The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1918-08-05
ALLIES WOULD
Be WELCOMED
BY RUSSIANS
Property Owners And Mid
die Class Are Feeling
Pinch Of Starvation
Az Ananoiatad t.ress.l

Vologda, Russia, April 15.-H the
entente allies will not intervene. let
the Germans come, is the attitude of
the formerly wealthy and middle
classes of the people of Russia. Most
OF them here would frankly welcome
foreign Intervention.
The feeling has been the greatest
obstacle in any attempt to bring the
Russian internal political revolution
out OF the whirlpool OF disorder. ac-
cording to information in the foreign
embassies here.
Now that the peasants and work
men are having their innings, the
property classes arc beginning to feel
the pinch Of denial and even oF sl;sia.
classes IN Russia for centuries. This
is illustrated by the experience OF
the 'hourgeols% family in whose
home The Associated Press cores
pendent lives as paying guest"
This family, once one Of the
wealth!est in the Vologda govern
ment, owned thousands of acres Of
timber land. several lumber mills, 8
dozen ships, two glass factories and
more than 1000 acres Of land.
This is what has happened to those
holdings in the past two months:
The lumber land has been declared
government monopoly and confis-
Gated; likewise the shipping. The
glass factories and lumber mills have
been taken over and are operated by
the workmen. The peasants have
taken the land. rs.
A few dys ago the city government
(soviet) imposed a special tax on the
capitalistic class. The family was
assessed $4,000 Tubles. .r
Prices for foodstuffs, when obtain
W
at the present rate of international
eXchange-which the Russians don't
get, because their money is old
money, invested or made when the
exchange was two rubles to the doll
lar. Compared with old standards
of prices in Russia. where living was
cheap, the prices now are almost un-
believable. -
White flour cannot be bought. ex-
cept by stealth and IN the tiniest
quantities. The black flour which all
use now makes the blacklist Of bread.
The poorest peasants formerly ate
something similar. The cost Of this
flour formerly was the equivalent Of
about rs cents per pood (36 pounds.
At present in Vologda each per-
son is allowed pounds of this flour
month: enough to permit about
three thin slices of bread per day.
DuL 4AOI6 is pEDCuIdD4S through IT.
regular channels. The correspond
ent's host bought a pood yesterday
for $50 rubles; just three hundred
times the old price.
There is nothing else quite as bad
as this, but, with meat, butter and
all other foodstuffs the prices are
from ten to fifty times the old
amount. Everything Is by card; that
is, purchases are limited and city
(sovie) controlled, but it is quite
possible. if one has enough money,
to secure larger quantities by stealth.
But the soviet has quite an effac-
tive way Of controlling this UNDER
handed trading the 'obusk."
"Obusk" is Russian for search. A
dozen or so armed soldiers and Red
guard swoop down now and then on
the house the correspondent occupies
and conffscate the surplus supplies.
When to these difficulties are add
ed confiscation Of bank accounts Of
the wealthy families their plight can
be imagined