Licking Valley courier., 1917-12-20
NEWS REVIEW OF
THE PAST WEEK
cossAcKS UNDER KoRNlloFF
AND kALEDlNES FIGHTING
THE BoLSHEVIKI.
LENINE'S RULE TOTTERING
Germans Prepare for Great Offensive
on Western Front-Haig Repulses
Their First Attacks-ltalians Still
Holding Piave River Line-our
War Preparation Methods
Are Being Investigated.
BY EDWARD w. PIcKARD.

Speculdting on what has happened
in Russia and what Is about to happen
has become u favOrite occupation Of
the rest of the world. Dispatches
from Petrograd, where the means of
communication are controlled by the
bolsheviki, are wholly unreliable, and
news from other sources is fragmentary
and conflicting. AT this writing the
facts appear to be about as follows: In
southern and southeastern Russia the
COssacks, who stand for law and or
der, are fighting the bolsheviki forces /;
in Petrograd and Moscow Lenne and
his crowd are maintaining themselves
In power by using the strong hand, ar
resting and numbering their opponents
and bulldozlng the constituent assem-
bly,, which began its sessions; the Rus
sian armies on the east front, follow
Ing the arrangement of an armistice
are rapidly dlsbandlng, and the Rou-
manians were forced to accept an arm
istlce' by the action of their allies; but
the negotiations for peace started by
the bolshevlki have run against a snag
in the extraordinary demands made by
the Germans; many different parts of
Russia haye declared their independ-
ence, and Siberia shows signs of re-
verting to the rule of the deposed czar {;
Vladivostok, where are immense guam
titles Of supplies sent by America and
the entente allies, is patrolled by Japa-
nese troops, and Hardin Is being pro-
tected hy Chinese soldiers.
II this Is correct statement of con
dltions at the close Of the week, Il
would be a bold man who would pre-
dict the immediate future.
Reports Of Battle Contradictory.
According to official bOlshevlki dis.
patches from Petrograd, the CossaclSs
under Korniloff were defeated early in
the week near Bielgorod, but another
account Of the battle said Korniloff
routed his opponents, that many of
them Joined his forces and that he
surrounded the others and dealt with
them very drastlcally." General Kale-
dimes, the Cossack hetman, also Is ac-
tive In southern Russia and II Is salC
TO he his hope, with the aid of the al.
Hes, at least to shut the Germans out
OF the food-produclng part of the coun-
try.
Wireless reports from Rost0v, which
did not reach the outside world until
Thursday, said Kaledlnes was besleg.
+. ing that city and that within Rostov
the Cossacks had been fighting the
bolshevlkl and destroyed their head.
quarters. At the same time trans.
port manned by bolshevlkl was BON.
harding the Kaledlnes forces.
bitterly disappointing to the bolshe.
Wiki must be the German demands
made In the peace negotiations, and at
this distance. II Is hard to see what
may he the kalser's purpose In being
80 severe. His commissioners are re.
ported to have insisted that Germany
shall not give up any Russian territory
she now occupies; that Petrograd must
be evacuated until peace Is concluded !.
that the Ukraine shall be ceded t0
Austrla-Hungary; that Germany shall
control the Russian wheat market for
fifteen years and German goods shall
be admitted to Russia duty free. The
armNtlce, II Is snid is to continue for
three months. Germany seemingly
pyndc1 the Russian dennnd thot DIM
Ing its contlnuance no troops be
moved TO other fronts, and meanwhile
has been transferring hundreds of
thousands of soldiers to France and
Itnly.
Germans Preparing for Great Attack,
. All the signs during the early part of
the week led to The belief that the
Germans were preparing for u supreme
seffQrt at some point Of the west front
Allied aylators observed long motor