The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1921-11-20
Finds BLEAK Indifference"
To Plight on Worlds Part
American and British Relief Splendid Works,
But Hunger Belts Center Untouched
Soviet Does Not Pillage Supplies.
By SIR PHILIP GIBBS.


ants in Southern Russia that they
have no food to eat at time wnen
the world is tired of tales OF human
misery. sick of It's own troupies'
and busy, with passionate selnsn
ness. in trying 10 cure Its own MAJ
aides. Those Russian peasants nave
been very unIucky. First the greAt
war came and their sons were taken.
from ploughs and fields to hght the
Germans. They obeyed because they
were Russian peasants. even Wnen
they had to advance upon German
artillery and machine guns witnous
fles or without anmunlton' ano
were slaughtered in droves IKE siiiy
sheep.
why should We Ftghf
Years later after long slaughter
ard the haryests were not SO rich
down on the Volga and the Don De
cause Young labor was scarce-some
Of them inurmured. why shouio we
fight men against whom we nave no
hatred? why should we hght ehu-
lessly at the command OF men VINO
grow rich out OF war VINO 90 noun
ing for our comfort who rob US OF
our very boots?. 1t is better to
make peace.
the Russian peasants were again
unluckv. Revolution broke out in
the great cit es. the old regime was
oyerthrown, the new gospel Of Boil
shevism was proclaimed = the hope
of humanity. And the Russian
peasant hoped for little while. He
hoped for peace. he hoped to get
back to the land-now free-and his
little home where all memories OF
war would he biotted out by peace
| and happiness. But he was Unlucky
again. The Red armies called for
recruits and took the last reserves
of grain to. feed them. In va the
| old peasants said. There will be
| famine agIin il our barns are emp
tied" Russian was invaded by
white armies paid for by French
and British money. They so loved
Russia, these VIII te armies. that to
/ save it they destroyed many things
4 along their line of march-houses
and barns and railways and bridges
I and the very standing corn. The
{ Russian peasants were unlucky-
/ the old people and the women and
/ the little ones They were caught
( between the tides Of Red armies and
I White armies and few. il they
could. from advanc ne terror on this
/ side or that-refugeos without
/ refuge.
.Peasants Always InIucky.-
At last. when Koltchak and Ju-
denitch and Denikin and Wrangel
were finished. there was peace in
Russia. But the peasants were un-
lucky again. 1t seemed that God
Low had declared war upon them
,N.f r a.
rain fell to swell Their seed corn in
! the soil and give it fe. Month
after month no rain fell. Even from
the black earth Of the Volga, so rich
and fruitful as a great granary Of
the world. there came up only thin
crops And the sun was fierce and
pitiless and The Russian peasant
praying for rain. weeping for "a n,
had no luck.
Nature was merciless. IL seemed,
as man had been without mercy.
For hundreds Of miles, east and
west, north and south, from Mini
Suvgorod to Astrachan, the soil was
TAXED hard under a binding cruel.
ruthless sun. and $4,000, 600 Russ an
peasants who had no. luck, no luck
at all. groaned over the pitiful
harvesting and had no bread for
their children.
They had been eating grass mixed
with earth. the bark of trees. field
mice. ~locusts. any kind of Nth
Many have lain down and died. glad
to die. they said. because they hatC<
to hear the wailinC of children and
to see so many Of them die. too.
one by one. little skeletons before
death and burial. The women weep
in the villages about Samara and Sa-
ratoff when they show their empty
cupboards and the typhus- stricken
children lying under bundles Of
rags, too weak to walk. But that
weeping is only when strangers
come with promise of help or words
Of pity. The Russian peasants who
have no luck, and not much hope
now. do not weep many tears. They
stare out with dull eyes upon their
misery and wait very patiently for
some poor chance of rescue. or for
death.
The World Is Indifferent.
1t is difficult TO get Shout in the
famine district. Few men who have
of this human tragedy have touch
NN lhdh lilt VI II. Inv
outer edge beyond the Railroads
But those who have gone deepest
into the fawine districts saw that
it is worse as the villages are more
remote. most friChtfuI where COM
munication is most difficult. At the
railway stations the pictures are
always the. same. crowds a quiet
peasant folk with skins drawn ti"nt
about their facial bones. and sunk
en- eyes which look up pIeadingly.
while the children who cling to
Eaunt men and shrunken women
cry out necessarily words that
mean "A bit of bread. little uncle
bit of bread" 1t is monotonous.
miserable. dreary. and these Rus
sian peasants are unlucky becaus'
all who try to tell the tale of thu
suffering to the outside world find
a bleak indifference, even a hostile
spirit in their audience. The worlds
imagination has been deadened by
three years of appeal for starving
people.
CHARITY begins mt Home,- We Say.
Has not Austria been starving
all that time-yet still living? Has
not Poland been hungry. but not
too mech to keep a standing army
of 100000 men? Have not millions
of pounds been poured out in char