The Nenana daily news., 1919-02-20
SLAv RAILWAYS
 ARE UNABLE ID
 AID SUFFERERS


 sponsible for the famine conditions in Russian cities and towns, ac- cording to Leslie Urquhart, capi- talist with large metallurgical and mining interests in Siberia. MT. Urquhart, who recently returned from Russia, has been appointed by the British government to assist in the revival of Siberia's economic life.
 Considering the depreciation of the ruble, he told a represen ative of the Associated Press, food prices in Siberia are practically normal In Western Siberia, he said, there is so much food on hand that considerable surplus could be sent into other parts of Russia, and the same applies, he understood, to Southeastern Russia, and to the Ukraine.
 Broadly speaking, it can be said that in the country as a whole there is no shortage of food, and although the large towns of north and cen tral Russia are starving, there is plenty of food in the villages. The difficulty of transport, due to the Reorganization of the railways, the industrial strikes and risngs which brought about the flooding of the Donetz coal mines and the decrease in the supply of fuel to less than 25 per cent of normal production, cival war in the country and econo- mic chaos generally are all reasons for the state bordering on famine in the towns.
 "Ekibastous, the greatest wheat producing province in Siberia, with lareg stocks of wheat lying less than 100 miles away, is living from hand to mouth as it is practically impos- sible to transport the wheat for lack of strap iron with which to make tires for wagon wheels.
 "The continual increase. of wages in the industrial and manufacturing towns has raised the cost of iron, steel, clothing, boots and other es- sentials of everything indeed that the peasant wears and uses-ani the peasant represents 85 per cent of the population of the country to 20 and even 50 times their nor nal value. The town workers, or 15 per cent of the population, how ever, would not permit the Soviet to raise the maximum prices fixed for food. This one sided legislation not unnaturally in- censed the peasant. While he had to pay 20 and 50 times the normal price for all essential commodities produced by the industrial workers in the towns, he received only about double the normal pre-war price for the produce of his own labor.
 Therefore, the peasant sits tight on his grain. He refuses to sell wheat to the Bolsheviki at the re- quisition price of 1-2 cents a pound, when he can sell it at 96 cents pound, or even more. When it can be got, bread today in Petro- grad or Moscow is 16 rubles or more pound. The peasant is will. ing to barter his food for cloth. steel, textiles and other necessaries, but the industrial workers have rulned industry Nothing IS being produced, there is nothing to barter with. The peasants have large ac- of , paper money, but this is of no value for they can buy nothing with it. Meanwhile the peasants are hoarding their produce.
 "In sense then the peasant is master of the situation He has {; the food. the townspeople have not. : The Bolsheviki have tried with vary ng success to take wheat and other produce by force to feed the pro- etariat of the town, but neither he Germans in the Ukraine, as they lave found to their cost, nor the vorkmen in the towns can get food rom the Russian peasant if he does ,Ot chOOSe tn lot thorn hava if