Durango semi-weekly herald. (Durango, Colo.) 1899-1907, 1906-08-06
MILLIONS IN RUSSIA
VICTIMS OF FAMINE
Crop Failures Add to Horrors Of Gen.
er-I Strikes and uprIslngs.
civilian f. Curtis in Chicago Rec
ord-Herald)

| ATtleS and is threatened with more.
Industrial paralysis;
Financisl aepression:
| UpI sings Of the peasants;
| Mutinies in the army and nav:
Famine ia FIVE provinces. win a
population OF IL millions of Poop on
the verge O. starvation. and
| Thirty-fve thousand unemployed
workmen In St Petersburg, most of
them armed, and a corrs qondirS I'M
Der in other cities
| Ard yet Ph1reol MI not let Is.
real go!
| Occasionally he max oonces-
| or b t 1t always comes too late
Therefore 1t has no effect in queting
| public csmor and ne s no credit
| Yesterday he sent to the douma a
| fair and liberal solution of the land
| problem. Six months ago, or even
| three months ago. 1t would have been
welcomed with gratitude, but now 1t
Is rejected with contempt and dis
| trust, and the peasantry throughout
| the entire empire are asking their
| representatives in the douma when
they may begin to pillage and destroy
| the estates of the mobiles and other
rich supporters of the czar.
No army could stop such a move
| ment. and the soldiers upon whom
the car relies come from the very
classes Of the community which they
will be ordered to shoot down. One
| of the members of the douma who
| has just returned from Tula prov
ince reports that the peasants in
that district have struck for three
times the wages they received last
year, and refuse to harvest the crops
unless the advance is paid. Such a
concession would increase the price
| of grain SO to 100 per cent through
out the empire, but II the strikers In
sist upon it the advance will have to
be paid or the harvests must he
abandoned. They are very stubborn
The peasants have learned a lesson
from the strikes In st. Petersburg
| and Moscow last winter and not they
| alone, but all other trades, are strik-
ing-even the soldiers.
The number of unemployed in the
city of St. Petersburg Is estimated at
from $4,000 to $4,000, most of them
operatives in manufactures which
have shut down or are running on
half time. All Russia is suffering
from a terrible Industrial and fnan
cial depression. The close of the
| war caused cessation of government
| work, and contracts for supplies that
were being filled by private manufac-
turers and corporations were can
| celed. This threw hundreds of thou
| sands of artisans out of work. The
political agitation. the apprehension
of a revolution and the uncertainty
of future events have caused an al
most universal suspension of bust
ness. Nobody is giving orders; mer-
chants are not buying goods; the pub
lie is living from hand to mouth, and
| everybody who is able to do so is
| Withdrawing his capital from business
and turning it into foreign securities
| or gold.
The result need not be described.
The working people and wage earn
ers of every class OF course feel the
effect OF the stagnation more than
others, and those who are dependent
upon days wages are now entirely
destitute. Some 10000 persons are
being fed daily by the municipal au-
thorities OF st. Petersburg. There
are boats fitted up as soup houses
upon the rivers and canals which In
tersect the city, and they move from
place to place as circumstances re-
quire. Workmen who show written
testimonials that they have been dis
charged from the factories or from
other employment are given tickets
which entitle them to bowl of cab
bage soup, with big chunk Of meat
in it. cube Of the black bread OF
which the peasants are so fond, and
a mug Of tea. This may be eaten on
the boat or may be taken to their
lilies are fed in the same way-one
meal day of wholesome, nourishing
food.
This is all paid for from the city
treasury. The system was adopted
last winter during the strikes and
more than half a million dollars has
since been expended for the purpose
An additional appropriation of $50,
900 rubles (about $4,000 In our mon
ey) was made yesterday. Various
other methods Of relief are being sup
piled by benevolent associations and
private individuals. The Russians
are a very charitable people. They
have many hospitals. asylums, homes
and other institutions for the care o.
the poor and sick and friendless, ant
even permit professional beggars t.
stand at the doors of their churches
long rows Of men and women whom
the police know to be imposters, abb,
to take care of themselves Tn,
newspaper only few days ago gave
an account of the death and burial o
a professional beggar who left an es
tate of more than 100000. nearly ev
cry penny Of 1t collected from kin,
hearted people on the street.
Ten thousand additional troop
! have been added 10 the garrison O