News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1922-08-23
FROM FAMINE STRICKEN
RUSSIA

The last week got by without my
writing as | was travelling prac-
tically all the time and the oppor-
tunities for writing were nil. In
that week we covered lot of terri
tory, as yau will see if you get out
/ the atlas and study the map of Rus
! STA. e
! We started by train from Moscow
at eight p. m. Tuesday and arrived
next morning at Mini Novgorod
which is northeast from Moscow and
on the Volga river In the party
were Mr. Richard, who as you may
remember is Director General of the
A. r. A., next in command to Mr..
Hoover; Walter Lyman Brown, Dir
ector for Europe; Ex-Governor
! Goodrich, special investigator; Col.
I Haskell, Director Of Russia; Chris
tian Herter, Mr.. Hoover's assistant
, in Washington; DR.. Hutchinson, an
economic expert; John Lehrs, one Of
our Russion Unit, who speaks Rus
sian; Ivan Wahren, district supervi-
sor at Kazan; Captain Dalton, Col.
HaskelPs aid; myself, and a cook.
1t was quite a bunch.
At Mini we got on boat that the
Kazan government had assigned to
Wahren and set sail down the river.
Mini is the place where in the old
days the greatest fairs in all Russia
were held People with goods to
sell, came here from all over the
Empire, from as far as Northern
Siberia and way down by the Cas-
plan Sea. The goods were for sale
and not for exhibition. We passed
through the place where the fairs
We're held-enormous, with a great
many buildings that once were very
elaborate. Now they are merely
shells. For last winter there was
wood famine in the city and the peo-
pie were allowed to go to these
it, every scrap that could be taken,
so that now nothing remains but the
walls which are of brick or stone.
This was about the only part of
Mini that we saw, as we had to get
away as soon as possible, but from
the boat the main part of the city
looked quite beautiful upon it's hill
with the domes of the churches
showing through the trees.
We were all night on the boat, ar
irving next morning about nine at
hazan, where we spent the day look
ing at the kitchens and homes where
we were feeding children lover
100000 in that district). About 60
percent of the people are Tartars,
and 40 percent Russians. The Tar
tars are Mongolians, considerably
darker than the Russians and with
some of the features of the Chinese.
The city was very beautiful, and
though there was a lot of life in the
open air market and a good deal of
food for sale, not many stores were
open and most of them had but
scanty stocks. In the evening we at
tended reception given by the Pres
ident and Prime Minister of the Re-
public, the latter being only % wears
old and very attractive and agree
able person. They had dinner for
us, but we had to leave it and go
back to our boat.
Another night on the boat and we
arrived at Simbirsk, which is more
like a large village than city and
is situated on a high bluff overlook
ing the Volga. We spent the morn
ing with the usual inspections, had
lunch, and then drove out into the
country to peasant village to see
the kitchen and look at the crops en-
route. eve are feeding about
100000 people in the Simbirsk dis
trict, $4,000 children and over
100000 adults.)
Roads in Russia are extraordinary
things. On the main routes there is !
usually broad road built up about !
212 feet from the level land and |
paved with cobblestones. 1t is, of |
course too rough for anyone to use
it, and everyone drives along tracks |
that are on both sides of the cobbled |
route. Altogether the tracks and |
the road take up from Is to 30 wards. |
Alongside are the fields without a !
sign of fence of any description. |
The system of cultivation is to plant !
one-third with rye in the fall, one
third in the spring with wheat. oats,
millet, barley, ETC., and let one-third
lie fallow. The farmers don't hold /
any particular part of land perman-
emily, but each enc gets so much
each year, and not all in one place.
but in long, strips in different places,
so each will have some of the best
land and some that is not good. All
the houses are in the village-there
being no farms as we know them
and most Of the houses are Of hewn
logs, some with wood roofs, but
many matched, and some made of
bricks of manure and straw. The
few animals that are left are pas
tured together and have to be tended
by someone to keep them out of the
grain. In this part of Russia there
IS no corn, only a few potatoes, and
very little that requires cultivation.
The soil however, is rich and heavy
and black, and even without ferti-
lzer or modern equipment of meth
IDS, they can raise tremendous crops
n normal times.
As soon as we got to the village
he whole population turned out,
specially the kids, who were just
l.