The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-02-24

long as pair of soldiers with guns or | machine guns could come to counting house or counter and demand contriou- tions. In some respects Moscow suffered more grievously than Petrograd. In Mos COW the bolshevik imposed their will by downright frightfulness. Their meth ods were essentially Teutonic.
 l found in my travels that these do- ings at Moscow, following or coincident with outrages in Petrograd and other
 cities, had created painful impression everywhere. There was no doubt in my
 mind that the mass of the people were
 instinctively hostile to this mob control.
 There was talk everywhere of resisting the bolsheviki, but after Kerensky fell
 there was no leader in whom the masses
 had confidence.
 The bolsheviki, taking advantage of
 the war weariness of betrayed armies,
 controlled the troops, and the Russian
 people were terrified of these soldiers,
 who came and went at their own sweet
 will. Soldiers have never been popu-
 lar institution in Russia. Now they are
 more disliked than ever They have
 failed to protect the national integrity
 They have failed to protect the civil
 ians. Wherever they have swarmed
 there have been conflagrations and rob
 berries, train lootings-every sort of in
 yuSliSc tyA amy III Nd5AAout iNASoAeA
 rings this cry Of fright:
 They are deserting! They are com
 ing our way! They will ruin every
 thing"
 The people know what to expect, and
 in every case their fears were justified.
 As the soldiers turned back from the
 front, inflamed by boleshvik promises
 and crazy with unfamiliar freedom. fac
 tories were closed, thousands of peace able citizens were thrown out of work,
 famine riots started in almost every community and sheer anarchy spread
 over the land. In Finland the bolsheviki made themselves so detested that joy bells rang in Helsingfors. the capital, when the Germans took Riga, and the Films paraded to celebrate the event LET THE GERMANS COME" In all soberness, who can blame the
 ordinary Russian citizen, who. after n season of bolshevik rule, might say to himself or out loud.
 Let the Germans come and take Petrograd. At least they will bring or der with them if not law.
 Vodka flows again and is merely an- other brain heating agency. Up to bol- shevik rule Russia was dry since the war l began. But the revolution revoked all | laws made by the autocracy, good and
  Russian meant vodka among other li-
 censes. Saloons sprouted like mush- rooms. The heads of the revolution un- l derstood the peril of drunken nation and sent soldiers to close the grog shops l But in numerous instances the soldiers | themselves got drunk and turned to mur- | de- and pillage. In Ostrogorsk, for ex- ample, the soldiers sent to enforce the | decree decided they, not their bolshevik | ya,J {ha vrynn
 should or should not exist in new Rus l sis, so they saturated themselves with 1 the liquor and then burned the saloons. 1 The spectacle of the flames excited them /; so pleasurably that they put the torch l to private houses and even provision stores. The peoples commssaries fi-
 nally sent out artillery to stop this red
 rapine.
 Soldiers sinking back from the front l have destroyed Ufa, a big city in central Russia. I mention this as an instance
 These masterless men, awing regions with their rifles and handful of cart ridges, burned so much of Ufa that no enemy would find pound of valuables therein. The enemy indeed would have been guilty of no worse vandalism, even the Germans. The soldiers robbed all villages carrying away what they could, destroying what could not be taken away nduQIly. they CIOPpSO WitA d<ASS or smashed with rifle butts fine pianos,
 violins and other expensive musical in
 struments, slashed paintings. broke statuary, burned books-all because these things were the property of the bour- geoise, and the burgeoise in Russia are called by the soldiers "the idle rich" l Pilfering is finely rewarded occu- patton in Kiev and is carried on entirely by soldiers. All trains stopping at that l.:kx. 1Jel hx- cF cn1- diers and are examined to see whether they carry necessaries or luxuries, the latter being prohibited by the soldiers commissaries. But always some fault is | found with these shipments in order that an excuse may be had for confiscation | Only civilians and the property of civ ilians are treated thus. Soldiers who | seek to rob each other are savagely pun ished. In one instance soldier was detected in the act of slipping hand into a pocket of his comrade. A court of the soldiers committee sat upon the case an ordered the mans hand severed at the wrist. This episode may seem amazing to you here in America, but such punishments are not at all unusual in Russia. They are called "samosuds." Peasants catching a thief in barnyard or stable often drag the culprit to 1 river and drown him then and there. | Tn El1SdVetBrdu, d clty III tiS 6SN7 | ernment of Kherson, the revolutionary l committee issued a decree to Kill all 1 reactionaries who were accused of be- l ing against the revolution. Many ex- | cellent and we'll disposed citizens were !! thus slaughtered by these fanatics. l The Petrograd bolsheviki interfered, however. before these frightful ex- ccsses had spread It gives one ir- rcsistibly the impression that Russia | Is ripe for bloody reprisals. Passions arc being fermented in that torment ed land. The cure for the disease may be such a bloodletting as will com 1 pare horribly with the guillotining ex- cesses of the French revolution. The l bGlshevik government it must be re- membered, is accomplishing little ex- 1 cept to incite class hatreds. It is set- ting one part of the population against another part. The deserting troops, won to the bolsheviki by cowardly ap- peals and persuasions. rule now be- cause they have the rifles. That may not always be true. There are hints coming from this place and that or l rifles being assembled by civilians. l Russia is ruled by mob instinct and mob caprice. not by law or reason. l After the bolsheviki demoralized the army and came to power the common 1 soldier saw that his day had come and l that it was to be his privilege to abuse his officers and murder them if 1 he saw fit. On land and sea hundreds I of officers have been murdered in cold blood-simply shot or bayoneted with I out warning In hundreds of instances | they have been subjected to a mock cry of trial upon a farcical accusation