The Washington herald., 1918-05-21

LUCncN MURATOR.
tative circles. though he has not
yet directly conferred with either
President Wilson or Secretary of
State Lansing.
Look at the map" he said yester-
day. There you will see the reason
against allied Intervention. It is
many thousands Of miles for the
allied troops to travel before they
arrive at Vladivostok. Hence It is
practically certain that interven-
tion, II It means anything. means
japanese Intervention We know
by experience what the thought Of
Japanese Intervention does in Rus
sia. We have seen the storm It
raises.
Distance the Problem.
"And once Japanese troops start
operations in the far east see the
problem they must solve-the insuper-
able problem OF distance 1t is thou
sands Of miles from Vlodivostok to
the Ural mountains, and the Ural
mountains are hundreds Of miles
from the heart OF Russia, where the
German armies already hold full
sway.
las soon as they start across the
border opposition TO them will be-
gin. The Bolsheviki and their forces
will retire before them, destroying
the fine iron bridges of the trans
Siberian railway. And to destroy an
iron bridge in Russia today 10 q
| crime against civilization.
N"While they are doing this long
vast task the Germans, right on the
ground. will have consolidated West
ern Russia against what they will
call the menace of the east. And
Germany will swallow Russia whole.
BolshevIki Trying Hard.
Whether We believe in Bolshevism
or the success of the Bolsheviki, they
are in poker. They may not last long
But while they are there the thing
to do Is to show them that the allies
are the friends of the democracy and
peace and prosperity which all of
Russia Graves and which the Bolshe-
wiki. perhaps in a misguide way. are
trying to bring about"
DR.. Masaryk is frank In his discus
sions Of Russian affairs. He is not
one Of those who mourn the passing
of the Kerensky regime.
Too much talk and too little ac-
tion." is the way he sums up that
Russian epoch. He says that when
he left Russia eight weeks ago he
knew that kerensky was aliSe and
safe.
But" he adds, lit is not import
ant-even IL he is on his way to the
United States"
Soldier Seeks Action.
The other side OF the case presents
a very different picture. In the first
place 1t comes mostly from soldiers
/ who value everything in its bearing
on an ultimate military success
! against Germany That is the only
method they can see for the estab-
lishment of justice in Russia as in
any other place.
Let's do something" is their cry.
One Of them summed up his case
for the International News today as
follows:
1T can't be worse in Russia. The
Russians won't fight anyway. l hope
Germany does get lot of them into
her army. 1t will make the weak spot
in that army. Germany wouldn't
dare use them on the Western front.
The Russians that are serving in
the French ranks now have proven
unfit for real work. They have been
fed and clothed and preached at. But
they won't fight. Russians want
peace-thats all.
West Front the Cru1.
No one is more certain than I that
the battle must be won on the west
front. But success there must be
helped out by efforts elsewhere.
france feels more earnestly this way
than does England
England today, in addition to oil
her work on the west, is engaged in
TO less than twenty-seven campaigns
in Messopotamia, Palestine, Abyssinia
and elsewhere. England can't do it
all alone. We have even sent the nu-
cleus of force to ArchangeI for the
purpose of n diversion. But we can't
do it alone. The Japs have a big
army. The allied cause needs it.
Here Is the way it will affect the
west front. When winter comes with
its bar of mud in Flanders 1t will mean
that thousands of Germans can be di-
verted to work in Russia. II by that
time a Japanese -Chinese-allied force
is within each of Russia. It will mean
that those Germans will never be re-
turned to the western front. They
will be kept busy on the east.
Germany's Eye on East.
While the, battle must be decided
on the west. 1t must never be forgot
ten that Germany is looking now al
ways to the East. If she could con-
solidate her gains there it would mean
success for her. Her government
would regain its popularity and her
people would be fed.
mo one doubts that the battle will
be won on the west The east is diff
ferent. There lies the whole question
of whether Russia, Turkey, even
India, shall fall under German domi-
nation. That is the menace that the
world must face. 1t must be faced
sooner or later. If japanese troops
don't face it now it will mean that
later British, French, Italian, yes, and
American troops, will have to 60 out
there and do all their work over again.
There is nothing to be lost by in
tervention even if it does ALLEVIATE
Russia for the time-even if it drives
the Russians into the German army.
There is the future of the whole East
including the future of Russia to be
safeguarded
rs it wrong for US to go into Rus
sia to save her in spite of herself, as
the anti-interventionists say? How