Russians Are Suffering, We Need to Help Feed Them, Jan. 3, 1919

From the editorial page of The Commonwealth, an afternoon daily published in Scotland Neck, N.C., Friday, January 3, 1919.

The Condition of Russia

What few glimpses we get thru the cloud which veils Russia from the Western peoples show us a scene of utter confusion. They reveal a nation tossed in revolution, all its orderly life at an end. It is a might people given over to cold, starvation, cruel military domination.

In Eastern Russia there is scarcely food or clothing to be had at any price. Siberia is better off for food but its transportation is impossible as the trans-Siberian railroad has been worn and neglected to such an extent that it is well nigh useless.

At the time of the Russian revolution the country was not ripe for democracy. A true democracy implies the ability for self-government and that the illiterate hordes of Russia had had no opportunity to gain. There was no available halting-place between an autocracy and red anarchy.

The Allies will not be doing their duty unless they take some measures for helping Russia to food and fuel, to an opportunity for general education and to a settled government.