Observations on Soviet Government. Over a year and a half has passed since soviet government was declared in Russia. That is not a long period of time in the history of a great revolutionary movement. Developments which loom large during these years and which impress even thoughtful men and women may prove to be of little consequence in the final determination of things, while the still small voices which are often unheard and usually unheeded by contemporaries swell into the chorus of decisive opinion which settles the course of affairs. It is a matter for trepidation, therefore, when one ventures to search mid the political and institutional debris for the foundation stones upon which a new democracy is to rest, or to attempt to appraise the undried, rough-hewn timbers hastily thrown into the erection of a temporary political superstructure. Only the hope that the tentative observations of one who was there may assist others to interpret this titanic movement justifies the present note.

Among the results of the recent great war will be the appearance of a number of important constitutional documents. These will include new constitutions for existing states, such as Russia and Germany, new constitutions for newly-created states, such as Poland and the Slav republics, and an attempt to establish at least a partial constitution for a world confederation. The first of these documents to be published, and one which contributes many new devices in government and new ideas in political theory, is the Fundamental Law of the Russian Socialist Federated Republic, adopted on July 10, 1918, by resolution of the Fifth All-Russian Congress of Soviets.

We may still assume that the principal political effect of the war will be the enlargement of popular control,over the agencies of government. Second only to this, however, is likely to be the development of more economical and efficient administration. The exigencies of war have put the older administrative organization and procedure in the various countries to the supreme test; great tasks of administrative reconstruction have been carried out with an expeditiousness unknown in times of peace; the experience of even a few tense years has demonstrated the permanent value of many of the newer arrangements; unprecedented fiscal burdens will cause it to be more than ever insisted upon that for every dollar spent full value shall be received.