EXECUTION OF EX-CZAR NICHOLAS

Since the latter part of June, 1918, there had been frequent rumors to the effect that ex-Czar Nicholas had been executed. The first of these stated that he had been killed by Red Guards at Ekaterinburg. This dispatch was denied officially, but was followed by another report that the ex-Czar had been tried and executed by the Bolsheviki at the city of the same name. This report was confirmed apparently by advices reaching the Washington State Department.

The next report was what purported to be an intercepted wireless message from the Soviet Foreign Minister Tchitcherin, in which it was stated that Nicholas was dead. Still another report had it that he had been bayoneted by Red Guards while being taken from Ekaterinburg to Perm.

On July 20 an official statement was issued from Moscow which stated definitely that the one-time autocrat of Russia had been shot on July 16, 1918.

The most prominent issue regarding Russian affairs which has been before the public of the United States and the other Allied countries during the past month or more has been the question of extending assistance to Russia in reestablishing herself as a free, independent nation, with the power to resist German aggression; whether this should be done through active military intervention from the east, or whether it should be confined to economic and financial aid. On this point there has been a wide division of opinion, not only in this country, but among Russians as well.

The Bolsheviki, naturally, are strongly opposed to any military aid, which they would interpret as an attempt on the part of the capitalists of the Allied countries to suppress the socialistic state which they claim to have erected on Russian soil.

The membership of the Great Russian Cooperative Movement, expressing its views through its leaders and its official organs, is also opposed to military intervention, having small faith in the benevolent intentions of the Japanese Government. The cooperators, however, realize the danger from German economic control and have been fighting it with intensive effort. The Narodni Bank and the Consumers' Union, in Moscow, have opened offices in London and New York, and have opened a campaign for British and American aid in their efforts to stem the German economic invasion. The contention of their representatives is that the cooperative movement of Russia is a weapon which could be used by the Allied countries to great advantage, and should be aided in an extension of credit and loans of capital, with which their cooperative industrial system might be developed to such dimensions as to form an invincible bulwark against the flood of German capital flowing into Russia.

So far as reports from Russia indicated, the Russians in favor of military intervention by the Allies were largely among the conservative elements, represented by the Constitutional Democrats, and among those comparatively moderate radicals represented by Kerensky and Konovalov. The first group are largely of the professional classes and the so-called bourgeoisie who have not been able to bring themselves to prefer German dominance to even the disorders of Bolshevikism. Among the second group are many of the old-time revolutionists, such as Tchaikovsky, Prince Kropotkin, Katherine Breshkovskaya, Vladimir Bourtsev and Maria Spiradonova. These latter are, most of them, of the old Social Revolutionary Party.

On July 31, 1918, the New York "Times" published the following Washington dispatch:

"Negotiations between the Entente Powers, Japan, and the United States regarding the extension of aid to the Czecho-Slovaks in Siberia and Russia have advanced another step. Information sought by the Japanese Government upon certain points of the American proposal looking to a definition of the aims and scope of any joint action now has been furnished by the State Department. This places the whole subject again before the Japanese Foreign Office at Tokio, which must determine whether the American proposal is now in a sufficiently concrete form to warrant the inauguration of a policy of action.... Meanwhile, from unofficial sources, comes news that in anticipation of a satisfactory conclusion of the negotiations, Japan and the Entente Allies are perfecting their arrangements for the organization of whatever military force may be necessary for the execution of the joint agreement. Because of their proximity to Siberia, Japan and China have been foremost in this work, with a full understanding and cooperation between the military commanders, though for strategic reasons the exact extent and nature of these preparations cannot be disclosed. It is generally realized, however, that upon these two countries will lie the burden of providing the greater part of any military force that may be employed. To preserve the international character of the enterprise France and Great Britain are preparing contingents. Both of them will draw on their near-by colonies."

By the end of July, 1918, it was practically certain that the United States Government had consented to participate in a limited military expedition into Russia, by way of Siberia, not for the purpose of conquest or interference in the internal affairs of the Russian Republic, but to create a nucleus about which all the anti-German forces of Russia might rally for the reestablishment of an eastern front against Germany.