Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1917-08-30

out of Moldavin within three weeks,
and last Monday the Germans began
an offensive in the Riga region that
forced the Slavs back toward that city.
AT the south end of the line the Rou.
manians still are making valiant efforts
to hold back the invaders. There is
no longer any doubt Of the bravery of
the Russians or of their desire to keep
on fighting the common enemy Of the
world, but it seems that they cannot by
themselves Sulmount The great eco
nomic obstacles that confront them.
The governmental Troubles of Rus
sia also are approaching i; crisis. The
''eNtraoriinary national council being
about to meet in Moscow. the conStitu.
lional Democrats. diScontented bust
ness men and dismissed generals gath
cred there ready to demand radical
changes. On the other side stand the
cabinet and the Socialist left In pro
liminary discussions Prince Trou-
betskoi, Generals AlGxieff ind Bi~us-
siloff and others attacked the cabinet,
excepting only kerensiy, and declared
the governments had fallen into the
hands of corrupt men of PetrDgr y.
who think only of their own inter
ests. The Socialist orders that de-
stroyed discipline in the army were
bitterly criticized.
AS had been foreseen, the pope's
peace proposals We're received deccntly
by all the helligercnt nations, but with
more than an undercurrent Of sEepti.
cism by the allies. No definite reply
to them has been made ut thiJ'Writing
by any government, but reprnsentatipp'
speakers of the different parties in Ger
/; many all indorsed i'm general the Vaii.
can plan, and ii is believed Berlin may
20 so far as to offer autonomy TO Al
silce-L Lorraine, which of course would
not in any degree satisfy France. Aus
tria. too. as was expected, approves the
proposals. but insists amy settlement
/ must include the abandonment of
Great Britain's naTal bases ut Gibral-
tar, Malta and the Sucz canal Can
one imagine Great Britain Willingly dis
mantling these guardian POSTS of the
route to her immense domains in the
Orient? The vociferous assertions of
the German press that the pope's pro-
poSalS We're not inspired by Germany,
and the intimationS that they really
We're due to British suggestions can
only be considered rs more bunk" and
serve to confirm the suspicion that the
plan had its inspiration in Teutonc
| sources.
German Poison Gas in America.
The poison gases emitted by the pro-
German press and all the other traitor
| Gus agencies in America arc not grow
| ing noticeably less in amount of villl,
! lence, but Uncle Sam is beginning to
| apply the antidote with considerable
| vigor. In many cities soap box" or
atcrs are being gathered in by federal
| agents and several more rabid papers
| have been denied tie use g. the mails.
| The Gernan-Ailefican press of the
| large cities is still too clever to sub
| ject itself to that penalty, but If it
| keeps on its present course doubtless
| some means will be found to suppress
| 1t. Rcgrctfuly it must be said that Il
disgracefully large propnrt.al, of the
| Germans i'll AMcrica--iatlrarZ or
| not---iS proving diSoyal 10 the hand of
their adoption. This is shown by such
! instances as the annual picnic of The
| Schwabenvorcn in Chicago. where for
4 several days the assembled Germans
occupied themselves in denouncing
| Americas entry into The @r;,f, ABUSING
| the president, snccring at our armed
forces and making fun of the draft and
the National arlly. The same thing
is going ON all over the land, where
/ Teutcns get together, bit they are pro-
4 pairing to reap Il harvest of woe for
themselves. for the men of the depart
nient Of Justice are cognizant of their
! words and acts. 1t is comforting to
believe that the great mass of German
| Americans are truly loyal, but thou
sands of the more ignorant are led into
disloyaIty by the falsehoods of German
secret agents and by the utterances
of the La Follettes the Reeds, the
Masons and the William Hale Thomp-
sons for whom all nativc-born .Ameri-
cans blush.
Former Ambassador Gerard, Secre-
tary of Commerce Eedfied, and other
prominent men found opportunity last
week TO denounce bitterly. the coward
ly, treacherOus pro-Germans and pusi-
luminous pacifists. who are doing all
they can to make the world unsafe for
! democracy.