Our representative put the question directly to Mr. Grosse: If and when those ships leave, will all those who came on them and have not secured permanent employment in Shanghai go with them?"
Mr. Grosse did not indulge in any fencing, but frankly replied:
That is where the big problem comes in. Possibly no person can give a reliable estimate of the number of Russians in Shanghai, but the writer recalls that last summer a Russian of some authority told him there were then quite 2,000, and by comparison it should be noted that there are only about 5,000 British, by far the largest section of the white community. The Russian population here has not decreased since last summer and now we have the man who knows best giving the definite information that whatever happens to the ships the number is to be considerably increased. True, Chinese authorities refused permission for any of Admiral Stark's company to land and for reasons best known to themselves the Chinese enforced the order with about as much purpose as they have shown in late years in preventing the re-introduction of opium-poppy culture. If it was an error to allow the Russians
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.