Evening star., 1922-11-04
Installment No. 3.
Washington, April /!

Washington, April Is. 1917
The situation is not as happy In
Russia as it should be. The people
are so infatuated with their own In
ternal reforms that there is danger
Of their making a separate peace.
which would throw the entire
strength Of Germany on the west
front. and compel US to go in with
millions of men where we had
thought that a few would suffice.
Ny work on the national council Of
defense lately has been dealing with
many things. chiefly mobilization Of
our railroads and the securing Of
new shipping. At MY suggestion to
Mr.. Willard he called together the
leading forty-five railroad presidents
of the United States. and addressed
them upon the necessity OF tying
together all OF the railroads within
one unit and making a single operat-
Ing system Of the 25o.0 GOO miles. They
met the proposition splendldly and
appointed q committee to effect this.
1t will require some sacrifice on the
part Of the railroads. and considerable
on the part Of the shippers: for
free time on cars will have to be
cut down. some passenger trains
taken Off. and equipment allowed to
flow freely from one system to the
other under a single direction, no
matter who owns the locomotives or
the cars. I put It up to them as a
test Of the efficiency OF private
ownership.
On the shipping side We are not
Fonly going about tho task OF build
ing a thousand wooden ships, under
the direction Of Denman and Goetha ais,
but we are going to take our coast
wise shipping of. making the rail-
roads carry this freight. and put all
available ships into the transatlantic
business. We want. also. to get some
steel ships built. The great trouble
with this is the shortage Of plates
and the shortage Of shipyards. In
order to effect this. expect we Will
have to postpone the building Of
some OF our large dreadnaughts and
battle cruisers. which could not be
in service for three years anyhow.
Whether we will succeed in getting
the Secretary OF the Navy to agree
to this Is a question, but am going
to try.
We. Of course. are going to press
into service at once the German and
Austrian ships. such Of them as can
be repaired and will be Of use in the
freight business. but we will not con-
fiscate them. We will deal with them
exactly as we deal with American
ships. paying at the end OF the war
whatever their services were worth.
This spirit Of fairness Is to animate
US throughout the war. OF course,
enemy warships were seized as prizes
Of war. but there are very few Of
these, and OF no considerable value.
I do not believe they can be Of any
use.
England is sending over Mr.. Bal
four with a very high commission.
These gentlemen will arrive here this
week, and I expect with them VivIani
and Joffre from France. We will
have intimate talks with them and
gain the benefit OF their experience.
I expect Mr.. Balfour to mako some
speeches that will put England in a
more favorable light. and the pres
ence Of Joffre Will stimulate recruit
ing in our Army and Navy. He is
the one real figure who has come out
Of the war SO far
We are raising seven billions:
three billions to go to the allies,
largely for purchases to be made
here. Money contributions pass unan-
imously, but there is to be trouble
over our war measures respecting
conscription and the raising of an
adequate Army. Some pacifists and
other pro-Germans are cultivatine
the idea that none but volunteers
should be sent to Europe Some are
also saying Germany can have peace
with Us II she stops her submarine
warfare. I doubt if that line OF aei-
tation will be successful before Con-
gress. Certainly 1t will not be sue
cessful with the President or the
cabinet We are now very happily
united upon following every couree
that will lead to the quickest ana
most complete victory.
The greatest impending danger il the
drive on the east front into Russia,
possibly the taking Of Petrosrad, and
the weakness on the part Of the Rus
slams because of so large a socialistic
element now In control Of Russian af-
fairs. We offered Russia commission
Of railroad men to look over their rail-