The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1920-08-11
(By Associated Press)

(By Associated Press)
VIBORG, Finland, Russian frontier,
Aug. 11.-Flushed with success and
confident of Poland's defeat, Soviet
Russia faces the approaching winter
with the grim problem Of food as its
supreme test Of" power. - 's'
From the far east to the Finnish
frontier-4,00O miles of undisputed
territory-the spectre of starvation
stalks, threatening as the far reaches
give up a cry for the necessities Of
life, from a people whose hearts, long
sturdy in the struggle for new
day." are forced to heed the demands
of want.
The Associated Press correspondent
Just arrived here, has observed these
conditions in crossing Russia and ST.
IBERIA all the way from Vladivostok to
Moscow and Petrograd. His arrival
in Finland follows deportation from
Moscow because the authorities had
not given advance authorization for
crossing Siberia. In Finnish surround
ings he Is enable to send an uncer-
sored account.
Everywhere They Cry "Food."
Everywhere in all this trip from one
end of Russia to the other, the cry
for food and clothing is heard. 1t was
voiced by the old Russian peasant
type at the Chinese frontier, where
the correspondent was first brought
into Russian territory.
1t was heard again through the heart
of Russia, where the crews of loco
motives were clad in ragged garments,
with sandal-like shoes braided from
the bark of trees.
AS they stocked their engines they
begged for black bread from the little
group of foreign refugees who were
passengers on the train being sent
from Moscow to the Finnish frontier.
The appeal for the necessities Of
living is universal from the people ex-
cept from the extra rationed class of
higher military and civil government
authorities.
To Nikolai Lenine, the Soviet presi-
dent, himself, according to the accept
ed report in Moscow, is attributed the
statement that the Russian people
cannot pass through another winter
like the last. Even now stories are
circulated for popular consumption
that Lenine himself is suffering for
want of food because of his insistence
upon sharing the plight of the people.
Lenlne Is Affected.
The story goes that he refuses more
than his allotted share of black bread,
three-eighths of pound daily, which
is the ration today issued to the civil
ian population in Moscow.
Attendant upon the sore plight Of
the people economically is an ever
increasing spirit of unrest and revolt.
A military organization disciplined to
the core. finds a growing difficulty In
carrying out orders by the mailed fist
tactics In which it has hitherto been
supreme.
From east to west the Bolshevik SOL
diers are militarily trained through
out and officered the same as any
other regularly organized army. Con-
trolled by the soviet political commits
sars. they stand prepared at all times
to fix firmly upon the people the new
social system prescribed in the su-
'preme fats issuing from Moscow.
Strip Siberia OF Food.
In their efforts to avert rising tide
Of counter sentiment, the leaders have
resorted to stringent methods. Siberia,
the. last great food reserve to be re-
claimed to the Moscow power, has
been stripped Of grain and manufac-
tured goods captured after the Kolchak
debacle. Supplies have been trans.
ferred to relieve Moscow even to the
point of placing the Siberian popula-
ton in need
The rich black soil in southern Rus
sia is said this year to have produced
less than half a crop because Of the
crouth. The Don coal basins are pro-