The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1921-11-16
SOVIET CAUSES
RUSSIAN FAMINE
Kills Goose That Laid Golden Eggs.
Story In Villages.

e'SoAy HI Nhlu4CSs
Samara, on the Volga, Oct. 1S.-
Constant requisitions of grain by the
Red army and other authorities, as
well as the lack of rainfall, was a chief
cause Of the great famine in this sec
ton OF Russia, according to the peas
ant farmers. They say the Soviet it.
self, helped kill the goose that laid the
golden eggs.
The story OF the famine and It's
most intense miseries can not ,be had
In the cities. 1t is only in the little
villages, where the farm workers live
and where the famine had it's origin
that the truth, bare, bitter and crush
Ing, can be ascertained
The story Of the village of Noyo
lSemikinoi, 16 miles from Samara, is
typical Of many the correspondent
visited UP and down the Volga. Riding
out across the rich, rolling farmland,
swept by tho cold winds from the east,
but still beautiful In the golden
autumn, the forests shot with deep
brown, the grass yet green and upon
1t herds Of cattle and horses, with
here and there patches of fields plough
ed and sowed with spring rye and
wheat, one arrives at this village
struggling for half mile along the
two sides Of the main road.
A heavy silence envelopes the vii
lage. Many Of it's one-storied, log
cabin homes, each shut off from the
other by high rail fences enclosing
quarter-acre plot for chickens, COWS,
wagons and barns arc shut the
windows boarded and the doors lock-
ed
Midway in the village the CORE
spondent stopped, knocked at the door
of an occupied home. The peasant said
the village was composed of $50 hous-
'es, so of which had been deserted by
the owners going elsewhere for food
TWO years earlier the richer peasants
had worked each about 300 acres of
land but now they farmcd but three
acres. Normally, the yield was 60 to so
bushels Of grain per each three acres,
whereas this summer, the harvest had
been but about 40 pounds. Last year
the harvest had been about four bush
els of grain to each three acres
At that point the peasant, a tall
raw-boned man thinned by lack of
food, began to get angry. The Red
army Of Samara, had last December
ordered the village to contribute about
$500 bushels Of grain, for which no
payment was to DE received. The viii
lage hadn't been able to supply all
this requisition but offered part. SO
the Red soldiers came and took the
amount Of the requistion.
The village was left without seed
grain, though it was promised from
Samara, and was also without food for
the winter. To get bread, in Decem-
Der, the villagers began selling off
their Valuables, and eating their cat
tie and sheep. AS the winter deep
ened, the famine set in, and the poor
er villagers began to boil up old skins
and hides from furs, even the soles of
old boots and shoes
When last spring came, Samara
failed to furnish much seed grain, and
the peasants sold more valuables to
buy little. One way or another they
had SO pounds of seed grain per three
acres. Then came a dry spring and a
dry summer, with a scant harvest. The
rain came after the harvest.
The peasant, citing the way Of the
Soviet acquisitions said $4,000 pounds
Of potatoes had been taken and locked
up In the basement OF the church and
had there spoiled
The worst Of it was, he said, that
In the face Of their starvation, the
Samara Soviet had just ordered the
village to furnish three to six pounds
of butter for each cow owned. Yet
the only food for the COWS was field
grass, and most Of them no longer
gave milk.
The villagers were eating fruit,
melons, pumpkins, and bread made
from roots, nuts and tree bark. They
had enough for two or three weeks
longer. "a pound Of bread can not be
had here. no, not for 100000 rubles,"
they declared.
The villagers were suffering from
stomach disorders, and asked for
castor oil. medicine not to be had