Soviet Government Will Make No Further Allotments for Bira Bidjan

The Soviet Government will make no additional allotments to the development of Bira Bidjan, the Far Eastern territory which, it has announced, it is ready to aid in developing.

Before the departure for America, the American Commission headed by Professor Franklin Harris, which studied the colonization possibilities in Bira Bidigan submitted questions as to whether the Government would not like to increase the colonization tempo of Bira Bidjan, adding to it an industrial angle. A reply has just been issued by Rykov, Soviet leader declaring: An increase in the tempo of the work for Bira Bidjan is desirable. However, the Soviet Government has not the possibility now to assign new funds to it, Rykov explains that “the interest of the Soviet industry as a whole demands that the Government should spend funds firstly in those regions where there are natural resources and communication is better. This principle will be applied to Bira Bidjan as well, insofar as its rich, natural sources are concerned.

“Bidjan is already included in the five year plan according to which twelve thousand Jewish families are to be settled in Bidjan during five years.”

Replying to the query: “What national prospectives can the Jews expect in Bira Bidjan,” Rykov declared: The question of proclaiming there a Jewish autonomous territory depends entirely upon the success of the Jewish settlement work. The general national minority policy of the Soviet Government is such that no hindrances exist for creating national autonomous districts as long as there is ground for it.”