Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-02-12
"PEACE" WITH RUSSIA

S0O SoSAS~SA F." S0 0ukLA powers
and the various groups Of Russians have progressed so
far that a definite program Of peace has been agreed
on between the Teutons and something that is described
rs the ukrainian peoples republic, and the Bolshevtki
government" at Petrograd has decreed a general Rus
sian disarmament.
Just what that means is dimcult to estimate in more
than . very general way Russia has been out Of the
war as an actual military factor for a year. The break
ing down Of the Russian military effectiveness has given
a measure Of security to the Germans and their allies
on the Russian frontier. The measure of that security
has been progressive. The crippled condition of the RUS
sian armies permitted the Teutons to withdraw large
bodies Of men to Trance and to Italy. But the existence
in Russia Of large bodies Of men still under arms, with
the possibility that through some freak those men might
undertake an offensive movement against an unsu.rded
point made it necessary for the Germans to maintain
on their east front a military screen, even though a thin
one, alons the entire thousand miles of front. AS the
condition OF the Russians has become more and more
hopeless the Teutonic Withdrawals. have undoubtedly been
more and more extensive. These new peace arrange
ments, whatever their ultimate effect may be, will nat
urally give the Germans greater security. 1t is a ques-
pm, however. how much farther the Germans dare go
IN the depletion Of their east front Naturally they
I will not place such reliance in a paper peace with
nebulous. and intangible powers as to leave their east
front without troops. Russis has passed through too
many changes to make such a course possible. And, as
III We'll known that the German armies on the east
have long been composed Of the weakest elements in the
army. the possibilities Of Strengthening the actual fighting
front from that source are decidedly limited. Yet the
new situation undoubtedly has its advantages from the
German point of view, and those advantages will be
utilized.
It seems that Germany will benefit less in a direct
military way from the success Of her political scAemes
than from being placed in some sort of contact with
stores Of food which have hitherto been denied her. Ac-
cess to the wheat fields of southern Russia VIII enable
the Germans to augment their food supplies, and will
therefore give them the means to prolong the war. Just
what those food supplies amount to at this time is not
known. In ordinary times the wheat expectation from
that section is very large. But war conditions have dis
Organized all the industries of the country, and there
must have been q great decrease in production during
the past two years. While the geographical contact is
such that transportation is possible, the actual Transport
taion conditions are difncult, and the transference Of
large stores from the distant Russian provinces must be
slow and dimcult. Moreover starvation is menaced in
many Russian districts and in actual existence in others.
In transporting food for their own use through hundreds
Of miles of Tertiary where starvation threatens the Rus
slams themselves.
The Germans have gained a decided ADVANTAGE in
sta But the full extent Of that advantage cannot be
measured At this time. It may take . long time to figure
it out.