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Minister of War in the Ribot Cabinet and Designated as New Premier

of France

(Photo Bain News Service)

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CURRENT HISTORY

A Monthly Magazine of The New York Times

Published by The New York Times Company, Times Square, New York, N. Y.

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THE BATTLE OF THE JULIAN ALPS

DESPERATE FIGHTING OF CANADIANS AT LENS
THE SCENE OF CARNAGE AT LE MORT HOMME

THE IMPERIAL JAPANESE MISSION: Addresses by Viscount Ishii

By an Eyewitness

38

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89

CURRENT HISTORY CHRONICLED

[PERIOD ENDED SEPT. 20, 1917]

THE MONTH'S OUTSTANDING EVENTS the Chamber on Sept. 19 by a vote of 378
marked the
to 1, the Socialists abstaining from the
vote.

PORTENTOUS events

month ended Sept. 20, 1917. It was in that period that Russia was on the brink of civil war, which was avoided only by the quick action and firmness of Premier Kerensky and the Provisional Government; on Sept. 15 Kerensky proclaimed a republic, and the Constituent Assembly was summoned to meet in December.

In military affairs the most important event was the capture of Riga by the Germans, with the conquest of important sections of the rich provinces of Lithuania and Livonia, which the Germans assert they will permanently possess. On the western front the brilliant advance of the Italians in the Julian Alps was the outstanding feature, making the fall of Trieste seem probable and an invasion of the plains stretching to Vienna a possibility. The French made important gains in the Verdun section, restoring the line practically to what it was before the German advance in 1915. In Flanders there was continuous fighting, and there were some gains by the British in the Lens district; the sanguinary character of this fighting is shown by the casualty statements, which have been averaging for the British alone over 100,000 a month.

In

In political matters the most important occurrence was the disclosure by our State Department of German intrigues in Argentina and Mexico, in using the hospitality of the cables of the Swedish Legations to dispatch code messages of an offensively unneutral nature. France the Ribot Ministry fell on account of lack of vigor, and Professor Painlevé, former War Minister, formed a new Cabinet which contained no Socialist members. In his initial statement to the Chamber the Premier announced a vigorous determination to fight until Alsace-Lorraine was restored to France, with indemnities; he was sustained by

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RUSSIAN REPUBLIC PROCLAIMED

THE

HE Russian Republic was proclaimed
Sept. 15, as follows:

General Korniloff's rebellion has been quelled. But great is the confusion caused thereby, and again great is the danger threatening the fate of the fatherland and its freedom.

Holding it necessary to put an end to the external indefiniteness of the State's organization, remembering the unanimous and rapturous approval of the republican idea expressed at the Moscow State Conference, the Provisional Government declares that the constitutional organization, according to which the Russian State is ruled, is a republican organization, and it hereby proclaims the Russian Republic. '(Signed)

Minister and President, KERENSKY. Minister of Justice, YAROUDNI. Russian matters preceding this proclamation are treated elsewhere, (Pages 63-72.) On Sept. 20 the Russian situation seemed greatly improved; the political tension had relaxed and a better spirit prevailed in army and navy than at any time since the revolution was launched.

FINANCING OUR WAR ACTIVITIES

A NARRATIVE

of the remarkable achievements by the United States in the first six months after our war declaration appears on Pages 9-26. The gigantic nature of the nation's task is best demonstrated by the statement made to the House of Representatives on Sept. 14 by John J. Fitzgerald, Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, in Congress. He explained that the contemplated expenditures by our Government during the first year of the war, without reference to any unforeseen emergencies, would reach $18,208,228,085, of which $7,000,000,000 would be loaned to the Allies; this sum represents 23 per cent. of what all the other Governments had spent in three years. The revenue from

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