The Idaho recorder. [volume] (Salmon City, Idaho) 1886-1927, 1921-10-21
People Sit Silent in the Streets
Awaiting Death to End
Their Sufferings.
PICTURES OF GRIM MISERY
Docks and Railroad Stations Piled
High With Belongings Of Refugees
Driven From Their Land by
Drought and Grasshoppers.

Syrian, Russia-There was time
when Syrian was the most colorful
city along the VOlga, but that time is
gone. Today 1t is crowded with dust
begrimed peasants, who group them
selves into gray masses in their search
for food.
There was a time when the air was
filed with perfect babel Of tongues
the languages OF the Kalmucks, Mon
gols, Tartars, Chinese and Russians
but the crowds that thrOng the streets
of the city at present are mute. Even
the laughter of children has been ST.
fenced In the despair that has settled
over these tens Of thousands, who sit,
crossing themselves. and wait for
what seems to be the inevitable.
Pictures Of Grim Misery.
Pictures of misery seen here are du-
plicated In Samara, Simbirsk, Saratoh,
Tsaritzin, and every other city in the
famine-stricken valley Of the Voiga.
Docks and railroad stations are piled
high with the belongings of the refu-
gees who were driven from their iand
by the drought and the clouds OF
crasshoppers that destroyed even the
meager grain that had defied the neat
of the terrible summer now drawing
to a tragic close. Committees are try
ing to move the refugees to other
points where there is some promise
of food, but 1t is necessary to use
the limited river and railroad trans
portation facilities to send seed grain
into the country and to bring bread
into the famine districts.
Many professional beggars of the
gypsy type are to be found here and
In other large centers In southern
Russia, but the starving farmers ask
no aims and utter no cry. They
stand silent and await their fate with
the stoicism pictured SO graphically
and truthfully by Tolstoy and Dosto-
ievsky.
Sell Rings and Clothing.
Markets have sprung up mushroom
like here and there about the refugee
camps. offering for sale vegetables.
bread. flour and meat. They are sur
rounded by hungry people. who have
no money to offer. but who exchange
wedding rings. fur coats, caps. ket-
ties. pans, boots and other small pos
sessions. They know the Russian win
ter is coming. and that 1t will ind
them without shelter and clothing, but
they are obliged to give up the ne
cessities of the future to meet the de-
mands of the present.
Large peasant families arrive IN
state of exhaustion, their carts being
dragged by camels and starved
horses. There is no hay or grain
here. and there Is slight prospect that
the animals can be kept alive until
spring.
In the carts are samovars, taking
machines, concertinas and American
sewing machines. which are bartered
for food or for collins. The dead
lie unnotieed for hours. while neal
them are pitiful groups boiling few
potatoes and onions with which te
keep alive. Some markets are under
armed guard, hut this appears to be
unnecessary, as the peasants are toe
weak and passive TO take violent
measures.
Typhus Claiming Victims.
Great crowds attempt TO cling u
the few trains that leave here daily
and soldiers often pull some OF th'
refugees from the cars, frequent,
separating families. some members o.
which have managed TO secrete them
selves between the cars.
Typhus has appeared In man!
places and the hospital superintend