Evening star., 1915-12-05

: uispdtch from warsaw announces
that hundreds OF thousands Of the
civil population in the
Suffering Warsaw district of Po-
~, land are suffering for want
AoA Hoou' Of food thousands have,
died Of starvation and disease. Prohni-
nent Poles in all walks Of life maintain
that drastic relief measures are necessary
if wholesale deaths from starvation are
to be prevented" +.
This note Of alarm brings to the fore
the question of Polands independence.
and when Warsaw. since occupied by
German armies. was possessed by the
Russians. Eight months for fact have
elapsed since March IS, when the Grand
Duke Nicholas proclaimed Poland's inde-
pendence
NJ. Goremykine for several months has
made very important declarations in the
ouma as to the future Of Poland. A mixed
commission of twelve members, six Rus
sians and six Poles. under the presidency
OF M. Goremykine, was constituted to
study the question
me foies. 1t is understood, had the
Iisnt 10 demand immediate reforms, for
thelr situation was intolerable and
there was urgence that they should be
treated as friends and not as enemies.
mere was also great reason to prove
TO Europe, which had welcomed with
satisfaction the announcement of the
grand duke, of the changed relations
petween Poland and Russia. that
Russia finally had resolved to termi-
nate the unfortunate policy pursued
toward Poland in the nineteenth cen
tury. reconciliation between Poland
ana Russia was an urgent necessity.
But that reconciliation was not possi-
Bile except the emperor gave his entire
consent to a new direction of the in
terror policy of Russia, and not only the
consent of the Gar but of his entour-
age. Russia, perhaps more than any
other autocratic government, suffers
from the camarilla. which is the pest of
the monarchical government.
Sometime in June Henryk sienkie-
wicz, the great Polish patriot and
writer, president of the general relief
committee for victims of the war in
Poland. in his Appeal to Civilized Ma
tions," said:
THE blood of our unhappy country
compelled to fight in
An Annea1 hostile armies, slay one
for Haln another in fratr'cidai
LUZ help. combat. From the banks
of the Niemen to the SUBMITS OF the
|Carpathians fire has destroyed the
towns and villages and over the whole
of this huge desolated country the
spectre of famine has spread out It's
wings. For centuries Poland was the
rampant of civilization, the barrier or
IChristendom in it's struggle with the
crescent She ever fought side by side
with all defenders of freedom.
THE names of Sobieski and Kos
ciuszko will be ever craven in your
memory Where was any generous
cause in which Poland did not freely
shed her blood? Where was human
suffering which by her means she did
not attempt to alleviate? Our genius,
our labor and our creative powers have
the worlds history. Our voice ever
rose in unison with the great call of
civilized humanity. Therefore, in the
name of universal fraternity. in the
name of country ever faithful to that
sacred principle, in the name of the
teachings of Christ and of our past and
present sufferings, to you, civilized ma
tions, l appeal. Help us to save my
country from her terrible distress"
The committee in it's appeal for help
stated that Poland had been overrun by
10000 Austro-Germans and 4.o00,-
900 Russians. The Poles had altogether
furnished million and half soldiers,
almost equally divided between the
to March, 1915, 100000 Poles had been
lost in killed. wounded and prisoners,
material damage amounting to more
than $500, 900, 900, 5000 villages raZed to
the ground, innumerable country homes
and farm houses destroyed, stores OF
corn and forage seized and destroyed
a million horses and 100000 cattle
dead or seized by the armies, until at
last ruin has come equally on the peas
ant population and the great land
owners. And the statement closed with
the remark that while the world has
seemed unmoved in the face of so ap-
palling a tragedy it has not been for
want of compassion, but for lack of
exact information which the commit
tee has now supplied.
A dispatch from Petrogad dated No
vember 27 declares that $4,000, 900
refugees have
Immense Sums Spent followed Rus
for Polish Refugees. from po1and
after the fall of Warsaw. The ex-
penditures of the Petrograd govern
ment to this end have already reached
Sc, 500, 900 and the total will proba bly,
reach $50,0000O0.
1t appears that the government at
Petrograd is arranging to send large
numbers of these refugees-aside from
those distributed throughout the rural
districts of European Russia-to Cen
trail Asia and to Siberia, where lands
are allotted, it being evident that many
of these cannot be returned to their