The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-01-25
MEN, WOMEN
 AND THINGS

The entrance of America into the war with Germany and her allies set me to studying anew the history Of the American Revolution.
  To better understand it I was forced to look closely into the French Revo- i luton, and there I found much to comfort me in the face of the fact that | Americans had to line up in great numbers by the side of Frenehmen fighting for democracy against auto cracy. But there is another pressing aues- ton which drove me to my books, for today everyone is anxiously asking; "What is Russia going to do9' We are more than a century away from the French Revolution and yet in spite of a perspective of 100 years and all that has been written about 1t we have never been able to fully understand it, and its interpretation depends largely upon the bias or view point of those who seek to eluc1date H.
 This being true, and when Russia is passing through a tragic experience before our very eyes, how in the name of common sense can anyone expect to appreciate it or pass judgment upon passing events or hope to presage che future? It is all too sudden, too close, and too big. We can but look listen, wait, and pray for the best terested in the Russian drama of de- mocracy, set on a stage bigger than the world has even known, just as the awakening of China has thrilled me- and the story of the young Turks seemed like a "midsummer's madness" Demo- cracy has been in the very air for the past few years and it has been heady drink to many people who had been for cen turies used to being treated as so many pawns to be played at will by their | masters.
 I I have been writing and thinking about the theory of freedom and the political
  but at present have more than an aca- demic interest in the question, for when Russia set up a republic she was our ally. It's very practical question that now confronts us. Will she be able to es- tablish a stable and representative gov ernment or will the reactionaries or bolsheviks undermine it? This is the problem that gives us pause.
 Never before in the world history were such mighty influences at work among q people to set them forward or backward. It is a play of elemental forces of hu- man nature. Greed. ambition, power, are the rich rewards that are being fought over and for. Will Russia be strong enough to withstand against the sinister influences of bolshevism that is attack ing her from without and betraying her from within?
 Who is wise enough to know the sou of Russia? It is as vast and as unfath- ornable as the wind driven snow of tht Siberias or as limitless as the steppe'
  , turbulent as her rivers? The soul 0 Russia is in agony of new birtA Le us all pray for her deliverance. , Russia has always had a fascination for me ever sice put in a vacation ther !, when I was a student at the Universit, of Berlin. I went by sea, taking shi Q at Stettin in northern Germany, where , got my first view of the great canal sailed for Cronstadt, the port of wha v was then St. Petersburg. It was a mos I enjoyable sea voyage. It was my only eX n perience on sea that was as placid a , a mill pond. I would travel oftener O
 the ocean if it would be quiet.
 St. Petersburg was continual sourc
 of joy It is true that it aped the grea y European cities in many ways, but ther U was enough of the Russian left to mak u it different It was new world me. It was civilization grafted onto bal
 barrie splendor. The Russian can put o e more ''dog'' and play the grand seigneu u or prince in a manner that makes an
 
 n During my visit it was a modern ci, n ruled by an autocrat who had and WI d used despotic authority by sending me d women and children to the wilds of $ ,e beria. until Kennan, the American. vii
 ited it and brought back such tales
 horror that an outraged public opinit throughout the world was strong enous at to mitigate the wholesale deportation y, political offenders. One of the brig oe spots of the republic was the granting is arunesties to those lingering in siberia
 
 If St. Petersburg was like Europes
 city. Moscow was truly Asiatic and
 mo one of the most interesting cities
 have ever visited. Merely to walk throui ,,. the streets was to touch elbow wi
 an entirely different civilization fire .u what I was accustomed to-. Moscow ,, the holy city of Russia. It holds t
 Kremlin which some have called
 tomb of Napoleon. It is to Russia wh tv Paris is to France. London to En id land. vienna to Austria, Rome to Ita in and then some. It is the heart of ny Russian empire.
 I can never forget the ride to Mo nc COW. The vast prairies seemed to hs 'o the roll of the sea, until one could '' most imagine that the land was aflo