The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1921-11-26
The Horror of Famine
Russia in the Grip of a Grea.
Hunger

Samara, On the Voiga, Oct. 81
(By a Staff Correspondent Of The
Associated Press).-The numerical
and geographical extent Of the
great famine cannot be given
There is today and has been as
much food available in Samaria
for those who have money, as in
Baku, on the Caspian Sea, .2,O0C
miles distant. The Russian refu-
gees from Bolshevism in Constan-
tniople are suffering from hunger
and lack of clothes almost as much
as those Russians in Poltava and
they in their turn as much as those
in Orenburg.
The Associated Press CORE
spondent completed a journey from
Constantinople to Moscow by way
of Tif1is, Baku, Astrakhan and Sa.
mara, and everywhere found in
tense misery, the most sordid oi
which was seen in the dreary steppe
region between Tifiis (Georgia) and
Baku (port of Aberbaijan on the
Caspian Sea-.
There revolution after revolution
for five years, has left a trail Of de.
struction and ruined houses and
wrecked railway stations which
cannot be matched in Russia. Add.
ed to the lack of food. is the con.
slant battle with malaria, cholera
and typhus, and added to these is
the cold against which there is little
shelter or fuel.
No more pathetic sight was seer
than that of the Baku central rail
way station where thousands OF
men, women and children. going
nobody could say where. were
camped on dirty sidings, for the
most part dressed in rags and eat.
ing scraps Of food like hunted ami.
mails.
To the north, along the Volgs
in Russia, the misery is often of the
respectable, cleanly kind Al
Czaritzzyn thousands of famiie:
are living in railway cars. Others
have been housed in villas and
palaces.
Begging is rather the exception
than the rule everywhere in the
famine regions.
The German colonist villages and
towns along the Volgs are so clean
ly and orderly, surrounded by such
f1orid luxuriance of field and forest
that it is hard to believe their peo.
pie are suffering from hunger. Al
everywhere in Russia, the churches
are open, and services are held. Al
Volsk, when the correspondent at.
tended vespers, he was followed cu1
of the church by one Of the priests
who begged that food come from
America before his people starved
In the worst areas there is faI
more hunger swelling than was
seen in Vienna in the winter OF
1918. This is the last stage Of star
vation and when it comes neither
food nor medicine will help.
The majority of such cases are
to be seen in the. cities, about the
railway station, in the trains OF
about the landing stages and or
the steamers Of the Volga, where
hundreds Of thousands Of peasant
wanderers are seeking to reach
friends in districts where they
imagine food conditions are better
The government is trying to dis
courage such wanderings but they
are continuing.
The distances made by peasant
families are incredible. At Sara.
TOW. about the river front, may be
met families from Orenburg going
towards the Ukraine, where the
crops did not fail, and then fami-
lies from Astrakhan going up river
to some one of the German vii
lagos such as Volsk or Baronov.
While there is perfect order in
all Russia, on every hand the in
dividual struggle for life, for daily
food, is bitter and hard. No one
thinks of anyone else. Robbery is
limited. as robbers are shot when
caught, but trickery in small trad
ing is the rule. A warm place to
sleep, something to eat, AID cloth
ing, are the beginning and end OF
daily life. Children are brushed
aside, ignored Or treated like little
animals.
A person invited to a meal will
eat twice what good manners would
permit. He is laying in stock of
food. building up his body. he fig
ures, for the winter cold. Those
with money are boarding food. In
some places peasants refuse to sell
bread at any price. They are
afraid Of the winter famine.