South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1922-03-12
HOOVER DESCRIBES
NIGHTMARE PICTURE
OF RUSSIAN FAMINE
Tangled Heaps of Frozen
Corpses, Attacked by Starv-
ed Dogs, Common.

attacked by starved dogs. sickness.
dirt and cold in tbs Voiga valley
are described TO Secretary Hoover
in nightmare picture OF the fam
ine districts OF Soviet Russia, drawn
by Thomas II. Dickinson OF the
American Relief administration. in
a special report on conditions there.
DR.. Dickinson made a months
tour OF the Volga valley and the
foothills OF the Trials. travelling
1000 miles by rail, auto and sledge.
inspecting $50 villages on the snow
covered steppes In his report 20
Mr.. Hoover. DR.. Dickinson gave the
bare and gruesome details OF his
i observations.
Losses from famine I'm Soviet
Russia" he said. come under the
heads OF emigration, disease and
death Emigration from the viii
lagos now rises TO about 80 percent.
/ Houses are deserted. not a dog. cat
or pig left, with snow breaking
through the roofs and windows.
Smoke comes from the chimneys Of
not more than half the houses.
/ Travelling on the roads one comes
across pathetic caravans, father,
mother. grandparents and samovar.
When camel or horse falls sich they
leave him TO die on the open plain.
| Sick persons sit on top OF the
sledges and are taken down to die
ION sidings everywhere, from
Poland 70 the Urals. are freight cars
crowded with refugees. The gov
eminent has not the locomotives 70
carry them so they are waiting.
Disease is general. Swollen
bellies OF children are so common as
10 no longer excite remark. The
characteristic expression OF child
hood in Russia is that of "A person
sore at life I have learned 10
dread going into room full OF
children. They all look up at me
accusingly. bitterly. as If I had done
it, They arc born with resentment
in their hearts.
Diseases are well distributed be-
tween summer and winter Last
summer. cholera, this winter ty-
plus Russia lost 5000. 600 dead OF
( typhus in 1919. one city of 200
, 600 population lost 45 600 This
year viii be as bad.
$50 many are already dying that
they are burying them in wagon
loads They take off the clothes Of
the dead. throw them into boxes.
put snow on the bodies to freeze
them, then transport them in piles
> TO the cemetery. There. twice a
week they are thrown into great
! holes, crosswise. packed closely.
Dogs have become a menace and at
tack piles of bodies in droves and
dig into graves. Dead children,
G starved 10 death, are left outside in
open ways II plies, covered with
: rags until they can be hauled away"
! from his notes Or. Dickinson de-
> scribed q burying ground neal Sa-
mara, where the dead. gnawed by
. dogs, were piled in frozen mounds
until thrown into great excavations.
There were three great holes. %
he continued. 10 by 90 feet and Is
feet deep Around these were piles
! Of frozen naked bodies, men. women
and children who had died of typhus
and hunger Dogs had been al some
: dogs were driven away, all terribly
3 emaciated nd contorted into all
$ shapes Of grotesque agony.
"As one sees the lopsided houses
b. Of the Russian villages, the gnarled,
s skin clad bones of the famine
;, corpses, one seizes the dominant
v motifs Of the new Russian a. There
4 was an unhealthy about these cOrpses
: that made IL seem appropriate 70
discuss anything in their presence
n cabarets. soda-water. futurist verse
% I'm piles they were badly tangled
k up and had TO be released like stiff
X puzzles. Dropped into the graves
y they made noises like wooden
y things OF the same weight and
shape. They had been men, women
and children. About so come every
day"
= The psychological factor Of relief
, work among these distressing con
= ditions, DIT. Dickinson declared. was
q factor 10 be considered. As 4
e rule, he explained, the relief agents
E. work alone and the psycholosica
J, effect Of conditions around them 4.
: in arctic exploration or in jungle
e travel
When relief agent starts TO con
voy a load Of food, Or. Dickinson
"a reported. he says goodbye to hi.
y friends for 10 days takes blankets
:, grub, lives in box car and take.
" his luck with bugs and bandits
Ira nsportation. the key to relief. he
declared was almost lost.
There are no rail lines except
n crazy narrow-gauge spurs set IN
some time past by Special iuteres
q TO reach town or mining camp
: he said. ITO get from samara 10
- Kazan 400 yersts. YOU have to z,
to Moscow and back 1000 versts
>, Same with other cities in the Valley
- I have seen an American boy staEger
:, in an American Relief administra
ton local headquarters after four
days In a box car IN which he haC
travelled 100 versts
- Fer north aud south trs nsporta
! ton there are no resources. bu
. sledges. Under some condition
/, these can do Up 10 20 versts a day
Roads disappear under drifts Coun
try takes on appearance Of the arc
q ito without landmarks. Horses cal
drag their loads only three DAYS
week. a weeks provision for
g. horse Is worth as much as a horse
~ The result is starving people VIII,
N have horses are trading them 70