The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1917-08-22

De slaughtered by lOcS tnat naQ up
todate equipment.
They grated on every contract.
They sole stores, supplies, boots and
buttons. Their motto was, Anything
that isn't Spiked Down and then fetch
the CroW-har to pry the Rest Loose.
They allowed traitors to bury in
the earth the greatest guns that Eng
land sent to Russia's aid and Ger
man spies to overrun and poison
every part of the service
In the bureaus large forces of men
did little work and botched that lit
tie.
System Broken Down.
Take, as one. example of many tri-
umphs Of mismanagement, the matter
Of transportation.
About one-half of the maddening
problems that the provisional govern
ment steadfastly faces come from a
broken down transportation syStam.
Broken down by the sheer incom-
petence Of the cars government.
When democracy came in it found
the Trans-S Siberian the main artery of
the Russian railroad system, doing
only one-third of its normal work be-
cause of the thick-headed or dishonest
work of the old regime.
Equipment had not been maintain
ed. The road was there, but it was
Woefully shy of cars and locomotives,
and the old methods of operation lost
one-half OF the value of what rolling
stock there was.
One direct result Of all this was
that While other parts of Russia ran
over with food supplies Petrograo and
Moscow were short of food Another
was that munitions and supplies abso-
lutely required for military opera
lions were hung up at the ports or The
factories because there were no cars
to load them in and no locomotives to
haul them.
Surely the curse of God is upon au.
tocracy and all its works; Surely it
is the blight and. plague of mankind,
for surely nothing else leaves in it's
track train of evils so great and
terrible.
The democratic government of Rus
STA came in to find itself all but over
Whelmed with a situation the like of
which had never confronted any other
government in the world.
Meets Problems SkiIIfuIIy.
1t had to fight great and terrible
war and at the same time it had to
operate for the daily life of the ma.
ton a machine so rickety that it
threatened every minute to fall in.
These appalling conditions it is
meeting with courage and skill.
Slowly, steadily, it is getting the bet
ter Of them.
And here l point out one of the
most interesting phases of the Rus
sian story. You sec men that have
had very little experience in public
affairs or perhaps none at all. OF a
sudden this almost Uncomfortable job
is thrust upon them of changing over
this enormous machine and they
tackle it and get away with it, learn
ing how as they 60 along.
Because they have the inspiration
Of an ideal, they have a vision, they
see something to work for million
miles beyond and above the pay ell
VclOpc VI place. DIT Il IufucfOuS
monarch's table. They see the whole
world lighted up for new democracy
II they can make democracy 60 in
Russia and they work without sleep
and defy disease or weakness to make
that vision real.
Every day things go better in Rus.
STA. There men are substituting or
der for slipshod and efficiency tor a
mad riot of laundering
But they can't do it all at once.
They can't wave magic wand and
exchange punk old machine for a
bright new one.
1t is easy enough for people in 9th
err lands to ask why the Russians
don't do this thing or don't do that
Give them chance and they will do
whatever can be done by human agcn
cies and do it well, because they arc
carried along to achievement by the
greatest power in the world, which is
the faith and feeling OF democracy