The Elk Mountain pilot., 1923-06-07
RULE OF SOVIET HERE
TO STAY SAYS GEORGE
Real Peace Hangs ON Recognition of
Russia. Says Ex-Premier.

lighted that the negotiations between
Lord Curzon and the Soviet govern
ment seem to indicate desire on
the part of both parties to establish
a more satisfactory understanding be-
tween Great Britain and Russia.
The Bolshevist episode, like all
revolutionary terrors, has been at
times shrieking nightmare which
has made the world shudder. 1t did
render one supreme service to civili-
zation-it terrified democracy back
into sanity just at time when the
nervous excitability that followed wa,
was bordering on mental instability.
Injuries Russia
In our attitude towards the Soviet
government we must, however, con-
stantly bear in mind one considera-
tion. What matters to us is not so
much the Russian government as the
people of Russia, and for the moment
the Bolshevist administration consti-
tutes the only medium for dealing
with that mighty nation. As long as
it remains the only constituted au.
thority in Russia every act of hos
tility against it Injuries Russia.
As we discovered in 1919, you can
not wage war against the govern
men't for the time being of country
without devastating land and alienat-
ing it's people. You cannot refuse to
trade with it now without depriving
its people of commodities-and es-
pecially of essential to
their well being It is the people
therefore, who would suffer and the
people who would ultimately resent
that suffering Governments come
and 60 but nation goes on forever.
The Russian people deserve-es-
pecically at the hands of all the
allied nations-every sympathetic
consideration we can extend them.
Not only for the reason that thev
have to endure the sway of tyrani
cal oligarchy imposing its will by
ruthless VIOLENCE, but even more for
the reasons that led to the establish
ment of that tyranny. If the fruit is
bitter, we must bear in mind how
the tree came to be planted in the
soil.
Hatred Explained
Anyone who has read memoirs of
an Ambassador" by M. Paleologue,
will find complete explanation in
its pages of the savage hatred with
which the Russian revolutionaries
viewed all those who were associated
in any degree with the old order. He
tells the story of how a gallant army
found itself at the critical hour
without ammunition, rifles, trans
port, and often without food. No
Drawer or more devoted men ever
fought for their country than the
young peasants who made up the
Russian armies of 1914, 1915 and
1916. With little and often no artil-
lery support they faced without fall
tering the best equipped heavy ar
tillery in the world. They were
mown down by shell fire and machine
guns by the million. Their aggre-
gate casualties up to September, 1916,
even according to the Czarist gen.
erals of the day, were 100000. In
reality they were much heavier. Of
ten they went into action with sticks,
as the Russian war office had no rifles
with which to arm them. They picked
up as they advanced rifles dropped
by fallen comrades.
There is nothing in war compare
BILE to the trustful heroism of these
poor peasants. We know now why
there was no rifles or shells or wag
ons. The wholesale corruption of the
regime has been exposed to the world
by irrefutable documentary evidence.
Impotence Of Gear
About the same date, talking about
the deplorable state of things, Grand
Duke Sergius, who was inspector gen.
eral of artillery, said the French am
bassador: when I think of this ex-
hibition of impotence is all our aris-
tocratic system has to show it makes
me want to be republican"
When a Grand Duke talked like
that early in 1915, what must the
peasant soldier have thought by the
spring of 1917, after millions of his
comrades had been slaughtered as a
result of the same exhibition of i'm
potence?"
1t is no use pointing to the fact
that our own army was also short of
ammunition at that date The Brit
ish army was small army organized
on basis of a maximum expedi-
tionary force of six divisions. The
Russian army was a great conscript
force organized on basis of 100 di-
visions in the field.