OCR Text |
Show FAMINE BEGINS ' SLOWRETREA! feich Black Volga Earth Will Nearly Supply Population SAMARA, Russia. April 10. (By the Associated Press i Famine Is beginning be-ginning to retreat in tho Volga valley before the slow, but steady arrival ol American corn for adult feeding. 1 la due to vanish almost entirely when tin spring .unshlne uncovers the black earth of this fertile region nnd bi Ina out the early grasses nnd vegetables, I which, added to the rations supplied! by the I'nlted States, other foreign countries and the Russian government! will r.ustatn most of the population until un-til the ryo and wheat harvest of Into Augunt and early September. JH Til RATE MOl M IKG The retreat Is slow, however, and. the death rate from hunger is still mounting in the villages far from centers cen-ters of rnll communication. which have not yet been and may ncvev bo reached by aid. Today, the banning of tho last I month when wheSt may he sown, it Is ! still a gamble whether a majority of I the peasants will receive any appre- lable supply for spring planting The railways through the heart of the Sa-I Sa-I mara and Orenburg districts have been blocked by equinoctial blizzards while MOSCOW was straining ever effort to bring seed to the peasants waiting at stations. The seed offensive has been a dra-! dra-! matlc battle against starvation, disease and economic disruption, and In It the weather his le;iit heavy blows Thel spring th.iw a following and now It I appears that in many districts the roads will be Unpayable when the grain finally doi arrive at the Inland ! stations Even now along the rail i i lines are gathered horses, camels and oxen, by the hundreds, walt'.nx with -i is;li- i"' lake I In precious seed to th' villages. If it arrives In the midst ..J the thaw, only a part of It will reach I the farms In time for sowing. U Y EXPORT s imi If the wheat campaign succeeds to I any appreciable extent, officials say. Samara, though producing only 26 to 10 per cent of the normal pre-war lcld. will have some wheat for export This is problematical. But in even Village of the province visited 'by the correspondents. during a fortnight's trip, the peasants were practically unanimous that unless another drought ensues the Volga region can feed Itself, without further American j or other aid, after the middle of August. |