The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1921-11-30
Sir Philip Gibbs Acquires
Evidence of Famine
Horror.
TELLS OF VISITING
DESOLATE VILLAGES
fearful Mothers Exhibit
Skeleton Children in
Clamor for Help.
By SIR PHILIP GIBBS.

waistcoat pocket a small lump OF
blue clay and think I shall take
it out occasionally at dinner tables
as a reminder to myself and others
Of the people I have met in these
recent days in Russia who sit down
TO tables which are bare boards.
This clay comes from a hill at
n place called Bitifharsk, not far from
the banks of the Volga, and it is
sold at 500 rubles for food. \ wom-
an who gave 1t to me held out a
small handful and wept.
But I dared take no more than
the smallest piece, because it was
upon this clay that she was keep
ing herself and her children alive
for little while.
Thousands of people are swallow
ing that stuff in the famine district
of Russia to give themselves the
sense Of being filed. though at the
cost of horrible internal pains.
In one house there is not even
as much as that. There is nothing
at all but a Russian family. dying
of hunger. nearer death than all
their neighbors, who are starving.
That was in a village be>snd the
Nolga about five versts from Tetihi,
the chief town of the district. which
] reached by boat.
The president Of the state had
sent a telegram from Nazan order
ing a carriage with a pair of good
horses for the use of myself, two
companions with an Interpreter
But from the landing stage there
was no sign Of such means OF
travel.
Finds Town DcsOlnte.
climbed Il steep hill, slippery
with snow and mud and walked into
a town Of wooden houses and a
great church of whitewashed brick,
with Gilded crosses above pear
shaped domes 1t seemed a dead
place. though the guide books say
it has 5000 inhabitants. About the
wooden booths of the market place
a few peasants were standing in
the mud. but could see no buying
or selling. and apart from some
slabs of black bread there seemed
no goods in the market. The streets
were empty exCept for a Red sol
dier sr two. and here and there
Il Taftar-IookinE fellow driving ar
empty cart with a lcan-ribbed horse
through the little windows of the
wooden houses pale faces stared out
at me. mostly the white wizened
faces of sickIy children. I had ar
idea that this well-built town hid
some plague within its wall-some
secret horror.
The horror was told to us by a
man who smiled as he spoke very
softly. n dark man with hair uh-
kempt and unshOrn. with large
melancholy eyes. He was presi.
dent Of the canton whom we found
in office with his officials, Of me-
chanic type like himself
Horses. he told us. would be
ready Immediately" and we re-
signed ourselves to hours of delay
knowing the Russian word. 'sChi-
chas"
\, It was three hours before the
Harses came and most of that time
the peasant president of Tetiush
y 1unveiled the tragedy Of his people
In the hundred villages or so which
formed his commune. He answered
my questions through an interpret
er with queer smiling shyness and
slow soft speech; and the facts told
revealed not only the state of his
own commune but that of thousands
Of communes in the famine terri
tory and its outer edges.
Hunger Far From yoIgn.
There is great hunger in all the
villages. Some are worse than others,
He pointed to their names on a big
map and said. "These are the worst"
They were the villages farthest
from the VolEa and were beyond our
reach that day. horses or no horses.
The people were feeding on hay,
grass and leaves. but now the snow
is falling and winter is near, and
even the grass and leaves are hard
TO get. There is much typhus in the
villages, in some places plague and
the cholera.
I asked him the cause of the fam
inc. He smiled at my question in
a somber way. The harvest, he said
had been quite destroyed. In the
SOld days his district had produced
a surplus of 1000. 900 poods for sale
beyand its own needs. This year they
had raised no more than twelve pools
Of grain and potatoes for each two
and a half acres. The Soviet gov
ernment had sent down 100 pools
Of seed corn 10 plant for next year s
harvest. but some of it bad been
u~eu LOT lOOO. NO" lneTe were only
10000 pools of wheat and potatoes
for a population OF 100000. Ten thou.
sand pools of potatoes were still
on the barges awaiting the orders
Of the Soviet officers for distribu-
ton. Meanwhile people were starv-
ing. Many parents were abandoning
their children. There were 1900 de-
serted children in his canton already.
and their numbers were increasing
every day.
Thirteen houses had been estab-
rshed to receive these deserted chill
drn, and the president of the can
ton was trying to feed them. But
this was difficult.
There was no medicine for the
sick. and many doctors had died.
conditions were extremely bad in
fIany of his villages. He pointed
again to the map and said: These
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