Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-08-05

undelivered letters to pfc up at th3
post Office. while 175 wagons nlled with
parcel post packages stood At the raiiS
way terminals
IAbor's zeal was its undoing. as the
following story will show: In certain
large factory the men sent deputalon
I'VE are ali now free and equal. and
we demand not only wages, but share
of your profits. We are as much the
owner of your establishment as you
are"
The American was swift OF though1
and swifter OF action. so he replied,
responsibility of my factory with you.s
Then. turning to his desk, he produced
a pile of papers and. handing them over
to the spokesman. said:
Here are bills for thirty thousand
rubles. due next Saturday. VIII you
be good enough to provide the money
for them?"
~-Tae delegation looked dazed. when
It had caught it's breath. the leader
spoke UP:
I'VE have no money for bills. That
is your job"
But how about your equal ownership
1t also means equal responsibility OF
all kinds" queried the employer. The
argument was unanswerable. and tho
men went back to work with no fur
Their cutlery against private ownership.
81
Thus Petrograd was and remains q
mighty crucible in which the. alchemy
OF unrest is working overtime. How
soon it will give the desiEed precipitate
of peace and permanent constructions
IL ever-no man knows.
Meanwhile the revolutions makers do
not despair of the future. Foremost
among them is Milyukoff. who summed
up the situation when / last saw him.
This veteran of the long wars of pro-
test was still minister of foreign at.
fairs when we talked. We stood at a
window of the foreign Office looking out
on the immense square below. Across
was the Winter Palace, red as the
wrath that had enveloped it, but no
redder than the flag of revolution that
loatec from it's roof.
Russia will have republic" he said.
TT Will be formally determined at a
constituent assembly to be held as soon
as possible. In the United States il
would be a very easy matter to call
and hold such convention. but in
Russia il is not so easy. The pro-
cedure is necessarily slow, because SO
many obstacles lie in the path.
First among these difficulties is the
purely technical details. Unlike America.
Russia has no periodical census. Our sta
tistics of population are. therefore. out-of-
date. The great masses OF Russian peo-
frage and for a clear comprehension OF
popular representation of all kinds. To
this end committee has been appointed
to create detailed program for electing
delegates to the convention. which will
doubtless be on a basis of one delegate To
every large unit Of neutrality-suspicious.
one for every hundred thousand.
The second difficulty in the way of an
Immediate calling up Of convention ID
military operation. Russia does not for
get even in the midst of her new-found
freedom, that one permanent bulwark Of
that freedom is in a peace dictated by
complete victory over the common enemy,
vanQuished. and, this requires concentra-
ton Of energy and resource.
personally, l am not in favor of @
United States of Russia, composed of ma
tional units like the republic of Iithuania
or the republic of the Tartars / believe
in one great democratic state brother
hood Of territorial units, each one capable
of making its own bylaws. but adminis-
tered by officials named by the national
government. In this plan you would have
an effective example Of decentralization
which would avoid the inevitable conflict
that would separate national entities,
each preserving its own integrity OF raoe
and speech
The salvation Of popular government
in the newest democracy lies IN the pres
ervation OF national unity"
The future of Russia Is in tho hands %
the fates-and Kerensky. With the same
speed that the army has broken before
the Austro-German attacks on the front
and the knife thrusts OF insidious propa-
ganda in the rear, 1t may revive under
the magic touch of the premier. The Rus
sian peasant, workman and soldier Is
sentimental above all. and Kerensky
knows the Russian and can sway him al
no other.
Copyright. 1917. by the Bell Syndicate. rA~.i