Norwich bulletin., 1918-01-23
FACTS AND COMMENT

MT. Garffeldss order to suspend bus
 mess for five days in the territory
 east of the Mississippi river and there- by give the country a chance to catch up On the fuel supply was as sudden
 as it was drastic. To be sure a hint of some such move was heard last Tuesday. but the actual order was not signed until late Thursday afternoon, too late for notice to be>given to eTn- ployes not to return to work kriday morning. The order dit not specifi- cally command the stoppage of busi- ness but forbade the use of fuel and. power derived therefrom. As fur- ther ana continuous measure of re- lief the ten successive Mondays be- ginning January 21 have been desig- hated as days on (which power may l. not be used nor may fuel be burned 1 for the heating of offices and stores lexeept to the extent necessary to avoid injury byS freezing. There are of course some specific exceptions such as those permitting food and drug stores to have heat, but in general ] tho stoppage of business is to be as complete as that prevailing on regu-
 lar national holidays. Even the. rail- roads will reduce their service to lit tic more than the usual Sunday ltrains.
 l The reasons for this drastic order as stated by MT. Garfield to the sen- ate committee are to relieve human ! suffering due to lack of coal. to per- l init ships waiting at ports for bunker coal to coal up and carry supplies to our allies and to relieve the congested condition of the railroads so that they may move coal and food products to various points. The wisdom of the order is and will long remain a mat ter for debate, but the splendid thing about it is the wonderful spirit with which it has been obeyed. Criticism | was to be expected from the industries 30 peremptorily ordered to suspend I operations but this must be discounted l in proportion as the critic is adversely affected. Tn one point, however, the opinions are to be received at face value Mir. Garfield is not a transpor I tation or fuel expert but was sum. m0ned from the presidency of Will I Hams College to the service of his Il country. Nobody doubts for a mo
 nierlt the honor and loyalty of tht
 man but everybody is asking what g
 college president knows about the fue situation McAdoo's selection of Pres
 ident A. H. Smith of the New Yorl Central lines as his aid in handlins the railroads of the east is everywher' recognized as an expert directors
 choice of an expert executive. Of Vii
 sons choice of Garfield as Fuel Ad
 mInistrator little can be said in praise
 The country does not recognize hi { experience as a safe guide in so vita sl matter and the confidence so usefu l to assure acquiscence in so drastic al z order has had to be replaced by spirit of loyal obedience wonderful t 3 behold.
 The German cruisers Gcehen am Brsslau again figure in the days news 2 The opening of the war in Angus : I 1914 caught these vessels in the Medi : ttefranean Sea with no apparent wa , Ito escape from the enormously super
 for British and French forces that i'm i, naediately started to hurt them dowI ' By clever use of wireless. however ? the p1rsuers were completely fooie : and the two German ships made goo 7 their escape to Constantinople. I'm mediate protests by England brnugh ' the reply from Turkey that the vessel V would be put out Of commission an
 $ interned for the duration of the wa but soon after it was annDuneed tis [ Turkey had bought them for her ow f navy. Not many days later Turke {. had entered the war It was unfat a play and quite characteristic of Ger : many and her vassal state. For thre i. and half years these vessels. the efil modern units of the Turkish fleet, hat s been active in the straits and slon h the shores of the Black Sea but at la e they have met their doom. h an at l. ton at the entrance of the Dardanellt ,- Hast Sunday the Breslau was sunk e British mines and the Goeber drive ' ashore in the narrows, was being ai ' sailed by aircraft in the hope of con e pleting her destruction.
 al Russia is finding herself in the pow, ' Of one quite as autocratic as was u rt depesed czar. When the constituel "A ize last Friday, the first vote shove ' Lenine that he did not control m; Y jority whereat he promptly dismiss,
 | the whole body. More than one faol
 l arch in history has lost his throne
 even his life by attempting to disnli
 .Ian unruly parliament and one nel N not go further hack than last Mar
 to find the latest instance of such j royal downfall, but Lenine backed st his ARed Guard'' and their fnachi rsl guns is already outheroding Herod
 absolutis1n.
 in The Russian constituent assennh ig was promised by the leaders who ove
 threw the czar Ito issue fundament
 laws guaranteeing the country the 1T .e mutabIe rights of equality and libe - ty." One of the reasons for the cou N ter-revoIution was the failure of t " Eerenslxy government to arrange
 elections to this assembly, The B. U sfeviki on gaining power at once sr sued call for these elections, the I