THE RUSSIAN PEACE

After weeks of dilly-dallying the Russian Empire has finally succumbed to German intrigue. The Bolsheviki government has declared peace on all fronts and Germany is now free to bring all her troops to the Western Front.

Just how much to blame the Russian people for going back on their allies is difficult to say. To pity them rather than curse them is the fairest way, for there is no sense in heaping coals of fire upon the heads of a demoralized nation. Russia is in a condition where internal reform is the one essential and where a real military resistance is impossible. We believe that by making peace she is throwing herself open to every type of Teuton trick and that Germany will exploit the Slavs solely for what can be drawn out of them. All of which is their hard luck and not ours.

What interests us is the fact that Germany will now be able to import raw materials of every kind and that she will shift at least a million men from Russia to the other fronts. This means a tremendous addition in power to the offensive which is bound to come this spring,--it means that the German pressure on all fronts will be greater than it has been since 1914. Our answer must be immediate; we must do more than balance the Kaiser's hordes. The less we think and sigh about poor Russia, the sooner will be brought about the quick action so essential to Allied victory.