The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-10-23
Railroads Are Para|yztd and
 Traffic Blocked
COMMUNICATION CUT OFF
Commercial Heart of Russia Is Practl. caIIy Isolated by Strike of Rail- road Employes-Much Suf-
 fering Threatened.

Moscow, October 22.-Traffic on seven of the nine main trunk arteries of com merce radiating from Moscow was com pletely paralyzed today by the railroad strike, and the commercial heart of Rus sia has been shut off from all communica- tion with the rest of the empire except with the narrow section to the north westward, including St. Petersburg and the Baltic provinces. Though the govern ment has ordered the railroad battalions of the army to proceed to Moscow and take the places of the strikers for the pur pose of restoring traffic. the revolution ists, by a sudden and unexpected blow have shown their ability to lay their hands on the throat of the nations com- mercia1 life.
 The employees of four railroads struck today, and only the lines running over the Nicholai road to St. Petersburg, and over the Windau and Rybinsk road to Riga and other Baltic ports are open. Traffic Is at standstlll on the Kason line. and on the line to Yaroslav and Archangel.
 Force Men to Quit Work.
 The strikers today forced the employees of the general offices and financial de- partments of three lines the Dlndau and Rybinslk, the Moscow and Brest Litovsk, and the Kieff and Vronezh. to quit work. The city Is already feeling the effects of a milk and meat famine, and a few days continuance of the strike will cause se- rlous embarrassment, and even suffering, to the population. The removal of the factory at ri fe 4ot Inn, al,ah Ia
 An important development today was the strike on the Brest Litovsk road which runs to Smolensk, Minsk and War saw, and carries international traffic from Moscow to Germany. Austria and other parts of Europe Though the workers in the shops of this road struck yesterday, the trains continued to run until o'clock this afternoon, when the engineers and firemen drew the fires. and deserted the engines.
 Drove Away Guards.
 Communication with points abroad, however, is still open by way of St. Petersburg and Pskoff.
 During the morning a crowd of strikers proceeded to the freight station of the Kursk road and let off the steam of eight engines drove away the guards, and forced the employees to cease work. Traf- fic over the road thereupon stopped. La ter the strikers were attacked by a crowd composed of the rougher elements of the population. but order was finally restored by Cossacks There were otherwise no special disorders reported.
 The strike coming at this time Is apt to seriously cripple the work of relief in the famine-stricken provinces. and also to impede the movement of this year's grain crop, as the railroads even under normal conditions are not able to keep the grain crop moving promptly. Official reports show that 139,s24 loaded cars were awaiting removal on October 30 in various sections, and that the grain and coal handling districts are daily increasing their accumulations at the railroad sta tions.
 Great suffering fig certain If the reori- site supplies of grain and other provis- ions cannot be forwarded into the fam fne-stricken districts, where up to the present the work of relief has not been carried out successfully