New Britain herald., 1921-09-06
SYRIAN, RUSSIA, IS
 SCENE OF DISASTER
Once Most Colorful City in VOlga
 Valley-NOW DeSOlate
CHILDREN'S LAUGHTER GONE
Drought and Clouds of Grasshoppcrs Cause PitifuI Conditions Through out Once Fertile Valley-People Waiting in Groups to Die.

Syzran, Russia, Sept. 6, (By Asso- ciated Press) There was a time when Syzran was the most colorful city along the Volga, but that time
 is gone. Today it is crowded with dust begrimed peasants, who group themselves into gray masses in their search for food. There was a time when the air was filled with a per- feet babel of tongues-the languages of the Kalmucks, Mongols. Tartars. Chinese and Russians-but the crowds that throng the streets of the city at present are mute. Even the laugh ter of children has been silenced 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 Misery.
 Pictures of misery seen here are duplicated in Samara, Simbrisk, Sar- atoff, TzaritZin and every other city in the famine stricken valley of the Vo1ga. Docks and railroad stations are piled high with the belongings of the refugees who were driven from their land by the drought and the clouds of grasshoppers that destroyed even the meagre grain that had de- fled the heat of the terrible summer now drawing to a tragic close. Com mittees are trying to move the refu- gees to other points where there is some promise of food but it is neces- sary to use the limited river and rail- road transportation facilities to send seed grain into the country and to bring bread into the famine districts.
 Many Beggars Everywhere.
 Many professional beggars of the gypsy type are to be found here and in other large centers in southeastern 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 truthfulIy by Tolstoy and Dostoievsky. Markets have sprung up mushroom like here and there about the refu- gee camps offering for sale vege- tables, bread. four and mot. They are surrounded by hungry people who have no money to offer. but who exchange weddings rings, fur coats, caps, kettles. pans, boots and other small possessions. They know the Russian winter is coming and that it will find them without shelter and clothing but they are obliged to give up the necessities of the future to meet the demands of the present.
 In State of Exhaustion
 Large peasant families arrive in state of exhaustion. their carts ragged by came1s 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. machines, concertina and American sewing machines. which are bartered for food or for collins. The dead lie unnoticed for hours. while near them are pitiful groups boiling a few potatoes and onions with which to keep alive. Some markets are under armed guard, but this appears to be unnecessary, as the peasants are too weak and pas sive to take violent measures.
 Great crowds attempt to cling to the few trains that leave here daily and soldiers often pull some of the refugees from the car, frequently families, some members of which have managed to secrete them selves between the cars.
 Typhus in Many Places.
 Typhus has appeared in many places and the hospital superinten- tendent at Samara said the other day the only way to handle the situation was to segregate those who had been stricken. They receive rations when food is available, but there is no soap and no hot water to wash the sufferers. many of whom are children. Five hundred sick chill dren were found grouped in one building in Samara. Some of them were seen eating leaves from shrubs, while others were lying about on dirty bags. more dead than alive. Most of these children were so ashen and so emaciated that they re- . semble old men and women. Many German families from and other German centers are among the refugees at Samara and are living in filth and poverty in dock sheds, or have no , shelter at all. Several Germans told , he Associated Press they had rela- T ives in Siberia, and were trying to reach Omsk, but they had exhausted T heir money and could not get per C mission to migrate eastward. Miss r Anna Haines of Philadelphia, a T worker for the Friends Relief or a yanization is in Samara and last week t ;aid the mortality among children c ess than three years is very high and + hat nearly 90 per cent are already a lead. i
 Die at Railroad Station
 She told of four persons dying on \ station platform in Samara the ther night while they were waiting o be transferred to some other own. Others were lying about and W were so helpless that it was difficult ( 0 distinguish between the living and q he dead. A committee sent to q Russia by the American Near East h eelief left Samara last week for T 'ifiis after making an investigation. s