Waterbury evening Democrat., 1905-12-28
THE MISERY IN RUSSIA
Real Condition Set Forth by a
 Native.
wREToHEDNEss OF THE PEASANTS

Fearful Effect of Famine Caused by
 the Russian Government seixing
 All Their Supplies of Food to Pay
 For Arrears of Taxation-HorribIe
 Substitute For Mill1 Given to Babies.
 Mice Are Missing In Some Huts.
 The London Standard prints the fol- lowing from Russian at present liv- ing in London, who has himself expe- rienced the terrors he tells about, giv- ing the following description of modern Russia:
 "At the present moment famine and misery untold are running riot in Euro pean Russia And yet only short time ago an English journal pointed to this years immense exportation of corn from Russia as proof of the increased prosperity of the country. No one, per haps, knows so well as Russian who has himself suffered how this seeming symbol of plenty is as the death war rant of hundreds of miserable men, women and children. For it means that the Russian government has seized the entire supplies of food which the peas ant has raised to feed himself and his family in the winter, to pay for the ar rears of taxation, arrears of land tax, of grants in aid, all of which amount to h1ndro6c af Y,nilJiopc of p1xhIoc
 Within the interior of Russia at the present moment are large villages in which the entire population lie famish- ed in their wretched huts. In these there are not even mice, because there is no food; no cats. owing to the ab- sence of mice; no dogs, because they have starved. In some places the in- habitants have trained themselves to do without food by allowing them selves to sink into kind of winter sleep and by moving as little as possi- ble, whereby the waste of bodily tissue Is arrested, and saving in food and fuel is effected. In many parts where the famine is severe 1t is hardly proba- ble that single young child will sur vive.
 Because there is no milk the baby is given horrible substitute, called a sucking bag. It is filled with black bread, which is rarely changed, and spreads disease as it goes on from mouth to mouth. At last dysentery sets in, and the child soul returns whence it came so short while before. Thus it has come about that the mortality of the Russian population is largely in creasing, and the once rapid increase of the Russians has been checked.
 'The Russian peasant is not trained to work. He feels no zest in it. He will not labor for more than is neces- sary to provide for the next few days, for the land is not really his own, and therefore he cannot love it as a hus- bandman should. His whole character has been enervated by achievement and bad government, which rendered him less than ever capable of .strug;. glihg with bad times.
 ''But the state, instead of doing any thing to increase the industry and pro- ductive power of the people, does the very reverse. It even panders to his idleness by increasing the number of his festivals and holidays, far more eager, apparently, to impress him with the sanctity of the church and the au- thority of the state. Now, these holi- days cost the country enormous sums of money. Assume that of 120.OO0,00O 60,000.000 able workmen alone do work every day to the value of 20 kopecks. At this modest rate the nation is de- prived by every holiday of f1,200,000 ($6,OO0,Oo0) srt r1g -
 ''The Russian of the farming districts has 160 or more of these holidays an- nually, and the tendency In official cir cles Is still further to increase them. Thus even non Orthodox Russians, be- sides their Catholic and Protestant hol- idays, are compelled to observe Ortho- dox saints days as we'll Calculated in money the loss of labor caused in this manner, added to the floods of brandy with which the days are celebrated, must represent an annual loss of cer- tainiy not less than f1o,00O.0OO Cs50,- 100000.
 The poorest village manages to find means-if necessary by recourse to the village poor box-to celebrate these feast days, which is equivalent to drinking pailfuls of brandy. And the more that Is drunk the better the gov ernment of the Little Father will be pleased, for is not It's sale a govern ment monopoly? It has been ealculat- ed that peasant family of four mem bers only will spend a fifth of the year. ly income fin brandy"