The Washington herald., 1917-11-10
CABINET LOOKS
TO KERENSKY AS
HOPE OF RUSSIA
Believed German Agents
Hold Up American Off,
cial Dispatches.
by TRACEY HAMMOND LEWIS.

Discussion of Russia's reported col
lapse as a military factor received
exclusive attention at the meeting of
President Wilson and his Cabinet yes
terday afternoon.
Unconirmed rumors that AIexan-
der F. Kerensky has escaped to Mos
COW to reorganize the provisional gov
ernment lead to the hope that II
still will be possible to force the Max
iinalists to a compromise before
spring when our Eastern ally was ex-
pected to prove a more weighty fac
tor in the war than she has In the
past. There is little likelihood, how
ever. that a civil war can be avoided,
and the hope is expressed that through
1t the attempt of the Bolshevikis to
compel their country to bow to Ger
many will be short lived.
1t is not believed that the heart
OF great Russia is in sympathy with
the new movement, but the pacifists.
through the skillful organization OF
German agents, have obtained the
upper hand in Petrograd and other
large cities. 1t may be a difficult
task to prevent them from impos-
ing their will upon the majority of
the people which, in reality, favors
the war party.
Americas Task Grows.
At the Cabinet meeting renewed
emphasis was placed upon the fact
that, even though Russia's future
fufils even the most optimistic expec-
tations, the United States will be
forced to shoulder a much larger
portion of the war burden than was
A. IA
into the war.
!. The increase ans acSeleraGon OF The,
war program. resolved upon yester-
day. received further today. 1t has
been decided not TO call Congress in
session before the original date set.
December 8. II would be possible to
advance this date only few days and
sufficient power and appropriations
are available for the President to
keep our war machinery working at
full speed in the interim.
Congress will be asked for changes
in the draft regulations TO embrace
larger number of citizens and for
legislation authorizing the drafting of
labor necessary TO war industries. Ad-
ditional appropriations for increased
army and navy wock will be re-
Quested. Steps will be taken at once
to provide for an army of two mill
lion, instead of half that number.
which was to have been turned out
by the cantonments by July.
Official Messages Held Up.
This government has not yet been
informed officially of the new condi-
tions existing in Russia, and the steps
which have been taken are the result
of reliance upon the authenticity OF
the press dispatches.
The State Department Is using every
means in its possession to ascertain
why official dispatches have been de-
layed so. long, both in the present in
stance and on previous occasion
1t was said today that on no oc-
casion had the department been able
TO receive a cablegram from Russia
in less than three days, while the
period usually was four days or more.
Invariably reports sent by the news
associations have arrived two or three
days earlier. Several possible reasons
have been advanced for this, but it is
suspected that the German spy sys-
TEN may be responsible for much of
the delay. Where messages are sent
in code through foreign legations it
is necessary that they be decoded at
the embassies before they are dis
patched. At each relay point the
process is repeated. Further delay
is sometimes caused by straight mes
sages being given the precedence ana
the code dispatches held until others
are out of the way. This is offered
as one explanation.
Another theory attributes the cause
to the inefficiency of diplomatic en-
'ployes.
But the suggestion receiving most
attention is that Germany's system of
CONTINUED on PAGE TWO.