The Washington herald., 1915-09-05

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their handicap. for soon the latter would
cease to be ianked by enemy territory
in the north and in the south.
The Cars lines would no longer he
in the air. They would be straigtened
rest on-the defenses of the Gulf Of Fin
land and the neutral frontier Of Ru-
mania. And his soldiers would have
the inspiring consciousness that they
really were fighting for Holy Russia
and not for Poland. For the Othodox Slav
dismisses from his interest Poles and
Jews and other heretics along with all
the rest of the strange hordes out in
the faraway. unknown world. who ara
to him only dumb people
Finally. the farther beyond Brest Lit
ovsk the invader went the greater
would he his obvious embarrassment
from lengthening lines Of communica-
ton Behind him from Brest to the Ger
man frontier will stretch for 80 miles
and more the war wasted fields and
towns of Poland. grubbed and stripped
hare by advancing and retreating armies.
One would think that crow would need
to carry his rations with him in a fight
over that scene of devastation.
And with every forward step. the Aus
tro-Germans would lose the inestimabls
service of that network of railroads
which has enabled them to Jump about
Russians. For all European Russia.
though ten times larger in area has less
railway mileage than Germany alone.
And its wagon roads are unima ginably
wretched.
Brest itself stands at the edge of one
of the most forbidding wildernesses
ever haze looked upon. This is the vast
and dreary forest of Bella veja. which
covers more than $40 square miles Its
trees We're more deadly than CossaCks
to Napoleon's soldiers as they f1oundered
through its almost trackless depths.
Or Will They Wall in the Russfansf
But with the capture of Brest. which
is the principal railway center of West
ern Russia. and with the capture of n
few lesser functions in Lithuania. the
AuStrO-Germans may pause for the VIM
ter. Russia would be left without rail-
way connections along her front. and
that may be the ultimate object of the
campaign.
Feeling assured that they had bottled
up Russia and driven in the stopper. the
invaders might choose another field for
their winter operations. perhaps making
one more drive in the West or attempt
ing an advance for the relief of Constan-
tinOple. At any rate. their lines would
run across Europe from the Bug to the
Aisne. with Warsaw and Brussels for
their trophies.
The Romans were in the habit Of wall
ing in troublesome foes. That was the
selves fiom the Teutons. The Teutons
now may try to raise a wall of spiked
helmets across Russia. With the for
tresses of the first and second line Of
Russian dcfenses in their hands and with
their skill in trench warfare. they could
present a formidable. obstacle to the
n rmiCs of the Car.
The Fate of the War.
Michael stretched from Bessarabia to the
Baltic. could Russia shake herself free
from his iron grasp and again burst into
the arena of aggressive warfare? Dare
her allies hope that she could do what
the French and British have so long
struggled in vain to do?
The fate of the war and the world
turns on this question OF whether Russia
can speedily break her shacIles. Big as
she is. her resources are so undeveloped
that her allies could not expect her to
live Indefinitely within herself. She is
most dependent on exports and imports.
She has n third more wheat TO sell in
and Canada together. and she must sell
her surplus grain to get money.
On the other hand. she produces for all
heT immense needs hardly more coal than
little Belgium. less than the State of
Ohio. only half as much as Illinois or
West Virginia. and a sixth as much as
Her output OF pig iron
only slightly exceeds that of Belgium
and is far short of her enormous require
ments.
Are We about to see this great empire,
this colossus of the North besieged and
shut in from the nations? No wonder IL
the other powers of the entente are re-
doubling their efforts to cut their way to
her through flaming lines at the Darda-
Eelles.
Sometimes pent up waters burst ths
dam. and Russia is an ocean of
humanity. II she is turned back in the
west. she may overflow in another direc-
ton. Possibly she may yet pour like q
torrent down across the Balkan Pentn-
sula and drown the Turks at their guns
Copyright. 1915. By James Moryar)