Every day brings to the editorial office new letters from our readers. Most of these letters voice the moans of helpless grown-up children. All of them have one nightmare which clutches their hearts in its claws and causes a death chill. This terrifying vision is military service in the United States. These complaints are not coming from those who have already forgotten their native country and are American citizens. Our "complainants" are common Russian immigrants who always dreamed about their return to Russia; who came here in the hope of earning some money; whom the war kept here, and for whom the last decree of the Provisional government has entirely cut off the way of return to their native country. Others cannot even go on a visit, and their complaints are just. The trouble starts with intimidation, with orders to take the first papers, and ends with the physical action of over-zealous clerks of the conscription offices of the American 2Army. The editorial office is receiving more petitions and requests from suburbs and towns in the states near Chicago. The editorial office is helpless; it is physically unable to help this army of sufferers. They suffer because they are ignorant, illiterate and unorganized. And the chief cause is the one mentioned last, namely, the absence in the Russian colony of America of those organizations which could protect our Russian brothers in case they suffer some indignity. What kind of organizations have we had until the present time? What authority had these organizations among the ignorant working people in America? Did the Russian immigrants have even one strong organization which could force American public opinion, society, press and mainly the American government, to pay attention to the Russian colony? No! And now when misfortune from that lack of a suitable collective body has occurred with all its grave consequences, we must seriously undertake the creation of a powerful Russian organization; we must finally begin to get organized. The 3facts which afflicted the discouraged Russian immigrants have shown all the incompetency and, in connection with the conscription, even the insignificance of our organizations which were just vegetating. Therefore it is our duty, the duty of everybody who is striving to participate in the public life of the colony, to analyze our existing organizations and to find out the causes which undermine their living active spirit.

Some time we are going to give a more detailed account of our organizations; and if our readers desire to express their views concerning this question, we shall be glad to put at their disposal the pages of our paper, irrespective of the fact whether we agree with the views of the author or not. In our opinion even a glance at the "history" of the Russian organizations shows, first of all, two causes of their unsatisfactory state: moral, spiritual imperfection in the leaders or, as it is generally said, in the more progressive elements of the colony, and the material insecurity of the Russian 4immigrants, i. e., of the colony as a whole. And in our opinion these two main causes have resulted in tragedy, when the disunited Russian immigrants cannot defend each other; and being forced to shift for themselves, they bombard the editorial office with petitions. We call now on the Russian immigrants to think about all this profoundly and to begin to build the necessary organization.