Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 May 1892 — THE RUSSIAN FAMINE. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THE RUSSIAN FAMINE.

HOW THE RELIEF WORK IS CARRIED ON. Sufferings of the Pea»ants—Seeking Imprisonment and Banishment to Siberia to Avoid Starvation—A Case of Canni-balism-The Russian Character. In the Czar's Land. Few are aware how many causes have Operated to handicap the Russian Government in its efforts to relieve the famine sufferers. Even the endeavors of private individuals in the same direction have been purposely hampered by the malignant misrepresentations of enemies, writes a St. Petersburg correspondent in the Globe Democrat. False-

hoods and slanders have been industriously circulated through the news agencies and other sources orignating in the resentful malice of anarchists and other unscrupulous individuals, having for their object the stoppage of charitable contributions. . The gross laxity of all Government departments in Russia and the utter absence of proper administrative methods, joined to the flagrant and oftcondoned corruption and dishonesty of all grades of officials, naturally makes the Government helpless for all practical purposes in the face of a sudden and, great disaster like the famine. The peccant and peculating bureaucrat is one of the greatest curses in Russia.

Russian Ways. The condition to which public administration has been reduced is strikingly illustrated in the following account of two very recent occurrences in St. Petersburg: Within the past three weeks a baker was brought before the courts charged with adulterating his bread by the admixture of sand. With appalling effrontery he admitted that he did use sand in «naking bread, adding that it was downright beneficial to the consumer! Justice of the Peace Borodin, who tried the case, handed down a decision practically to the effect that no doubt the accused was an unappreciated discoverer of scientific truths; that doubtless he had “scooped” his contemporaries in the baking trade in this instance, and that henceforth sand would be recognized as a valuable addition in the composition of breadstuffs. The accused, in short, was a benefactor of the race! 11l tho second example Justice of the Peace Busoff looms up as ail equally perfect survival of the classic Dogberry. Before his august tribunal was arraigned a .Hebrew grain dealer accused of giving false weight. With pompous. and ponderous deliberation Justice Busoff delivered his masterly exposition of the law. “The defendant,” he declared, “In giving light weight was merely engaged in a purely commercial transaction, and hence did not come within the scope of the criminal code.” In startling contrast to these extraordinary proceedings is the report of another trial. Here tho accused was a rich merchant, charged with the adulteration of oleomargarine. The fine irony of this indictment will be apparent to ■s who have ruled oleomargarine out of our markets altogether. Judge Palgunoff, who presided, holding the offense proven, sentenced the offender to thirty days’ imprisonment, saying that the infliction of a fine would not satisfy justice in a case of such enormity. Lo and behold, a large portion of the press at once launched forth denunciations against ibis terrible judge, holding him up to popular execration as a veritable Russian Jeffreys—a man whose severity was tempered with 'no trace of clemency! Such is Russian administration of toiay, a»d such, unfortunately, is Russian public opinion, as expressed through many newspapers of the country. Viewing these developments from a distance,

M We do, their ludicrous and incongruous side is, first of all, apparent. But We must not lose sight while indulging enr sense of amusement of the somber and portentous aspect of the general .social condition which is capable of producing them. Whatman be expected of an autocracy, which, centralizing in Itself the direction of the necessary—the .Indispensable— offices of gojrenment, is, therefore, directly responsible for the action of all its official subordinates? ▼hen a famine-stricken people turn with despairing eyes toward q. paternal government, which through Centuries Mm forced them into the position of bens dependent on its aid, the outside can. easily comprehend, in the aa are above recorded, ;

its failure to adequately respond. History is more convincing than theory, and however sincere and well-disposed the Czar may be, as he unquestionably is, to promote the relief and well-being of his subjects, the difficulties besetting him in the accomplishment of his benevolent intentions are evident when his will and its ukase must filter down through the impeded channels of a worse than useless bureaucracy and judiciary, caring and working solely in their own interests and behalf. In the, Famine District. But it Is time that I should touch upon the actual features and phases of the afflicted districts and their unhappy population under tho darkening shadow of want. For months a warfare has been waged against the encroachments of famine, and the interest of tho globe has awakened at the tales of distress whose harrowing details have almost monopolized the channels of international communication. It is in the many-sided region of the Volga —the land on which time and its changes have set their unerring seal; where history has been made and empires reared and extinguished; where

| the fierce struggle for race denomination i waged for centuries, involving in its , varying fortunes both Aryan, Semite ■ and Turanian; it is here, in these later [ days of this nineteenth century of our j Christian era, that human beings have ! had to die like sheep for lack of common 1 sustenance, for want of necessaries of ] the most ordinary kind, whose procure- ! rnent to us would be a task of the simplest nature, and which we would scorn, save as the unadorned accessories of our ordinary diet. All the A olga country from Kazan to Astrakhan has been visited by the famine, and Russians, Tartars, and Mongols have been numbered among its victims,

as well as the thrifty German colonizers, who have always been more prosperous than the rest of the population. A good deal has been said and .written about Kazan, Astrakhan, and other parts of the famine country, but I am enabled to supply some facts about the condition of an important section hitherto ignored in the printed aocounts, but which is located in the famine center. Keller Work*. The Government of the Czar, in casting around for ideas suggesting practical schemes for relieving the distress, could hardly fall to adopt the favorite resource of most governments under similar circumstances and decide upon starting relief works. These in some cases have taken the form of railroad construction, and apart from the benefit they will immediately confer upon the people, will prove a future source of good to the very toiler now engaged in pushing them forward to completion. In fact, they will prove a safeguard against one of the roost potent causes of the present distress —the want of adquate means of transportation. Were it not for the sad lack existing in this respect many lives could have been saved from the holocust of famine. Ac-

cess to the depots of relief has been so : difficult in a majority of cases that'people died before succor could reach them or they could reach it. Had a comprehensive system oi railroads existed an incalculable amount of suffering might have been averted, afi<L numberless cases of hardship brought within the sphere of official aid. Hence the peasantry work with a will on these | railroads, rejoicing in the task. Letters just received by me contain accounts of the railroad-now being constructed from Zlatoust, east of Samara, to Tcherliabinsk, in 'the Very heart of the Ural : district. It will form a branch of tbe_Samara-IJfa-Zlatpust Railroad, and its route.ifes through at most picturesque region. •It traverses hV banks

of, and In some Instances crosses, the S&tka, Sim and Yoursany Rivers, It is hoped that this project, now well under way, and which has a line of operations extending through some of the very worst of the famine-ridden districts, will prove a great blessing to the people, who are flocking in numbers to seek engagements on the works. Seeking Vood. Zlatoust is a groat entrepot and base of supplies, where relief is dispensed to the famine sufferers. To show the difficulty of intercommunication in many parts of Russia I may mention that thiß town has been literally overrun with famished peasants. They have traveled in some instances as far as 400 versts in their little carts, numbers fulling by the way worn out and exhausted', while their overtaxed animals dropped dead in their traces. There were at one time as many as 10,000 oarts gathered at Zlatoust, whose owners had braved all kinds of hardship and fatigue in their toilsome journey in search of grain. Arrived at their destination, they fiercely fought among themselves for places in the long line of applicants waiting to be served. Many were detained at Zlatoust for a period of sixteen days awaiting their turn. It was a striking and pathetic scene that this multitude presented, congregated around the squares and in the streets of the town, sheltering as hest they might from the severity of the winter weather, content at last if their wants were supplied and they could commence their return Journey to undergo a repetition of the hardships encountered on their way thither. As described in my correspondent’s letter, all this was worthy reproduction on the faithful canvas of a Verestchagin or a Repine, Russia’s two greut realistic painters. The combined effects of privation from insufficient food and exces-

sive fatigue were plainly visible upon the faces of these devoted people. A Cm« of Cannlballnn. The region stretching from Zlatoust to the Ural distriots is on the direct route to Siberia. The condition of its inhabitants has recently been such that the efforts of philanthropists were turned

toward the task of alleviation. What Count Tolstoi has done in other districts in establishing soup kitchens and relief stands is duplicated here by Prof. Schmurlo. This humanitarian deserves

the highest praise for his noble work, in the prosecution of which he has expended his time, money and thought, grudging nothing in liis desire to give a relief. The people he has labored for owe him a heavy debt of gratitude. To show the state of the district where the professor has been working more especially on the Petrofskoi estate, near Tcherliabinsk—my informant describes some incidents that came under his own observation. One day, in company with one of Prof. Schmurlo's attaches, he visited the hut of a distressed family. While interrogating the woman who greeted them the visitors were surprised to see some bones in a corner of the room lying upon a board, and which bore the" appearance of having had fresh meat recently cut ttom them. Knowing the utterly wijetchcd state of the family and the impossibility of their having any means of procuring meat, tjie visitors were impelled to question the Woman, and to their intense horror at last elicited the truth that the boDeswere from the arm of an 8-year-old child, which had wandered into the hut from some other family, aimlessly casting around in the hope of relief, and had finally succumbed from lack of sustenance, whereupon the half-crazed people yielded to the uncontrollable impulse of cannibalism. Overcrowded Prison*. So frequent has the commission of crime become since the advent of the famine that the prisons are crowded with culprits who have either been tried or are awaiting trial. Goaded to desperation by the pressure of want, the ordinarily self-contained and patient moujik has resorted to the commission of offehses, most of which are of a petty nature, but bring him within the operation of the law ail the saipe.- If the distress does not very soon begin to sensibly abate it loojts as though the Government would be forced to erect additional prisons.. The fact that crime is prevalent proves the terrible state the people are in. Men prefer to be sen- j teneed to Siberia rather than’languish j under brief sentences in the local Jails. |

where the food la worse than poisonous, and In order to force their Judges to Inflict terms of Siberian exile upon th«HL they resort to various tricks, becoming violent in court, cursing the judge and using insulting language toward toe law and its administration. A man named Nerilskoi was arrested for theft at Baratof recently, tried and sentenced to six

months in the local prison. Before he could be removed from the court-room he pointed hie finger at the jury-box and exclaimed: “Gentlemen, you are a mere set of pigs—pigs—pigs, and fit only to try pigs.” Thereupon he was promptly sentenced to five years’ banishment to Siberia, and departed rejoicing. He had'attained his desire and was as pleased as though he had secured a prize. The Moujlk. The other Volga districts prosent a series of physical contrasts, both racial and topographical. The seeker after a conglomeration of opposite types would have a hard task to discover a greater variety than can be found in this region. The Russian peasantry predominate over the other races, and have many interesting characteristics. They may be described as a people of undeveloped possibilities, a dormant oapacity for receiving and displaying the advantages of refinement and education lying beneath their rougher exterior. The Sclavonic race, whoso very name is derived from a word signifying “glorious,” has, indeed, within itself the material from which glorious things are evolved. Opportunity alone is wanting to transform the simple Slav of rural Russia into a being capable of taking a prominent place among the peoples who year by year are creating all that the world possesses of progress in the arts and sciencesi. Physically the Russian peasant, or to give him his more familiar name, the moujik, is a remarkably fine specimen of humanity—tall and proportionately built, of strong and powerful frame, robust and enduring. He generally wears a beard and long hair, cut short at the back to display the powerful neck. His face is very attractive, having a peculiarly pleasing expression, of mingled amiability, tender-

ness, and candor. Over it all there flashes now and then an unconscious gleam of barbaric wildness that imparts a kind of picturesque fierceness to the keenly expressive countenance. In character he is by instinct simple, patient, social, and good-tempered. The moujik lives under conditions sufficiently trying even during ordinary times to make it seem as though fate would consider him to have his full share of hardship, without forcing upon him a lot of still greater severity.

B[?]ENE oF THE BLOODY BREAD RIOT AT KAZAN.

RED CROSS AGENTS DISTRIBUTING ROOD ON THE ZLATOUST RAILWAY.

GENERAI, ANNENKOFF, CHIEF OF THE FAMINE COMMITTEE.

COLLECTING MONEY IN THE STREETS OF ST. PETERSBURG.

PEASANTS’ HUTS IN KAZAN.

INSIDE A PEASANT'S HOMO.