| Show Heaps of T Tangled angled Corpses Attacked by Starved Dogs Am American rican Relief Worker Depicts Nightmare Picture Picture Picture Pic Pic- Pic- Pic ture of Famine Conditions in Soviet Russia W WASHINGTON March 25 Tangled Tangled heaps of frozen corpses some attacked by starved dogs sickness dirt and cold In the Volga valley are described to Secretary Hoover In a nightmare picture of ot the famine districts of soviet so soviet so so- viet Russia drawn by Dr Thomas H. H Dickinson of the American relief admInistration ad ad- administration ministration In a special report on conditions there Dr Dickinson made a months month's tour of ot the Volga valley and the foothills of ot the Urals traveling miles by rail raU auto and sledge Inspecting villages on the snow covered steppes In his report to Mr Hoover Dr Dickinson Dickinson Dick Dick- inson gave the bare and gruesome de details details details de- de tails of his observations Losses from front famine In soviet Russia Rusala Russia Rus Rus- sia ala ho he said come under the heads of ot emigration disease and death Emigration Emigration Emigration Emi Emi- gration from the villages now rises to about 30 per cent Houses are deserted deserted de de- cle- cle not a dog cat or pig left with snow breaking through the roofs roots and windows Smoke comes from the chimneys of not more than half halt the houses Traveling on the roads one ono comes across pathetic caravans father mother grandparents and samovar When camel or horse falls sick they leave him to die on the open plain Sick persons sit on top of ot the sledges and are taken to town to dieOn dieOn dieOn die On sidings everywhere from Poland Poland Po Po- land to the Urals are freight cars cau crowded with refugees The government government government govern govern- i ment has not the locomotives to carry t M n A I nem so BO souey iney uey am Ul n wan wan-me Disease Is general Swollen bellies bemes of ot children are so common as to no longer excite remark The characteristic character character- expression of ot childhood in Russia Russia Rus Rug sia Is that of ot a person sore at life lite I 1 have learned to dread going Into a room full of ot children They all look lookup lookup lookup up at me accusingly bitterly as If Ir I 1 had done It H. They are born with re resentment resentment re- re In their hearts Diseases are well distributed between between between be be- tween summer and winter Last summer summer summer sum sum- mer cholera this winter typhus Russia Rusala Russia Rus Rus- sia ala lost dead of ot typhus In 1919 One city of ot lost This year will be as bad So many are alreadY dying that they aro are burying them In They take ot off the tho clothes of the dead throw them Into boxes put snow on the bodies to freeze them then transport transport transport trans trans- port them In piles to tho the cemetery There twice a week they aro are thrown Into big biff holes crosswise packed close close- ly Dogs Doffs have become a a. menace and attack piles of ot bodies In droves droyes and dig Into graves Dead children starved to death are left outside In open ways until they In piles covered with rags be hauled away can From his notes Dr Dickinson describes describes de do- scribes a burying ground near Samara where the dead gnawed by dogs were piled in frozen mounds until thrown excavations into great There were three great holes he continued ten b by twenty feet teet and eighteen feet deep Around these were piles of ot frozen naked bodies men women and children who had died of typhus and hunger Dogs had been at some bo bogies bodies lles and these were bloody The dogs were driven away all terribly terribly terri tern I bly emaciated and contorted into all shapes of grotesque agony I As one sees the lopsided houses of ot I Ithe the Russian villages the gnarled skin skin- clad bones of ot the tho famine tamine corpses one seizes the dominant motifs of the new Russian act There was an unreality about these corpses that made it seem appropriate t td to discuss anything In their presence cabarets soda water vater futurist verse In piles they were badly tangled up and had to be released like stiff puzzles Dropped Into the graves they made noises like wooden things of ot the same weight and shape They had been men women and children About fifty come corne every day The psychological factor of relief work among these distressing conditions condi condl- Dr Dickinson declared was a I factor to be considered As a rule he explained the relief agents work alone I and the psychological effect of conditions conditions conditions condi condi- around them is worth as serious consideration as an arctic exploration J or in Jungle travel I When a relief agent starts to convoy a a. load of food tood Dr Dickinson reported I he says goodbye to his friends for ten days takes blankets grub lives in a box car and takes his luck with bugs and bandits Transportation the key to relief he declared was almost lost There are no rail lines except crazy narrow gauge spurs set In some time timo past by some special Interest to reach a town or a mining camp he said To get from Samara to Kazan you have to go to Moscow and back 2000 Same with other cities In the valley vaHey I have seen an American boy stagger In an American relief administration administration administration ad ad- ministration local headquarters after atter four tour days in a box car in which he had traveled For north and south transportation there thero are no resources but sledges Under Under Un Un- der some conditions these can do up to twenty versta a day Roads disappear under drifts Country takes on appearanCe ap ap- ap- ap of the arctic without landmarks land land- marks Horses can drag their loads only three days a a. week A weeks week's provision provision provision pro pro- vision for a horse is worth as much as asa asa asa a horse The result Is starving people who have horses are trading them for grain People also are trading agricultural machinery for tor grain this is bad on next years year's crop The number of ot horses over entire area Is but third one-third of ot last spring about tenth one-tenth normal Cattle and sheep aro are the same Russian peasants Dr Dickinson re reported reported reported re- re ported are aro living on bread made out of ot anything that can be baked and eaten In late lato September and October he said peasants began to live JIve on a weed that grows In the wheat and Is threshed with the wheat on clay bread dung bread bread from bark and leaves and sawdust and sunflower seed husks |
