New-York tribune., 1921-08-08
American Relief Also 10
Find Two-tIlirds of All
Russia on Hunger Ra-
ton, Says Mrs. Harrison
Migration Halls
Ukraine Planting
Economic Collapse Due to
Soviet NIisruge Rather
Than Great Drought


BERLIN. Aug by The Associated
Press).-The American relief workers
who are about to go into famine-strick-
en- Russia probably will find 100000
persons in the Volga basin actually
starving and two-thirds of the entire
population Of Russia on hunger ra-
tions. according to Mrs. Marguerite f.
Harrison, the American newspaper
woman recently released from prison
in Soviet Russia.
Ihls condition Mrs Harrison attrib-
utes to internal economic and political
disintegration under Soviet rule, ard
also to the ravages of the internecine
wars against Admiral Kolchak and
General Wrangel and to the drought.
What the drought failed to accomplish
conscription of farmhands and tho
requisitioning 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
Siberia virtually is in the same pre-
dicament. Neither region is willing to
surrender grain to the famine sections.
and migration of peasants is now pro-
ceeding, completely hating the au-
tumn planting, which constitutes a
threat against next years crops.
Swift Effect on Public Health
The food situation, Mrs. Harrison
said, also would have a swift and de-
cisive bearing on the public health,
although the Russian sanitary corps
had the cholera situation in hand
when she left Moscow at the end of
July.
The famine area begins between
Nizhni-Novgorod and Kazan, on the
north and extends southwark in
broad belt to Tsaritsin, on both sides
of the Volga, embracing the Tartar
Republic provinces of Sim birsk,
Samara, Saratov, Penza and Tambov;
the Tcherkask Republic, parts Of
Riazan and Tula. and large part of
the province Of Ufa, to the foothills
of the Ural Mountains.
Famine conditions nave been made
worse by poor transportation and the
ineficiency Of local distribution or
CARNATIONS, which have been vigor-
ously attacked by the newspapers dur
ing the last few weeks For instance,
50 per cent Of the milk spoiled in the
Moscow government was due to 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 parlngs and weeds. 1t
is called lebedya. In the NovensH
prison where Mrs. Harrison was de-
tanned the bread was aduterated with
a flour which appeared to have been
made from cowpeas. Kasha, the staple
cereal of the peasants, has been re-
placed by fageolct beans, which are
imported.
Mrs. Harrison visited the volga
basin with the British labor delega
ton a year ago when she observed
symptoms Of the approaching food
shortage. This. she says, is not the
result Of the crop failure, but OF the
economic conditions prevailing since
the beginning OF the revolution. Dur
ing the Kolchak campaign the Nolga
provinces were overrun with the re-
suit that the fields were not culti
waited ana the population was scattered.
This was one reason why the official
figures for 1920 showed that the num-
Der of farm workers in Russia had in
creased so per cent since 1916.
When the Soviet retook the Nolga
provinces in 1919 they proceeded
and in the main efficiently.
to carry out the program OF agricul
tural reconstruction. They succeeded
fairly we'll, though lacking in man
power, machinery and fertilizer The
commissariat OF agriculture began a
Of education, sending to the
provinces trained propaganda work
ers and technical literature experts.
Reserves Exhausted Last Year
In the spring Of last year, Mrs. Har-
rison said, the reserve supplies, which
ha9 been hidden, were nearly eX
hausted. but the croI prospects were
good. This was the situation when the
Polish campaign brought further con-
scriptions and acquisitions, in addition
to the natural produce tax. AT the
close of 1920 the government found
the food supplies greatly inadequate,
and in February the revolt hindered
ne importation for time of food
stuffs from Siberia. In the early spring
the Soviet instituted free trade and
reorganized the cooperative societies in
(Coriinued next pase)
& nN.osnI rEhronsonoI