Intermountain Jewish news., 1926-04-08
a sha med and reticent"

ancient soil and at Ale1andrenl she had
her first glimpse Of Jewish farmers &c.
tnally at work In the fields. This col
ohy Is one of "A group established over ~
hundred years ago In this rich black
earth country, Including Romsnowka,
PetrOwka, Wladja. Lul.w wlad, Marku.
leschti, Dombrovehy. For the past six
years these Jews OF Bessarabla have
housed hundreds VI thousands OF Uk.
alnlah refugees. and done relief work
on their own account. but now IS COO
people are starving here.
There are about 800 families In
Aesandreni,r says Miss May, most Of
them living by farming, and all are SUI
fering and utterly depleted OF their re-
sources. They are really the oldest
stock OF Jewish colonists, and an awful
calamity has bcfallen them. No one
has anything left after the two years
crop failure.
In Their Homes
"In home after home as we went
there was the same picture OF awful
misery. In one house a man was lying
on the bed, breathing with sharp hisses.
The woman WAS trying to nurse a tiny
child Her eyes were feverish, red hot.
and II was plain that she was half fam.
ished herself. The man had become Ill
n ,,,St
malnutrition. They had lost their COW
and horse, and were starving. The
child cried and cried. 1t had no food,
and It looked as II It could scarcely live
till next morning.
Were 1t not for the hunger commit.
tee established by their own co-opera.
tives, and some outside help from Eu.
rOpean agricultural aid organizations.
the majority OF these people must have
perished by now. But the hunger com.
mlttee Is able only to help a part Of the
people here, who received 800 grams
e ounces) Of cornmeal and 100 grams
(3h ounces) Of potatoes day. This
is the only kind Of food there Is for
children. and the result Of this diet IL
narrowing. Child mortality has reached
100 per cent, due to the fatal pelleyra.
The greatest death rate Is among In
fants. because their starving mothers
cannot feed them. and there Is no milk
in the colony.
THE most pttiful part Of It all Il
that these people, now weakened and
ema aciated. hardly able to stand on their
feet, must go out to labor In the fields
II they are to have another crop-the
only thing that can save them. But
how will they DO ny How will they
get q crop this year, n relief for imn.e-
date feeding does NOT eomeY How ele
can the, 70 On living now-3et enough
life in them to work 10 save them
selvesi"
Takes Of Kisheuie6
'-The soup Kitchen IN Klshenief9 is
housed in the Social Center Building
All charitable activities ara eentered
there. What 4 mass Of misery and suf-
fering passed before my eyes, during
my two-hour visit.
II glanced over a few OF the many
petitions with which the committee is
flooded. All were requests for meals.
The means Of the committee are very
limited and the meals are given at half
cost. No FREQ meals. Before meal
mittee must visit the house to make
sure that the statements made were cor
rect.
AT arst,' said one Of the men to
me, we used TO 60. But now, we find
It better not to. 1t Is better to deal
with letters than with people. -
Most Of the letters came from work
ers. craftsmen who are starving with
their families. Sickness, and starvation
were the keynotes OF their lives.
I'VE took cab and proceeded to a
section of the city which Is populated
by workers and craftsmen.
There were no adults in the first
house we entered. II was a small, dark
rook devoid OF furniture. Not one pill
low. sheet or blanket Suddenly we
heard voices In the corner. Ny eyes
already accustomed to the darkness, be-
gan to recognize the faces Of three little
children, huddled together on the floor,
heap OF misery on a heap Of rags.
We lit match and saw three sweet
and beautiful children. smiling at us
with their huge dark eyes. The eyes,
that was about all that was left OF the
children. The oldest was about six
years and we asked him what they had
to eat today. Their smiles turned to
tears. They were hungry, they did not
eat since yesterday, when they had
some tea. took the youngest one in
my arms and 1t WAS light as feather.
/ Only bones and skin left We were
!