South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1918-02-02

leader was putting by large sums
on a banking account ne had open
ed for the first time in his life.
THESE whispers had a good deal to
do with the sudden unpOpularity
which overlook a man who for a
few short weeks was the idol Of the
world, but i'm whom his own people
ceased to have confidence. as soon
as he put himself at their head
Nations do not care for leaders
whom they cannot respect. and un-
I fortunately Kerensky ceased TO be
I respected 80 quickly that it is no
wonder the democracy he MAS sup
posed 20 defend succumbed under
the growing ascendancy of anarch-
ism in its worst form. The $4,000
ruEles Of Alexander F'eodorowitsch's
/ banking account have done more for
the success OF the bolsheviki than
the speeches of Lenine and Trotzky,
and their discovery has wrecked the
democratic Russian republic until
the time when Russians find out
that the two leaders who now con-
/ troll the destinies OF the former en-
7 pire of the Romanoffs, have got, not
thousands. but millions Of rubles.
put by for the day when in their
turn they will have TO fly and dis
appear. Perhaps then Russia will
have chance TO become what all
| Of US had hoped she would, a rea-
sonable country, ruled by reason
able people In the meanwhile we
must be content in looking at all
the extravagances going on in Pc
/ trograd and elsewhere.
kerensky's Personality.
! As regards the personality of Ker-
ensky. it is perhaps just as we'll to
point out TO those who may regret
| he was driven out so quickly from
the political sphere in which he was
/ supposed 10 be a leading light that
! the man. thanks TO a concourse of
/ circumstances in which his indivi-
duality had TO share, was made an
idol Of by people who imagined that
\ in doing so O am. of course. only
spea king Of people in Russia and
not abroad where he was not at ali
I known until the moment when the
revolution brought him to the
| 'front.' they were putting forward
n kind of flag which they did not
! believe themselves strong enough
TO carry without some outside help.
| Apart from this kerensky was
wonderful speaker. though none of
his speeches could hear criticism, or
even stand analysis. When one
reads them one does not find in any
Of them phrases likely TO stamp
themselves on the memory of pos
terity. like the famous words of
| Mirabeau to the Marquis de Breze.
when he said 70 him: Go and tell
your master that We are in this
room through the will of the
French nation and that only bay
onets will be able to drive us out Of
lit
! Such remarks were far beyond the
intellectual faculties of Kerensky
who. moreover. was not possessed
Of sufficient backbone to utter any
thing ike them. He only knew how
TO address himself to the mob, never
10 its leaders. and in this resides
/ perhaps more than anything else,
the secret of his failure. He could
not act as restraining influence in
a great historical crisis, probably
Lecause he could never restrain his
| own passions. and this man who
while a simple deputy in the duma
had known so we'll how to denounce
the sO-called excuses of the upper
classes appropriated these same ex-
/ cesses as soon as he had the oppor-
ltunity TO do so with a violence that
went far beyond the passion dis
played by the people who he had
attempted 10 stone with pebbles.
whilst big rocks could have been
thrown at him later had any one
been there 20 do so.
When danger Knocked at his door
Kerensky did not find sufficient
nerve to face it. This Russian Bou-
LANCER lacked the courage that the
/ brave general" displayed when he
found life unbearable without the
/ presence of Madame de Bonnemaine
10 embellish il. The Muscovite dem
agogue was not strong enough TO
get hold of a pistol and end the ad-
venture his whole existence has
been. He probably thought of the
$4,000 rubles which were standing
TO his credit in a Petrograd bank,
and did not foresee that his former
! friends would ind a special pleas
ure in cOnhscating them. Perhaps.
when he hears OF the fact he will
come TO the conclusion that il
would nave been better for him 10
end before he had made this dis
covery a life out Of which every
source Of pleasure had been taken
away.
NIL ENNIlIM IN SIGHT