Dr. Nansen, addressing the Assembly of the League of Nations
at Geneva on Friday, September 9th, pleaded eloquently for the famine-stricken Russian peasantry. Russia, he said, needed to import at least 2,000,000 tons of corn, and a sum of £30,000,000 would be required. He declared that the Russian railways could transport the foodstuffs to the famine districts. He expressed his belief that the Bolsheviks could be trusted to keep their promise not to rob the peasantry of the food sent to them. He asked the nations represented to lend the Bolsheviks £10,000,000, to be spent on food supplies, which should be dispatched at once. His appeal to the Governments was, of course, supplementary to the Red Cross appeal to the charitable public for money Which is already being expended by various relief workers under his supervision.