Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-07-09
PETR0CRAD IS
NOW IN GRIP
OF A FAMINE
Many Men and Women drop
From Exhaustion in the
Streets.

correspondent Of the London Times.
t~elegraphing from that city. says:
THE victualing Of Petrograd has
now reached a o critical staga.
There is often no bread at all to Be
distributed for two or three days to-
gether. but in Lieu thereof only half
a pound OF potatoes q head and the
same quantity Of dried pot herbs.
This morning it is announced that
from tomorrow there will be three
days moro Of either bread or potatoes,
and we shall have to make shift With
and the reduction OF our maximum al.
lowance of black bread to two ounces
when bakers can get -four will convey
some idea of the state Of things.
THE all.important business here ct
present Is to get enough to eat. This
exiguous morsels doled put otherwise
obtained with great difhculty at ruin
GUS prices barely sufice to keep body
soul together. Men and women
frequently succumb and sink down in
the street from sheer exhaustion. The
other day opposite my windows 4
shopman out Of work was unable to
proceed until charitable passersby re-
vived him with scraps from the
meager rations which they were carry
ing home to their families.
THE Novya Viedomosti, putting It
NY S4AUk - AkkA0U
seek ravenously among offal and rub
bish\ heaps and lick the paste of street
posters and placards.' Everything Of
any valuetthat has not been stolen or
requisitioned is pawned In order to
provide food. For the same urgent
purpose the savings Of years are used
up and family treasures md their
shops. which are multiplying at an
extraordinary rate while other shops
are closing for want Of wares.
THE waning shop trade is gradu-
ally going over to street hawkers.
many Of whom sell tribes at un-
considerable prices. such as small
Jumps of sugar sufficient for one cup
Of tea at the Russian equivalent Of
DO cents each or more. Among these
street vendors are former officers, Of
fcials and ladies from the bourgeois
class now undergoing the puniahment
OF tmpoverishment. They also retail
newspapers when the latter are not
entirely gagged by the censora.
almost everything political and
military pales into the shade in COM
parison with this famine, which, it
with extreme scarcity Of all raw ma
terials and manufactured articles.
The consequence is that the economic
situation is far more pressing than
the political troubles. and the Ger
mans and Scandinavian neutrals ara
preparing on q vast scale to rea the
benefits in the absence of competition
from England and other allies. A.
large steamship company with a capi-
tai OF many million kroner has al
ready been formed in Sweden for the
Russian trade, and the first Swedish
steamer has arrived in the Neva with
samples OF Swedish and German
goods.
THE Russians are too much preoc-
cupied in trying to provide for the in
d~ispensable needs Of existence to do
anything except complain. The long
suffering nature Of the Slav race in
most adverse circumstances is again
exemplified. Serious hunger riots have
not yet been provoked by the COM
pulsory fasting and exasperated
queues with insufficient bread in the
1early morning, for everybody must
stand waiting for it all night long.
In ironsgrip of the Socialist inno-
vators, h Russian masses are be-
coming politically Indifferent. Their
resistance is reduced to q minimum
and they can only clalnor for more
bread, which, it should be borne in
mind, is h staple food Of this coun-
try in ordinary times. A certain
number Of people who are able to
pay well LIS u6lLlu& {n0N dAAU OSLICI
servants of the Bolshevist govern
ment manage to get what they want,
and food is often offered in exchange
for old clothes, boots. etc. I know Of
an English teacher who is giving a
series of lessons in return for flour.
Hundreds Of armed workmen dis
patched by the Petrograd commune
are prowling around the countryside
to detect and seize g~rainEand bring it
into the furnishing town. More con-
hict and bloodshed is expected from
encounters between these licensed
foragers n the unwilling peasants,
who are not altogether weaponless. as
the peasant soldiers Of the old i'm
perial army were allowed to retain
their rifles when they were first dis
banded by the Bolsheviki. It has al
ready been reported that a provision
train on the Petrograd-V iatka rail-
way has been attacked. the trucks un-
coupled, food c~onsignments seized,
and some Of the guards killed and
wounded.
"Very-few real workingmen were al
first disposed to join these provision
battalions in their. hunt after corn,
but unemployment and distress seem
to have induced a considerable num-
Der, which the Bolshevfki Wish to In
crease to many thousands. to start out
on this disagreeable Grand"
h -A