File No. 861.00/2484
The Consul at Moscow (Poole) to the Secretary of State3
[Received August 12, 10 a.m.]
700. The Union of Cooperative Societies appeals to America through its director Berkenheim … for assistance in feeding the people of northern Russia during the coming winter. It is calculated from figures which he furnishes that to bring the necessary grain from America would require twenty-five voyages monthly of 5,000 tons each. In view of the general tonnage situation, if for no other reason, such shipments are obviously out of the question. On the other hand it appears from figures supplied by the Cooperative Union that their appeal should be met and famine averted by proper organization of the distribution of the grain stores in western [Page 131] Siberia. According to statistics prepared for them by Prokopovich, Minister of Food Supplies in the Kerensky government, the amount of these stores, consisting principally of surplus from the large 1917 crop, is from 3,000,000 to 3,500,000 short tons. Of this Prokopovich estimates that, owing to the poor state of transportation, only 750,000 tons could be moved into European Russia, but that with extraordinary measures to improve transportation this amount might be somewhat more than doubled.
Allied intervention will create that situation of order which will make distribution possible. At the present moment shipments into European Russia are prevented by the Czech conflict, but as from August 1917 to April 1918 only 275,000 tons were moved, it is clear that even in the absence of the Czech difficulty neither the Bolshevik nor probably any other Russian government would be able to meet the situation adequately.
The same military program is necessary in order to solve the famine problem as should be adopted if only military and political considerations were involved. Intervention in Siberia must be executed with sufficient forces to support the Czechs in their present positions and to effect a prompt junction with the Allied groups entering at Murman, Archangel. The Cooperative Societies request succor for the eight governments of Archangel, Vologda, Novgorod, Petrograd, Olonets, Tver, Yaroslavl, and Kostroma, but the actual extent of territory which can be defended and nourished will depend of course on military considerations. In order to make effective distribution the front to be created should, however, include Vologda.
As in the case of the military program, time is of the essence. By the end of October the Dvina will be frozen and conditions of distribution will become exceedingly difficult. In Siberia also the grain must be moved down the rivers to the railroad before winter sets in. The general plan of distribution must be worked out and directed by Allied citizens. The Cooperative Societies agree to do the field work.
Commercial Attaché Huntington and Ward well of Red Cross have been present at the conference with the Cooperative Societies [securing?] further data and will telegraph the Red Cross. Huntington joins me in affirming that the relief of northern Russia is a task which our Allies can not and should not avoid. If the problem is not anticipated and immediate steps taken for its solution, the famine will soon take on the proportions of a tragedy such as will imperatively command the attention of the Allies whether they will or no. We earnestly recommend that the intervention problem be studied in this light, that is, not solely from the political and military [Page 132] points of view but with the unavoidable humanitarian demands of the national subjects clearly in mind. Please refer in this connection to my No. 683.1
If the Department perceives no objection, I should be glad to have Mr. Crane2 informed of this situation owing to his deep humanitarian interests in the Russian people. Please acknowledge.