The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-06-18
1t Was a War of Diplomacy and
Intrigue.
Elihu Root Is Victor in Reason
ing With Russia.
COUNTRY is BACK IN SADDLE
Inactivity on Battle Line Is
Called Treason"
Roots Speech Did 1t, Is Report
From PetrOgrad.

Petrograd. June 1S.-Russia is back
in the saddle!
The duma, in secret session, has
| just adopted resolution virtually or
dering an immediate offensive. The
| resolution denounces separate peace
plans and calls continued inactivity
on the battle line ''ignobIe treason"
The ink on extra editions OF news
papers announcing the pledge of the
workmen's and soldiers council to
the Root mission for fight to the fin
iSh against the central powers was
scarcely dry when the dumas action
was made public today. The third
sensation of the day, equally as indi-
cative of a revival of Russia's fighting
spirit, was the expulsion by the provi-
the Swiss Socialist-who came here to
plead for peace on behalf of the Ger
mans.
America Wins.
Elhu Root, and thru him, America,
today doomed victor in the wars
greatest battle of intrigue and dip
| lomacy.
Only those who have been here on
the spot since the March revolution
know what this victory means, for
| only they know the odds that con-
| fronted the American commissioner.
q
alongside America and the allies a
country bleeding from frightful
wounds sIashed into the ranks of its
young manhood in three years of war;
a country skidding along the edge of
anarchy, with a half disorganized
army, with no real central authority
| as yet to prove that free Russia" is
free from the greatest of foes-inter-
nal strife.
| That EIihu Root, commissioner
/ -
| of America, would win the coalition
| government to the cause he repre-
sents WAS expected But that Eihu
| Root, the wealthy lawyer whom
| insidious messages from socialists and
| anarchist quarters is allied and hos
/ tile lands proceeded with the Harnin g
| that he was the "henchmen of capital
| ISM not the chosen emissarV of a
| free people-that this man would cap
| ture by storm the council of soldiers
| and workmen's delegates and secure
the pledge which it has withheld from
its own government-that is tho
| miracle of yesterday.
Root Did 1t With Speech.
He did it with a speech. A prom
| inent Russian who heard that speech
| remarked to the correspondent that il
Root had been here on March t3
when the cars autocracy was over
thrown, there would have been rs
duel regime, no faltering of loyalty
no delay in launching powerful
drive against the Germans.
His eloquence," this man added
his knowledge of the needs of the
hour. and of the way to bring then
home to the people, would nave swuns
all Russia in line soHdly united fol-
one purpose"
Roots speech was a psychological
masterpiece In practical countries
such as America, where people fact
facts, wasting little time over abstrac,
reveries. it may SOUND curious, bui
it is a fact, nevertheless: in Russia
! it is always the psychological eIemen
that counts most. For in this vas
land one hundred million people de-
vote most of their time most of Jheil
| mental energies, to studying theil
souls, AMI the soul of Russia, which /.
as deep as the land is vast
Ehhu koot read that soul, read il
correctly and then interpreted il tC
/ the people