who was deeply interested in all Russian matters, was devoted General Goethals, the builder of the Panama Canal, who was Chairman of the Buying Department of the American army, and General March, the Chief of General Staff, also lent their aid, as did Colonel Sheldon, whom the General Staff appointed to be liaison officer with our military attaché, Colonel Hurban. Nor should Captain Blankenhorn, one of the first officers with whom I came into touch, be forgotten. This bare list of names suffices to show how the Siberian Anabasis had carried our cause into the highest and most authoritative official circles. The American Red Cross intended, indeed, to let us have material and supplies to the value of 12,000,000 dollars; but its help, and the relief work as a whole, turned out to be less effective than we expected because the difficulty of communications with Siberia and of shipping supplies from America was so great as to make practical assistance almost impossible. Besides, the American military expedition to Siberia changed its plans and took no part in the fighting against the Bolshevists—out of regard for Japanese susceptibilities and in consequence of other complications. Nor were my efforts to adapt myself to the views of the Allied and Associated Governments and of their military authorities attended by much success; the Governments were not agreed among themselves, and their narrow and inadequate political and military plans were too different from my own view of what the Russian situation demanded.
This situation obliged us to keep up a service of information upon events in Siberia. Thanks to my knowledge of Russia and of our people, and to the reports brought to me by messengers, we were able to inform the Governments, the press and a number of public men. For instance, when false accounts were given of the adventurer Semyenoff and of his relationship to our army, I submitted to the Government and to the President a memorandum (written by Colonel Hurban) that showed him in his true light. Though some of our own people had taken a quite unnecessary interest in him, the course of events proved the accuracy of our memorandum, which the American General Churchill presently confirmed entirely. Thus our authority was again strengthened.
This is not the place fully to examine the question whether we or the Bolshevists were to blame for the fighting in Russia and Siberia. The opinion of the French officer, Captain Sadoul, who afterwards joined the Bolshevists, seems to me to cover the whole matter. As early as February and March
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