New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1922-04-05

to interview them about their condi-
;ytlons and prospects, asking of them
selves, asking Of their neighbors.
The peasant himself has no answer
to these questions. To the dispas.
sionate observer it is clear that there
is little nope of a good crop in the
| autumn OF 1922; that the spiral of dis
oroeT mat mas been reaching lower
and lower levels for four wears is due
to-, another dip in the summer and
| tali OF the present year, when the
lack OF seeds for planting, of manure
Tor tertiizing. of horses and men for
work In the fields, will conspire fur
ther against the life Of unhappv
| Russia. pP'
These things lie outside the nower
OF the peasant to modify or correct.
Meanwhile he is waiting to see what
| the government will do 1t was So 7
round him when by sledge I went
through the famine district inouirinp
INTO the prospects for the coming year.
one drives into the courtya rd
througn high gateway, stamps ones
way through a back stoop and a door
! padded with cloth and leather to
double its thickness into room that
throws a binding burst of steam into
the face. Inside. the forms in the room
take shape gradually through the mist.
Two, or at most three, small rooms.
| piled high with sacks, furniture, clean
usually, the walls papercd with pic
tlre papers, sometimes American Sun
day supplements. sent perhaps by rela-
tlves, immigrants into rich America,
Around the wall of the room benches.
"A wooden table. Sometimes sew
ing machine. Once phonograph.
Fiat Top of Oven Used
| AS Bedstead by Family
The center of the house is the great
stone stove or oven, itself as large as
room, with facades in all the rooms
SO that all may have the heat On the
fiat top Of the oven, the height of a
mans head, are piles Of bed clothing.
In these usually a child or an old
woman is asleep or stealthily watching
aud blinking at the newcomers.
we are there to inquire into the
conditions of the crops and the peas
ants have been expecting US. Before
oar horses have driven under the gate
boy has been dispatched to bring to-
gether the town officers with their
books. But the peasant is hospitable:
even before we are we'll shaken out
OF our shubas and shapkas and have
begun to distinguish things in the
mist the samovar is lighted
Hero comes one of our greatest en-
barrassments. The peasants have no
food. For our part we have to carry
our own provisions, and we can eat
only in the cottages, the weather being
bitterly cold outside. One of the diff
culties Of travel in the famine regions
was to take out the stores of cocoa
canned meats and condensed milk.
which to US had become wearisome al
! most to nausea, and yet not to give it
all away to the clustered peasants in
one grand gesture. But one cannot be
too sensitive if one would live.
BY the time the water begins to
boil the town officers are at hand. And
so while we sit and eat and make tea
and cocoa with the water from the
samovar the peasants surround US, re-
spectful, ready to give information as
t. the condition of the crops, the num-
bers Of the dead and to forecast the
period during which their food will
last
There arc in the house perhaps twen-
ty persons in addition to the Americans.
II the center the president of the vii
lage, a handsome, bearded fellow with
we'll set head, clear eyes, engaging and
conEOenC smile, Tor all the world the
type of man the board of directors of
al American corporation would pick
out to manage its affairs and con-
duct its business to a profit at the
end 'ot the year.
Around him the members of his
council, the secretary with the books,
the others ready to prompt or to give
information as it is called for. One
thing is noticeable. 1t often happens
that the president of the village has
not always been resident Of the viii
lage. He has been assigned to the
place by higher power from some
village few miles away. There are
so few Communists among the peas
ants that in order to keep control of
village organization the central Soviet
of the province assigns outsiders to the
chief village positions.
Around the village officers, all stand
ing in unconscious grace in the middle
of the room, cluster the onlookers, the
(contnued page tour)