Harbin, June 6.
Those who read. the Russian emigrant press of Harbin are fed with constant string of statements regarding Soviet Russia, which are in many cates quite absurd, and lately articlee have appeared stating " that Sovi citizens are being compelled by the Soviet Consu} General to return to the USS.R, whether they like it or not.
All these statements are contrary to the actual facts, and in the frst place it must be remembered that the agreement signed at Tokyo regarding the sale of the railway. distinctly states in one of its paragraphs that all Soviet railway servants "must Teave Manchuria within a certain time, but Ju no case does this mean that they shall be compelled to do so by the Soviet authorities who, on the contrary, are not forcing any person 10 return to Russia if he does not want The total number of the Soviet railway servants at the time when the Tokyo agreement was signed was some= where between 6,500 and 7,000, but this figure is for actual servants only, fand does not Include their families, therefore the fact that eighteen train loads of Soviet citizens have already Jett Harbin and that these trains have carried away about 3000 persons, does not necessarily mean only rail way servants. As an instance, Gay's train carried 168 Soviet ellizens, Dut these are the families of 41 railway servants consequently on the deduction that the average family of the railway servant consists of four persons. it may be assumed that not more than 800 servants have yet lett Harbin, which had to be filled in formerly, Bes ha det would" en no account lowed to re-enter Rus their having taken up inst the Soviet, are now freely admitted, provided that they have ut been Engaged in any active work against the Soviet regime during the past tax years of their residence in Man:
"The figures regarding the number of Soviet citizens and Russian emtgrants in Harbin and along the railway fe cannot be taken as fairly reliable.
owing toa Soviet citizen havin fo pay. the Manchoukuo authorities double the fee for his passport that Russian emigrant has to, there are many. Soviet citizens who notwith standing the fac: that they are res Istered at the Soviet Consulate, have taken out police residential ' certificates, calling themselves emigrants, when actually they are citizens of the USSR. Such people are now most anxious to secure permission to enter Soviet Russia, as in many cases they have children who reside in Harbin, on a Soviet passport, or in some cases the husband has a' Soviet passport, while the wife is entered at the police station as an emigrant.
To Train Abroad Such complications as these make
the correct number of Soviet ci very difteut to ascertain, what is now resident in Harbin, and what is the number of the real emigrants who do not possess a Soviet passport. Soviet citizens, and particularly the younger ones, who are anxious to ge fo Peiping to study Chinese, or who desire to go to England and America to study specialities, are given full permission to do so by the Soviet Consulate, it being understood that they shall have no diMiculty in returning to the USSR. when they so Aesire. Naturally, such young people who have funds, owing to their having served on the railway in Harbin, can educate themselves in foreign countries at their own expense, and as Soviet Russia is always on the look-out for clever technical men, they will be welcomed, ax soon as they conclude their education.
The principal diticulty at the pres-fent moment in sending away Soviet railway servants is that rolling stock of the "Railway administration. is hardly sufficient to carry the number of people that are returning 10 Russia, and in consequence of this they have to put up with the roughest
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.