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the factories, and all business had to be submitted to them for approval. Wages in a majority of the factories were increased from 100 to 150 per cent. But there has yet been no offset by an advance in prices of the output.

In one of the works in Petrograd the workmen demanded the immediate payment of 13,000,000 rubles-normally $6,500,000 to cover an increase of 15 kopecks per hour for each workman since the beginning of the war. The Directors of the organization immediately communicated with the Government and asked to be placed under voluntary arrest as protection against the threats of the workmen, which, as usual, accompanied

the demand. The Directors were for two days housed in the Ministry of Justice. The Government finally informed the Directors that the matter would be considered, and, with the demand of the workmen held temporarily in abeyance, the Directors returned to the factory.

An eight-hour day was everywhere established. In eighteen metal establishments in the Donets district, with a capitalization of 195,000,000 rubles and annual profits of 75,000,000, the workmen had demanded an increase of 240,000,000 rubles. The owners had agreed to 64,000,000, but the workmen refused to accept this. In some of the works the owners decided to cede all the profits to the workmen, but this did not meet their exorbitant demands. The demands in Southern Russian factories aggregate 800,000,000 rubles. In the Urals the increase in wages demanded reaches 30,000,000 rubles, while the annual business does not exceed 200,000,000.

New Army Regulations

The disciplinary regulations of the Russian Army, as promulgated May 27 by the new Government, constitute a document of historic interest as betokening the attitude of advanced Socialists toward a national army. They are entitled "A Decree Regarding the Fundamental Rights of Men in the Fighting Services." The wording throughout is so chosen as to include every one, from Generals and Admirals down to drummer boys, in an absolute equality of rights. The decree is a document of eighteen

paragraphs. The first three lay down that all fighting services men shall enjoy all the rights of free citizens, but must regulate their conduct by the requirements of the service and of discipline. They are to have the right to belong to any political party and to speak, write, or publish anything whatsoever on any political, religious, social, or other subjects, within the scope of the ordinary laws. The fourth paragraph gives full religious freedom; no man is compelled to attend any forms of prayer anywhere.

The next two safeguard correspondence and printed matter: “All printed matter, periodical or otherwise, without any exception, must be delivered without hin

drance to the addressees." The seventh allows the uniform to be discarded except when on actual service, with some exceptions as to garrisons in the war zone. The eighth paragraph runs: "The relations between fighting services men must be based, with strict regard for military discipline, upon the sentiment or dignity of citizens of free Russia and upon mutual confidence, respect, and politeness." The next three paragraphs abolish various details of service as formerly practiced, such as fixed formulas for replies to superiors, the use of soldier The servants, orderlies, &c. twelfth runs: "The compulsory salute, whether for individuals or commands, is abolished. For all fighting services men, in its place, is instituted a voluntary mutual greeting." Exception is made for such cases as parades and ceremonial occasions. The thirteenth gives freedom outside duty hours to quit barracks or ships on merely announcing such an intention to superiors.

The fourteenth says that no one can be subjected to punishment without trial, but in actual fighting conditions the superior has the right, on his own personal responsibility, to take all measures, even to the use of armed force, against such as do not fulfill his orders. The next three paragraphs relate to punishments, which must nowise offend against the sense of honor or dignity. A special note abolishes the form of punishment known as standing under arms. The use of any form of punishment ex

cept such as is indicated in the code is a criminal act, for which the offender must be put on trial. No fighting services men can in any circumstances be subjected to physical punishment of any kind. The last paragraph alone contains some hint that commanding officers exist to command. By paragraph eighteen superiors have the right to make appointments and temporarily remove from appointments, and to issue orders concerning fighting activity or the preparations therefor, but all matters concerning the internal economy of the regiment or ship are in the hands of elective committees. These, by the regulations already published, consist of men and officers, the latter being limited to one-fifth of the number of men elected to a company or regimental committee.

Action of Soldiers' Delegates

On May 30 the Congress of Delegates from the front voted the following resolutions:

First, the army in the trenches declares that it is indispensable to take every measure to put an end as quickly as possible to the international carnage and conclude peace without annexation or indemnities, on the basis of the right of all nations to dispose of themselves, proclaiming at the same time the watchword, "Whoever wishes for peace must prepare for war."

Second, the army, pointing out that the Russian soldiers have been fighting hitherto under conditions infinitely worse than those of the Allies, that the Russian soldier has had to march almost unprotected against the enemy's bullets and break with bare hands the barbed wire entanglements, which the Allies and the enemy pass freely after artillery preparation, declares that the Russian front must be provided with munitions and everything necessary to maintain the principle, "The more metal, the less gun fodder."

In conclusion the congress declared that the army appealed to all to whom free Russia is dear to rally around the Council of Workmen's and Soldiers' Delegates and the Provisional Government and not to permit "adventurers to let the army become manure for foreign fields."

The Cossacks in the Ural district held a convention and passed a resolution to give their unqualified support to the temporary Government. They also issued an appeal to all citizens of free Russia to follow their example. Among the decla

rations contained in the appeal were the following:

"You must remember that the enemy is watching our interior disorganization. Away with fraternization and disorders! We have only one front-our own and that of our allies. The army must not remain quiet, but must help the Allies by advancing."

Seizure of Kronstadt Fortress

A most serious step was taken June 1, when the Workmen's and Soldiers' Delegates defied the Provisional Government and decided to assume control of Kronstadt, the great fortress which defends Petrograd. Two days later it was announced that the Provisional Government had decided that firm measures must be taken to compel the seceders to yield, and two Cabinet Ministers were sent to Kronstadt.

A few days later it was announced that the matter had been adjusted and that the Provisional Government had re-established its authority there. The climax was reached in the crisis June 2, when a parade of armed anarchists calling for the Commune and war on capitalists marched through the streets of Petrograd carrying black banners inscribed: “ Down with Authority! Long Live the Social Revolution and the Commune!" There was no interference from the authorities.

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This seemed the turning point of the frenzy of unrest, for from that time the news became more reassuring.

On June 5 it was announced that General Michael V. Alexeieff, Commander in Chief of the Russian Armies, had resigned. General Brusiloff, Commander in Chief of the Armies of the Southwestern Front, was appointed to succeed him.

General Goutor replaced Brusiloff as commander on the southwestern front.

General Alexeieff was appointed Commander in Chief on April 15, soon after the retirement of Grand Duke Nicholas from that post. General Brusiloff a few weeks previously resigned from his position as Commander in Chief of the Armies on the Southwestern Front, but withdrew his resignation after a conference at Petrograd.

People's Call for Action

On June 8 the alliance of all Russian commercial, industrial, and banking institutions held its first meeting. After a discussion of the politcal situation and speeches by the Belgian Minister to Russia and representatives of the French Embassy it was unanimously resolved to address to the Entente Allies a declaration rejecting emphatically all possibility of Russia concluding a separate peace. The resolution also expressed confidence in an approaching decisive victory over the Central Powers.

A resolution calling upon the army to submit itself to discipline and defend revolutionary Russia was adopted by the Congress of Peasants in session on June 8, in these words:

The peasants aspire to an equitable peace without humiliating annexation or indemnity and with the right of each nation to dispose of itself. International relations and treaties should be submitted to the control of the peoples interested. Disputes should be settled by an international tribunal, and not by force. The congress approves the union of workers and appeals to the peasants of all countries to force their Governments to renounce annexations and indemnities.

The congress considers that it is its duty energetically to defend its country, recoiling before no sacrifices in order to sustain the fighting strength of the army and the struggle for the safety of the patrimony of the Russian people. The congress summons the army to submit itself to discipline and defend revolutionary Russia, of peasants, and workers. It grants its benediction to this war, and will not forget the blood which has been shed.

Minister of War Kerensky ordered that the resolution be read to all ranks of the army and navy. Two hundred girl students of the Petrograd Technical Institute entered their names on the rolls of a female regiment which was raised by Ensign Butchkareff. The aim is to start to the front and to fight in all respects under the same conditions as men. Scores of girls and women, anxious to fight, appeared at the offices of the League of Equal Rights for Women, which has expressed its approval of Lieutenant Butchkareff's plan.

The Constituent Assembly

On June 12 a council of sixty-one members under the Presidency of Kokashkine,

a member of the Duma, met to prepare for the Constituent Assembly. This Assembly will not only draft Russia's permanent Constitution, but will also solve certain immediate problems, the chief of which are the questions of nationalities and the conditions of the transfer of the lands of the nobles to the peasantry. In this preparatory council sat a group of constitutional specialists, also deputies from the army and from all the political parties, representatives of Jews, Ukrainians, Poles, and other races, and also a representative of the women, the famous feminist, Mme. Shishkin Yavein.

The voting age was fixed at 20, with secret, direct voting by both sexes, and 18 years for soldiers.

An important reform proclaimed June 12 is the introduction of the small unit of local self-government, in which all classes may participate equally. Heretofore the smallest of such units was the district Zemstvo, which administered a very large area, cantons and communes having purely peasant administrations. Henceforth the cantons will be administered by representatives of all classes voting equally.

These reforms, though they were proclaimed autocratically by the Provisional Government, were enthusiastically received, as they satisfy the historic national demands, which the former Government repeatedly promised, but never fulfilled.

It was decided to allow the former Emperor and members of the imperial family the privilege of voting.

On June 14, as evidence of the growing confidence of the Government, a decree was issued declaring all acts of military disorder to be insubordination, including refusal to fight and also incitement to fight against the Government. Such acts, says the decree, are punishable by long sentence to servitude in the penitentiary and the deprivation of rights to property and also the right to receive land under the coming land redistribution.

General Denikine, former Chief of Staff, was nominated to succeed General Gurko who had resigned his command of the armies on the western front.

The conflict caused by Finland's claim that the rights of the former Emperor as Grand Duke of Finland did not pass automatically to the Provisional Government was satisfactorily settled by a new law which will be valid until Russo-Finnish relations are permanently regulated by the Constituent Assembly. The right to decide all State transactions, excepting affairs affecting Russian subjects, and also the right to fill the date

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for the opening and closing of the Finnish Diet is conceded to the Finnish Senate. Finland also gets the right of legislative initiative, the right to confirm the budget, revoke administrative decrees, summon the Ecclesiastical Council, and, finally, the right to pardon offenders, counted in almost all countries as a sovereign prerogative. The law practically confers on Finland complete internal autonomy.

The American Mission in Russia

HE American Commission to Russia headed by Elihu Root, former Secretary of State, reached Petrograd via Vladivostok on June 13. The commission was cordially received and housed in the former Winter Palace of the Czar.

On June 15 the American Ambassador, David R. Francis, presented the Root mission to the Council of Ministers in Marinsky Palace, explaining that the members of the mission had come to Russia to discover how America could best co-operate with its ally in forwarding the fight against the common enemy. The presentation was very informal. M. Kerensky, the Minister of War, just back from the front, wore the khaki blouse of a common soldier.

Mr. Root's First Address

The Ministers listened with rapt attention to Mr. Root's address, which was as follows:

Mr. President and Members of the Council of Ministers: The mission for which I have the honor to speak is charged by the Government and people of the United States of America with a message to the Government and people of Russia. The mission comes from a democratic republic. Its members are commissioned and instructed by a President who holds his high office as Chief Executive of more than 100,000,000 free people by virtue of popular election, in which more than 18.000,000 votes were freely cast, and fairly counted pursuant to law, by universal, equal, direct, and secret suffrage.

For 140 years our people have been struggling with the hard problems of self-government. With many shortcomings, many mistakes, many imperfections, we still have maintained order and respect for law, individual freedom, and national independence. Under the security of our own laws we have

grown in strength and prosperity. But we value our freedom more than wealth. We love liberty, and we cherish above all our possessions the ideals for which our fathers fought and suffered and sacrificed that America might be free.

We believe in the competence of the power of democracy and in our heart of hearts abides faith in the coming of a better world in which the humble and oppressed of all lands may be lifted up by freedom to a heritage of justice and equal opportunity.

The news of Russia's new-found freedom brought to America universal satisfaction and joy. From all the land sympathy and hope went out to the new sister in the circle of democracies. And the mission is sent to express that feeling.

The American democracy sends to the democracy of Russia a greeting of sympathy, Distant friendship, brotherhood, godspeed. America knows little of the special conditions of Russian life which must give form to the Government and laws which you are about to create. As we have developed our institutions to serve the needs of our national character and life, so we assume that you will develop your institutions to serve the needs of Russian character and life.

As we look across the sea we distinguish no party, no class. We see great Russia as a whole, as one mighty, striving, aspiring democracy. We know the self-control, essential kindliness, strong common sense, courage, and noble idealism of the Russian character. We have faith in you all. We pray for God's blessing upon you all. We believe you will solve your problems, that you will maintain your liberty, and that our two great nations will march side by side in the triumphant progress of democracy until the old order everywhere has passed away and the world is free.

One fearful danger threatens the liberty of both nations. The armed forces of a military autocracy are at the gates of Russia and the Allies. The triumph of German arms will mean the death of liberty in Russia. Νο enemy is at the gates of America, but America has come to realize that the triumph of

German arms means the death of liberty in the world; that we who love liberty and would keep it must fight for it, and fight for it now when the free democracies of the world may be strong in union, and not delay until they may be beaten down separately in succession.

So America sends another message to Russia-that we are going to fight, for your freedom equally with our own, and we ask you to fight for our freedom equally with yours. We would make your cause ours, and, with a common purpose and mutual helpfulness of a firm alliance, make sure of victory over our common foe.

Mr. Root then added: "You will recognize your own sentiments and purposes in the words of President Wilson to the American Congress, when on the 2d of April last he advised a declaration of war against Germany," and he quoted from that address, closing as follows:

That partnership of honor in the great struggle for human freedom the oldest of the great democracies now seeks in fraternal union with the youngest. Practical and specific methods and the possibilities of our allies' cooperation the members of the mission would be glad to discuss with the members of the Government of Russia.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, M. Terestchenko, who rose from a sickbed to attend the presentation, responded without notes, expressing great joy in welcoming the commission from America. He said that Russia's revolution was based on the wonderful words uttered by America in 1776. He read part of the Declaration of Independence and exclaimed:

"Russia holds with the United States that all men are created free and equal."

M. Terestchenko sketched the history of the Russian revolution briefly, saying that the Russians, enslaved for centuries, threw off all the old order just as the wind blows Autumn leaves from the forest. Russia now faces two problems, said the Minister, the necessity of creating a strong democratic force within its boundaries and the fighting of an external foe. Then he declared for war and expressed unbounded confidence in the power of Russia to meet the situation.

The text of President Wilson's note to the Russian Government explaining the aims of the Root Commission was made public June 18, and is as follows:

The High Commission now on its way from this country to Russia is sent primarily to manifest to the Russian Government and people the deep sympathetic feeling which exists among all classes in America for the adherence of Russia to the principle of democracy, which has been the foundation of the progress and prosperity of this country. The High Commissioners go to convey the greetings of this Republic to the new and powerful member which has joined the great family of democratic nations.

The Commissioners who will bear this fraternal message to the people of Russia have been selected by the President with the special purpose of giving representation to the various elements which make up the American people and to show that among them all there is the same love of country and the same devotion to liberty and justice and loyalty to constituted authority. The commission is not chosen from one political group, but from the various groups into which the American electorate is divided. United, they represent the Republic. However much they may differ on public questions, they are one in support of democracy and in hostility to the enemies of democracy throughout the world.

The commission is prepared, if the Russian Government desires, to confer upon the best ways and means to bring about effective cooperation between the two Governments in the prosecution of the war against the German autocracy, which is today the gravest It menace to all democratic Governments.

is the view of this Government that it has become the solemn duty of those who love democracy and individual liberty to render harmless this autocratic Government, whose ambition, aggression, and intrigue have been Whatever disclosed in the present struggle. the cost in life and treasure, the supreme object should be and can be attained only by the united strength of the democracies of the world, and only then can come that permanent and universal peace which is the hope of all people.

To the common cause of humanity, which Russia has so courageously and unflinchingly supported for nearly three years, the United States is pledged. To co-operate and aid Russia in the accomplishment of the task, which as a great democracy is more truly hers today than ever before, is the desire of the United States. To stand side by side, shoulder to shoulder against autocracy, will unite the American and Russian peoples in a friendship for the ages.

With this spirit the High Commissioners of the United States will present themselves in the confident hope that the Russian Government and people will realize how sincerely the United States hopes for their welfare and desires to share with them in their future endeavors to bring victory to the cause of democracy and human liberty.

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