Feeding the Hungry, P. C. Hiebert, 1929

sad conditions that existed. In the carrying out of the Bolshevist program, all property had been nationalized, including land, factories, institu- tions, and even homes. Personal possessions were listed and all in excess of prescribed amounts were confiscated. Possessing wealth was virtually made a criminal offense. The Mennonites in Russia, who by thrift and good management had accumulated wealth, were therefore special objects of hatred and persecution. Imprisonment and even execution were used as means to extort from them the money they had supposedly hoarded. Many were compelled to flee in order to save their lives. Conditions threatened to become more and more serious. As a sequence of the civil wars, the accompanying confiscations, and a wide-spread drought, there was a scarcity of feed for live-stock, little fuel, and serious shortage of clothing and food. The nature of the reports that came from Russia is well illustrated by the following extracts from letters. One written Dec. 25, 1921, reads as follows: “This is Christmas time, but what a hard Christmas! No words can describe the poverty nor the intensity of the suffering here with us. Many have already died for want of food, and God knows what will become of us, unless help arrives soon—then we all will starve. Today is Christmas, but such a Christmas as I have never experienced before. There is no bread to eat in our home, neither is there any in the homes of the people about us. Since seeding time last fall we have had no bread in our home, only a few potatoes, and these are almost all gone by this time. Just think how we are required to live. Our hunger is sometimes so intense ORGANIZED AMERICAN MENNONITE RELIEF 31 that we know not where to go. Then we take refuge with our heavenly Father. “Our entire crop consisted of two pud (80 pounds) of corn. Our food since last spring has been black tea and herring, and now dear friends, all of this is gone. If you can’t help, then we will die of starvation. On Central Street alone of our village, forty-two persons have died during the summer and most of them for want of food. We are in need, not only of food but also of clothing.” Another letter from South Russia pleads as follows: “Dear Brethren, help us, we are perishing! The famine is raging more and more and suffering is increasing daily, yes hourly. Every day we must behold starving, ragged, helpless persons, with haggard faces and swollen hands and feet, standing on the streets or dragging themselves about, looking for food; rarely they find anything, so they are obliged to return to their starving families at home with the message of despair, ‘We can get nothing for you to eat.’” Another letter from Saratow contains the following message: “God only knows, who of us will live till the next har- vest. It appears as though there may be but few, since from the 13,000 inhabitants of our village, there are now only 6000 l