Cordova Daily Times
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H. G. STEEL
_EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR.
M EM BEH OF ASSOCIATED Bit ESS
The Associated I’ress is exclusivel;
entitled to the use for republication o
all news credited to it or not other
wise credited in this paper and als(
the local news published herein.
All rights of republieation of specia
despatches herein are also reserved.
SATURDAY. FEBRUARY 9, 1918.
FIRST IN IMPORTANCE
The matter of supreme importance
to the whole nation is the war. Every
Jine of business, every industry, is sec
ondary to the importance of putting
our whole strength into the task ol
winning the war and doing sc
promptly. All other things must give
way to war needs. Business anl in
tlustry cannot be conducted “as usual.'
They can only be conducted in so fat
is they do not interfere with the ne
cessities of the war. If the coal con
-limed by industries is of vital need
in the prosecution of the war, then
the industries must lie closed tempo
rarily. it is natural that there should
he a great outcry of dissent from the
orders of the fuel administration, but
it closing industries will be of service
in the task of winning the war, then
all should loyally and cheerfully ac
eept the decision.
For the successful prosecution of the
war it is of the greatest importance
mat our supplies and men shall be
transported to France at once. In our
Atlantic ports are hundreds of ships
all loaded with provisions and muni
tions and ready to cross the ocean,
hut lacking the coal to take them
across. The supplies are needed by
•our own men at the front, and also by
the nations associated with us in the
war. The result of the war may hinge
on our ability to get our ships across
quickly. To that great necessity
-everything else must give way. To get
the ships across the ocean at once may
save the cause of the allies. To send
them over two or three months hence
may be too late.
It is a hard thing to have business
and industry suspended, even for a
short time. Many men will be out of
employment and business will he dis
organized. But such things must be
expected in time of war. As the war
ontinuc-s, it is likely that there will
i be even more rigorous regulations and
restrictions There will he hardships,
but it is war necessity that brings such
hardships about The war is first. The
privations and hardships caused by the!
war should be endured cheerfully and
uncomplainingly. It is a patriotic duty.
It is one of the ways of helping in the
winning of the war.
--♦
QUICK ACTION
The senate of the United States ex
yiresses the opinion that the fuel ad
ministration was discourteous in issu
ing the order closing industries tem
porarily while the senate was still de
bating a resolution calling for the post
ponement of the order until there
could be a full investigation by con
gress into the necessity of putting into
effect so drastic a regulation. When
>he resolution was finally adopted it
was learned that the order already
had been Issued.
For months congress has been in
vestigating the cause of delays in va
rious departments which have in hand
the conduct of the war. There can be
no complaint as to delay in this in
stance. The order was given witl
startling suddenness. It may have been
suspected that if the matter got into
a congressional investigation it would
be tied up until the war is over.
-«
AIN’T IT AWFUL
With amused interest the Americat
people will read this comment by t
semi-official newspaper in Berlin, th<
Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeltung:
“The American secretary of wai
speaks of an American army in France
but it consists entirely of wood-cutters
railway men and doctors, except twi
or three divisions, whose precioui
lives are being spared in quiet place
behind the front. Mr. Baker speak
as if shortly there would be 1,500,00
Americans In France. Can the Unites
States spare such a large number c
men7 The answer is no, because
large part of the army must remai
behind for the protection of the froi
tiers, the coasts, the colonies, and fc
other duties of a political nature. Th
political situation compels the Unite
States to keep at home the great*
proportion of its army, and the coui
try can at the most put only 400.0C
or 500,000 men into the European ba
tleflelds.’’ jU
j There you are! A large part of our
army must remain behind to protect
• our frontiers, our coasts, our colonies
i and for of tier duties of a political na
ture! Our frontiers are beset by
i hordes of wild, bloodthirsty Indians
i Vast armadas of relentless but un
i specified enemies are off our coasts
| ready to effect a landing at the first
I unguarded spot. Our colonies are so
turbulent and unruly that they can
only be kept in repression by huge
forces of infantry and artillery. And
our political activities—ye gods! are
1: so bitter and brutal and bloody that,
I save for the armed intervention of the
i government, each party would rise up
and massacre the other. Ain't it aw
1 ful. Mabel!
-«
ABANDONING ARMENIA
_
| It is earnestly hoped that Russia
I will not evacuate Armenia until the
* British forces now in Mesopotamia and
Syria are able to reach there, if indeed
the British are in sufficient strength
to be able to make their way to Ar
menia against the Turkish forces, now
reinforced because of the armistice
between Turkey and Russia.
The people of no Christian land
have been subjected to such atrocities
as the Armenians have received at the
hands of the Turks. The people are
not rebellious of authority nor difficult
to govern, and the antagonism among
the Turks which has resulted in the
persecutions is probably solely due to
the fact that they are Christians.
There were massacres at frequent in
tervals before the war started. Every
few years the civilized world would
be shocked by reports In the news
papers of a new massacre in Armenia,
immediately after Turkey entered the
war on the side of Germany there were
outrages and brutalities in Armenia
more terrible than any that a subject
people was ever before subjected to.
rossibly the Armenians did not sym
pathize fully with the Turks in the
war, and lent as little assistance as
possible.
i lie airuniiKs in miiit!iua uiuy
ended when a Russian army reached
that country and put a stop to the
| persecutions. If the Russian forces
now retire, in accordance with the
terms of the peace agreement now un
, der consideration between the central
powers and Russia, the people of Ar
menia will again be at the mercy of
the Turks, and doubtless the Turk
will make up in good measure for the
few years of respite which the Armeni
ans have had from their brutalities.
It is doubtful if much can be done
to save this people, already decimated
by massacres, famine and privation,
from practical extermination when the
Turks are again in control there. Per
haps an ultimatum from the United
States that an instant, declaration of
war against Turkey would follow any
fresh outrages in Armenia might have
some effect. The chief hope, however,
is that the British forces may be able
to reach Armenia in time, but that i
a faint hope.
-+
CONFUSION MORE CONFOUNDED
Nine months ago, if we may accept
the story told by his friends, Leon
Trotzky lived with his wife and two
children in a three-room New York
tenement, a plain Socialist writer and
lecturer. Today, as the foreign min
ister of Russia, the Wall Street Jour
nal believes he is “fated to exert a
greater influence upon the destinies
of the world than Napoleon Bona
parte.”
That remains to be seen. What
doesn’t remain to be seen is that
Russia under Lenine and Trotzky is
also under a reign of anarchy and
terror. “The country is fast slipping
back to the middle ages,” cables Hal
oid Williams from Petrograd to the
New York Times. Mr. Williams gives
particulars of the breaking down of
Russia, and his accounts agree in
every particular with the stories sent
out of that country by correspondents
of the London Times and Chronicl
and to several papers in this country
What these men write from actua
' observation of the conditions must be
taken as truthful.
Chaos, they tell us, prevails in Rus
, sia. Except in a few places wher
,j strong individuals have succeeded in
> organizing communities for the pur
i pose of self-protection and the main
i tenance of order, there is an incon
s ceivable state of anarchy that is dailj
) increasing. It is rampant everywhere
1 and is shown in the destruction of pub
f lie works, even such necessary utili
a. ties as water works, lighting plants
l railroads, estates, farm communltle
t- and stores of grain. Bands of men
r generally soldiers who have been re
e leased from the army, go about ih
d country taking what they want fo
r themselves and destroying everythin!
i- else. Few people are at work, am
0 want, misery and privation are becom
> dng general.
| In theory Socialism may have mucl
in its favor, but, when put to the test
of experience it cuts a sorry figure.
The people of Russia are returning
to a civilization but a little higher
than savagery.
-
PIGMY BUREAUCRATS
It is perhaps significant that the
larger part of senatorial criticism of
Dr. Garfield's fuel fast came from the
Democratic side of the chamber, and
much of it from men who have hitherto
held steadfast to the theory that ''the
f king can do no wrong,” It is begin
ning to seep through the conscious
ness of public men and of the public
generally that some if not most of the
President’s subordinates are not big
enough for their jobs. It may be that
none of them will furnish so signal a
demonstration of this fact as Garfield
lias: but the old Latin proverb has its
1 application—“Ex uno disce omnes.”
(from one judge all).
-♦-—
Cheer up, folks. The department of
agriculture has just announced that
the 1917 crop in the United States was
valued at nineteen and a half billions
of dollars—the most valuable harvest
ever grown in this country. It was
six millions greater than that of 1916
and nine millions in excess of the 1915
crop. Uncle Sam can yet made good
his boast that he can feed the world
if he makes lip his mind to do so.
.♦
The government has changed its.
mind on the question of the refusal to
pay for the transportation of army
recruits from Interior Alaska, and
hereafter those who voluntarily enlist
will have transportation, together with
maintenance, furnished to Fort Mc
Dowell, Cal. The first to take advan
tage of the new ruling was a young
newspaper employe named Leith Rus
sell.
-♦
The Chinese rebels are reported to
have attacked an American gunboat.
Can it be possible the yellow men are
getting their dander up over some
thing? They may fight Germany yet.;
“
At least it can be said to the credit ,
of the Sixty-fifth congress that nil- '
merous bills have not been introduced j
appropriating untold millions of dol
lars for pork purposes.
-♦-- j
The army needs “gas and flame” <
fighters, the war department anaaun
ces. It should be easy to find men
eminently experienced in doing all
their fighting with gas.
-«
A German newspaper has coined a
fifty-three-letter word to describe an
irreconcilable pan-German. We know
many Americans who do it with words
of but three or four letters.
-*
Roosevelt was in Washington re
cently looking for a fight. He always
has lost something like that. Every
time he is heard of he is looking for
that fight.
—♦
The I. W. W.’s keep sending Gov
ernor Stephens of California infernal
machines that won't go off. For some
reason they can’t utilize their wheels
without stopping the clock.
--—♦
Bigamy is said to be rapidly spread
ing in Germany. If the sins of the
fathers are visited upon the children,
look out for a “generation of vipers’
worse than the present .
-»
One of the most entertaining sights
in life is to see two men who know
all about the war, and then some, try
ing to instruct each other.
-»
A Montesano man took another
man’s wife and then said God gave
her to him. He got his lead for that
story from the kaiser and Belgium.
-«.
Several things may bring about
peace, but the best guarantee is the
old-time smashing victory. That should
be the only dependence of the allies.
-»
Apparently certain Eastern manu
facturers think that, in view of Ur.
Garfield’s drastic order, the kaiser
should look to his laurels.
-♦
There are still all sorts of liars In
the world, including the man who tells
you he prefers the East to the West
-«
The more the blizzards themselves
howl in northern Italy, the less they
make Rome do it.
--♦
In his calmer moments Trotzky
frankly admits that Russia is several
miles from Utopia.
•-♦
q Still another plan would be to lock
, the jurors at Brest-Lltovsk up till they
I reached either a verdict or a massacre.
-♦
You can’t take things by and large
i any more. You can buy, but not large.
Don’t Be Deluded
THE TIN CAN OR THE STOCKING WILL NOT PROTECT
YOUR SAVINGS IF YOU ALLOW OUR GOVERNMENT
TO LOSE.
THE NECESSITY FOR PUTTING YOUR SHOULDER TO
THE WHEEL IS REAL. IF YOU ARE A FRIEND DON’T
BE TIMID. IF YOU ARE AN ENEMY BE FRIENDLY
AND HELP SAVE WHAT YOU HAVE. BUY GOVERN
MENT WAR ISSUES AND PUT THE BALANCE IN CIR
CULATION BY DEPOSITING WITH
Bank of Alaska
I ALASKA’S BRANCH BANKING SYSTEM
CAPITAL AND SURPLUS $105,500.00 I|
“AN INSTITUTION OF STR ENGTH AND CHARACTER’’ ffj
| If You
ARE LAID UP IN THE HOSPITAL
YOUR EARNING POWER
Stops
Does your Insurance cover you? If not
Get a ^ IN 1 POLICY IN THE J. D. Hollenbeck
♦ J 1 NORTHERN LIFE District Agent, Cordova
EVEN THE CHILDREN WEAR GAS MASKS IN REIMS
Tile clouds of asphyxiating gases with which the Teutons drench the allied lines are no respecters of persons,
so even the tittle children in the districts close to the fighting lines must wear gas masks to protect themselves from
Hun frightfulness. The tots In this group on their way to school In Reims are all provided with masks.
CHARLES EDWARD RUSSELL
ON RUSSIAN SITUATION
No other phase of the great war is
being watched today with such con
suming interest and anxiety as the
situation in Russia. The men at the
head of Russian affairs have been
called traitors, weaklings, tools of Ger
man influence—and then they sud
denly rise and refuse to submit to Ger
man terms against which they seemed
powerless to protest! What are we to
make of a people like these? How
are we to judge them, or predict from
one day to the next what action they
will take? This is the great puzzle at
present, a puzzle which every Ameri
can interested in public affairs cud
gels his brains to solve. The vitupera
tion of much of our press utterance
cannot help to solve it. But a man
clearsighted, disinterested, sympathe
tic, and above all with real knowledge,
clears the mystery for us in the ar
tide, “What is a Bolsheviki?” in
Hearst’s Magazine for February; that
man is Charles Edward Russell, mem
ber of the special commission sent by
the United States to Russia. “To
the end of time," he writes, “mankind
will probably have reason to lament
that in the year 1917 the American
did not understand the Russian and
the Russian did not understand the
American;” yet “if it be at all worth
while to try to know a people upon
whom the fate of the world probably
depends, it is certainly worth while to
try to get his right number.” Mr. Rus
sell, from his intimate knowledge of
the Bolsheviki as they actually exist,
disabuses our minds of the idea that
they are simply specimens of the ge
nus yellow dog. He makes us see
much that is heroic and gentle, and
even sublime in them, along with the
elements of fanaticism and inability to
face realities which have bewildered
the world. His masterly analysis re
veals the bundle of contradictions
which make up the Russian character,
and which only the Germans, among
foreign nations, have taken the pains
to understand In other words, he
does a distinct service to American
publicity by giving a just appraisal to
a situation which we have been
tempted to content ourselves with
calling chaos. As a war document,
Mr. Russell’s article is sure to be
given distinct prominence. Mr. Rus
sell also gives a detailed account of
the attempts made to wreck the train
of the commission and the manner in
which the Russian peasants met the
danger; he disentangles for us the
tangle of the Russian National Cour
cil; and he proves the interesting fa
that Kerenski was not and never cou'
be dictator to the Russian pee
Hearst’s Magazine is to be con
lated on securing an essay of s’
tense interest and enduring “ ~ Jr —
“Probably we Americans ca^
stand him. and we ought to d
is the worth-while man of tb
generations.” 4
-♦
German diplomacy mov.
terious way its blunder*