The New York herald., 1922-01-15

viously those prophecies came from
hysterical White Russians. while now
they come from agents of foreign Gov
ernments who are In Russia and are
extremely well informed about every
thing that is happening there. None OF
these agents Is an anti-Bolsheviki
fanatic. They are simply out to collect
facts and figures and to tell their en-
ployers exactly how things stand in
Russia. Some of the Governments which
employ them would rather like that
these facts and figures proved Lenlne's
regime to be stable one. for II IT be
very unstable there will be no founda-
ton for the great scheme to put Russia
on her legs again.
Hence the serious Importance of the
pessimistic reports which British agents
in Russia are now sending to London.
That these reports are corroborated by
the reports of Americans. Iatvians,
Esthonians, Lithuanians. Poles and
Firms makes them still weightier.
Mr.. Pognis, a Lett, long resident In
Siberia. has just arrived here and l
shall tell his story as briefly as possible.
He had a large estate on the Yenisei
near Krasnoyarsk, owned many wind
mills which proved to be great proht
making concerns, for there Is much
grain to be ground In that part OF
Siberia, and sold large quantities OF but
ter to the foreign exporters at kurgan.
He has now lost his estate, his mills
are all nationalized. and he produces no
butter. The Chita republic has not
gained by this appropriation for the
windmills are all idle, there being no
grain to grind.
On his way to Moscow from Kras-
noyarsk he chose the northern route via
Viatka and Yaro-Slav in preference to
the southern route via Samara. his OBJ
ject ir doing SO being to avoid the
awful sights OF the famine dfstricas; !;
but from Viatka to Yaro-Slav the scenes
of misery which he witnessed at the
railway stations were so heartrendinS
that after few experiences OF them
none of the passengers left their car
riages or even looked out OF the WIN
dows. For all the famine stricken in
the surrounding districts had crowded
to the railway In the hope of getting
some of the crusts Of bread dropped by
the train or Of stealing ride with the
object OF getting away out OF the hunger
zone.
Famine Getting Worse.
Col. Haskell who recently entered
Latvia from Soviet Russia, says that
conditions in the Volga region are worse
than ever he imagined they could be, will
be still worse in March and will get
progressively worse until the whole world
turns it's attention to the stopping of
this famine or until a miracle happens.
Three months ago, he said. the famine
victims died by dozens daily. now they
are dying by hundreds; and in three
months more they will be dying by thou
sands.
The figures given me by Mr.. Webster Of
the "Save the Children Fund" indicated
the same tendency of the famine to in
crease with lapse Of time. Mr.. Webster
has just come from the volga SO that his
figures are valuable He saye that In
Saratov Province (Which is about the
size of England) there is a population OF
1925, 900, out CT which 1.031, 500 were af-
fected by the famine last month. In jan
uary the number will be, it is estimated,
1855 200. In February it will be 1,27s.-
600. In March it will be 1,71O.0O0..
That things will be very bad by March
is evident from the fact that good
many peasants are now living on the
cows and horses they have slaughtered.
When this meat comes to an end they
will have nothing to eat, no milk for
their children, and no horses to do the
be donated by relief societies at distant
towns. The great extent OF the famine
area makes it difficult for the relief
agents in the country to cover all their
districts. The Americans in one district
were cut off for three weeks by bandits.
whose only object, however, was to an
noy the Bolsheviki by cutting the rail-
way. for they did not molest the Ameri-
cans or touch their stores. In fact, they
placed a guard on the stores.
Locomotives Enough Now.
Contrary to the general opinion, there
are enough locomotives on the Russian
railways for the traffic that those rail-
ways handle, though the number will he
very inadequate If ever Russia gets back
even as much economic health as she
had under the Czar. The real point with
regard to the railways is the worn out
condition of the permanent way. which
has not been repaired, except In casual
or patchwork manner, since 1914. At
present no repairs are done unless some
point on the line becomes impossible,
and then only that one point Is attended
to. The result Is that all the Russian
railways arc in an extremely bad state,
that the speed is very slow and the acci-
dents numerous. They should be relaid,
but this work is at present impossible.
One of the foreign observers at pres
ent in Moscow reported recently that in
his opinion ''the Soviet Government is
the strongest in the world-and the most
1t is strong. however. in
the way in which the Government OF
Nicholas the Second was strong. and
though 1t may ride roughshod over the
people to-day, It may be lying helpless
in the mud tomorrow.
Such is the extraordinary spectacle
presented by the once mighty Empire OF
the Cars at the beginning of the year
1922.