The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-11-28
POLISH MIGRATION COSTING RUSSIA B|G
 SUMS OF MONEY
Number of Refugees From Poland to Russia Esti- mated as High as
 13,0OO,000

PetroSrad, November 27.-The ef- forts to find a solution of the prob lens connected with the great migra tion of peoples incident to the Russian withdrawal from Poland and other parts of Russian territory is serious ly engaging Russian thought
 The monetary cost of the vast move ment already has mounted high. The imperial government and the govern ments of various provinces and cities of the empire have expended money freely to shelter, feed and clothe the refugees, whose numbers are estimated as high as 13,000, 900 by some. The ex- penditures of the central government in this connection are already in ex- cess of 13.0O0,000 rubles (s6,5O0, 0OO), and the total cost is probably more than 100,00O,000 rubles. Besides this sum there must be reckoned the huge sums involved in abandoned property and the cost to the railways, over which free passage was given, and whose operations were for a time large ly confined to removel of unfortu- nate victims of the war
 Besides distributing the refugees. mainly peasants, throughout the rural districts of European Russia. the gov ernment is sending larger and larger parties as time goes on to central Asia and to Siberia, where it is allotting lands to the refugees, it becoming evil dent that the majority of them will never return to their former homes, regardless of the issue of the war. Most oil except the clothing they were able to carry with them. Once installed on vir- gln SOIL which process will necessitate large advances of funds for farm inn plements, seed and work animals, 1t Will be virtually impossible, it is held. to upset this arrangement and return the peasants to their former holdings prospect of this sort is displeas- ing to many Poles, who fear that the Polish question may be receiving a so- lutlon far from that which they de- sire. Against the prospect of the re- turn of many to their former homes. It is also argued, is the natural desire on their part to re-establish the do- mestlc hearth somewhere without wait ing for the end of the war. It is thought by many that only families owning land are likely to seek their old homes again and it is questioned whether even some of these may not choose to remain on their new allotments, liqui- eating their old titles when the war is over.
 To one section of the refugees, that or the Jewish race, 1t is thought by many that the argument against a re- turn will particularly apply, as it is held that their unwillngness to go back to the cramped conditions of life in the former pale of settlement will naturally be stronger than that among refugees of other races.
 One of the most vital questions re- specting the refugees is the procure ment for them of employment to pre- vent their pauperization. Many are disposed to lean on government char ity, it appears, and some dishearten- ment among voluntary workers for the refugees over their frequent refusal to accept employment when offered is reported. To offset this there is the certainty of ample labor for the cul- tivation of the crops and of a great growth of colonization on the virgin lands of Asia.
 Many prisoners of war are said to be gladly accepting work in the mines and fields. An interesting development In this connection is an order that here after the Slavic clements be separated from the Magyar and German speak ing. It is considered probable that many Slavic prisoners will settle per manently in Russia.