72 



DISCOVERY 



and its heaps of manure added one more thing to the 

 fdth. These dug-outs were constructed in many cases 

 as long ago as 1915 and 1916, and the timbers that 

 keep up the roofs are now rotting away, so that 

 many shelters have collapsed suddenly, burying their 

 inhabitants beneath tons of earth. 



None of the people in this district have tools to culti- 

 vate the waste land lying about them. If they could 

 have cultivated it, they had no seed with which to 

 sow it. This area is on low-lying ground, and though 

 dry in the summer and autumn, with the approach of 

 winter becomes flooded. Since my visit I learn that 

 the trenches have filled with water and that most of 

 the dug-outs have collapsed, burying hundreds of 

 people imder tons of mud and earth. 



At Pinsk fire has added to the troubles of the people. 

 In August a conflagration started in a baker's shop, 

 and 414 houses were completely burnt down. All 

 that remains standing in the heart of the town are 

 hundreds of huge white-tiled Russian stoves built of 

 fire-brick which withstood the heat. This gives the 

 town the appearance of a vast untidy cemetery. 

 Thousands of people were rendered homeless by this 

 fire, the majority of them being Jews. 



The country between Pinsk, Kief, and Zhitomir is 

 supposed to be one of the regions which has suffered 

 least, but it is impossible to compare the state of one 

 part of Russia with that of any other part. Samara 

 and Saratoff are generally called the worst districts. 

 Millions of people have left these zones for other 

 parts which they found nearly as bad. The constant 

 moving of people from east to west is not improving 

 matters, but merely evening up the desolation of the 

 whole country. At Saratoff bread costs about 25,000 

 roubles per pud (40 lb.), a figure which not one man 

 in a mUlion in Russia can afford to pay. I may men- 

 tion that it is impossible to get a fixed quotation for 

 the rate of exchange, but my average for the English 

 pound was about 240,000 roubles. Wages might 

 almost be said to be non-existent. People live on 

 filth or starve. Only the Bolshevist army and officials 

 are decently fed. 



The problem of solving the Russian question is 

 great. Even if food could be brought in from outside 

 sources at once, it could only alleviate the trouble to 

 some slight degree. In addition to food, clothing, 

 farm implements, and large quantities of seed are 

 needed at once, and, when one thinks of the area of this 

 huge starving country, one reahses that to carry out 

 any adequate relief scheme is a practical impossibility. 

 When Bolshevist authority is taken in conjunction 

 with the natural difficulties of the region, it would 

 appear useless to attempt any form of relief. Russia's 

 only solution of the problem lies in herself. Many 

 millions of people have died of starvation and disease. 



and many millions more are dying of cold this winter. 

 They cannot be saved. It is inevitable that about 

 ten millions must die and years of hardship face the 

 survivors. The Russian peasant's own idea is to get 

 out of Russia into Poland. The peasant distrusts the 

 Soviets, and would rather be under Polish dominion. 

 Here another difficulty is encountered, for Eastern 

 Poland is in almost exactly the same condition as 

 Russia, with the exception tliat relief destined for that 

 country does reach the people concerned. 



I have already stated that during the war this 

 country was fought over several times. At the con- 

 clusion of peace between Poland and Russia, the 

 Polish frontier was moved east from Brest-Litowsk 

 to a line approximately Vilna-Baranovitchi-Pinsk. 

 Labour conditions in Russia are intolerable. In 

 Eastern Poland conditions are very similar ; for 

 example, the following list of salaries is representative 

 of the country (at rate of 9,500 marks per £1) : 



Bank clerk, 12,000 marks per month = 25s. approxi- 

 mately. 

 School teacher (female), 5,000 marks per month = 



los. 6d. 

 Miner, 9,000-18,000 marks per month, plus a certain 



amount of food (los.) =385. 

 Farm labourer, never over 6,000 marks per month = 



I2S. 6d. 

 Minister of the Goverrunent, 70,000 marks per month = 



£7. 7s. 6d. 

 Private of the Army, 28 marks per day, plus rations, 



or 75 marks per day and no rations = f ^. or ^d. 

 Second Lieutenant, 12,000 marks per month, of which 



2,000 marks are paid for rations = 25s. (4s. 2d. 



for rations). 

 The average wages earned in Poland in the spring of 



the year were about 8,000-12,000 marks per 



month (i.e. about 17s. to 25s.). 



In comparison with the low scale of wages paid, 

 food prices in Poland are abnormally high, the following 

 figures being those at present obtaining in most parts 

 of the country : 



White bread . . 80 marks per lb. {2d.) 



Rye bread . . 30 marks per lb. (^d.) 



Potatoes . . 12 marks per lb. (just over ^d.) 



Oats and barley, 12,000 marks per pud (40 lb.), 



2S. 6^^. 

 Meat, beef, mutton, or pork, 82 marks per lb. (zd.) 



It is difficult, indeed, to understand how the great 

 majority of the people five. 



In Russia prices may be taken as bemg in appro.xi- 

 mately the same ratio to wages, but whereas in Poland 

 the exchange is under 10,000 marks to the pound,' 

 1 The rate has varied considerably since my visit. 



