and federation of the State will be determined by the Constituent Assembly, possessor of the supreme

power.

2. The Government secures to national minorities which do not occupy definite territories the free development of their national culture.

3. The Government secures to the liberated parts of Russia the reestablishment of democratic municipalities and Zemstvos, fixing immediately the nearest possible date for new elections.

4. The Government secures the realization of civil liberties.

5. The Government will take necessary measures actually guaranteeing general security and public order.

ECONOMIC RELATIONS

1. To cope with the economic disorganization.

2. Development of productive forces of the country with the aid of private capital, as well Russian as foreign, and of personal initiative.

3. Legal regulation of commerce and industry.

4. Increase the productiveness of labor and reduce the non-essential expenditure of national revenues.

5. Development of labor legislation, protection of labor and regulation of the conditions of employment and discharge of workmen.

late distribution of products existing in insufficient quantities, and will organize State warehouses with the aid of private commerce and cooperative societies.

8. In the sphere of finance the Government will combat the depreciation of paper money in working out the reconstitution of the fiscal system, increasing the direct income tax and the indirect taxes.

9. The Constituent Assembly alone has the right to solve definitely the agrarian question and the Government cannot admit any modification which would impede the work of the Constituent Assembly. It, therefore, temporarily leaves the exploitation of the soil to its present holders and resumes activities aiming to regulate and increase to the utmost the exploitation of the soil, in conformity with the peculiarities of the regional customs.

ORDER OF SUBSTITUTION OF MEMBERS OF THE GOVERNMENT

The Provisional Government, possessor of supreme power, exercises this power in accordance with the above principles. Until the convocation of the Constituent Assembly the members of this body cannot be recalled and are not responsible to anybody for their activities.

The following persons are chosen to serve as substitutes for members

7. Relative to questions of supplies the Government stands for abolition of State monopoly of wheat and abolition of fixed prices, continuing at the same time to regu

Andrew A. Argunoff, Vladimir A. Vinogradoff, General Michael V. Alexieff, Vassili V. Sapojnikoff and Vladimir M. Zenzinoff.

R

EPRESENTATIVES of over 50,000,000 people of oppressed nations in Middle Europe signed a new Declaration of Independence at Philadelphia last month. This was the climax of a convention which favored Mid-European unity with America and the Allies in this war, Mid-European union for cooperative development after the war, and the formation of "a league of the nations of the world in a common and binding agreement for genuine and practical cooperation to secure justice and therefore peace among nations."

Professor Thomas G. Masaryk, the Czecho-Slovak leader and president of the Mid-European Union, read the declaration from the steps of Independence Hall where, on the same table used by the signers of our Declaration of Independence, the charter of new-born democracies in Europe was signed. A replica of our Liberty Bell bearing the inscription,

"Liberty for all the world and all the inhabitants thereof" was rung and a new flag was unfurled as a part of the impressive ceremonies. This call of the new world to the old is one of the most remarkable results of the war.

The text of the new Declaration of Independence reads:

"In convention assembled at Independence Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America, on Oct. 26, 1918, we, representing together more than 50,000,00 people constituting a chain of nations lying between the Baltic, the Adriatic, and the Black Seas, comprising CzechoSlovacs, Poles, Jugoslavs, Ukrainians, Uhro-Russians, Lithuanians, Rumanians, Italian Irredentists, Unredeemed Greeks, Albanians, and Zionists, wholly or partly subject to alien dominion, deeply appreciating the aid and assistance given our peoples by the Government and people of America and of the Entente Allies,

on behalf of ourselves and our brethren at home, do hereby solemnly declare that we place our all-peoples and resources at the disposal of our allies for use against our common enemy; and in order that the whole world may know what we deem are the essential and fundamental doctrines which shall be embodied in the constitutions hereafter adopted by the peoples of our respective inde pendent nations, as well as the purposes which shall govern our common and united action, we accept and subscribe to the following as basic principles for all free peoples:

"1. That all governments derive their just power from the consent of the governed.

"2. That it is the inalienable right of every people to organize their own government on such principles and in such form as they believe will best promote their welfare, safety and happiness.

"3. That the free and natural development of the ideals of any State shall be allowed to pursue their normal and unhindered course, unless such course harms or threatens the common interest of all.

"4. That there should be no secret diplomacy, and all proposed treaties and agreements between between nations should be made public prior to their adoption and ratification.

"5. That we believe our peoples, having kindred ideals and purposes, should co-ordinate their efforts to insure the liberty of their individual nations for the furtherance of their common welfare, provided such a

union contributes to the peace and welfare of the world.

"6. That there should be formed a league of the nations of the world in a common and binding agreement for genuine and practical co-operation to secure justice and therefore peace among nations.

"In the course of our history we have been subject to and victims of aggressive and selfish nations and autocratic dynasties and held in subjection by force of arms.

"We have suffered destruction of our cities, violation of our homes and lands, and we have maintained our ideals only by stealth, in spite of the tyranny of our oppressors.

T no moment since the world war

AT

began has there been more confusion in America and more concern in England, France and Italy over the possible settlement of the issues arising from it. The belligerent associates of the United States had thought, and seemingly had excellent reason for believing, that President Wilson would see the war through to a victorious finish, signalized by the surrender of Germany. The President had declared for force, without stint or limit, to be applied to Germany; he had spoken against any kind of bargain or compromise, therefore the supposition was that he had changed his policy and his determination when he entered into correspondence with Germany, who sought peace by negotiation, after realizing the impossibility of imposing peace by violence.

President Wilson's course has been no surprise to those familiar with his utterances since the war began and particularly a statement made by him at the Jefferson Day dinner in Washington in 1916. He said then:

"God forbid that we should ever become directly or indirectly embroiled in quarrels not of our own choosing, and that we do not affect what we feel responsible to defend,

but if we should ever be drawn in, are you ready to go in only where the interests of America are coinciIdent with the interests of mankind, and to draw out the moment the interest centers in America and is narrowed from the wide circle of humanity? Are you ready for the test? Have you the courage to go in? Have you the courage to come out, according as the balance is disturbed or readjusted for the interests of humanity?"

In no utterance since America entered the war has President Wilson wandered from "the interests of humanity." They have been his sole consideration, and he has been no more interested in the possible material advantages which might accrue to the Entente Powers as a result of the war than in any which might have accrued to the United States, which he has consistently repudiated. His supreme concern has been the humanitarian, moral and natural problems, the latter embracing the rights of nationalities. The Entente nations were aware of his position, which was America's position, when this country entered the struggle, and if passion may have swept some, who supported President Wilson when he requested of Congress the authority to employ the armed force of America against Germany,

into a bitterer feeling than that which prompted the actions of the President, he himself has not changed, nor can the outcry raised against his more recent actions intimidate him. He will remain true to his course. He can be diverted from that course only through being deprived of the power of continuing in it, which could be only partially effected by the returning to the Senate of a Republican majority.

President Wilson is forehanded with situations. The most responsible statesmen in the opposition and their most authoritative spokesmen in private life had challenged him and denounced his program for the establishment of the foundations of future international conduct and relations. President Wilson in his address of January 8 and in subsequent speeches had stated sets of principles which formed the objects for which the United States was fighting. President Wilson was speaking not for the American Republic alone, but for every other nation, including including those of the enemy coalition as well. The responsible spokesmen for the Entente Powers neither took umbrage at them nor disclaimed them; the Allied press applauded them and hailed the President of the United States as the moral spokesman for the Associated Powers, indeed as the ablest statesman of the age. At the same time, it is to be remembered, the Entente Governments refrained from declaring their Own peace terms; only Russia surrendered its rights under the Treaty of London, which provided for territorial com

pensations, a compact which bears every appearance, if not absolute evidence, of being at variance with the principles enunciated by President Wilson.

There was also a notable absence

in America of reasoned objection in important quarters to President Wilson's principles. The press indorsed them. Some journals, indeed, of marked hostility to the President and to the Democratic party, and which, if they have approved of any act of the President's except his war message to Congress it has been overlooked, made light of the President's intentions and his socalled fourteen points. Former President Roosevelt, also, attacked them, and on October 24 in a telegram to Senators Lodge and Poindexter he declared:

"The language of the fourteen points and the subsequent statements explaining or qualifying them is neither straightforward nor plain, but if construed in its probable sense many and possibly most of these fourteen points are thoroughly mischievous, and if made the basis of a peace, such peace would not represent the unconditional surrender of Germany, but the conditional surrender of the United States."

Another pertinent statement made by Colonel Roosevelt appeared in the Kansas City Star on October 17. He said:

"This isn't the President's war. It is the people's war. The peace will not be a satisfactory peace unless it is the people's peace. As a people we have no right to permit