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Show -X ' ' Officials See Sinister Possibilities in Advance Ad-vance Into Russia. GERMANY'S MOTIVES Planning to Use East as War Compromise. WASHINGTON. March 20. The continued advance of the German army into Russia despite the peace treaties signed at Brest- Litovsk Is no surprise to American officials who fully expected the German high command com-mand to prosecute its designs in Russia Rus-sia to the fullest extent regardless of any considerations of good faith with the peace agreement. No formal explanation of the motives mo-tives that impel tho Germans to press their advantage to Petrograd and Moscow Mos-cow is available here, but it is known that officials regard the situation as filled with sinister possibilities. Mcy Use Russia to Force Peace. There have been many recent hints at another peace effort, by the Germans Ger-mans in the near future and if these predictions are fulfilled it is pointed out, a vast section of Russian actually in German hands which would furnish enormous, though undeveloped mineral min-eral and other resources for employment employ-ment in the German war programfi might well serve as a foundation upon which to erect a compromise peace proposal. It has been suggested that with those resources in her possession, Germany might offer even to restore Alsace -Lorraine to France, hoping thereby to be left in undisturbed possession pos-session of tho eastern field. With such a proposal could go an agreement to evacuate France and Belgium, the whole constituting an alluring prospect pros-pect to tho war-worn peoples of France and Great Britain if they did not look deeper and see the threat their statesmen point out in the sacrifice sac-rifice of Russia. Crafty Scheme Forecast. Given time to develop Russian resources, re-sources, many officials here believe the Germans well afford to surrender all they hold in tho west with perfect assurance of both their economic and military future. Some officials hero oven expect recruitment re-cruitment of the Russian, peasantry 'into the German armies. Others, however, how-ever, bolievo the Russian people arc so thoroughly imbued with the spirit ot the revolution that no great movement of that sort Is to bo expected. Tho rapid advanco of tho German forces thrbugh Russia, it is admitted here, is serving to cut off a great part of the Russian population from any effective means of counteracting German Ger-man propaganda. Already all representatives repres-entatives of Allied thought and purpose pur-pose have been forced to abandon the field, or be captured by tho advancing advanc-ing Germans. |