RUSSIA'S HUMAN RESOURCES

Evening Post, Volume XC, Issue 80, 2 October 1915, Page 13

RUSSIA'S HUMAN RESOURCES

A CONTRAST WITH GERMANY.^ Bearing upon Colonel Arthur Lee'g statement in the House of Commons recently, to the effect that Britain is the only one ,of < the Allies able to supply extra men needed, the following passage from an article by a well-known Russian writer, V. Kuzmin-Karavaeff, is of some interest :—" To the east of the Dnieper and Moscow the war is hardly felt at all. This is particularly true of the principal foundations of our life — the peasant country parts numbering their hundred millions. The villages have sent to the war millions of young men, and even fathers of families, heads of households. Many tears have already been shed in the country, and there are many orphans, many cripples. But the peasant countryside has not suffered economically. On the -contrary, after ten months of war, and closed liquor-shops, it has reconstructed iteelf, and smartened itself up to a noteworthy degree. The fields have been sown. From among the huge mass only those labouring hands have been withdrawn for the war who would not have remained at home in any case, but would have been lured away to earn money elsewhere. The same thing is observable also in the towns. The masses in the towns have increased their deposits in the savings banks tenfold, while consuming more meat than before the Avar, and resorting less frequently to the loan banks. Information made its way out of Germany long ago to the effect that all the males there, with the exception of decrepit old men and small children, have been called to the army. The peculiar 'crisis hi mnn ' in Berlin ha* frequently e«>rv«d &>..& WikJsaJi si isst to &a iiumaroj!^,

press. In Russia, every railway station swarms with young, healthy, powerful porters who offer their services; every large restaurant has a host of waiters; the wharves on the Volga, and, in conclusion, the mere throngs on the streela bear witness to the fact that nothing resembling the ' crisis in men ' exists witih us. Numerous as have been the soldiers who have gone to the war, the supply of men who are capable of bearing aims is still colossally great with u&. Consequently, we have the material to fill up losses in the army. And that being the case, we can go on with the war for a long time to come — for as long a time as may be necessary to bring it Jo a proper ending."-