The Russian problem which has lately been brought to notice with so much emphasis in Shanghai is by no means our problem alone. Probably there are three or four times as many Russians here as in any other port in the Far East, and our problem is the greater, but, in proportion to their size, Tientsin, Newchwang and other ports have almost equal difficulties 10 contend with, the one difference being that they have not so many destitute refugees to care for or dispose of. It is a many-sided problem. They are not wholly correct who say that too much being asked of the charitably minded. Nor are they altogether justified who chide the more careful with a lack of charity. The refugees are not all loafers, though some may be; it possibly is quite correct that many have more funds at their command than they would care to have the charitable know, and it is equally true that the sole possessions of others are a fast dwindling hope that there are better times ahead, a waist belt that is tightened every day, and the deplorable remnants of what once were proud uniforms.
The following letter might well have been worded somewhat less harshly, but running through it is the argument of many people in this and other ports and we therefore print it as a specimen opinion To the Editor of the "Norra-Cuma Dairy News."
Sir,—Your correspondent ''Outport"" asks the question about the wandering Russians who have come here, ''Wher are they to go'? Why not to Russia? If these people are "Russian agricul furalists and skilled artisans," as "Outport" naively describes them, they would be of more use in Russia in helping te rebuild the industries of that enormous country, than elsewhere. Tt ig not a very edifying sight to see hundreds of able-bodied men going from port to port, running away from their own country, and asking charity We are asked to sympathize with them owing to the discomforts of their life aboard their miscellaneous Armada? These vessels would serve a more useful purpose under the Russian Government at Vladivostok than they do when employed in this fantastic Odyssey. Someone has written to the Press pointing out that the roads in Vladivostok are not in good condition. Surely the people aboard these vessels would be doing something useful if they returned whence they came and, discarding their weapons, took picks and shovels and put those bad roads in good condition?
White Guards and their hangers-on inst learn to realize that people have got to work for their subsistence nowadays and that all this political sob-story stuff is played out. The obvious place for Russian refugees to go to is Russia. I am, ete.,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.