The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1918-06-11

long CneTe Will CoiitliiuC w NC eiHS
to act in Russia. Germany is eat
ing the country up in great mouth
fuls. To Germany it was "time to
act in Russia" the moment the Car
was overthrown, and Germany began
acting then with immense skill and
energy and has not lost a minute or
a second since. "For want of a
definite policy" says a writer in The
London Times, 1--WE day by day are
closing the chance even to. rebuild
upon the ashes of Russia" This
writer foresees the establishment
of order in Russia by Germany after
the present German-planned con-
fusion has reduced the country to
the lowest point, and in the future,
"a Russian-G German alliance again
"menacing the peace of the world at
ga dozen points," And he says:
The first steps have already
been taken by the Germans, and
while the Allies puzzle over
their on policies, the Germans
have policies which the often
sive on the western front on an
unprecedented scale has not d.
verted them a hairs breadth
from carrying on.
"While the Allies puzzle over their
own policies" That is the very core
of it. When shall we have unity of
counsel, if not unity of command,
in the political field? Is there any
thing to show that the Allies even
consult with each other about the
question of having a policy? They
consult each other, WI know, but it
appears that they do their
consulting only over some immedi-
ate question Of the moment, as when
submitted to England Kaiser
letter to Sextus. The idea
of planning out a policy, such as
Germany plans out, has never oc-
Cured to them, so far as any evi-
dence goes to show. When shall we
have a political board of strategy
and a political Foch?
Here the world is confronted with
the most frightful menace = conceiv-
able; a menace even more frightful
than the menace of the present Ger
man Empire. For we can beat the
present German Empire, we believe,
but the whole world could not beat
a German-R Russian Empire with its
muscles in Russia and its brain in
Berlin; Napoleon said that ina cen
tury. Europe would be either repub-
lican or Cossack. He did not allow
for Russian incompetence; he was
aware only of the vast Russian
strength. But his prediction is be-
ing fulfilled as the century he spoke
of nears it's end; for what Russia
in order to dominate. the
world was efficiency, and a Russia
ruled by Germany will have e~aicien-
cy in plenty. It will not be a Rus
STA ruled by a Gear that will domi-
nate the world, but a Russia ruled
by a Kaiser; and the only alterna-
tive to that, as Napoleon foresaw, is
the worldwide triumph of democra-
cy.
Which will win, the Germany
that Germany is striving with
and main to create-and is
creating-or democracy? Upon that
issue hangs the fate of everything
that mankind has built up from the
time when Langton and Fitz-Walter
extorted the Great Charter from
King John to the time when the
Parliament Of England extorted its
rights from the Stuarts, to the time
when the American people unfurled
their Declaration of independence
on these shores and the time when
the French people stormed the Bas-
tile. Shall all these centuries 60
for nothing, and shall we return to
forever?
Here we are confronted with this,
the mightiest issue which mankind
was ever called upon to face; and
we find that the despot has his plans