There are renewed signals of distress from Russia as though
another famine was projecting its shadow across great districts including the rich soils of the southern provinces. The Morning Post has stated that the last gold reserves are being realised in order to import huge quantities of Canadian wheat- or flour. We cannot say how far the prospect is due to general shortage or how far to the breakdown of transport. So far as lack of transport is responsible, explanation may be found for what shocks some superficial observers, namely, that Russia should export grain from one district while starvation is stalking through another. A cynical question also arises in one's mind : how far are the rulers in Moscow moved by humane con- siderations to feed those whom they have brought to this pass, or how far has fear become the goad No doubt remains that a country which made a vast con- tribution from its surplus to the food supplies of Europe has been brought down into a position of dependence upon countries that have not been afflicted by Bolshevik madness, and the world is made poorer thereby.
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