New-York tribune., 1921-09-12
Russian Crops
Fit Only for
Cattle to Eat
Former Fertile Region on
Banks of the Volga Now
Torrid Wilderness: Soil
Baked as Hard as Brass
Plow Fields for Seed
Bread of Coarse Flour and
Grass Believed RESPONSE
bic for Increasing Deaths
By c. E. Bechhofet
Special Cable to T'he 7'ribnne

Spectdi Cdbte to The Tribune
Copyright. 1921. New York Tribune Inc.
MOSCOW, Sept. 11.--Three DAYS ago
/ drove out from the Suizran district
down the right bank Of the Volga, in the
Simbirsk Province, to village in the
heart of the country to study the fam
inc situation in places rather remote
from the railway and river. The most
striking evidence of the terrible
drought was afforded by the condition
of the countryside, where theiformerly
fertile region is now torrid wilder
ness.
Dust clouds arose as we drove, re-
minding one of the Indian plains in the
height of summer; AS we left Suizran
we passed camel cart-no rare sight
in the Volga provinces, where they
come from the neigh boring Asiatic
country--and felt that the illusion of
the desert was complete. The usually
soft country road was baked as hard as
II the top were of brass.
Crops Good Only for Pasture
My horse, lent by the local Soviet,
was poor, underfed animal and we
moved very slowly The land had been
cultivated i'll the usual Russian system
IN long, narrow strips, but now it looked
monotonously barren, for over great
areas there was not a sign of grain.
In other places it was stunted, and
puny cornstalks, only four or FIVE
inches high, pierced the hard soil The
peasants told me that it was a waste of
time to try to harvest the crop, its only
value was as pasture for cattle. The
cattle were in horrible condition
after year in which only one-ffteenth
OF the ordinary rain supply had fallen.
PEASANTS had been forced to sell most
OF their cattle for food, with the result
that only few cows were to be seen
in this district. All the other crops
have suffered similarly-the potato
vines are shrivelling and yellowing be
fore the potatoes are grown, while even
the sunflowers have been affected by
the lack Of rain.
travelling across this area we passed
the carcasses of several aBmas whose
bones had been picked clean, either bv
birds, men or both. The little village
bad at the first sight the same deserted.
desolate appearance, and there vas
hardly person moving in the street
we went to building where little
white flag hanging from pole identi-
fed it as the village Soviet headquar-
ters: The secretary, who had been a
soldier in the Cars army before he
was appointed to his present place,
said all the men were out in the fields
plowing.
Smell of Bread Nauseating
"unless we plow the fields we won't
get Seed" he explained, "and if there
| tha1
ing to eat" He seemed to want to
convey the information that the peas
ants wanted the seed to eat rather
than to plant
| Looking into several houses, we saw
women, children and old men sitting
about listlessly, some working as if
with great effort, all plainly showing
that they were suffering from lack Of
food. | asked one old man what he
was eating and he handed me a nasty
Looking lump i'll the shape of half
loaf OF bread. He explained that it
was made from modicum of coarse
-four crushed up with leaves of grass
Close inspection showed it to be
fibrous, withs little greenish Jumps, not
unlike piece of lava. When / put
small piece into my mouth it seemed
as II l was biting into soft clay and
the smell was nauseating.
When handed it back the peasant
took big mouthful and chewed it as
If he relished his horrible bread.
NY presence in the village aroused
little interest, though 1 was the first
stranger in many months. The inhabi.
tants apparently had reached the stage
where they had become Indifferent ant
llstless. They looked at me as if
were queer sight which carried thei,
| minds back to another time. but the;
were too weak to investigate or talk. .
Indifferent to Their Fate :
The sample Of bread that tasted +
the food that is being given to meg
women and children, and that it h.
worse than nothing is proven by the u
palling number of deaths in the d#
trlct;; Apparently it causes intesti,
troubles, for most of the victims Sc
to be frightfully bloated before th
deaths and suffer extremely fir Fl
cramps
,, Many of these people have reacl
the point where they are totally inc
ferent to their fate, but there are OF.
esrss who have still enough strength an,
determination to try to get away.
Everything is unbelievably dirty, neg
lected and dsorganized, though tn,
Soviet is attempting to distribute mea
ger supplies equitably.
These places off the main lines O.
communication frequently suffer tn,
most, but strangely some are not af
1ected SO severely from the drought a,
others. Those | have seen are unbe
hevabiy, squalid, and the inhabitant
mind.
VIf