Friends International Service American Unit report

loved it, yea, and i want









FRIGNDS INTRRNATIONAL SERVICE
July 16, 1922,

sor ochinskoye
Bugulek Ooyend
tusela







The last time I wrete anybody except on urgent business was
weeks and weeks ago in April, when I wus either in the black mood of
utter aselessness fr om 8 flier in typhus or else in early May when
exiled from ow unit and driven forth to Moscow for a change of scene, |
winge I*d decided to ube my typhus immunity to carry on a bit longer and
see our fumine Zeeiing plans through to harvest. The spring em on this
vaet fertile country eide roused all the farmer there was in me and I





could not bear to leave until the green of hove on the aan ripenec into
real focd at everyone's docr. : | :



that wae a wonderful journey to and from has cow. It was no
longer the winter land that turned a frozen stare at us incoming
foreigners in Lecembers It is our Nussia, for whose health we have
battled through those bitter, terrible months, now awaking in all her
strength and sweetness and beauty to a new end kindlier summer. Plow
ing and seeding going on apace, though even the biggest cultivated
stretches seem small in the face of the untilled land and both animals
and men seem pitifully few and wesk for their task.





Moscow was great fun after months of country; ‘Living ing»
Sight of real live horges after monthe of camela and poor chegey © Siberian
ponies wes my first thriller and I nearly fell cut af the Yor at firet
dey thra excitement of getting longest posible look at a gay black
charger with red girth and reins and silver mounted harness. Rone of
these proud bessts were in scecow in the winter. Then the music and ©
dancing, Opera, ballet and theatre; jaunte into the country, the an we
parade, and variety of friends old and new, ali combined to make |
two weeks there serve the purpose of a neath or mare of holiday. .
: more, but just the same 1 was pretty homesbek
for our owm hiiis and fields which showed their first green and early
flowers the week I left. ‘very sunny day made me jealous of the Spring
advancing in those parts without me there to welcome her and rejoice.
ghen too most cf my dearest comrades within thousands of miles were back
there toiling and would leave in a few more weeks,nand every dgy away
from them seemed a beastly waste. Of course they were toi. "Fg
end 1 must be getting into the ro of it again myselz or feal utterly
lost when they leave.

That painful break is over, A L gallent new 2
life to us remmants and we carry on the old plens as best we can with
nO Smali sdded power from the others on their way cut. ‘‘e are now a
hougehoid of about twenty, half americans and nal? ussiane
home at once. Five Ameri Gans and two ussians ere running the thre
outposts and beside ali these our group comprises some 30 more lewal
uasiens, sco we are feeling quite a big anit these days
















see










uack of transport is perhaps our greatest nand
sinee our motor cycles ordered from London in Sebruary a March to be
hand by the end of the April thaw wher “all animale arg needed |
the ‘land, have only just thie week gotten as far as Buzuluke Our poor |
old Har Loy vavidson wae retired from the Moscow streets inst year as
useleas junk but ecoes a bit at times after eight weeks of tinkering and





roaup brought fresh






ww Ei oe

Waiting for new perte. The one Ford touring car and the gocd new vord
truck are busy all the time and sorely needed all wer the district,
for this month and next herees are quite impossible. o



: Sveryone wae gathering hay and now are deep in the rye, then
= end oats and millet and plowing and rye sowing « bit later than et



P



oe This month we are feeding Some 78,000 growm ups with the
Congressionsl corn, about twenty-five pounds a month for each, end
68,600 other rations, mostly children, with our own stock of ocd ~
fiour, sugar, fat, ete., drom 18 to 40 pounds, depending on age and
whether cr not they are at home ang have a chance at other food sup-
plies. «bout 700 get a real workers’ ration from 45 to 65 pounds; ané
it is a bitter regret to us that we had not food enough this month to
inereuse the number of workers’ rations,for people can exist on the

ameller portions but work seems out of the question - stock is depleted,









ss @Ll resources exhausted, even thatehed reofs devoured. “s our supplies

are the only food in most places, it meane the people eke it out with
qreseme, sere: and leaves, try to get on with work though the results
in digestive troubles bloating, ete., is comsiderabie. Our total
feeding reaches Some 146 60G out of a total popalation of about 164,000.
With the 16,000 fed by the 2useien “ed Crose and e few by the ower pnnent

and the fewwho have managed for ther selves scmehow, we fee] that this



month for tie first time wo we meeting and holding the famine snd cam

do it next month antil harvest is in. But what then? | | ;
in the past six or eight months population has decreased 23%;

horses 72; cattle 584; sheep and goate 76p- |



Sizing up the prospects of harvest end focd for the coming
yoor ie a pretty uncertain game, bat the pede hones of spring are
feding under the summer sum. ‘There was too Little men and horse power
to prepare the ground properly, seed was often late or scarce, and now
the insects, worme, and dry weather of these last days are playing havoe
with whet was eowed. Probably only 407 of a normel ee gan be got from
the small acreage revlly planted. fhis is aided a bit by the harvesting
of rye and millet which ley in the ground a whole year and more ir¢






oo end 1921 sowing, and this spring came forth in regpconse to generous



| ALL crops planted will be harvested somehow, and as it wat 6
wonderful grase and hay year from the early rains meny who had no Land
or seed horses gonseres hay from the great common pasture lands

surrounding the villages inside the outer stretches of cultivated lands.




| some villages may be almost entirely self-supporting ta
emming yeer, but this cannot be tree of 60% of the people, ana pz
« torkakhes higher percentage then that will need aid before ancth
sures and the reports apre ering in fq@ eign
then fects Warrant.and actual village eure

hevvest. The gw ernment ¢.-

pepers are more optimist ie thi

veys show, because those figures are based mainly on the spring op-

timiem from rains end on the quantity of seed sent out by the govern~

ment;end the figures on how muck of this Was toc late to plant, too

jone Castel visitors going through on trains do not get
urnalistic reports come from such hasty trips.























\
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_ them when their food is exhausted. hese people will be put at repairs

aie

_ ss dug now every man snd beast is in the field and we have la
distributed the food for the entire month all at once go they could take
it to the fields and live and eat there. ‘le distribute aaguet Zfocd the



- 4 Survey ig being carefully made in every village as to re-
sources of each family,and from this survey we shall make up the lista
of children to be fed in the kitchens which will reopen in “eptember
for perhaps an average of 25% of the children... Ye will, of course,
eontinue present scheme of food, clothing, drugs, éte., tor hoapit alg
and homes and give a special food ration for dogtors, nurses, teachers,
and iibrarians with advanced training ar these ure far tou acarce at _ | |
present and food is the only real bait to get them here. | |







| eeding for grown people after ‘September lst will go on the
basis of feeding these whe work, excluding of course those whom the |
Survey show have resources enough for at least some monthe, oniy aiding — :

and hauling wood; weaving;







of hospitals, schools,and bridges; autting ing Ss
Spinning; embreldery; valenki making (felt boots$, the univergel winter
fowtiwesar). The government is attempting to supply materiale for all
euch relief and reconstruction work if we eon feed the workers, but _
knowing the encrmous dizficuities of securing all needed materials in
Russia end the slenderness of their resources to import then, we face
the possibility of having to feed during the winter months « Lot of
people who would work for feed if work were availeblee In seach
agricultural districts the custom hae been to live well and com-
fortably enough on the fraits of the summer's labor, and the organizing
of work and mobilising of materiale in such a district is a Stupendone














sOd-

tractors and horses to get mae crops planted? ‘This is the
mst urgent need of ali, a8 otherwise hunger year must succeed hunger
year, and we have been able only to hold life in some of them thie
past year while the working stock and laet resovrees of all sorts |
dwindled away. «As one cf our loval men who knows all the reasante and
their problems puta it: “The peasent eate, dreams, hopes, and talks |
tractore by day and by night." Oar three tractors plowed night and '
dey, 80 even With thelr late arrival in Mey they plowed about 260 acres
and planted mat of it in millet, the gcevernment supplying the seed,ang
Planting the remainder of the land in notatocs and one tragt.wijh our
garden Seeise ‘The millet is a great success, get potatoes age Parde
are pretty poor, mostly due to too late a stert. «nether tractor ls on
its way in; we believe three more are ordered, and ali these should be
in time for woms of the fsll plowing now wider way. By on ~ noe
the number may be doubled or trebled, and many horses got in toc. the
young men conéider tractors the only hope, the cider men pin their faith
on the return of the horse; and we long for funds to do these thiggs on
@ loan basis of from one to fe years. It is sate enough and so worth ©
whiles The government itself is buying tractors and selling them through
the co-operative to peasants in groups and o peasant may purchase hia =
Share of tractor holding in seed and turn this share into the government
as Security on taxes until he geta ahead.

‘@ are all fighting hard at prevention cf cholera and other
epidemice. ¢ have all been panched quite liberally and the Adi Kan
(american Aelief idministration) has got in vaccines to aseist wonder- 4
fully at this game. There is a terrific fear of the inoculation, but
food from the Bame source gives an almost unfair leverage on getting — |
the work done; and the Xussians in general have more faith in the stuff is










e3.

















‘than many of us. There have been several cholera oases | yh


bat the only real outbreak over in Markove



a is now stopped, after 18



the feeding itself has hea marvelous effect. In Many sections
Our food ia atill all the people have,with surclement o#¢ grees and
weeds. the horses and Gattle have recovered anauingly, 89 mach so
that the expression goes "The; are fed on uaker products, that being
the superlative germ Of quality. Children are playing and shouting
again despite pinched cheeks end bloated stomac tragtore





Se ~aven the
ané the freight engines are feel ing their onte, and both on the field
and at the treight yards this pas? week machines tried to take a fall
piece out of each other and got a fow days reat and repair.









; another choice sign of ro an apreared a few daya ago when
three men appeared in response to our avking the government for extra
Garpenters. The man who wanted them wae awa’ » 80 I tried to annex

them to fiy sereen making with our own men for that aay. having him
eSeist them iu retarn at the recuired work next day. fresentiy I saw
the three @idling out of the door » and on incuiry found “they were

not Very vom would think it over, and meybe work next day.” ‘There
Wee 8Ome grambling in our renks about ingratitode, but really it is

HOt gratitude we seek but the return of their independence, and here

it comes? Aemember the darkie on the docks who on being asked if

he wanted to earn a quarter reniied with@at rising up from a cote
forteble cotton bale: "fio, boss, I'se rot a quahter.”

| these are marvelous days by contrast with the past Winter, but
ahead is the dark again. f his time, however, our tracks are laid in
time for more vrompt aid, and with your gallant ferce at our backs «
the generous response from seross the sea by all of your to save your
uelighbors here from Serror and death ~ we hope another year may mean

& Very considerable ligt ous of the ditch of dirt and disease and
despair into which these s uple, fenerees folke have - ebied. Nor
Cun One draw comfort from the idea that ovr seetion i@ the worst and
that if we can save the situation nere the feture is generally bricht,
for in many spots it is probably worse. <ény amount of food we can get
is of primary importance in our ow or neighboring territory. er

Sis











inatence, just a few days ago we were looking up the poneral state of
&éifairs in the wennonits volost in our northeastern corner, a section
we have helped and visited the least, Ne found ourselves just acrose
the river from Jtare Uldashkena, the mein villare of one volost of the
#auhkir Aepublic. Aemembering the pitiful State of game of their
people, who sought eid from us test winter, end having had ea moet
interesting call some < ys earlier from the sesistent eheirman of this
republic, it seemed worth while to Croeea over to see for ourselves, |
“hat & contrast to the volost soross the river, One which alone cf all
our territory has escaped famine, thanks to their Own activities end
the aid of Mennonites in other countries. On one side cf the river
fair harvest, trees, gardens, comfortable houses, people with pitifully —
reduced means tc be sure but noe the lear Safe; on the other side

ruin and desolation. ‘he first man we met was a young Red A Man
FYecently returned from serving in Siberia. He found nothing le2t at
home ~ wife and six children all dead and houne torn down for fuel.
there Was nO complaint or beg@ing aide Ne told ue simply that while ha
had no lend and was too late to plent anyway he had gathered hay which
he hoped t6 aell to get thera the winter.

| Cf the 1500 people of lest year 100 ha@ gone away and 700
had died. Oi lust year's 275 habitable houses only 65 were left.
GB 2000 cattle numbered now 98; the horses are new. : reclinesol
The 484 hea Sent at most rations for some 160 people out of the’600,



















=e

ceivers of it got from 12 + 26 funts instead of the supposed 30 a month.
a8 We lett the viliege we saw two women stringing out bits of wet red
Galico from buckets on a line to dry in the sun* But no, it was not
cloth at ali but fuesh mest. A precious horse had @ickened and died
yesterday. These are a grazing atock raising people, and even the
Greatest man in the villase received but two poode (72 Ibs.) of seed

to plant. Uniike field aad garden Crops, One food vear camot net then
back on their feet; and with the stock already nearly gone hew can thoy
ever iive through the coming winter, Yet there vere no pleseefor help
as from their neighbors in the more prosperous volosts. The facts could
plead their case, and these blackehaired folk who seem pert Indian,

part Mongolian, are proud, indepen ent, silent, and will @ie as me
eompleiningly as they live. |

| “ite ig not all work either. “@ Gelebrated the fourth by
Starting off the night before, all piling onto the track when the day a
work wae done - and that was abeut 16 ©. x, - getting clear cf the
sownand 40 & Billtep beyond the river. ie Spread our blanket cut
on the open steppe and slept under the Stars, going on next morning to
& wonderful forest we'd heard of over in Saklonovke - great pines amd a
Wee river, and o mill grinding Us. &. corn. vropea over in this seetion
were the best we hed seen, which added joy to our day, ond we had a lazy,
happy holiday, even to the strenuous @pot where the bridge lockeé too
Weak to risk and the “ord was Geep eneugh to flood the carburetor and
at op Whe crossing. Averybody in the village waded ort snd pushed it
&@ Or @. - 7






















| | the long eveaings and gorgeous sunsets, the nearby hilie, not
bald this year, and the Samarka River at our back docr, higher now that
the mili daw is restored, all these ore a content refreshment to va
aii fhe first installment of our dune and July maintenance arrived
thie week, but bz borrowing stock supplies from the distribution vare-
house aud getting some egga, butter, milk, snd ham from the Fennonite
Volost, berries, and even honey from « neorby ferm, and now at last a a
few fresh vegetables, we are suved from turning camibnl toc.







«a Lor me, I have sever taken up any work which held such high
dights and sech deep shadows and which for diving need felt so vital and
powerful end reached forth to euch future posuibliities of growth. These
useians are the friendliest people on ew th, and mort eager to learn new
and better wayae I only hove we hay mot stumble too far behind in learn.

ing from them the Eine suman Values, their skepticiam of power as such, ‘e

their sel2-discipline, and true joie de vivre, despite a rather
fatelistic philosophy. ‘the give and take of this tack and the working
of the whole plun with our Sussisu comrades is a liberal edueation to
as all, and the effect of euch work human understanding and sym-
pathy and tolerance the world over is hopeful far beyond the actual
Valte of the material aid ituelf. How I lone for the power to pass
i the joy aid inspiration of life here to all of you who are making
Our task possible. I |

bai in another sia weeks I shall be turning home sgsin. It will
be leaving hose to go home, and part of the price one pays for this sort
of work is that it grows into your lbfe end makee you long to throw

in your lot With both countries at once, and in whichever one you stegy
you will be homesick for the other.

| Geod luck to you one and all on the coming seakon of toil.I'm |
yweoming along as fast aa I can to take on my long-neglectes turn at the
Wheel in my own land. I shall feel fearfuliy out of touch and neelese-


















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bat am eager to ,
doings vs Brothers 2 these poses Sia'Re #204, work «
end love. ;

in





/ thie seems an endless i
earti etter for the amount of nial
i 6s, but there is guch Weeith and richness of of stern "





and to p

mauve resched out the hand |



aw on that 4t ia 2 wonder i ever 8tGp- shel pr eb ably talk coh all

at ‘when I get over there.



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Yours sincer ely,’

S86lsen ae hurle ave
FIELD HI eeron | a