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I d QUEBEC FOLK MAKE MOST OF THE DRIVEN SNOW Here is a merry group of snowshoers on the water wagon at recent snowshoe meet in Quebec city. Gn Rasputin and The Secret Police es| A Russian Convict's Plan to Assassinate the Kaiser Books on Russia and the Revolu- tion have appeared in such bewilder- ing profusion during recent years that the average reader may feel in- clined to leave further publications on the shelf unopened. Let it be said therefore at the outset that "The Red Archives," edited by C. E. Vulllamy and translated by A, L. Hynes, with a scholarly introduction by Dr. C. T. Hagberg Wright, is in a class by it- self. This volume takes its name from a periodical publication, appearing at intervals of about two months, issued by the Soviet Government and con- ot| taining a selection of hitherto secret oo | papers from the State Archives, from eyond| the Napoleonic period down to the he| present day. The series is thus of p- | historical importance, and the volume under review contains' selections of documents: relating to the Revolu- 6ftion of interest to English readers. The tenor of the documents is suffi- ciently unfavorable to the Bolsheviks to allay the suspicion that they might be mere propagandist forgeries. Selret Police Reports First came the daily reports of the secret police on Rasputin's move: ments. These haye been quoted in several books on the evil menk, but have not previously been published in full. One or two extracts may be taken as typical: 14 December.--At approximately 2 o'clock at night Rasputin was seen coming out of the residence of Sve china (wife of a colonel on the Gen- eral Staff) accompanied by Yacinin- skala, a woman of twenty-one years of age and the wife of a burgess. They went by car in the direction of Novaia Derevnia 'to the Vila Rode Restaurant, where, however, they were not admitted owing to the late- ness of the hour. Determined to get in; Rasputin started banging on the door and. pulling at the bell, having previously tipped the policeman: on duty not to Interfere with his roister- ing. 'Eventually they drove to Mass- alsky's Gypsy Chorus, where they stayéd' till ten o'clock the next morn ing. They emerged, both fairly drunk. "14 January.--Rasputin came home at-seven o'clock in the morning, com- pletely overcome with drink. his t Where the land that applies to "saluting, way up to his flat he broke a large pane of glass in the entrance door. The agents noticed a swelling on his nose, which is supposed to have been occasioned by a fall. And this was the man who con- trolled Russia's destinles!! Then there are the diaries of Cap- tain Rengarten and General Boldy- rev, The former was in the navy, the latter on the Staff during the Revolu- tion. These are two very human documents, which, be it remembered, were not written for publication--a fact which greatly enhances their value. It's Different With Money The picture which emerges from these diaries is not one (as perhaps one might have expected) of mutiny and murder, but of pathetic chaos, in which most of the officers seem re- signed (it not willing) to give the new system of "control" a trial, and the Soldiers' and Sailors' Councils were not so insubordinate as ineffici- ent, On one occasion when Boldyrey ad- dressed the troops, a man stepped out of the line and advanced the follow- Ing thesis in connection with the question of saluting: "The salute is given ito the epaulette worn by order of the Tsar. Father Tsar is no more. 'Let there be no mMofe #paulettes, and so there will be no need for saluting." --"And do you also refuse to a knowledge the money with the Tsar's portrait?" I {immediately flung at him.' He was taken aback and murmured, "It's. different with money,"--""But tll it is withdrawn it remains in use, When a new law is passed, abolishing the salute, then we shall do without it." The argument had effett--the topic fraught with so much risk in those days passed without an outburst; the majority smiled. good-humoredly. And again: -- Some comrades among the rifiemen of the 16th Caucasian Division sent: up a petition to-night, asking for the transference of six hundred men for the relief of their friends situated in the rear." So it is mot the rear which is to supply the front, but vice-versa, The absurdity of this request is obvi ous even to the comrades themselves, It 1s & request which might set the example for a whole exodus from the front. I stormed at the delegates and chased them -out, greatly to the alarm of the President of the Army Commit: tee who spent a long time explaining to the comrades the unreasonable- ness of their demands. We learn of one general who was Great Open Spaces Spread to the threatened with a thrashing by his soldiers. Yet in neither diary do we read of actual mutiny with violence. Flying to Kill the Kaiser The correspondence of the Yousso- poft family at the time of Rasputin's murder 'and certain documents to the Allied expedition to Archangel make interesting reading, but undoubtedly the most remarkable are those deal ing with the case of Jankel Sosna, Jew who in 1908 had been condemn: ed to ten years' penal servitude, In October, 1915, Sosna petitioned for his release from a Moscow prison on the ground. that, if released, he would go6 to Germany and assassinate the Kaiser, : It seems incredible that such a peti- tion could have received serious at- tention from the 'authorities, -yet it did. Councillor of State Mellor visit- ed the prisener and wrote out a draft of his proposals. Briefly, the pla was to reach: German Headquarters by aeroplane, assassinate the Kaiser with a "secret appliance," then fly Away again! Amazing though this seems, the| scheme was seriously considered, and Sosna was removed to Petrograd, where he was visited and examined as to further details by Vissarionov, member of theVCouncil of the Minis- ter for Foreign Affairs, and. by Belet- sky, Assistant Minister for Internal Affairs. \ The documents disclose not only the elaborate though puerile plan of], the wretched convict, but also the; amazing. credulity of the Russian authorities, wo Ty Sad to relate, the records do rot disclose what the final decision was. Maybe poor Sosna is still in prison, nd Glasgow Herdld (Cons.): The prac- tical importance of the Communist] Party in Britain 1s never Hkely to be great, Mr. Pollitt himself confessed on Saturday that their fortunes "were ui : at a low ebb." Such interest as thelr performances arouse is derived: from the revelation they afford of the re- lationship between the Russian Bol- sheviks and their satellites abroad and of the intolerant hatreds that Separate every tiny group within the charmed circle from Ns nearest neighbor. Both atmosphere and. methods are as alien as they could possibly be to the traditions and prac tices which characterize British po- uitical life. ee ei "Every man has a black and white! side of life.--Lord Dewar. Pole 1] hrough