Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1919-04-12
RUSSIA AND THE
LEAGUE OF NATIONS
BY Catherine RieshkovsiSs.


There il no great thought, no large
Program, no beautiful suggestion That
can be successfully realized without
hard, detailed and prolonged work,
! The more splendid and attractive the
! idea, the more il contains promises Tor
q desired future, the more 1t requires
assiduity concentration, Indefatigao!e
efforts. incessant drudgeTy.
Thus it Is with the plan OF the
league of nations. We perceive the
immsnse significance OF this generous
, idea. We are ANXIOUS 10 see the time
( when an states and nations will. side
by side. decide the complicated CUES
tlOns that arise in the political ana
economic life OF people. decide them
with the utmost consideration for the
welfare OF each and every one OF them.
War, this lynch method, Was condem-
ned long ago; condemned, hated.
cursed. and yet 1t continues.
The German milltarls,ic clique was
poisonous infection in the heart OF
Europe. and since Europe is the heart
OF modern civilization, the entire civil
lzation was in a state Of mortal dan
ger until the united forces Of humanity
crushed German militarism and its
idea OF world domination. The poison
Gus Infection, gathered in Germany
since the FranCo-Prussian war, came
to the surface after an insignificant
incident which nobody could then con-
slider the overture Of a worlds war.
An Austrian Crown Prince was Kill
led, and this was the beginning Of
tragic development which has destroy
ed many millions OF young lives and
, ruined entire countries. The assas-
sination OF the Austrian CrawH Prince
was followed up by the impossible
ultimatun 10 Serbia. Ca ultimatum in
spired by militaristic Germany. Rus
sid came to the rescue OF Serbia. Ger
many stood behind Austria. France
came 10 help Russia, and the violation
OF Belgiums neutrality brought Eng
land 10 the scene. The German milit-
artists put everything at stake and the
ruthlsssness OF the German war meth
DDS brought in the United States in
1917. Now the American boys, many
thousands OF them, sleep on the battle
fields together with their European
brothers.
This is only a single illustration Of
the fact that the time when nations
could live in isolation has long ago
passed. Not only the fate OF every
European nation depends upon the
welfare Of all other European nations.
| but even the fate of the New World
! depends upon the welfare OF the Old
J ~ ~ 1a
| United States mobilized four millions
OF her soldiers and sent two millions
! TO France, understa nding that the VIC
/ tory of German militarism would en-
| danger the safety of homes and demo-
| cratic institutions thruout the world
and would be felt very soon even on
| the shores of this peaceful country.
The idea Of the league Of nations
| is nothing more than recognition that
! the time has come for the nations Of
the world to come together for peace
! full cooperation. They can not live
! Isolated: they must cooperate or fight.
The world is tired Of fighting and on
/ the other hand, with modern technical
| development. repetition Of the
worlds war would mean, as have
said before the ruin OF our entire
! civilization. Therefore the nations
of the world must cooperate.
| Here we come 10 the next principle
! OF the league OF nations: All nations
must be included in the league. The
! excluded nations, If there will be such.
will have a tendency to unite among
| themselves, and this will bring the
! ii IN old aliiz
watching. and finally fighting one
another.
The league Of nations. as proposed.
does not include not only the former
| enemy countries, it does not include
even Russia. This Is due to the undis-
putable fact a verp pitiful fact, that
the allied statesmen do not know Rus
STA and do not understand the import
ance Of the Russian problem. If they did
understand IL and if they were able to
return from the mistakes Of their Rus
sian policy in the past, they would
undertake the solution of the Russian
problem as the first in Importance at
the Peace Conference. and would pro-
pose more thoughtful and happy plan
than that the wolf and the lamb
should NEE. IL conference on the Isle
OF Prinkipo.
Russia, mute fur thousand years,
reminded the world in 1905 that she
was awakening, and warned the world
of her intention TO arise and place her.
self among those nations who had
awakened before her. Did the demo-
cratic nations of the world understand
the Russian problems as presented by
the first revolution in 1905? No. they
did not understand It then. as they do
not understand It now.
The revolution Of 1905 was the
mighty movement Of an awakened
people and there were several NOM
ents in this movement When it seemed
that victory would rest with the people
The revolution OF 1865 came 70 Hs"sh!
not only because Of certain internal
conditions, but also because the DEM
ocratic nations outside OF Russia did
not support the Russian people
struggling against cZarism as much al
they should have, morally and phys
ically.
AS q result OF the failure OF the rev.
olution of 1908, the Russian people fol
another ten years had TO live under
the decayng czarist regime. II the
revolution of 1906 had been successfuI
and Russia aa1 then become free
! democratic nation--ninc years later, ir
1914. she would have been nationally