Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-03-24
RUSSIAN SITUATION.

| Russia's plight grows more pro-
nounced hourly. The bolsheviki signed
| peace pact at
Germans Continue 5r e t-Litovsk'
Military Advance. transpired as I
predicted some weeks back. The Ger.
mans are marching on and taking what
| they desire of the once rich Russian
nation. Petrograd is in peril of imme-
diate occupation by the forces of the
kaiser. The soviet government has
moved to Moscow. and even the ancient
capital of the nation, which once more
becomes the hub of Russian govern
mental atfairs-if the present regime
in Russia can be called a government
| likewise is menaced by the Hun
hordes, which rapidly are marching
eastward. gobbling up in the south of
! Russia those regions which are rich
in mineral stores and agricultural adj
| vantages.
I Lenine, the man at whose doors Rus
sian chaos can be laid, continued to
| exercise his sway over his followers
in Moscow during the sessions of the
body Overwhelmingly voted for the rat
| ification of the peace pact with the
Germans, though this treaty cedes
away thousands Of square miles of the
millions of Slavic peoples and imposes
commercial and financial Jokes upon
| the nation, under which it will stagger
for century should the Germans win
the present war and their tentacles be
not released in the east.
Russia's danger is realized by the
allies SO well that they, notwithstand-
ing antipathies toward the bolsheviki,
may render the present government
\ some assistance in eXtricating the peo-
pie from present entanglements. Such
| action will not be because of love for
the bolsheviki. but because the boil
sheviki at present represent the near
est form Of government Russia has.
| The allies have held back their rec
ognition of Lenine and his anarchist
| gang in Russia simply for the reason
| that on several occasions there have
been reasons to believe that the boil
| sheVlkl were on the eve Of overthrow
by other and better interests in Rus
| This. however. has not been effected,
the opposition to the bolsheviki never
feeling of encouragement and resigna-
ton prevailing throughout the nation
With the whole allied cause menaced
to great extent by further German in
cursion through Russia in the far east
and India and with some definite
steps necessary to combat the spread
of Germanic influence, the entente
| powers seem inclined, for the mo-
ment at least, to disregard past be-
| trayals of their interests and credit
the word of Trotzky and Lenine that
| they now are in earnest in combating
| the Germans. There are hundred and
one reasons why the sincerity of the
| bolshevik leaders can be questioned,
| however. /,
| Bolshevik actions and promises in the
! past have been as trustworthy as have
German promises and actions. There
always ls a possibility. however. that
| Lenlne and Trotzky may have consfd-
cred themselves betrayed by the kaiser's
| government in one fashion or another
and. in their demands for resistance to
| the Germans, are giving play to their
desire to get satisfaction and Illustrate
| German purpose.
There is every likelihood, however
as I stated some weeks back, that in
this senior
May Be Aiding ganized resist
the Kaisers Plans. Germans tn
bolsheviki are simply intentionally CIV
| ing the kaiser further grounds for
| pressing deeper into the Russian en-
| pire. the pretext being the custer of
| the bolsheviki and the preservation of
German and western Russian interests.
| Any allied assistance that might be
! rendered to the bolsheviki under these
! circumstances would be playing into
! the hands of the central powers.
President Wilson. though not recog-
nizing the bolsheviki. sent word to
| the Russian soviet congress that
| America was in deep sympathy with
the aspirations of the Russian people
interest betrayed or, Russia dismem-
| bered by hostile power. The soviet
/ congress cheercd this message. The
| American President made clever
stroke. The bolsheEiki fathered anti
| American sentiment a flew months
| back and apparently there were no
effective means of combating it. Now,
| followers, the American President
makes it plain that America is in this
war purely for democratic and broad
minded principles. At once Lenine
and Trotzky's Vaccinations are
/ ploded. The leaven most certainly
| will begin TO work and when the peo-
pie realize that the bolsheviki have
| betrayed them in their representations
against the United States. as in many
other things. something will happen.
| The Presidents message undoubtedly
| will GO far lii effecting a more stable
| order OF things.
| j
| The attitude of Trotzky, who os-
Itentibly. was thrown overheard by
Lenine. must be
| Nav Be Irving to accepted with "a