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Show POLAND ONCE THE SAVIOR OF EUROPE Poland, whoso history Is tragedy nnd whose people have been called "Children of tho Sun," plays no new role when she seeks to stop the onslaughts on-slaughts of the bolshevlkl, for It was she who once stayed the march of the Turk across Kurope. A communication to the National Ocogrnphlc society sums up Poland's sad nnd eventful history ns follows; In size she outranked nenrly every nntlon of the continent. Itussln nlone of the Kuropean nations Is Inrger than Polnnd was nt her grentest. In population popu-lation she stood at the forefront of Kurope. Only Itussln nnd Oermnny laid greater populations before the wnr than nre to be found In tho lands that once wero Polnnd; for unpartl-tloned unpartl-tloned Poland had an area of 282.000 square miles, and the lands that once lay within her boundaries support a population of approximately 00 million. mil-lion. In area she was ns lnrgo as the former Oennnn empire, Swltzerlnnd, Ilclglum, Hollnnd nnd Denmnrk together; to-gether; Inrger thnn Great Brltnln, Italy and Oreece combined; larger than Austria-Hungary and Serbia in one. Within what wero her boundaries there dwells n present population of Oreat Ilrltntn and lleiglum; larger thnn those of France, Ilclglum nnd Holland together; and matching that of the old Austria-Hungary. Polnnd was three times partitioned, and these partlttonlngs wero readjusted read-justed between tho partltloncrs by tho Congress of Vlcnnn In 1815. Whoro the original partitions had given Russia Rus-sia 181,000 square miles, Prussia 54,000 square miles, and Austria 45,000 square miles, the reapportionment of tho Vlcnnn Congress gave Itussln 220,-500, 220,-500, Prussia 20,000, nnd Austria 3.1,000 square miles. Much of tho land which Russia secured, nnd particularly Kiev, had been Identified with Russia generations gen-erations before, Poland, In tho days of her greatest nren, extended from n point within 50 miles of Berlin, on tho west, to the meridian of tho sen of Azov on tho east; on tho north It reached nearly to the Oulf of Finland and on the south down to tho Khanate of Crimea. What wo now know ns Russian Polnnd Is that neck of territory stretching westward between the Prusslns nnd OnllcJn. This territory tins nn nren almost exactly equal to that of New York, yet, In spite of the fact that Its extreme southern boundary boun-dary lies north of the latitude of Winnipeg. Win-nipeg. Its population Is ns great as those of New York and Now Jersey combined. |