The World. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1912-1921, 1918-10-04
AN EFFECTIVE ARMY NEEDED TO BACK
OUR RUSSIAN POLICY.
BY WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT
In the Philadelphia Public Ledger.

The truth as to the Bolshevil6i government
and its constituents, the Soviets, is now clear
and certain. 1t is sad and shocking story of
treason, robbery and murder, of brutal ty-
ranny compared with which that of Ivan the
Terrible was mild. Their language of idealsm,
their audacity as doctrinaires with power and
opportunity and the reaction from the injustice
of Romanoff rule enabled Lenine and Trotzky to
nislead sincere advocates of new social order
into an expeetant sympathy with what they
fondly termed IAN interesting social expert
nlent.' On the other hand, the Grass ignorance
OF millions of Russian soldiers returning with
arms in their hands from the privation and suf-
fering of the war, offered a rich field for these
areh-demagogues in which by the bride of plum
der and the qualification of class hatred they
organized their State. The documents published
by the Federal Bureau of Public Information
SHOW that from the first Lenine and Trotzky
were mere tools of the German high command
They sold their people to Germany for military
uses to secure the political power they wished
to exercise at home They even consented to
limit their holy propaganda of new day in
Russia wherever and whenever the high COM
nAand deemed it dangerous to German purpose.
and they subnissively further every purpose of
the high command against the Allies They
lind their precious lives exposed to assassina-
ton. 10 protect themselves by a reign of terror
they order from week to week the arrest and
killing in mass without trial of thousands of
their fellow Russians. This condition has rous-
ed the world into protest of which our Gov
eminent has sought the united expression of
civilized peoples.
But are we to stop at this? Will not a mere
protest OF neutral countries and the allied bel
Igerents, with no effective measures of force.
be lame and impotent conclusion? We allies
are now at war with the Bosheviki They are
allies of Germany. Until we drive them out of
power and Germany out of Russia we shall not
have achieved one purpose of the war to which
we are fully committed.
1t is objected that we must be at Germany on
The western front and that if we divide our for
ces we imperil our success there But we are
hghtlng a world war. We must have our army
large enough to win it. If we are to have four
millions of men in Europe July /, 1919. and
eight divisions at home we can surely divert of
this force 100000 men for Archangel and Vladi-
vostok without seriously reducing our arms in
france. We must destroy the power of the
German Bolsheviki now to save Russia To do
this will not only fulfill our pledge to the poor
Russian people, but will be a necessary step in
our war against Germany and the restoration
of an eastern front.
We have sent small forces to North Russia
and Siberla-mere handsful of men with orders
limiting their activities. Now that we know
the truth, we should increase these units so that
they may really become formidable and helpful
to the Russian people in the struggle upon which
they are entering against the Bolsheviki butch
ers and their masters, the German high com
naand. Every American who reads dispatcbe,