The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser., 1921-08-19
II MILLIONS IN
RUSSIA STARVING
American Relief Also to Find
Wo-Thirds of All Population
on Hunger Ration.
WARS AGGRAVATED FAMINE
Migration Halts Ukraine Planting.
Economic Collapse Due to Soviet
MisruIe Rather Than Great
Drought.

Berlin.-The American relief work,
ers who are about to go into famine
stricken Russia will probably find T.
100000 persons in the Volga Basin ac-
tually starving, and two-thirds Of the
entire population of Russia on hunger
rations, according to Mrs. Marguerite
E. Harrison, the American newspaper
woman recently released from a Soviet
prison.
This Mrs. Harrison attributes to in
ternal economic and political disinte-
grafton under Soviet rule and also to
the 'ravages of the internecine wars
against Admiral Kolchak and General
Wrangel and to the drought. What
the drought failed to accomplish, con-
scription of farm hands and the requi-
sitioning of grain for the Red armies
completed.
The result is that the Ukrainian Re-
public, normally the granary of Rus
sia, barely is able to sustain itself. ST.
beria virtually is in the same predica-
ment. Neither region is willing to sur
render grain to the famine sections,
and the migration of peasants is now
proceeding, completely halting the au-
tumn planting, which constitutes
threat against next years crops: The
food situation, Mrs. Harrison says, will
also have a decisive bearing on the
public health, although the Russian
sanitary corps had the cholera situa-
ton in hand when she left Moscow at
the end of July.
The famine area begins between
acknowledgement and Kazan on the
north and extends southWard in
broad belt to Tsaritsin, on both sides
of the Volga, embracing the Tartar Re-
public provinces of Simbirsk, Samara,
Saratov, Penza and Tambov, the
Tcherkask Republic, parts of Riazan
and TuIa and large part of the Prov
ince of Ufa, at the foothills of the
Ural mountains.
worse by poor transportation and the
inefficiency of local distribution organ
izations, which have been vigorously
attacked by the newspapers during the
last few weeks For instance, So per
cent of the milk spoiled by the Mos
cow government could have been saved
but for the defective organization of
the receiving stations.
Pitiful stories of suffering are told
on all sides. The peasants of Tambov
are reported to be eating bread made
of straw, potato parings and weeds
1t is called "lebedya." In the Noven-
ski prison, where Mrs. Harrison was
detained, the bread was adulterated
with a flour which appeared to have
been made from cowpeas. Kasha, the
staple cereal of the peasants, has been
by fiageolet beans, which are
imported.
Mrs. Harrison visited the VOlga Ba-
sin with the British labor delegation
a year ago, when she observed symp-
toms of the approaching food shortage.
This, she says, is not the result Of the
crop failure, but of the economic con-
ditions prevailing since the beginning
Of the revolution. During the Kolchak
the Volga provinces were
overrun, with the result that the fields
were not cultivated, and the population
was scattered. This was one reason
why the official figures for 1920 show
Il hot ,hn, Of 70 IN
Russia had increased so per cent since
1916.
When the BolSheviki retOOk the Vol
ga provinces in 1919 they proceeded
and in the main efficiently,
to carry out the program of agricul |
tural reconstruction. They succeeded |
fairly well. though lacking in man
power, machinery and fertilizer The
of agriculture began a
OF education. sending to the |
provinces trained propaganda workers !
and technical literature experts.
In the spring of last year, Mrs Har- !
rison said, the reserve supplies, which /
had been hidden, were nearly exhaust /
ed, but the crop prospects were good. |
This was the situation when the Polish |
brought further conscrip-
ions and acquisitions, in addition to
he natural product tax. At the close
IF 1920 the government found the food
supplies sadly inadequate, and in Feb
'uary the revolt hindered the importa-
ion for Il time of foodstuffs from ST.
,eria. In the early spring the Soviet
instituted freedom of trade and reor-
.anized the cooperative societies in
he provinces.