South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1918-03-10
Beginning the Series Of War Editorials by FRANK H. SONDS to Appear
Mr. Smond Conceded by the Newspaper World be the Mo

In the past year the world mas nad us dtteuuOh
so fixed upon the military significance OF the Rus
sian breakdown and the immediate costs OF TINS
breakdown to the allies have been so manheStly
great that there has grown up belief that IN al
dition to eliminating Russia from the present war
Germany is laying the foundations TOR DONNA,
ton of what was once Russia, economically and
politically. Already there is heard the prophecy
of what Germany will be able to do when she has
harnesSed the Russian millions to the German war
chariot and transformed into PruSSian cannon
fodder the masses of Russian peasants.
Yet is any such thing likely to happen? Grant,
ed that Germany has destroyed the fundamental
unity of this great SaY nation, divided the great
Russians of the north and UkTainianS or little
Russians of the south as the United States might
have been divided had the south gained lndepend-
ence in the Civil war; COnceding that she has cut
off certain Slav fTingeS, such as the LithuanIans
and the Poles will the ultimate effect OF this great
diSocation be as serious for the western world as
the immediate military effect has been
Before endeavoring to answer these questions
it is essential that we should first look the imme
date effects of the Russian collapse squarely in
the face Germany has been freed from an east
peril, she has not merely gained halt million
good soldiers for western warfare but she has
gained vast quantities of Russian material and the
freedom to concentrate all of her own artillery
and munitions and most of the Austrian upon the
western front Further than this she will present
ly, by next autumn probably begin to get conSd-
cradle food supplies from Russia and be relieved
there has been a real restoration of German mo-
rale and at least a temporary hardening of Ger
man purpose To derive profit from the west in the
shape of indemnitieS and a perpetuation of Ger
man control in Belgium. All these are solid facts
and all of them serious things for the western al
lies.
But looking at the future, what has the world
to fear from the German successes in the east?
viii the Slav be Teutonized? Can the German
impose upon more than 100, 100000 SlaVS
No ft,o4- be he he Of The
IeutOn and the agent OF IeutOnlc COnqueStS all
over the world? Will Germany in the next war
about which some of her generals are already
gbly talking, lead millions of Russian recruits
across the Rhine and the MeuSe and down the
EuphrateS and the TigriS?
Nothing seems more unlikely, because the Slav
problem does not hold out any promise OF such
solution even in the minds of the more thought
full Germans The great achievement which may
last for years has been the abolition of the Rus
sian menace, which has weighed upon the Ger
man mind for two centuries, ever since by the
peace of NyStad, in 1924, Russia reached the Bal
tic and Peter the Great seized Riga. German
hands are because OF this Russian diSintegratiOn,
freer for dealing with other questions. But even
here there is a sharp limitation.
CHANCES OF RUSSIAN RALLY.
First of all, what is now going to happen in
Russia?
Obviously there may be an uprising of the Rus
sian people like that which followed the complete
1909. When he had swept the lberian Peninsula
from the PyreneSS to the Straits of Gibraltar and
placed his brother on the throne in Madrid, Ma
poleon was suddenly faced by the spontaneous
uprising of the Spanish people, which in the end
made the Spanish adventure almost as expensive
as the campaign to Moscow and next TO it the
browning blunder of the Napoleonic epoch
1t is possible, but extremely unlikely, that the
Russians may now rally to defend their country
to defend it by the same sort of guerrilla warfare
that the Spanish employed. In such a case there
will be ever increasing demands upon German
manpoWeT, Just as there were upon French man
power in Spain and there will be also an end of
all hope of drawing provisions from Russia those
foodStuffS which are the one vital need of Ger
many at the present hour. This is the possibility
of present importance for the allies it is the best
that they can hope for, but il is we'll to recognize
that the chances of such uprising are relatively
slight
Failing such a revolution, such uprising of
the mass of the Slavonc people, what may ccme?
Plainly we may see the German troops 60 to Pc
trograd and there reeStablSh some form of auto
cratic rule possible replacing the car upon his
throne conceivably putting some other Roman
of in his stead This would, in a measure, follow
the course of Napoleon in putting his brother upon
the Spanish throne But il would far more near
w resemble what would have occurred, had Eu-
Tope been able to defeat the French revolution
and put A member of the French royal family on
the throne in the last decade of the Sth century.
RomanOf thus seated would owe his throne
10 German interference, he would at be
an object Of hatred by the mass of the nation
who had adopted revolutionary doctrines and by
that other and only less important element, which
would oppose the complete domnatior of all
Russian policy by German influence 1t would
require German armies and German efforts,
constantly exeTted, 10 maintain such dy-
naStv and II would alWayS be threatened hV