New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-03-03

the Eastern and Western fronts of such
manifest superiority as to justify but
one conclusion as to the result on one
or the other front The military power
OF Germany would be crushed II
seemed to be written in the stars.
Ruin in Phrase Making
AN these expectations have been
ialsliied. The mighty Russian army, in
Itself once potentially capable of de-
leat'ng pom Germany ana austria, has
crumpled into cureless ruin, and when
we ask the reason for this most terrible
debacle IN the history Of the world we
ma the answer in the recent lament of
the Russian Prime Minister. Lenine,
"heh ne sad that the suicide Of Russia
VINO, like the blinded Samson, has
pulled down the stately pillars of
CVlllzatlon, was due primarily and
chlcfiy to the spirit of doctrinairc
phrase making and visionary pacifcism
ms country, and only few DAYS ago
ne approached the grandiloquent ora
.orS OF 1he Bolshevlst parties by at
tackihg the 'lntoXication of rcvolu-
llohary phraseology, and adding: 4
am "aglng war against revolutionary
phrase mongering, which considnr
the greatest danger to our party. and
therefore, to the revolution. The BIT
Ter truth Is now plain to everybody.
we snail create revolutions
airy army by work and organization
not by means Of high-sounding words
and phrases, like the elooeuncc Of.
lnose who. IN January, tried for one
"ithouJ doing anything to prevent our
troops from running away
20 TINS he attributed the ruin of
nave vcntured to call your atten-
.iom 20 lhe dislntegrating force OF
phrase-making. for. in nv judgement
not only Russia, but the entirn '..r",,
OF the Allies, the hottest for which
men ever foughtAis threatened bv tba
tendency to convert the sacred causn
''''o mere formulas and phrases.
Phrases That Were Bott,cs
oi 10 aenouncc al phrases in protest
"r"t"sL phrase making would be to re-
nv"v wy very 1ollY against which the
warning is made, for there are nbraeac
ana phrases. If an idea is. as r orton
may De, greater than an army. mo
more potential for good or evil +LnH
we phrase in which it is clotbnd ,,,,e+
nave vital force. CARLYLE said ~
Authcr that his words were in tbo,nl
serves battles, and again and arnin in
.ne history of the world a whole situa-
t,oh mas been illuminated with .
n."sc' more potent IN carrying a ma
'lon n,,i TO victory than an army corns
ne rauying cry OF the F'rn,ch
revolution, Liberty, Equality and E,a
ternlty, has had its stimulnting. ono q"
upon France for generations and ~
great victory on the Marnc was wan
not merely by the mastcrly renius w of
IRE, but because the French noiE,
even alter his terrible retreat fron, tbo
Sambrc and Mouse to the Mnrnn ; ,.',
not lost his morale. ''N'
ms was chiefly due 70 the noblo
s :pin or OF the fraternity, the comrade-
SNIP which made officers and prvntcs
brethren, that enabled France ia ,urn
upon the invader and swceD him hal.
''fty miles to the Aisne.
w men corrupt French government
century ago refused just PREPARATION
s 10 america unless its officials wers
bribed, the phrase of an American En-
Voy, millions for defence and NOT :.
cent for tribute cpitomizcd in fow
words the whole situation and the ins.
t'ce Of our cause
"Lincoln's phrase in his Gettvshnrc
speech s,p that 'Goyenment for the peo T.
pie Of the people, and by tho peon}c
should not perish from the earth, pnvo
eIoqucnt expression to the passion and
sehsc or union which carried US throuyh
the Civil War. Wilson'S statement thn,
we must Make the world safe lo,
democracy has vital force, for Is en-