The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1921-12-04

my account OF the great munger IN
the SHOWS have been falling
steadily and for thousands of versts
there is one white wilderness
broken only by the black woods
and little white-capped villages,
and here and there solitary figures
trudging down lonely tracks.
The boat in which i went down
the Volga was the last before the
river highways were closed. The
starving people in the famine dis
tricts are blockaded by winter.
whose approach they saw with ter
ror. because II barred the way Of
escape.
Relief can only come to them now
by sledge, and in one district the
last horses are dying for lack OF
fodder. so there will not be many
soon to draw the sleighs.
Peasant Sees No Hope.
In one Of the Volga villages /
asked some peasants through an in
terpreter whether they had any re-
serves Of food, however small. 20
tide them over the winter.
One man in whose cottage I stood
eoAN" h~'N VI ~
tatoes left, but must give five to
60 to prison. After that. have
nothing for my wife and child
Last week my horse fell dead
There is no hope for us"
He stood tall and square. with
his big peasant hand on the shout
der of a girl OF 10 years or SO who
gazed at us grsvely from the big
eyes in her little white face. She
was the last child left to her par.
ents out of a family Of six because
FIVE went away one day with those
train loads of children on the tracks
toward Siberia. To what fate, God
alone knows, though terrible ru-
mors come back about the death
rate OF those Siberian camps.
Forced to Kill Cow.
The father and mother wep,
when the children went, but now
they are glad because they will
have no food even for the girl that
remains. The mother showed me
rotting cabbage leaves and spoke
the Russian word for bread. Out
Of that refuse she would make
something like bread
In the yard of one cottage was a
little black COW and the wife of fits
owner told us she had TO provide
three pounds Of butter as a govern
ment tax. She had scraped up two
pounds. but the next week the little
COW would be killed because they
could not feed IL.
That these people should be taxed
out Of their starvation seemed 10
me inhuman cruelty, and / cannot
yet reconcile IL with the fact, which
I know is true. that the Soviet gov
eminent abandoned acquisitions
which depleted the peasants re-
serves last year and ordered the To-
cal governments TO remit all taxa
tions in the famine areas.
Food Reserves Lacking.
One may explain II only by the
knowledge that orders issued by
the central executive remain OF
paper value only for so long a time
after their issue, and often with no
result whatever.
Be that as IL may. am certain
neither the central government at
Moscow nor the local government
OF the federal states, nor the peas
ants along the Volga regions have
any reserve sufficient for their
needs to live during the winter
months.
What | have told about individual
peasants, little families with bare
cupboards. mothers wailing over
starving habies-stories that could
be multiplied until ! sickened my
readers by miserable repetition-is
true OF great territories in Russia,
immense populations, in all Russia
7 have seen. from Moscow to the
Tartar republic. though Moscow it
self is best supplied.
National reserves are exhausted
until next harvest time.
Rattons Ceased Nov. 4.
In the great Tartar state which
has Kazan as its capital. from
which | am now returning TO Mos
COW. there were 100000 people, OF
whom 100000 were children. OF
those 100000 children had been
supplied bare rations by Soviet
committees. aided by the American
relief
For adult folk. especially the
sick. the central government sup
piled $4,000 rations. But on Novem-
Der / these rations ceased: the
central governments were unable
to supply more.
In one. canteen there is food 70
last scarcely one month. After that
there will be no food. Most of the
seed corn sent down by the CEN
trail government was sown by
peasants who were hungry at sight
of il. but were self-restrsined
thinking Of next years harvest for
those who live to see IL. It was not
nearly enough for next years har-
vest. and many fields remain un-
sown.
People Feeding on Grass
A man came on board our boat
at the landing stage which goes up
to the city called Spassk, famous
in Russian history.
He was a refugee from this
town, a good looking, Intelligent
pleasant hammered fellow.
He sat in the saloon with me
drinking a cup of cocoa while
some cases Of food from the Amer
fcan relief administration were be-
ing unloaded. Presently he began
to talk to me through an interpre-
ter there was lOoE Of eaRer wist