Evening star., 1921-07-24

fore the Polish-Lithuanian situation is once
more In the air.
+ r X
RUSSIA-The famine in Russia Is ap-
paliing that one almost falls into the supersti-
tion of the peasants. who believe it Is a special
visitation of God. In the grain-raising belt Of
East-Central Russia no rain has fallen since
March. The crops are destroyed, the leaves on
the trees are withered. the wells and streams
are dried up The only food of many Is moss.
sparse blades Of grass and bark Of trees. Great
assures are opened up in the baked soil, as
though the earth yawned for victims In an
agony Of hunger and, still worse. OF thirst. In
superstitious panic, thousands of frantic
wretches urge their wasted bodies eastward and
westward; westward toward Moscow. where
the cry goes up, American bread is being dis
tributed"; eastward. where new czar has ap-
peared to save his little brothers. So say the
dispatches: and somehow 1t seems a natural
climax. The Patriarch Of Moscow wirelessed
the archbishops of York and Canterbury for
help a grand scale-for bread. and medicines
too, for epdemics wait on famine. One cannot
doubt that England. America and other coun-
tries will promptly contribute but. supposing
the huge quantities Of foodstuffs required will
be forthcoming from abroad. and supposing the
broken-down Russian railroad system capable
of doing its necessary part in their transporta~
tion 4 which 1t Is not due to almost compiler
lack of animal and motor transport), dstritu-
tion could not it Is alleged, be made in time to
save more than a minor fraction of the victims
(said to number about 2o,0O0.000 Elsewhere
in Russia is no surplus for relief; even In Mos
cow they are very short rations.
On all hands 1t Is said that surely
the red Muscovites must go swept under by a
torrent of religious frenzy The sole organ Of
authority will be Moth - Church In Russia,
once more holy. So the miracle nears compile
tfon, and the most 'lideous episode in human
annals draws to close, perhaps
II certain n be believed Ienfn
has chosen TIL, time for the mobilization Of
seven classes against the Baltic states. or Po-
land or Ru'iania. to assist his dear friend
Mustapha Xemal? Hardly. for sundry reasons.
of food and transport against the menace of
domestic insurrection. Much more likely Safer
to hs ,e the young men in the army. where the
communist detachments are counted on to sup
press mutinous attempts. But these reports
seem doubtful.
NEAR EAST.-The Greeks have taken kut-
ara, Afum-karahossar and Eskishehr. Smyrna
reports state that the kutaia they captured 49,,
900 Turks 10000 camels and 16S artillery pieces
If true. severe loss, especially to the
carhels; but one little suspects Smyrna figures.
The capture Of Eskishehr. the point where lines
from Smyrna and Angora meet the Bagdad
railway. is important. What next? If the
Greeks try to advance farther. they will find
the going heavy through difficult and dan
gerous country. Their communications will be
getting ever longer and more vulnerable. If
they halt they likely to lose in morale, and
the Turks. operating in their country. may
be expected to turn a trick two. as they have
done before. On the other hand. there is the
possibility that the Turk are weak in num-
bers and equipment the Greeks have
claimed, and that the latter's superiority in
transport may enable the Greeks to win a
crushing success.
CHINA.-Dr. WI Ting-Fang cables that
the Canton government should be represented