Arizona republican., 1922-02-06
BODIES Of RUSSIAN FAMINE
VICTIMS PILED IN FROZEN
HEAPS At RAILWAY CENTERi

UFA, Volga Region, Russia, Feb.
5.-When the SHOWS melt next spring
the Russian steppes viii be strewn
with skeletons. They will resemble
the high prairies of the American
COW country in the days when big
cattle outfits had insufficient hay
for hard winter.
But among the skeletons Of cattle
and camels there will be bones Of
hundreds of thousands Of men. wom-
en- and children who fell exhausted
in their quest for bread: who lived
the simple life Of the peasant and
had little conception of the political
upheaval which made this famine
more terrible than that Of 1891.
They wandered, and some are still
wandering. There was nothing to eat
in their homes, so they started on
the trek for bread. Some drifted
westward to Volga and found death
in the typhus-ridden railway cen-
ters. or among the horrors OF refu-
gees camps along the Folga; others
started for Turkestan. still others
moved eastward toward Siberia, the
land OF gold and wheat which has al
ways been so alluring to the Russian
noujik. who heard little OF its vast .
ness. its hardships and its heartless-
ness.
The peasants knew nothing of
modern ways. They were unable to
buy railway tickets, unable to get
permits to ride on trains burdened
with the red army and food for Mos
COW and Petrograd. When their ami
mails dropped dead, the families
walked on, always hoping food lay
over the next knoll.
Take Garments From Dead
But the country districts have no
grant, or il peasant families have a
small portion they conceal II In the
effort to prolong their lives until an
other crop is served. In the larger
towns there Is food for sale at fabu-
lous prices, but the starving refugees
have neither money nor goods to ex-
change and can only sit down 10
await death or trudge on until they
fall. The bodies that lie along the
railroads are collected on cars and
hauled to centers where they are
piled in frozen, snow-covered heaps
to await burial. Freezing refugees
remove all garments from the dead,
50 that the frozen bodies are nude
when collected.
Families drift apart and wander
aimlessly on to their inevitable fate.
human instincts are iOSL until InSy
become little better than beasts. The
city and town populations are so
hardened to suffering that they are
little moved by the misery which lies
all about. Death seems more merci-
full in the country for the refugees;
they sink into the white covering OF
the endless plain and wolves strip
their bones.
From Perm and Ekaterinburg TO
the Caspian sea, death is stalking
over the steppes. Russians, Co.'S
sacks, Kirghiz and Tartars alike are
meeting their end with hopelessneSs
and patience begotten of centuries Of
unequal struggle against political ex-
tortion and unfavorable climatic con-
ditions. made worse by Ignorance of
scientific farming methods.
American corn will be too late 10
save many OF the wanderers, as well
as the families who elected to make
their fight in the villages. remote
from the railways, rather than en-
dure the hardships and death their
neighbors have suffered along the
main lines of transportation. Entire
village populations have died in the
provinces east OF the Volga and the
animals which survive are so weak
it Is impossible to get adequate horse
power to deliver food TO the tfous-
ands OF destitute settlements far
from food stations.