The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-02-23

The spotlight again falls on the
eastern front. Germany is invading
Russia, moving forward from Riga to-
ward Petrograd. According to Ger
| man dispatches, the advance is on a
wide front. reaching south nearly to
| boundary of the Ukraine.
| The Russian army is wholly disin-
tegrated. There is no foundation for
| the statement, sometimes made, that
there are five million soldiers under
arms in Russia There may be five
| million men in Russia who have guns
and ragged uniforms, but they are not
soldiers. The cars great war ma
chine has melted into a nondescript
mob. The Russian steam roller, SO
much talked of early in the war, is
now only a scattered mass of broken
junk Six months ago the army
might have been saved. Today there
is no army to save.
To the Germans, invading Russia is
about what invading Mexico would be
to us if we had four or five hundred
thousand veteran troops with which
| to do it, The only differences are
favorable to Germany, for while Mex
| leo has many deserts and mountains
to bar the way, Russia is a land of
| fertile plains. So far as armies and
governments are concerned, Mexico,
| in proportion to its size, is superior to
Russian is as ignorant as the Mexican
peon and just now has less of the
| hght1ng spirit than any other race in
| the world.
Germany Can Take What She Wants
| Whatever Germany wants in Rus
STA she can and will take. And to do
SO she will not have to withdraw any
etfectives from the western front.
| Only the o1ders and less fit German
soldiers are left in Russia, but such
as they are, they are entirely too much
for the miserable mob that fight I'M
| der the banners of the Bolsheviki All
or Gernany's first class troops are
| viii stay there. Don't lose sight of
that.
Don't Blame the Poor Russian.
There is no occasion on the part of
the allies for indignation toward the
Russian people. Any race, everything
considered, probably would do the
For centuries the people of Russia
| nave been kept in dense ignorance by
| the czars, who figured that the less
the people knew the more docile and
! helpless they would be. Reading be-
gets thinking. Thinking is something
a car never could endure, not even
for himself, let alone his people. for
| thinking people are dangerous to
| czars.
1t is estimated that less than 80 per
cent OF the population of Russia can
read or write. OF that per cent a
goodly share belong to the now outcast
nobility. The people don't know yet
what started the war or what the
fighting is about now. They do know
| that the car and the nobility have
made slaves of them ever since thew
| can remember; that their taskma sters
were cruelty hard and that they hate
their former oppressors with a deadly
| nate The women of Belgium hate
the Prussian invaders not one whit
more than the average Russian hates
his former rulers.
Didn't Know What They Were FIGHT.
ing For.
The people of Russia had no inter-
| est in the war when it broke out in
1914. They could not have They
could not read and they knew moth
ing of geography or history. All that
| they knew was that the hated govern
ment dragged them from their homes
shot down by the German machine
guns. They were not fighting for
Russia nor against Germany They
were fighting because the machine
guns behind them were just as deadly
as those in front-because the arm of
| the government was long and for the
deserter there was no chance at all.
| Russia Only a Mob.
| When the government went to
| pieces the army went to pieces Why
| stand up and be shot at when one
| didn't know what it was all about :?
| There were no longer any machine
! guns behind and the arm of the gov
eminent was gone. Why not quit and
go home?
| What more natural under the con-
ditions. The rulers of Russia had
sown the wind for centuries. They
and all Russia are now reaping the
whirlwind. Russia may some day be-
| come a free nation and hold a proud
| place among the nations of the world
some day when her people learn to
read and write. Today it is a geo.
graphical entity, political riot and a
pie are running around in circles and
raising as much dust as a chicken
| whose head has just been amputated,
and they have just about as much
knowledge as the chicken has of what
| they are doing.
What Germany Is Up To.
Germany probably has four main
purposes in view in the invasion of
Russia
1. To secure food. 2. To weaken the
Bolsheviki propaganda. 3. To add to
| her conquests. 4. To draw the eyes
| of the allies away from the real bat
tie front
A great deal of the unrest in Ger
many has been due to the shortage of
| food. The average human being
doesn't revolute on full stomach.
| With men as with animals, it is the
hungry fellow who is dangerous. The
| man who is starving, whose parents
| OF whose wife and children are dying
for want of food, becomes desperate.
! He fears nothing. He will face bay
onet or machine gun without finch
ing.
The German masses and the Ger
man army must be fed. The imperial
government prefers not to face
another campaign without feed to
strengthen the morale of its people.
1t dares not face another winter season
| without a reasonable supply of the