Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1919-02-14

emily Great Britain, France and japan
are not entirely sure of the full eff
cacy of the league and would have
their offensive and defensive alliances
to fall back upon In case. of need. Mr..
Balfour's statement also gave rise to
the opinion hat the allied nations
might decline to abrogate the secret
treaties they entered into for the d.
vision among them Of certain terri
tories of the central powers. France
is perhaps especially interested In
this, as the secret treaties not only
gave her Alsace-Lorraine, but also the
entire coal district of the Saar valley,
and provided that the German ter
ritories on the left bank of the Rhine
should be freed from all political and
economic dependence on Germany.
Lenine's foreign minister, Tchit-
cherin, has sent out a wireless message
saying the soviet government is willing
to participate In the proposed confer
ence on the Princes islands. He also
intimates that his government will
cease its propaganda in other countries
if the entente powers will undertake
not to interfere with Russia's internal
affairs. The other Russian factions, as
represented at Paris, were rather sur
prised by Tchitcherin's action and were
not at all pleased. They are strongly
opposed to the conference and had
hoped a refusal by the soviet govern
ment would relieve them of the neces-
sity of rejecting the plan. The boil
shevists, or, to give them the more
i0.Ing appellation, the anarchists, in
northern. Russia, after a series Of sue
cesses against the American and al
lied troops which were due to the diff
ficulty the latter experienced in get
ting supplies, went a bit too far and
were given a singing defeat by the
Yanks at Vistavka on the Vaga river.
About the same time the Siberian
troops under General Gaida practically
annihilated two divisions Of the an
archists at Kungur, so miles southeast
of Perm, relieving he latter city from
the danger of attack. General Gaida
then advanced on Ufa, which the an
archists took some time ago. The CEN
trail soviet of Moscow has called to the
colors all men between the ages of
twenty-nine and ~forty-fve years, say
ing they will be thrown into the war If
the conference on Prinkipo island Is a
failure.
In some directions the successes of
4ho ooarohse<c 0f Dr1ccio uyarn aOntfn.
ued. They were reported to have cap
tured Windau, Courland's port, and to
have gained control Of virtually the
whole of the Ukraine.
The Polish and C~zecho-Slovak troops
that had been fighting on the Sllesian
front signed an armistice which, it is
presumed, will permit the emissaries
Of the peace conference to settle the
quarrel between the two nations.
In the Athens of Germany" Weimar,
the capital of the duchy of Sake
Weimar, the German national assem-
bly, began it's sessions last Thursday.
Chancellor Friedrich Ebert called the
body to order and then surrendered the
chair to Herr Pfankuch, the Oldest Of
the members. After the preliminaries
were over the assembly got down to the
work of formulating a government for
Germany. The Ebert or Majority So
cialist government was transferred
temporarily to Weimar, but it consid-
cred that its mandates expired with
the converting of the assembly so it at
once proceeded to organize a new cab
met made up of Majority Socialists,
Democrats and Clericals.
The Spartacans, who die hard, made
their latest big play at Bremen, gain
ing control of that city and holding it
for a time. Then government troops
from Berlin bombarded the place, bat
tering some Of it's historic buildings,
and drove the Spartacans to Groepsin-
gen. Threats Of the reds to attack
Weimar when the assembly met were
forestalled when the loyal garrison was
REINFORCED by a large body Of govern
ment troops.
The authorities of the allied nations
maintain their aloof attitude toward
the German revolution" never per-
hitting themselves to be quoted con
corning 1t nor paying the slightest at
tention to the lucubratioAs of hypo-
critics such as Bernstorf. But they
are watching with interest the inter-
national conferences of Socialists
and trades unions that are in session
in Berne. Switzerland. The former
seems to be virtually dominated by
the pro-Teuton elements. The Trades