Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-08-09

and as n result there was constant NV. M
tation to disorder and worse. Tne iac'
that towns sprang up. mushroom-ias'''o''
added to the lawless feeling.
Elected to the Duma
Once workmen in a gold mine struck and
q hattie with the authorities followed. sew
eral laborers paid the final penalty for tneir
temerity with their lives. Anger sweepine
Russia demanded a probe of the circuin-
stances Kerensky was on the Jop 10 sup
port the rights of the laborers Dangerous
though the course was which he had eiec,eu
to steer, he reached his port Genuine iesa,
ability. coupled with faith in his cause ana
fearlessness, won The laborers made thelr
point. Kerensly began to enjoy more thai, :
a parochial vogue. He became a hgure OIL
national popularity.
His next move into the light of great
publicity was in connection with the no
torious Mendel Bells case. Bells had peeh
charged, at Kief, with ritual murder
Kerensky, again choosing the hardest patn
assisted In the prisoners defense. rms
time, however, he was not to get OH SO
lightly A round-robn protest against the
prosecutions methods resulted In hifnseh
and some other lawyers being sentenced 10
prison But even in those unlit hours the
C;overnment showed its innate fear of popu-
lar sentiment 1t dared not impose TOO
heavy a punishment on Kerensky. He had
become too much of a defending demigod
with the downtrodden. So, with theatrical
haste. another year finds him member OF
the Duma. representing Socialist labor
The Government then. like many other
governments, was not without its cancerous
growths Corruption in the bureaucracy
was like the proverbial red rag to this
youthful Siberian. He exposed it, and as
a reward for his pains his mail jumped
in bulk. This was due to the
Increase of letters threatening his life That
he did not abate his work whit Is an
Indication of his moral caliber.
When the great war involved Russia
Kerensky came to the fore with stinging
of Pan-Germanism. Incl
dentally, he kept on denouncing graft ana
the officials who took part In 1t, In and out
Of the military service. One of his boldest
moves at this time was his stubborn re-
of the Cars desire for the disso-
luton of the Duma. Revolutionary snau
ows hung over everything the current or
affairs was vastly displeasing to many
people. on the day that Nicholas ordereo
that the Duma adjourn. Kerensky rose and
shouted: I'VE will not go; we stay here !
Popular With Troops
A young man with enough grit to take
such a perilous stand as that might well
expect to find the eyes of the earth upon
him. Other characteristic acts followed
the liberation of Siberian prisoners when
he was Minister of Justice in the provi-
sional government; attempts to weld to-
yether Russias military forces into COM
oact machine impassioned invective against
he Hum exposure of the interests of the
German Socialists Metaphorically, he spat
upon the notion Of a separate peace with
reuton foes.
1t Is paradoxcal fact that the more
Kerensky became the greater
vas his popularity Putting the easy and
'uave words of oratorcal persuasion into
he discard he enacted disciplinary meas
Tres to force efficiency from his countrys
men for her sake. Among the troops them
selves, 1t IS firmly asserted, he is we'll liked
One more curious facet in the many-sided
ife of the dictator is that he possesses
he Cross of ST. George. 1t was not the
ears gift, but that of an army delegation.
What more fitting symbol of his place in a
and where the crown and the peasant can
lave been contradisposed for so long?
B. D.