Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-07-27
CAN|V|BAL|S|N NOW
PRACT|CED IN RUSSIA

CLEVELAND.-In extremities o
starvation, Russia has sunk to can
nibalism, according to a letter re
ceived in this city by a friend Of L
"A. Trofimov, Russian residen
here. The friend, fearing the Reds
refuses to allow his name to be made
public.
Stories so horrible as to challenge
belief are in the letter--stories Of
mothers killing, cooking and eating
], their children; of dead bodies rottine
in the streets; of a hopeless, despair
: ing nation.
n The letter, struggled past the strict
mail censorship in possession of q
mutual friend leaving Russia
brands life in the soviet nation as
terrible nightmare, daily grow.
ing worse"
Eyes, the horrible pictures the let
ter paints are true" says Trofimov
who fled from Russia under forged
passports in 1918. File had served in
the Russian navy under the car
Kerensky, and, for a hort time,
under Lenine, the one sincere man OF
commander in active service during
the war.
"I myself saw the beginnings
which inevitably led to this. But
! there will be reaction, probably re-
g sulting in the return of monarchy.
"Lenin, the one sincere man of
Bolsheviki, is conservative in his
n inc Il "a
say is likely, men more radical will
get control and the peasantry will
rise against them. Then, probably
q monarchy, for the people of Rus
. STA do not know of a good republic
such as America. All they know is
sovietisn and monarchy, and be-
tween the two they will choose mon
afchy.
what else will they do when there
lis no food, no hope of food and
scarcely house in Russia fit to
live in? The wooden buildings are
torn down for firewood, the brick
Z buildings are tumbling down. I'm
!. repaired roofs admit the water,
which freezes between the bricks
of the walls and causes them to be-
come lodged. People live like ami
4 mails in the easements. All this be-
cause the houses have no owners
and who cares if they tumble?
"Cannibalism? Yes, believe It.,
for when left Russia everyone was
consuming and no one producing or
planting. This would bring the ter.
rible desperation of hunger which
well might lead to cannibalism.
The letter follows:
Limperpol, March %, 1922.
Dear Brother
I have chance to send you this
letter by a friend of ours who goes
abroad.
~ I wish to give briefly the picture
= OF the life in soviet Russia.
- Hunger, indigence and disease kill
hundreds of people every day. The
lie in the streets for several days.
and rot.
The most hunger is in the Volga
region and Crimea. Inhabitants
have eaten up all the cats, dogs,
horses and have entered into canni-
: balism. Often mothers kill their
children, cook and eat them.
There is no hope for help and this
makes our life worse every day. Alt
who have chance flee from Russia.
II you are able to do something for
us know that you will do 1t, be-
cause we do not know what will
Z happen to us month to month. We
would all with great pleasure leave
the country of Communicate para.
disc" and go abroad.
I was just graduated from the
high school, but am not allowed to
attend university because of my
past service with the Whites. Now
sar1N hal 60 l. \
can hardly earn enough money for
several pounds of black bread.
Yes. the life is terrible night.
mare and is daily getting worse.
All are emaciated and downcast and
beseech aid-but there is none nor
any place from which to obtain it.
The fields in Russia have not been
sown and next year Russia will die
out.
We ell bog you to write a few
words and advise us how to leave.
Prices of food in Russia:
One pound of black bread, $50, 900
ru5les (before the war a ruble was
the equivalent of 49 or SO cents in
American money!.
One pound Of meat, 20O,0 rubles.
One pound Of sugar, $50, 200 rubles.
One pound Of butter, 100000
rubles.
Thirty-six pounds of flour, 6,OOO,-
900 rubles.
One pound OF potatoes, 100000
rubles.
=. One mans suit, 10000, 900 to 49,.
!. 600, 900 rubles.
4s Shoes, 100000 to 100000
rubIes.
The average daily earning is l..
100000 rubles. How is it possible
to live, is the question.