Evening star., 1921-08-07
BY HENRY w. BUM.


Copyright 1921. by The Washington starr
T HE following is brief summary OF
the most important news Of the world
for the seven days ended August G.:
THE SUPREME coUNc1L-Lloyd George
and BRAND have compromised again, we are
told, though the face of it BRAND seems
to have. done most of the compromising.
BRAND has summoned the supreme council
to meet on August 8. The council will first
take up the delicate question:: Shall rein
forcements be sent to Upper Silesia? If yes.
French only, or other allied troops also, and
how many? France, Britain and Italy (Italy
following Britain's lead throughout the
Upper Silesia business) have called the
Berlin government to arrange for prompt
passage of such troops through Germany
should the decision be yes.
Presumably next on the agenda of the
council will be the determination of the Up
per silesian boundary. supposng this mat
ter settled (Which Is supposing great deal.
and next supposing the atmosphere Of the
council to permit of further deliberations
(Which Is supposing quite much). other
questions and problems will clamor for solu-
tions and decisions. Shall allied occupation
of Dusseldorf. Duisburg and Ruhrort be
continued or not? Shall the Rhine customs
barriers be removed not? BRAND does
not wish to discuss thees questions; Lloyd
George does And the program to facilitate
reparaticn payments which M. Loucpeur, for
France, and DIR. Rathenau, for Germany, have
drawn up would like to be examined, and
should be. Then there is the question of the
alleged failure of justice in the Leipzig
trials. France and Belgium are hot for puni-
tive action on that score. And the grievances
Of little Albania against the Jugoslavs and
the Greeks cry to the council for redress. of
supreme importance to the Albanians who
have been shabbily fubbed OFF. Some say the
council will consult on relief for the starv-
ing Russians; difficult consultation, for
though the heart melt to the cries from the
Volga, humanitarian cannot entirely oust po-
htical consideration, and. finally, there is the
everlasting Turkish problem, which. day by
day, seems to grow more muddled. less ca
pable of sound solution.
Work enough for the supreme council! II
Is pleasant to note that just now all is quiet
on the Oder.
RUSSIA.-In message to the communist
newspapers of Paris, Chicherin, the foreign
secretary of the Moscow government, COM
plains OF the frequently exaggerated or er-
roneous. sometimes absolutely false" state
ments issued by the press of western Europe
and OF America concerning famine conditions
In Russia He says that in ten provinces Of
east southern and central Russia (along the
Volga basin from Astrakhan to vyatka,
there has been an almost total failure of
crops due to drought, the total population
or these provinces being $4,000 900; that if
the wheat practically the only food) on hand
In these provinces were to be impartialIy dis
tributed there would lack two-ffths of the
quantity absolutely essential to sustain life
until the next harvest: that there is no seed
wheat on hand for the winter planting (be-
fore September 15). The above sounds ALL
tnehtic; at any rate, much nearer the truth
than the lurid dispatches from RIGA and
Helsingfors which hint at as many as as
100000 victims: according to which the only
food in the stricken provinces is roots. bark
OF trees and human flesh (for cannibalism.
they say. is rife); which tell of a flood of
these wretches. wave on wave surgine vest
ward, eating the land bare, as after a swarn