The Washington herald., 1920-11-24
REFUGEES FILL
POLISH ROADS
ReturniingH Hordes FindL Land
Blighted by Retreating
Red Armies.
By Special Correspondent
To The waShinEton Herald.

LONDON. Nov. 23.-Into the east
ern districts of Poland. recently
freed from the Bolsheviks by the
victories OF the Polish troops there
is pouring a constant stream of
refugees who are returning to their
native land after an exile of fve
years spent in Central Russia. They
are returning. not to their homes.
for home implies a shelter contain
ing familiar and useful things.
neither of which exist. They are
returning to the land on which their
homes once stood; land over
which has rolled the successive
tides of invasion and retreat; a
land desolate and wretchedIy i'm
poverished.
These refugees that one continual
ly meets along the endless roads
from Russia to the devastated dis
tricts of Poland were induced by
the retreating Russian troops IN
1915 to migrate to Central Russia
Thereupon the retreatipg Cossacks
iaid waste to the country. burning
buildings and destroying everything
or any possible value or utility be-
fore the advancing Germans. Now
these unhappy people have returned
and face the rigors of the northern
winter. possessing only the shabby
clothes they wear. sometimes a
broken-down horse, a wagon and a
Few acres of waste land. On the
road from Bielsk to Bialoweza we
met a typical refugee family. 1t
consisted of the father and mother
and five children. or these the
mother and two children were sick
with typhus. The sick and the
younger children and the few pos
sessions of the family were crowded
into covered wagon drawn by two
horses so poor and weak that they
were scarcely able to drag their
burden forward. This family had
formerly owned a house and nine
hectares of land near Bielsk. There
they were returning from the vo-
rones district in the southern part
of Central Russia. They had al
ready been on the road for over
twelve weeks.
From conversation with the head
OF this family il was evident that
Saa~ eSSAiS " STE lnelT VII
lage was not the only reason for
their departure from Russia. Dread
ful famine, this man told us. pre-
walls in the central districts of
Russia, even among the peasants
who are comparatively better OF
than the villagers. Practically all
the grain crops were destroyed by
an extremely dry spring. Since the
spring seed, such as oats and bar
ley. was almost entirely reQuisi-
toned for the Soviet troops. there
are only insufficient stocks of such
grain on hand. All the rye and
wheat fields are lying idle for want
OF seed and there is no hope that
these conditions will be improved for
next springs planting. Bread, II
any Is to be had. is made OF buck
wheat with the addition of small
quantities Of oats and nettle -four.
But even this bread is getting very
rare. As for the population of the
cities and towns. they are In
state of slow starvation. The city
population gets only a pitifully in
sufficient ration of bread twice a
week--one-fourth OF a Russian
pound per head and is then forced
to labor on public works. A few
hoiscS arc icIl IN lne NOTSncS us
trict, but they receive so little fod-
der that nearly all of them are In
no condition to do hard work.
The country around Lu6lin and
east of the Bug River contains only
small hamlets and little farms. ana
is wholly agricultural. Since trac-
tors are practically unknown here
horses are essential for the culti-
walton of the land from which the
population derives its support. Fiji
ty per cent. and in some towns
more than SO per cent of the horses
have been either requisitioned by
the Poles or requisitioned by the
Bolsheviks. The horses that re-
main are now rendered useless by
oyerwork. as they are owned col
lectiveiy and are used by the whole
The lack of seed for
next springs planting is SO great
that no more than one-fourth Of tha