It cannot be too strongly emphasized that a free Ukraine does not imply
an economically isolated Ukraine. Constant traffic with friendly
foreign powers is desired by all the Ukrainian political parties.
Ukraine lacks machinery, capital and trained experts. The railroad
question is of enormous importance. Before the Revolution, all of the
rail lines of Ukraine yielded considerable profits, especially those
known as the Southwestern Railroads. But Russia did not see fit to use
this income in the construction of further roads and, as a result,
Ukraine possesses a very inconsiderable network of railroads: only
about 11,115 miles. This is much less than the country needs. The war
almost completely wrecked and demoralized even this inadequate
transportational system. The railroads must be rebuilt, and the
insufficiently developed public highways must be improved and extended.
The regulation of navigable rivers is another matter of great
importance, and the vast available power possibilities of the rapids of
the Dnieper and other streams must be exploited. Central power stations
must be erected, new methods introduced in mining, grain elevators
built and agriculture, milling, sugar refining and other industries
given an upward impetus by the application of scientific management and
fresh capital.

Inability to contest the force of the foregoing historic and economic
considerations has led certain foes of Ukrainian independence to make
the assertion that the Ukrainian national movement is artificially
stimulated and does not receive support from the masses of the
population. This contention is controverted by the most obvious facts.
For more than two years the Ukrainians have been actively fighting for
their liberty, in spite of almost incredible obstacles. They have had
no support from any foreign source in this struggle; they were attacked
at one and the same time by the Bolsheviki and anti-Bolsheviki: they
were blockaded; they were unable to secure ammunition or sanitary
supplies. They did not give up, because they realized that the question
was one of life or death. No other nation in modern times has fought
for its independence under such difficult circumstances, and none has
expressed its desire for freedom more strongly. The plebiscite of blood
is the most sincere evidence of the will to self-determination.

However, prolonged and stubborn fighting has not been the only way in
which the Ukrainian people have shown their