Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-05-29
ALLIED SOLDIERS
NEEDED IN RUSSIA
Intervention as Protection
Against Germany Would
Be Welcome
PEOPLE HATE TEUTONS
By HAROLD WILLIAMS
Special Gable to Evening Public Ledeer

Copyright. 1913. BY Nep York Times CO.
London, May 20.
Russia needs support from the Allies
In the shape Of direct military and eco
nomlc assistance The technical term
for such action is Intervention. This
word may be interpreted variously and.
from certain comments and criticisms It
Is in my last article stated that inter-
vention must be disnterested, that its
sole object must be to help Russia as a
whole to resist the efforts Of Germany to
secure and extend her domination in
eastern Europe and in Asia.
We are fighting aggression. and moth
ing else 4: and In this we know that we
have the warm sympathy Of Russians Of
every class and every shade of opinion.
We. as Allies, are desrous of helping
Russia to resist her enemy and ours. We
cannot take sides In Russian internal
politics. 1t Is great error to suppose
that intervention should take the form
of a campaign against the Bolsheviki.
Neither should the Allies come In to sup
port the Bolsheviki. There is one all
sufficient motive for operations Of an
Allied force on Russian soil, and that IL
to fight Germany.
Intervention does not and must not
mean that we are going to undertake
punitive expedition, to shoot down
Russian peasants and workmen. That
would be suicidal. 1t would only make
confusion worse confounded and simpli.
fy the task for Germany, besides COM
promising the principles for which we
are wagng war. The whole purpose Of
intervention is to enable Russia to help
hor1avf n roNuinr nj %n
resistance to Germany
Russia Is in a deplorable condition.
torn by internal dissension. by bitter
class strife. In ordinary circumstances
friendly nations could only leave her to
work out her own salvation. whatever
suffering this might cost her
But the present Russian confusion Is
not an isolated fact in an otherwise
stable world. It is the outcome Of the
war, 1t Is one Of the aspects Ct the
world war in which we are engaged and
In which. until recently, Russia fought
bravely by our side,
It is not the confusion in Russia In
itself-the civil war; bitter feuds, i'm
inense physical and moral suffering
| that Immediately concerns us AS Allies
| 1t Is the fact that the remnants Of Rus
sian independence are menaced by our
enemy, that Germany is doing her ut
| most in Russia to take full advantage
for her military purposes In the world
war Of the confusion she herself has
provoked. Therein lies the direct ana
| urgent appeal to us. This is an all
sufficient military motive for interven-
ton. and this motive must be kept clear
Of all other issues. both in the discussion
of Intervention and in its important ex-
ecution. But-and here Is the impor-
tant point-would the dispatch Of Al
lied forces to Russia on this purely mill
tary mission bring US into conflict with
any section of the population and fur
nish fresh occasion for civil war? There
is not the slightest reason why 1t should.
On the contrary. evidence Is increasing
daily that all classes. all parties. would
welcome Allied assistance against the
Germans.
Reports from the Ukraine, which is
in German occupation. are most illumi.
mating. Here the attempts Of the Ger
mans to requisition corn have provoked
a peasant rising.
The peasants are resisting by every
means in their power. with rifles and
machine guns An irregular force of