A FAMINE-STRICKEN LAND.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1354, 3 February 1912, Page 3

A FAMINE-STRICKEN LAND.

RUSSIA'S PLIGHT. Mr. Tchaikovsky, the well-known Russian reformer, recently returned to Great Britain, where his family permanently reside, after spending four years in his native land, to which he returned only a few months after his trial in 1907, on a cUarge of belonging to the Revolutionary Socialist parly—a chargo to which he successfully pleaded not guilty, after spending almost two years in prison awaiting the trial. "The burning question of the hour in Russia," he said to a representative of the "Manchester Guardian," "is that ol' the famine. 1 liavo been astonished to find that nobody knows anything about it here. November 22 there wils a remarkable sitting of the Duma, at which the President of the Council of Ministers gave explanations in answer to questions about the fnmines, and I have the stenographic notes of it. Very little has got into the papers, either l'tussian or foreign. The figures aro absolutely trustworthy, and they show that tho crops of last year in Eastern Russia and \\estorn Siberia were so bad that in twenty-two provinces only 37 per cent, of the crops have been gathered. In eight of these provinces it is admitted tlmt famine exists throughout them, whilst in others it is only in certain districts. In some cases tho crops aro so bad that they have produced not more than a bushel or two per acre. Out of a total population in these provinces of 36,000,000 tho administration recognises that 19,500,000 aro deserving of State assistance. To make clear what this means, there is a special regulation which renders two things obligatory before State assistance can bo secured. Tho unfortunate peasant must have no other property to dispose of besides the minimum of one cow anu one horse, and_ there must bo absolutely no chanec of his getting ■ emplovment in the district. There are 19,500,000 in that condition. Nevertheless the Minister said tnoso m extreme neod were only 8,000,000. 1 hat was at the beginning of the winter, and there is not tho slightest doubt that the whole of the 20,000,000- will be on the point o£ starvation throughout tho winter, being in need not only of food but also of clothing and fuel. It must bo remembered that those very provinces wero affected by a similar calamity five years ago, when tho peasants lost almost all their live stock. • They liavo had no ehanco of recovering themselves, because the State administration has done everything possible to get back tho loans inadfi during that period, when tliev spent the C P°.? E n^n l n lS ,u o£ 2 G 0 > M MOO roubles -(about ciJu,000,000). • j I? Government liavo announced their lntentiou of- appropriating on this occasion 120,000,000 roubles (about J!12,000,000), but this includes money already spent on public, works and in supplving seeds tor tho !• all sowing this year. The attitude of tho Government is. that .by supplying assistance direct they would be demoralising tho peasants. Public works have therefore been instituted ill many places, and a good deal of importance has been attached to them by the authorities, but it has proved that tho assistance is less than insufficient and futile. No sufficient number of competent engineers and works managers could be found, anil such undertakings as laying new roads, improving tho courses of rivers, building dams and bridges, liavo consequently been executed so badly that they aro hardly of any use at all. Moreover! these works only found employment for the villages situated nearest to them, and then only to an insufficient extent. Each family has been allowed to work not moro than one or two days per week, at tho remuneration * of a shilling for a man and nincpence for a woman per day. Then, too, tile peasants have been blackmailed b,v the managers. Above all, the advent of winter has of course made all such works impossible. \ "

"It has been announced that 4j500,00 roubles (about il400,000) has been apprc priatcd for tho purpose of supplying seed; but to tho surprise of officials onl 900,000 roubles (about .£00,000) was usei in this way, because, they say, the pea sants found means of procuring the seed locally. But tho evidence of several mem bers.of the Duma proved that tho seed were supplied much too late for sowing and a good many fields were left unsown, Tho railway tariffs, too, have been reduced for field workers, and, in order to help the transportation of hay into the fnmino-stricken districts, but tho cvidcnce shows that the former measure was announced when, field work had practically ceased, and a Duma member stated that when signs of famine became evident in the-Siberian dairying districts many farmers applied to the local authorities tor a reduction of the tariff for carrying their cattle into tho neighbouring provinces, whore there was an abundance, of grass and fodder, but the consideration of the measure dragged on until tho end of August, when it was practically useless, as no fodder could be found at that time and a good number of tho cattle had been sold and eaten.

l'rom the very first the Government have done all they could to prevent anyone but themselves from helping the sufferers. The reactionary members of the J-Juma slated that otherwise the revolutionary agitation would bo carried ou in the (jiiiso.of philantlirophy. Consequently when the deputation of several well-known societies, including the PiragoA' Medical oociety and the Imperial Technical So* cietv, applied to the Prime Minister for permission to help the famine-stricken population " they were bluntly told this could not be allowed, because it miulit interfere with the official machinery. Owing to this action of the highest authorities the Governors constantly forbid anv mention of the-famine in the provincial papers or reports of public lectures on the subject and the collection of nionev by students and workmen in tho factories for tho benefit of tho starving , ' fs the winter advances there is no doubt that the fammo will, increase, and tho will be so powerless ti com with tho situation that thev will bo obliged to take the public into their counsels. Anyhow, those few societies which arc active now, like tho Freo Economic Society to which I'bclon?, which has existed since the time of Catherine I and ha* a special charter so that it cannot be dcolt with so easily as the others Iliffi" i? ,cont 'im le tlleir wo '' k '"'spite of all difficulties, lhese societies have soun '? al ' 11,0 famine-stricken proinnn m c ? cct mone . v at Hio rate of 1000 roubles (jGIOO) i.eiCdav, and dHi i 'Jute it immediately. 1