Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1917-08-29
(By Charles Edward RusselI.)
1917, BY the Newspaper
Enterprise Association.l

~ sNEiT9Te'S 49, erGgrsEl
Here is the Russian situation COM
pressed into one incident
A few days ago the administration
decided to lend Russia another $780,
900, 900.
At this all persons and newspapers
IN this country that secretly o n OPEN
" hope the Russian democracy will
fail protested great establishment,
Then the other persons and news,
papers that have no knowledgs Of
Russia, but Just can't believe actual
democracy eaR slccead anywhere,
eas Whatl Le ssnG more me men %as,on CO Rassia
ct q time when according to the press
dispatches the last bottom has fallen
out Of everything2 When the dread
full radicals with whom the country
Is filled are raging up and down
thirsting for not blood and threaten
ing destruettoni
When. It is plain, chaos reignsl
Above all, when Russia 10 bank
That makes s276,0oo,o0o we
have lent this nation that walls
we eyer get 1t back9 Alas! No!
Let US bid q fond farewell to U
money!. Why does the adHtnts-
tration thus throw the good mas
una, after the bad?
But It doesn't. The administration
is perfectly right in its estimate Of
Russia. Barring one chance, Russia
is as safe a country to lend money
to as there Is in the alliance.
Now see how mopstrous and dap
gerouH r the misconcepttnns pro-
duced in the American mind by the
Dismal Dopers ana the Gloomy Guss-
90 of the British press. froM whom
we get nine-tenths of our so-cAlled
news from Russia.
AS a matter ofNfact Russia isn't
bankrupt. It ID me of the rich
est countries Of the world.
It is not only rich in possibilities
but 1t is rich in the actual thing. 1t
has The Goods.
don't aea that the soil is rich.
although that Is true. I mean that
the government is rich.
It owns q vast empire Of arable
and timber lands.
There ts no question about It's own
,ersh!p. The title has always been
vested In. the government.
Comparatively speaking, there ie
not q great deal Of private land-ewn-
ing in Russia. I mean compared with
other countries. An immense amount
Of land Is owned in common, either
by the villages or by the general gov
eminent,
While I was in Russia an appraise-
ment Of the governments holdings in
land was just being completed.
It indicated the amazing total
Of sixty billion rubles-$30,000,-
O00, 900.
Besides all this, If the government
desires to confiscate the huge estates
of the czar and the grand dukes, all
grated from the public, 1t will have
enough to pay the entire national deb
and lay by q surplus.
1t could take from these estates
enough to pay the national debt AND
still leave the entire brood of irnperia
parasites. idlers and worthless, useles.
NUTS enough to keep them In splen.
dor all their days,
II 1t would c0nflscate only the
crown jewels and the palaces in
Petrograd It would go far to wipe
out all the national debt it has at
More than this, I am told that there
was a meeting not long ago In Petro'
grad of wealthy men, bankers, manu-.
facturers, e%xploiters, merchants ane
high ltghts in Big Business, Wha'
there is Of It; and when they me-
to compare notes they found that the
interests they represent could absorb
- AiS0u WI tne 6TeAISE part OF sIne
debt SO far created by the war.
AT present most OF these resource.
are untouched by taxation. It is evi.
dent, therefore, that the assets back
OF this real Russia r almost unlIm.
tied.
No one need worry about that,A
Also, as to chaos in Russia. There
isn't any chaos.
There r elements in the newt,
ornct tai NIStt~S1 " sip~E IT,
the details of the policy the govern.
ment should follow.
But such differing elements exist
In every country that has democracy
You couldn't have healthy democracy
without them.
But except for a few noisy an:
archists and q handful Of returned
American trouble makers the people
are unanimous for the broad prin.
cirles of democracy. They don't agree
about their government but they dom
want to assassinates It.
A certain amount Of. confusion was
absolutely negotiable after the de.
struction OF one great system Of gov
eminent and before another could be
instituted that would work with per.
feet smoothness in every part of this
enormous country.
sue sae alm ssnf " ,So s ssss :, s fSa s1n,.s =,
INSNAA NAASss Ia ~ Sdt5O VI ~ plAALON
States It lasted eleven years, In the
case of Russia II has lasted less than
six months and 10 steadily ,disappear-
Ing.
There never was a country. In the
world that underwent anything like
the revolution that Russia has had
and six months later presented any
thing like the same spectacle Of good
order and substantial progress.
This, OF course. il totally contrary
to the Impression created by the re-
actionsry press and the reactionary
Foreign colony at Petrogyad, but ID
nevertheless the actual fact.
Barring the one chance I have
spoken OF, h United States will
get back oil the money 1t has lent
to; Russia, and get II back with In
terest.
That chance Is that while Rus
sia. 10 stin finding herself the
kaiser's supporters in this country
will help the German troops to
break the Russian line and crush
the new democracy In Its infancy.
With their peace chatter and trea.
sonable peace councils, their maneuv-
ers In congress to cripple ana discred-
II the government, their Transparent,
demands for the stating Of peace
terms, and their widespread organize
tons OF disloyalty, they have already
done much to weaken Russian re,
sistance and enable the Kaiser to ad.
vance ~
If they keep ON they viii have him
In Petrograd and Moscow.
In that event, OF course, It Will
be goodbye to U money. ALSO
TO many other things. infnitaiy
dearer. including ARMIES Of young
American lives.
That Is the result to- which ii,
pany Is tending.
can do no more and no leg thas