The Washington herald., 1906-12-30
RUSSIAN FAMINED
Peasants Parting with Stock
for Price of the Hides.
STARVING ON ACORN BREAD
HeartrendinE Picture of Distress in
Reports Made by British Consular
Acknowledgement Makes No Eff
fort to Alleviate Sufering-CattIe
Cannot Live Till Spring.
speclaI to The wa.hinrtnn Herald-

| Special to The Washington Herald.
London, Dec. 22-Heartrending reports
have been received by the foreign Office
/ from British consuls I'm Russia regarding
| the condition of that c0untry's peasantry.
/ II is openly asserted by these officials
/ that, while the Russian government here
is supposed TO be investigating the alleged
| shortcomings Of the firms employed 20
/ convey supplies to tho famine region, the
unhappy and innocent people are permit
| ted to suffer untold privations without the
| slightest official effort being made TO
alleviate their suffering.
| The crops have failed completely. There
| is neither food nor forage. The granaries
! stand absolutely empty. over a stretch
/ Of 1000 versts there are only in eleven
villages a few house owners who had left
little Of the corn stored from FIVE to
ten years ago. There is no trace of either
| oats or buckwheat. Cattle and horses are
sold for trides. Horses are valued at the
price of their skins-from 10 z rubles
each-cows fetch or 4 rubIes more,
sheep l ruble % kOpecks each. Old straw
taken off the roofs is sold for to
rubles the CARLOAD. In the Buzuluk dis
! tricJ a prickly, worthless herb has been
I gathered for fodder. also oak leaves. to
gather which the people often Travelled
many versts 20 the crown forests. II is
/ doubtful if any animal can be kept alive
/ until the spring on such fodder. The num-
/ Der of families without horses is increas-
/ ing daily. even in the steppes where for a
man TO be without a horse is like being
/ bird without wings
Fed on Acorn Flour.
/ According to one consular report, the
/ Investigation found only seven out Of
/ thirty-three villages in which acorn -four
I was not mixed with the rye to make the
I scanty bread. In some villages acorn
( flour bread alone was eaten. This bread.
/ the report says, looks like earth, but il
/ has formed the staple food Of millions
/ Of people since September Such as it Is
I there is nowhere enough to give more
/ than one feed day 90 each person. The
! children are given usually this acorn
/ -four mixed with hot water and made into
! a sort Of Cruel The people have
/ strange look from feeding on this 'hun-
ger bread" as it is called. They are
/ pale and exhausted, and have dimmed
+ eyes and shaking limbs. Where "huu-
ger bread" is eaten there also are found
/ scu-yy and typhoid.
/ The assistance that IS being sent by
/ the government is wholly insufficient in
quantity and badly organized Men who
can work are excluded from assistance.
and yet il is impossible % obtain work
/ anywhere. During thu famine Of 1855
I private charity largely reduced the mis-
cries Of the people, Red Cross relief de-
I pots being opened iu nearly every village
: In the stricken districts Little is seen
/ Of the Red Cross organization now or OF
/ the zemstyo organization. except in the
/ BUzuuk district The central govern
ment has. in fact. actually forbidden the
! organization OF relief committees. fear
/ ing that they may become ceuters Of
revolutionary propaganda. Meanwhile
newspapers are being suppressed for
/ limiting at the discovery Of more gross
/ frauds in connection with the distribu-
/ ton Of the government relief corn.
Chinese 70 stop Opium Habit.
/ There Is. according To most reliable
/ adyices from Pskin. every indication that
/ the Chinese are thoroughly in earnest in
/ their endeavors 10 eradicate the opium
I evil and 10 enforce the regulations TO
| that end. The Viceroy Yuan Shi-kai has
/ issued very strict Instructions 10 all his
/ departments. TO the customs taotai, and
I 10 the chief Of police 20 enforce the reg
ulations. The board Of home affairs has
/ ordered copies Of the regulations 10 be
/ sent 10 the provinces and villages, where
[ the headmen are % explain their mean
+ ing TO the people. Advices from the prov
I inces state that the local authorities are
active. and that at Suchau the head
quarters of the Anti-Opium League. the
military authorities have ordered the Of
ficers and men 10 obey the regulations.
The police Of Pekin have ordered 1000
/ copies of the regulations TO be printed
| and posted up and have also issued strict
instructions regarding article g. Of the
/ regulations. referring TO anti-opium pills.
and declaring that all sellers of anti
opium medicine must be registered and
their medicine examined by the police
Sellers Of morphia and quack medicines
VIII be punished
Japanese tn Increase Army.
The proposal to reduce the term Of &C
! tive service with the colors in the Japa-
nese army from three years to two, as