The Washington herald., 1919-08-31

campaign finally determined France
and England to give over any idea
OF using their own troops against Le-
nine, and evacuation at once COM
menced.
As a compromise between their
forced decision to withdraw French
and British soldiers, and their feel
ing that honor demanded support for
kolchak. Denikin and the others, the
allies. with our consent, decided to
help with money and munitions
where they could not help with men,
Koiekak Losing.
So today British fleet operates in
the Gulf of Finland, while Finnish
and Esthonian armies, fed and sup
piled by the European allies, skir-
mlsh and maneuver with more or
less seriousness towards Petrograd
British talks, cannon. rifles and nj
forms make possible Denikin's ad-
vance. and the Japanese and our
selves pour supplies into Siberia In
an effort to bolster up Kolchak's
retreatinG army, which has to keep
one eve on the Bolsheviks and the
9TH on the Cecho-Slovaks. For the
Czecho:-Slovaks themselves. their
rage md despair at not being al
lowed to go homs has made II neces-
sary to remove them from contact
with the Bolsheviki. who offer them
the shortest road.
One other valid argument in favor
OF the blockade of Russia and Of
the support extended to the Kolchak
and nenikin forces b. the allies
since the armistice is the relief these
| measures have afforded the new and
{ struggling StataS N h1r -
Bolshevism.
Poland and Cexcho- -Slovakia. If not
Rumania; Finland and Esthonia =:
possibly Hungary and Austria. might
have been overborne by Red armies
during the past few months, IL two
thirds of Trotsky's forces had not
been employed in fighting their al
lied enemies. Kept busy North, South
and East. the Red armies have not
been able to turn to the West and
/ the war-torn buffer states between
the Red power and civilized Europe
have been able to keep their heads
above water. Accordingly. It is ar
gued by allied statesmen that the
pressure on the Bolsheviki must be
Kept UP, at all events until the buffer
states in Eastern Europe are strong
enough TO take care of themselves.
Our Policy Unknown.
So much for allied policy. which
I think is clear at present. What is
ours? All the European allies have
Withdrawn their troops, or are now
clearing them out We. on the other
hand. are replacing our drafted men
IN Siberia by volunteers. II is evi-
dent that by winter the United
States and Japan alone Of the grrat
powers will have troops on Russian
soil; the United States 1000 or 5000
men. the Japanese as many as they
care to use OF the 1900 or So there
now, and of the 10000 soldiers massed
along the Chinese Eastern Railway,
outside Russian territory, but ready
to move into Siberia at a moments
notice
Our troops it is said, are guarding
the Siberian Railway assuring the
retreat OF Adbiral Kolchak's retir-
ing legions. Presumably the Japan
ese are there for the same purpose
Whether We have given pledges to
kolchak, alone or in conjunction with
the allies, that make it a matter Of
national honor TO stay and support
hi. the writer does not know. It
Is apparent from dispatches sent
AiNlA ClIl-h ny SIlDdSSAOOT MOTIFS,
and from other indications obtaina-
BILE in Washington. that the admins
tration is not any too well pleased
with the behavior of the supreme
ruler" as kolchak styles himself.
He Is regarded by many american
officials as a tool Of reactionarIes
who desire to restore the Czardom.
This sketch Of the intervention of
the al les in Russia has been given
TO make clear our present position.
There Is so much misinformed com
ment current, based on earlier propa-
gandist legends invented to conceal
the facts. and so much pro- BolsheviH
argument, that the allies are simply
acting as capitalists to crush so
cialist state, that genine confusion
has arisen in the public mind.
U. s. Led Into siberia.
Our position as see it is this:
We were led into Russian interven-
tion at a time when it was neCes-
sary. to hold German divisions on
the Eastern front. We now appear
to be vacillating. as we have for
months, between the idea that we
ought to help KOlChak and the
others crush the Bolsheviki. and the
viewpoint that it is none of our
business what kind of government
the Russians choose to have
Meanwhile our intervention in
Eastern Siberia, undertaken as part
of the European war. is rapidly as
suming character of its own.
quite distinct from French and
British policies in. European Russia
We are standing alone with Japan
over there; the British called back
their Canadian troops. some OF
whom had actually sailed for Vladi-
vostok. as soon as they had seized
up the Siberian situation. 1t is
with Japan that we must come to
an agreement on Eastern Siberia.
not with France and England.
The problem. to my mind, is the
most serious foreign crisis the
United States has been called upon
to- face since we became a nation.
with the single exception of the
German war. 1t would be useless
and presumptuous fer me to speCu-
late concerning our possible course
OF action in the Far East. since so
far as I can learn Washington has
no policy and is vaguely cropping
for one in the void. But something
must be done. and quickly: we are
like the small boy shivering on the
brink with his toe in the cold water;
he must jump in, or put on his
clothes and go home.
WILSON TRAINS FOR
LONG SPEAKING TRIP