress, but even with a still greater
one. as there is also a deficiency of
fodder.
"The conditions under which this
famine first manifested itself were
more favorable than those of 1891
The great disaster of this latter fam
inc consisted in the fact that all the
public granares We're nearly empty,
containing only one-fourth of the
amount of grain which should have
been kept there: in consequence of
which, as soon as the first symptoms
of the coming famine were observed,
a dreadful panic set in, and was fol-
lowed by grain speculation. This les
son was very hard. and caused larger
quantities of grain to be kept in the
granaries, so that when. in 1897, it
was ascertained that a famine might
be expected, the granaries contained
three-fourths of the obligatory sup
plies-i. e., on January /, 1897, there
were in the granaries of the eighteen
governments 6S,000,000 pools (1,224,-
600 tons) of different cereals. These
supplies were very highly beneficial;
they prevented panic during the first
period of the famine. furnished the
seed for sowing the winter fields in
all the governments where the crops
had failed, and prevented grain spec
ulation. Owing to this fact, the fam
inc in the eighteen governments has
had no influence on the prices of
grain in the Russian market.
ION the other hand the present
famine has occurred under very I'M
favorable conditions, so far as the
public funds are concerned. The To-
cal and the general Authorization cap
itals were spent during the famine
of 1891, and the money has been re-
paid very slowly. Up to the present
day, only 100000 rubles ($4,377 ,500)
in grain and money have been dis
tributed to the famished governments
from the public fund.
"The Red Cross Society, other bene-
VIOLENT institutions and private persons
are doing their utmost to help the
needy. A reduced railroad tariff
has been established for grain going
to the famished governments. This
tariff will continue until September
10. Grain paying this rate has to be
accompanied by certificate from the
Russian Red Cross SOcietVo