cratic Council. The Bolsheviki leaders were still hesitating as to the wisdom of a demonstration. The minority parties apparently took it for granted that an armed demonstration was improbable.

At 3 o'clock on the morning of the 7th unanimity was reached, as a result of a series of reports received from garrison units expressing readiness to accept orders from the Military Revolutionary Committee. It was decided to strike. The Provisional Government forthwith was declared nonexistent.

At 4:30 o'clock the first detachment left the Soviet headquarters and descended upon the Government Bank, in accordance with the plan prepared by the committee. The whole success of the Bolsheviki coup turned upon this plan of campaign. The promoters were naturally unwilling to divulge details, but Smolny Institute (Bolsheviki headquarters) gossip declared that its authors were three hitherto unheard-of youths, and dwelt lovingly on the completeness of the details. Petrograd awoke on Nov. 7 and went about its normal business, and only toward midday was it realized, except in the centre, that the old Government had been painlessly replaced. Some hundreds of young men of the officers' training corps and the women soldiers formed the sole defense of the Provisional Government. These encircled and garrisoned the Winter Palace, and were themselves surrounded by garrison troops.

The cruiser Aurora arrived from Kronstadt and took up a position on the Neva opposite the Winter Palace. In the afternoon the cruiser fired a blank shot as a warning to the palace inmates. This started a slight panic, and a party of sailors landing for pourparlers was fired on, one being killed and one wounded. This apparently was the most serious case of bloodshed on Wednesday.

In the afternoon the Nevsky Prospekt was cleared of traffic, and machine guns and quick-firers were placed at the prin cipal crossings throughout the city. Perfect quiet was maintained.

Another correspondent estimates the casualties among the defenders of the Winter Palace on Nov. 7 at about thirty killed and wounded.

Bolsheviki Peace Plan

The Workmen's and Soldiers' Congress at Petrograd passed the following peace resolutions on Nov. 10:

The Government considers a peace to be democratic and equitable, which is aspired to by a majority of the working classes of all the belligerent countries, worn out and ruined by war-the peace which the Russian workmen called for on the fall of the monarchy. It should be an immediate peace, without annexation, (that is to say, without usurpation of foreign territory and without violent conquest of nationalities,) and without indemnities.

The Russian Government proposes to all belligerents to make this peace immediately, declaring themselves ready without delay to carry out all the conditions of this peace through plenipotentiaries of all countries and nations.

By annexation or usurpation of territory the Government means, in accordance with the sense of justice of democracy in general and of the working classes in particular, any annexation to a great and powerful State of a weak nationality without the consent of that nationality and independently of its degree of civilization and its geographical situation in Europe or across the ocean.

If any population be kept by force under the control of any State, and if, contrary to its will, expressed in the press or in national assembly, or to decisions of parties, or in opposition to rebellions and uprisings against an oppressor, the population is refused the right of universal suffrage, of driving out an army of occupation and organizing its own political régime, such a state of things is The annexation or violent usurpation. Government considers that the active carrying on of the war in order to share weak nationalities which have been conquered between rich and powerful nations is a great crime against humanity. Accordingly, the Government solemnly proclaims its decision to sign peace terms which will bring this war to an end on the conditions mentioned above, which are equitable for all the nationalities.

It suggests an immediate armistice of three months that the representatives of "all the nations in the war or its victims" may participate in the negotiations, and declares that a conference of all the nations of the world should be convoked to give final approval to the peace terms drafted.

The German Kaiser announced Nov. 20 that he would not treat with the Bolsheviki Government.

The Bolsheviki Cabinet

The following Cabinet was named by the All-Russian Congress of Workmen's and Soldiers' Delegates on Nov. 9 to serve until the Constituent Assembly should meet:

Premier-NIKOLAI LENINE.

Foreign Minister-LEON TROTZKY.
Minister of the Interior-M. RICKOFF.
Minister of Finance-M. SVORTZOFF.
Minister of Agriculture-M. MILIUTIN.
Minister of
Labor-M. SHLIAPNI-

KOFF.

Committee on War and Marine-M. OVSIANNIKOFF, M. KRYLENKO, and M. BIBENKO.

Minister of Commerce-M. NOGIN. Minister of Education-M. LUNACHARSKY.

Minister of Justice-M. OPPOKOV. Minister of Supplies-M. THEODOROVITCH.

Minister of Posts and Telegraphs-M. AVILOFF.

Minister of Affairs of Nationality (a new post in charge of the affairs of the different nationalities within Russia)-M.

DZHUGASHVILI.

Minister of Communications-M. RIAZANOFF.

The Cabinet members are all Bolsheviki, and are supported by the Left and the Social Revolutionist Pary, the other parties having withdrawn from the Workmen's and Soldiers' Congress. Bibenko is a Kronstadt sailor, while Shliapnikoff is a laborer.

Lenine, like most of the prominent Russian agitators, had to use an alias in his revolutionary activity. His real name is Vladimir Ilyitch Uulyanoff; he was born of a noble family at Simbirsk, on the Volga, about 1870.

Leon Trotzky, the chief coadjutor of Lenine in the rebellion, had been living in New York City three months when the Czar was overthrown, but had previously been expelled from Germany, France, Switzerland, and Spain. The real name of this Maximalist leader is Leber Braunstein, and he was born in a town in the Russian Government of Kherson, near the Black Sea.

Kerensky Defeated

The news following the uprising was conflicting; it was not until Nov. 18 that the real facts were procurable. When the insurrection occurred, Kerensky succeeded in escaping from Petrograd, but the

other members of his Cabinet were arrested, though subsequently released. Kerensky succeeded in persuading about 2,000 Cossacks, several hundred military cadets, and a contingent of artillery to fight under his banner. He advanced toward Petrograd, but his forces were greatly outnumbered by the Bolsheviki. The forces met near Tsarskoe Selo, a few miles beyond Petrograd; here the Kerensky troops met defeat, and the leader was reported to be in flight.

At Moscow, after desultory fighting, the Government troops were defeated and the entire city passed into the control of the Bolsheviki; it was reported that 3,000 persons were slain in the street fighting.

News from all parts of Russia on Nov. 19 indicated that the Kerensky Government had everywhere collapsed. Conditions were chaotic. It was reported that the Bolsheviki had quarreled and several members of the Cabinet had resigned. Ukraine had again declared its independence; the Finnish Socialists had dissolved the sitting Diet and reconvened the previous Socialist Diet, which in turn declared Finland to be an independent republic. It was reported that General Kaledines, the hetman of the Cossacks, had declared against the Bolsheviki, and was organizing an army to save the country. News from the front was disquieting, it being reported that the army was without rations. The whole country was reported to be in revolt, with no central authority. The American Ambassador at Petrograd on the 19th asked for a special train to carry out of the city the 200 Americans there, and the Americans at Moscow were preparing to depart.

The only hope of the distracted country lay in the inability of the revolutionists to fulfil their promises. It was believed that the masses would soon realize the illusory dreams of the radicals, and turn en masse to the moderátes, from whose number some strong man would emerge to save the country from complete anarchy and preserve for the nation its new democratic institutions. In many quarters on Nov. 20 it was believed that General Kaledines and the Cossacks might yet save the situation.

The most important step to increase still further and organize on a better basis the fighting forces of the nation was initiated by the War Department's plan to examine by means of a questionnaire and classify the remaining nine million young men registered under the Conscription act, but not yet called for service. President Wilson on Nov. 10 issued as a foreword to the new regulations an appeal for assistance in the work of classification. It read, in part:

The task of selecting and mobilizing the first contingent of the national army is nearing completion. The swiftness with which the machinery for its execution had to be assembled left room for adjustment and improvement. New regulations putting these improvements into effect are, therefore, being published today. There is no change in the essential obligation of men subject to selection. The first draft must stand unaffected by the provisions of the new regulations. They can be given no retroactive effect.

The time has come for a more perfect organization of our man power. The selective principle must be carried to its logical conclusion. We must make a complete inventory of the qualifications of all registrants in order to determine, as to each man not already selected for duty with the colors, the place in the military, industrial or agricultural ranks of the nation of which his experience and training can best be made to serve the common good. This project involves an inquiry by the selection boards into the domestic, industrial, and educational qualifications of nearly 10,000,000 men.

The President fixed sixty days as the period within which the work should be accomplished, and called upon all citizens to help in getting it done quickly and efficiently.

First Two Classes of Registrants

The first two classes from which the 9,000,000 men registered for military duty are to be drawn are as follows:

CLASS I.

(A) Single man without dependent relatives.

(B) Married man, with or without chiloren, or father of motherless children, who has habitually failed to support his family.

(C) Married man dependent on wife for support.

(D) Married man, with or without children, or father of motherless children, man not usefully engaged, family supported by income independent of his labor. (E) Unskilled farm laborer.

(F) Unskilled industrial laborer. Registrant by or in respect of whom no deferred classification is claimed or made. Registrant who fails to submit questionnaire and in respect of whom no deferied classification is claimed or made.

All registrants not included in any other division in this schedule.

CLASS II.

(A) Married man with children or father of motherless children, where such wife or children or such motherless children are not mainly dependent upon his labor for support for the reason that there are other reasonably certain sources of adequate support, (excluding earnings or possible earnings from the labor of the wife,) available, and that the removal of the registrant will not deprive such depen1ents of support.

(D) Married man, without children, whose wife, although the registrant is engaged in a useful occupation, is not mainly dependent upon his labor for support for the reason that the wife is skilled in some special class of work which she is physically able to perform and in which she is employed, or in which there is an immediate opening for her under conditions that will enable her to support herself decently and without suffering or hardship.

(C) Necessary skilled farm laborer in necessary agricultural enterprise.

Best available estimates indicated that the first of the five classes would include more than 2,000,000 men subject for duty with the colors before any man in any other class would be called.

The Officers' Training Camps

The Secretary of War on Nov. 13 announced a reversal of the policy he had previously adopted in regard to holding in reserve the officers graduated from training camps. When Secretary Baker first notified the Adjutant General that only officers would be assigned to active duty where vacancies existed, it was estimated that fully 8,000, or half of the number expected to be commissioned in the camps, would be placed on the reserve list. There were so many vigorous protests against this plan that Secretary Baker decided to revert to the original plan of the Army General Staff and officers in charge of training camps.

There were about 19,000 students in the second series of officers' training camps, which closed on Nov. 27. The opening of the third series was fixed for Jan. 5, 1918.

To balance the divisions of the national army and National Guard and meet the special requirements of the expeditionary forces in France, the Engineer Corps has been expanded since March 1 from 2,100 men to 95,000 men. There are now 408 officers on active duty and more than 5,000 reserve officers, compared with 256

officers eight months ago, and an additional 1,200 reserve officers about to graduate. The active force now includes nine railroad regiments and one forestry regiment as part of the national army, while seventeen pioneer regiments authorized with the national army are in process of formation. Additional National Guard units, equivalent to about seven regiments, have been called into the Federal service and their reorganization into seventeen pioneer engineer regiments for the seventeen divisions of the National Guard troops is well under way. Organizing of troops for special service, such as lumber supply, road construction, camouflage service, gas and flame work, mining work, mapping, &c., also has been undertaken by the engi

neers.

Major Gen. John Biddle, it was announced on Oct. 28, had been appointed Assistant Chief of the Army General Staff. General Biddle was formerly President of the War College, and is one of the ablest engineers in the army. The General is a native of Michigan, and was born Feb. 2, 1859. During the SpanishAmerican war he served as Lieutenant Colonel, Chief of Engineers.

L

AST night two other civilians and I watched the 311th Regiment of Infantry at Camp Dix, (Wrightstown, N. J.,) pass in review before its Colonel. In the cool, sober twilight of Autumn, the ranks of khaki blended magically into the dun background of woodland and corn stubble. The regimental band, organized less than two weeks ago, played "The Star-Spangled Banner" in a way that brought our heels together. Any man watching those long lines of men who a month or so ago were professors, barbers, plumbers, and clerks realizes the marvelous combination of discipline, understanding, and clear business sense

No

that is behind the national army. man calls it the draft army after seeing the men in action. These men are becoming volunteers in the full sense of the word.

Through three rich, splendid October days I wandered about Camp Dix, in an ever-increasing wonder, humility, and admiration. Here is taking place something so marvelous, so portentous for our nation, so vast a democratic experiment, that one watches it with a tingle of consecration. Every little squad, learning the manual of arms, seems to be touched with a vivid, splendid light, when one thinks of the royal purpose and cause that have brought these men together.

I speak in full knowledge of the sadness of broken human ties that lies behind the eyes of every conscripted man.

I do not forget the mistakes that have been made men with several dependents taken from home in an agony of apprehension about their families. Thousands of these men are ignorant, unlettered, asking no more of life than bread and butter; great causes and the shock of democracy and autocracy have no meaning to them. Hundreds know no word of English. But so marvelous is the spirit of the camp, so quickly do the men outgrow their homesickness and sense of strangeness, that after two or three weeks most of them would not go home if they could.

A visit to one of the cantonments is unforgettable. The greatness of this superb effort to raise an army that will be truly national-drawn from every rank of the nation, every man playing the part for which he is best fittedfloods the heart with fire and pride. These molten pools of manhood have been poured into the crucible. The dross is being purged, the hardening metal tempered and welded. The finished weapon will be terrible in edge and onset. I think it will be the finest army the world has ever seen, because it is a true cross-section of a nation. To witness a national soul coming to birth in these men makes one a better citizen. There is no sight in America today that can compare with it. If only excursion trains for pacifists could be sent to all the camps!

I speak only of Camp Dix, the only cantonment I have seen, but I doubt not the others are the same. At Camp Dix I have talked to men ranging from the General in command down to the humblest and most homesick private. I have messed with the privates, with quartermaster officers, and at the beautiful old farmhouse occupied by the staff officers. Throughout all ranks the spirit is the same. These men are out to do a big job, in no spirit of heroics or swank, but soberly, advisedly, with intent to see it through. I thought down there of the French title of "Mr. Britling," which is "M. Britling commence a voir clair." We may well begin to see clearly when our army chiefs tackle the business in hand in such splendid fashion as is evi

denced at Camp Dix. We may have been slow in starting, but, under heaven! we are building this army in the right way.

Typical of the whole cantonment was an experience I had while walking with one of the staff Captains, who was showing me round. A mile or so from one end of the camp I heard wild strains of music issuing from a clump of woods. I asked what this meant. He took me over and showed me the school for buglers, where a dozen men, under a Sergeant of the regular army, were learning their notes. Not one of them had had a bugle n his hand more than a week. They were allowed only two hours a day for practice, but the Sergeant assured us that he was very proud of their progress. As we walked away they burst gallantly into the mess call-their favorite melody, and the one they play best!

In that spirit the national army is going about its task. Men who a month ago had no conception of citizenship, no pride of country, and even only a smattering of English, now show a fine and mettlesome temper that is perfectly astounding. The singing initiated by the Y. M. C. A. is a potent factor in arousing this lusty esprit du corps. One of the first and finest things done by the association at Camp Dix was to start the men singing, under Stanley Hawkins, who is a genius at song leadership. Nothing sticks so thrillingly in the memory as the sound of those hundreds of voices roaring their favorite choruses. If you could hear them sing, you would know that all is well with the national army. Here is one of their new favorites:

Good-bye, Maw! Good-bye, Paw!

Good-bye, mule, with yer old hee-haw!
I may not know what this war's about,
But you bet, by gosh, I'll soon find out;
And O my sweetheart, don't you fear,
I'll bring you a King fer a souvenir:
I'll bring you a Turk and a Kaiser, too.
An' that's about all one feller can do!

No comment on the cantonments would be complete without some mention of the superb work the Y. M. C. A. is doing for the men. There are sixty-four Y. M. C. A. men at Camp Dix, serving the soldiers in every possible way; there are nine big buildings, each intended to serve 5,000 soldiers; also a headquarters build