TABLE UPON WHICH NICHOLAS II SIGNED HIS ABDICATION 



In the years to come this bit of furniture in the imperial Russian railway coach will be 

 of as great historic interest as the table shown to visitors at Fontainebleau, upon which 

 Napoleon signed his abdication in favor of his son, the infant King of Rome, 103 years ago, 

 and then (so the guide explains to the credulous), in a fit of rage, threw the pen upon the 

 table, leaving the great blotch of ink on the top. 



cerned, was in a state of complete chaos. 

 The masses did not in the least realize 

 the significance of what had taken place, 

 nor were they able to express themselves 

 or their genius through the new medium 

 which was suddenly established. 



The committee of the Duma, which 

 took charge of the Provisional Govern- 

 ment, faced the most difficult problem 

 which any group of men has ever en- 

 countered. It was their task to keep the 

 war going while the minds and opinions 

 of the people were readjusting them- 

 selves to an entirely new standard as to 

 what the State actually was. Had there 

 been no war under way, there is not the 

 slightest doubt but that the problems 

 would have been worked out without 

 friction or disorders of any sort, for the 

 people left to themselves would have 

 gradually developed new and working 

 institutions to fit their own needs. 



GERMANS QUICK TO PROFIT BY BREAK- 

 DOWN OE THE OLD ORDER 



But the people were not left to them- 

 selves. The breakdown of the old order 

 in Russia gave to the Germans the chance 

 which they were quick to seize for their 

 own profit. 



In the first days of confusion thou- 

 sands of German agents and spies 

 swarmed through Russia, worked their 

 way through the lines and began the 

 hugest program of propaganda which the 

 world has ever seen. It is difficult to say 

 what the Germans have spent in Russia ; 

 but the figure which is accepted as being 

 accurate in well-informed circles in Pet- 

 rograd approximates 48,000,000 roubles 

 since the revolution. 



Almost at once parties were formed to 

 attack the new government and to inter- 

 fere in every way with the conduct of the 

 war. Agitators from Germany openly 

 preached peace at any price and circu- 

 lated every form of malicious and in- 

 sidious fallacy which could undermine 

 the strength of the government. 



There grew up in a somewhat obscure 

 fashion in Petrograd the body known as 

 the Council of Workingmen's and Sol- 

 diers' Delegates, which took upon itself 

 the uninvited task of acting as critic of 

 the new government. I have never heard 

 by what authority this body exists ; but 

 as nearly as one can discover it grew 

 from a small and informal body of men 

 of all classes, anxious to help in the revo- 

 lution, to a committee of above 2,500 in 



