Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-07-15
Sensational Rise Of KererosEy, the Savior Of Rus

his character The whole country was
aauiver with curiosity as TO the policy
Of the socialist warrior He lost no
time in making his creed known. A
congress Of peasants had just con-
vened in Petrograd. These were his
own people and to them he made his
first declaration of the new principles
and with all the fire and passion at his
command.
Soldiers. sailors and officers" he
said II call upon you TO make last
heroic effort i am your servant Help
me to show the world that the Rus
sian army Is not a demolished temple.
but that 1t Is strong and formidable.
capable of making itself respected
and of defending the free republic or
democratic Russia. 1t may appear
strange that a civilian. who was never
a soldier has undertaken the heavy
task of restoring discipline in the
army. but ! have accepted ii because
I understand that this discipline IS
based on honor. duty and reciprocal
respect.
II have never known what this dis
cipline is, but nevertheless l propose
to Introduce an iron discipline into the
army, and l am sure | shall succeed.
This discipline Is necessary, not only
at the front, but also In the interior
of the country. in order to bring tho
liberty which has been conquered into
the constituent assembly.
low me. therefore. to say in the
trenches that the Russian pea sants are
to have the land which belongs to them
and that no force shall take it from
them, but also allow me- TO say that
in order to achieve this object every
one shall do his duty toward the war
in spirit of self-sacrifce.'
Petrograd was still ringing with tho
cheers that followed this ou,hurst
when Kerensky issued his famous first
order of the day to the Russian army,
1t rang with the clarion call to duty
and action The order was as follows:
The country is in danger and each
one must do what he can to avert It
No request to be allowed to resign
made in the desire to escape response
bility at a time so grave as the pres
emit will be accepted by me. Deserters
are enjoined to return to the army
and fleet at once. All infractions OF
these instructions will be severely
punished"
But Kerensky did more than issue
stirring order to his troops. He drama
tized them into an action that not only
made the rest Of the world literally sit
up. He led Russia's troops against the
Germans and turned a wavering at1-
tude toward the whole Russian army
into an alert confidence In the might
of the Slav right arm.
All through June the Russian armies
seemed to be inert
will Russia ever striker? was the
universal question. RerenSky answer
ed it and in a manner eminently his
own. He went to the first army, made
ing them to take the long deferred Of
fensive, and then. at the head OF a
charging column, actually led the van
in an assault upon the German
trenches He galvanized the long-un-
willing Russian army into mighty
and victorious force: 1t Melted bag OF
more than 10000 German prisoners
More than this, it put the punch back
into the Russian army and almost over
night reinstated the country into the
respect of its allies. Once more keren-
sky had made good
No man who has watched Russia In
the perilous days of her transition can
ture of the nation lies In the hollow OF
Kerensky's hand. Up to him was
placed squarely the task of fnstilhng
into the millions. simple. honest. illit-
crate and childlike. his people. the
message of democracy. No other man
in the country could attempt it with
any hope Of success. What he can do
remains to be seen.
But one thing Is certain. so long as
Kerensky lives, so long viii reason
rule The man who was the cement OF
the revolution will remain the rock OF
reconstruction.
Copyright. 1917. by the Bell Syndicate. Inc.l