Evening star., 1926-11-21
FRANCE Absorbing
!; EX|[ES OF RUSSIA
10000 in Poland. Refused
Readmission by Soviet,
Have No Country.
BY DARSIE GILLIE.

Correspondence of The Star and Chicago
Daily News. Copyright, 1925.
WARSAW. Poland, october 30
One. Of the most tragic relics of the
Great War is the problem Of the ref.
ugees who can look to no state to
support their interests. Such are the
Russian emigres whom the Soviet
government will not recognize as its
citizens or receive back to Russia
even II they wish to go.
No one knows Quite how many there
are, though the probable figure seems
to be about 1900 900. OF these some
100000 are now in Poland. Here their
lot is particularly hard. not owing
TO the attitude Of Poles, who, on the
whole, seem to treat them well. but
owing to the fact that Poland is a
poor country with 100000 unemployed
people OF her own. Many Of these
unfortunates are scattered up and
down the Eastern provinces, doing odd
Jobs on farms for wages which are
often as small as l zloty (about 10
cents a day.
No Legal Status.
Their position is complicated by the
fact that they have no legal status
and, until recently, no passport. This
raised extraordinary questions about
how they were to marry, what would
be the nationality of their children,
and so forth Now this position Is
improved by the institution OF the So
called Nansean passports, which the
governments concerned issue on be-
half Of the League OF Nations. Al
though the identity papers do not
give them the right to ask for as
sistance from any consul or Ambas-
sador, they at least satisfy one de-
mand Of officials by giving them some
thing to stamp.
But the League does not stop there
in helping them; 1t also organizes MI
grafton to countries where they can
find work. OF these the principal one
at present is France, whose popula'
ton is stationary, but who is none the
less developing her industries ana
needs more hands. A million Russian
exiles are already working there. The
International Labor Bureau at Geneva
receives applications from French IN
dustrials and engages hands for them
Among the Russians in Poland. 1t ad-
n:tnces the necessary funds to them
Tor the journey and a percentage OF
their wages is docked weekly until the
debt has been repaid. 1t is calcu-
lated that if only 10000 can be trans
ferred in this way, the remainder will
find work in Poland.
1000 Sent This Year.
Last year only 700 were sent, but
this year more than 1000 have gone
and conveys are being regularly ar
ranged. Not only the factories are
taking them, however. In the south
of France, where the birth rate is
very low, the death toll Of the war
caused considerable areas to go out of
cultivation altogether. The French
government has now offered to settle
800 families on the land, on the me
tayer" system-that is, they will give
a percentage Of their harvest as rent.
An ideal field for settling these Rus
slams would, of course, be SouSh
America, but here there Is a small.
but apparently insurmountable. diff
Guilty. Brazil, Uruguay and the Ar
gentine all possess laws forbidding the
deduction Of any sum from wages be.
fore they are paid. The League holds
the capital it uses. in trust, to nearly
so nations, and it therefore feels that
portation costs is too great in this
case.
What will happen to the million and
more Russians in France? The French
nation Is remarkable for its capacity
for absorbing foreigners. If the So.
Wet government does not revise its
policy of refusing to admit the citizen.
ship of these men, more and more Of
the "Nansenites," as these Russians
are often called, after the great Nor.
wegian who organized their passports,
will surely give up being neither fish,
flesh nor fowl" and become French
citizens. They are stated by those in
contact with them to be excellent raw
material. many Of them ex.off1cers. or
Cossacks. peasants of fine physique,
and among them are many educated
men. They will serve to take the
place of Frenchmen killed in the war.