The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1920-05-29
Gnawing the Bones.

! Russia has starved herself 10 little
more than a skeleton. now the hun
CRY pack is gnawing the bones. Poland
has succeeded in fooling the Ukrain-
| ians into a belief in her disinterested.
ness. and is grabbing at the Black sea
outlets of Russia. The Firms are buy
ing guns and munitions preparatory,
presumably, for an assault on Petro-
grad, which would complete the sepa
ration Of Russia from the Baltic be-
gun by the setting up of few eco
nomic dependencies of Britain called
the Baltic states. Japan has hurled
| several fresh divisions into Siberia,
aiming at present hegemony, future
penetration, and eventual absorption,
and thereby barring Russia from the
Pacific. France backs Poland. Britain
winks. becoming also so keenly inter
ested in the Finnish enterprise that
she suddenly loses all idea OF doing
! business with the Russian co-opera
tives. let alone that Of recognizing the
soviet government, The chances are
that she is financing the adventure.
You may be sure that neither Poland
nor Finland is paying the freight.
What was denied kolchak and Deni-
kline, on the ostensible ground that
they might turn out 70 be inconven.
iently "reactionary," is freely given
to upstart adventurer nations which
have gone to dreaming Of imperial
greatness, or have conceived the idea
Of being and having that which moth
ing in their character or history war
rants their expecting to be or have.
For example, there was once van
dering insecurity organized group OF
people akin to the original Magyars
that settled what we know as Finland.
never attained the status of state
hood in any recognizable sense Of the
word. Long, long ago the Firms were
conquered by the Swedes. and later
were taken from their masters by the
Russians. II is, of course. praisewOrthy
on the part Of the descendants of these
interesting people to aspire to indie
pendent existence But among the
Finnish legends, perhaps it is a mat
ter of genuine record. is the story that
once the Firms occupied the country
where petrograd now stands, and so
the modern Firms must have Petro.
grad And because this will help real I
lie the British dream Of smashing Rus
sia. rendering her powerless, and trans
forming this potentially great demo |
cratic state into an eNploitable eco. |
monte hnterland, deprived Of the com
mercial outlets through which he !
could become independently strong. |
Britain rather likes the Finnish ven
ture. Probably il was some such thing I
a. this that Lloyd George had in mind I
when he advocated letting Russia /
stew in her own juice II is an oft
rage.
To be sure. all this Is being done /
under cover of breaking the bolshe- +
Wiki. Nobody with the pcrspisaoity /
capable of seeing hole in a ladder /
will believe that however. Those Who +
talk in this strain were talking about
doing business with the bolsheviki a
dav or two ago What we are seeing is
a phase of economic war. in which the |
little fellows are being permitted to
null the chestnuts out of the fire for /
their big masters. The object is TO n
dismember. weaken and Isolate Rus II
sia. encircle her with a chain Of states n
friendly to the entente powers end n
then through these states 10 beat CtE-
many into the Russian markets And
this i regarded a. a good investment
At a time when all Europe is pleading
for American credit.
Meanwhile. monumental wrong Is
being done to the Russian people. ,ghe.
in all conscience. are being wronged
sufficiently by the foes within their
Dwn household Meanwhile. too. we
hink. wrath is being stored up against
he dsy 81 wrath. As generations come
md 20. hundreds Of millions Of men
md women viii curse those who in
!. I women win curse those who in Rus
.ia's day Of distress robbed her 81 the
means 81 independent livelihood. and
,ome day she viii repay the damage
lone. But that NAV BE- far in the fu-
urr. For the present. thanks 20 the
Illusions. delusiOns. o. haliucinatians
Il the dreamers of new freedom. fish
IRE running into the nets Of the Eu-
-opean powers. or. 20 repeat the smile
lsed al the beginning. there u a good
.lrsnoe to guaw the bones II the Rus
ian skeleton. and the pack j. in fan
~ after the boncs Nanchester Tn
on