Czechoslovakia

“ On the other hand, despite the large minorities, Czechoslovakia has an excellent chance of lasting and, by a steadily increasing prosperity, making her unwilling citizens content with their lot. Czechoslovakia is the only new state formed wholly out of the Hapsburg Empire. Prague does not have the problems of Bucharest, Belgrade, and Warsaw, where peoples separated through centuries and impregnated with different cultures and radically divergent political ideals and political experience have been brought together under a new roof. ”

“ I know that Adolf Hitler at that time spoke pointedly to Hacha and told him that he intended to occupy Czechoslovakia. It concerned old historic territory which he intended to take under his protection. The Czechs were to have complete autonomy and their own way of living, and he believed that the decision which was being made on that day would result in great benefit for the Czech people. While Hacha talked to the Führer, or rather afterwards—I was present at the Führer’s conference with Hacha—I had a long discussion with the Foreign Minister Chvalkovsky. ”

“ The republic of Czechoslovakia is a new creation in respect of its name and state-form only. Its modern history as an independent entity begins with the dramatic collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy at the close of the World War, and the definitive proclamation of Czechoslovak independence on Oct. ”

“ Czechoslovakia, as already indicated, is not only an industrial State: it possesses at the same time a highly developed agriculture in which over 40% of the entire population is engaged, that is to say, some 5,700,000 persons are workers in some way or other connected with the land. ”

“ The greatest problem is that of the Germans, who live in a more or less compact mass in regions contiguous to Germany and Austria. Were it not for two saving factors in the situation, the natural mountain frontier separating the Germans of Bohemia from Germany and the cultural equality of the Czechs with the Germans, the presence in the body politic of a German bloc, comprising 27 per cent of the total population, would make Czechoslovakia a hopeless proposition. ”

“ Czechoslovaks in this country feel a great debt of gratitude to these brave men. They could have stayed at home, for being technically Austrian subjects, before there was a free Czechoslovakia, they were not subject to draft ”

“ Czechoslovakia is long and narrow, and part of her frontiers are arbitrary. Out of a population of less than 13,000,000, there are more than 3,000,000 Germans and nearly 1,000,000 Hungarians. Ruthenians or Ukrainians number 500,000. And there are Jews and some Poles. Whether the Czechs are outnumbered by “alien races” depends upon the classification of the two other branches of the Slav family in the body politic. Are Moravians and Slovaks different people from the259 Czechs? ”

“ Slovakia is at present a nation without territory. Its limits have not been dfined by the surveyor. But it exists in the hearts and minds of a people who have willed their liberation and have earned it by splendidly demonstrating their capacity for self-government. The indomitable spirit of nationality which the Czechoslovaks in Russia have exhibited is one of the marvels of the war. Fighting for their own future and the future of liberty and democracy in Europe, they have saved Russia from the German oppressor. ”

“ Now, however, all doubts are forever dispelled, and I am absolutely confident that the Czechoslovaks will, as an outcome of the war, secure their political independence, for which they have longed for generations, and which they so richly deserve. ”

“ While the great Slav nation of Russia became utterly disorganized and fell a helpless prey to the German robbers, the Slavs of Bohemia and Slovakia scattered as prisoners of war through millions of square miles of territory managed to come together, secure arms, establish firm discipline, and may yet prove to be the salvation of Russia from German penetration.
Is there anyone today who can doubt the ability of the Czechoslovaks to govern themselves? Can anyone claim that they have not earned the right to complete independence? ”

“ In the name of our national honor, in the name of all that is most dear to us as men and as Czechoslovaks, with full realization of this step, we swear to fight alongside of our allies to the last drop of our blood, against all our enemies, until we have obtained complete liberation of our Czechoslovak nation, until the Czech and Slovak lands are reunited into a free and independent Czechoslovak state, until our nation is absolute mistress of her destinies. ”

“ The great part played by the Czechoslovaks of America in the liberation of their native land can only be properly understood if we bear in mind the character of the Czech and Slovak population in the United States. The winning of independence of any nationality is the result of interplay of various political, social, and economic forces, and the future historian, in appraising the importance of the several constituent parts of the movement for Czechoslovak independence, will not assign to American Czechoslovaks an insignificant role. ”

“ In a few months the new organization under the leadership of patriotic and wise men and women accomplished what had formerly seemed impossible—they induced the Czechs of the United States to lay aside for a time the prejudices which separated them and to work together in the same ranks for the support of the campaign of liberation carried on in France, England and all the Allied countries. Today we may proudly and with complete satisfaction declare that the Czechs and Slovaks both at home and abroad are completely united. ”

“ All over the world the Czechs have, by all means at their disposal, fought and counteracted the plots and rancours of their Magyar and German enemies. If at the end of this war the Czecho-Slovak nation attains its liberty and an open road to a new greatness and glory, no one will be able to say that this comes to them as a gift and that they had not done enough to deserve it. They are working and fighting in the best spirit of a modern democracy, without narrow calculation of sacrifice and immediate reward. ”

“ None of them will surrender to the Austrians without a fight. The developments in Russia are watched with extreme anxiety by Bohemians and Slovaks in this country. They are thankful that Masaryk is there to guide the people who look up to him for guidance.
The formation of a Czechoslovak army in France is proceeding at a satisfactory pace. There is great enthusiasm for it in the camps of Bohemian prisoners of war in Italy and France, who are eager to strike a blow for the liberation of their motherland. ”

“ Take away the Czechoslovak lands from the Dual Monarchy, and how much will be left? What help could such crippled Austria give to Germany in any future attack on the liberties of the world? Creation of a Bohemian republic will be the greatest blow struck at German plans of conquest. ”

“ After three hundred years of slavery there is once more free Bohemia. The black and yellow flag no longer disfigures the fair vistas of Prague and the Austrian double eagle, that mean bird of prey, has been torn down from the public buildings of the Czech cities. The Czechoslovak republic is a reality.
In the life of nations a century is but a day. Less than a hundred years ago a dozen men were gathered in one of the ancient palaces of Prague; one of the men said, half in fun and half in earnest, that should the ceiling fall down on them, it would be the end of the Czech nation. ”

“ The new Czechoslovak Republic is the greatest experiment in really liberal and progressive government ever undertaken on the European continent, and it is entitled to the sympathy and aid of the great American democracy. ”

“ The spirit of courage and endurance which had enabled the Czechoslovaks to achieve their independence was now to inspire a further work of no mean significance the consolidation of a free, democratic and enlightened republic in the heart of Europe, the most westerly outpost of the great Slavonic world stretching from the banks of the Elbe and the Danube to the Pacific Ocean, and at the same time a nation bound by ties of gratitude and common interest to the Anglo-Saxon and Latin races. "At home we feel sufficiently confident," said Dr. ”

“ A nation producing the quality of men who never forgot what they were striving for even though the struggle was centuries old arouses the interest of the thinking public. Whence came the strength of purpose of these representatives of so small a country? The Czechoslovak Republic comprises, with the combined areas of the former kingdom of Bohemia, margraviate of Moravia, duchy of Silesia and province of Slovakia but 50,000 square miles of territory and some 12,000,000 of people. ”

“ The literature of the nation of Czechoslovaks is as ancient as its history. For a period of over a thousand years, the literature of no nation is more closely entwined with its history than is that of the people composing the new Czechoslovak Republic. ”

“ The Czechoslovaks are but one of a dozen nations, similarly situated, ground down under the heel of German war machines, appealing to the Allies not to forget them, when the day of final reckoning comes. But none of the races inhabiting that peculiar zone of small nations, stretching from the Baltic to the Mediterranean Sea between the great nations on the west and the immense territory of Russia, has so well succeeded in arresting the attention of the world and winning its sympathy as the ten-million nation of the Czechoslovaks. ”

“ They had little time for anything but their mission of seeing as much as possible of the American industrial ways, but they did address their countrymen in America, in New York, Chicago and Omaha. Both the members of the Czechoslovak parliament are excellent speakers and created a fine impression by their expression of gratitude to Czechoslovaks in America for the share they had in the fight for independence, and by their sensible discussion of the problems which the young republic has to face. ”

“ Slovaks and Czechs are members of the same nation, the only difference being that the Slovaks are suffering under Magyar domination in Hungary, while the Czechs are suffering under German domination in Austria.
8. It appears, therefore, that the Czechoslovaks ask the right of development in an independent state. Mere autonomy would mean that they would have to submit, at least temporarily, to a sovereignty to which they are opposed. ”

“ When they had been beaten by the united effort of all Europe, the Czechs, after merely existing for 200 years, roused themselves at the end of the 18th century to new cultural life—the renaissance of the Czecho-Slovak nation is proof of strong national vitality. Why, therefore, and by what right do the Pangermanists deny the Czechs and Slovaks independence? The present-day great nations have laid the foundation of their culture at a time when they were smaller or as small ”

“ In celebrating today the recognition of the Czechoslovak National Council as a de facto belligerent government, we are celebrating an act which perhaps more than any other illustrates the deep gulf existing between Austro-Hungarian and German methods, on the one hand, and American and Allied ways and means on the other. For their own selfish ends, and not out of consideration for any desires on the part of the peoples concerned, Germany endeavored to stir up trouble in Ireland, India, Egypt and elsewhere. ”

“ One point which has not been sufficiently brought out in the discussion is the distinction between the designation of the race and of the country. The term Czechoslovak properly designates a people composed of two branches, the Czechs and the Slovaks. During the war the Czechoslovaks conducted a revolution against the Hapsburgs, organized their own Czechoslovak Army and followed the leadership of the Czechoslovak National Council. Their efforts resulted in the creation of a new state, the people of which are overwhelmingly of the Czechoslovak race, but which includes minorities of other races. ”

“ Czechoslovak lands are fertile and well cultivated and under normal conditions they produce more food stuffs than are needed for their dense population. But during the war the Austrian government requisitioned most of the crops for the use of the army and for feeding the barren lands of German Austria and the great capital city of Vienna. Czech cities, and especially Prague, were starved by the central authorities, because the Czechs were considered rebels and traitors to the emperor. ”

“ West of the Rhine and north of Italy everything is in a state of chaos. Only the Czechoslovak Republic stands firmly in the very heart of Europe as an island of order and an outpost of the Allies. Its complete isolation from all friends is the principal complaint voiced by the Czechoslovaks who are trying to make the best of a difficult situation. It takes four days for a telegram to go from Prague to Paris and letters are forwarded only upon special occasion and as a special favor. ”

“ When war was declared, the world rocked and trembled to its very foundations. The Czechoslovaks then realized that the purposes for which this war was waged by the Germans and the Austria-Hungarians, were the conquest of territory and the Kulturing of the conquered peoples. From the day of the declaration of hostilities they opposed the war, but they were forced to shoulder arms against brother Slavs, the Serbians and the Russians, and against the French, their devoted friends for many years. ”

“ Whatever the Magyars may say, the Czechs will not abandon the Slovaks after their sacrifices. They will demand for them also the right to a national culture. It is true that the Czechs would welcome peace with open arms. But you must not forget that our people did not shed their blood for imperialism or Germanism. When the millions of men return from the front, they shall claim freedom and equal rights for themselves and they will demand that the bloody bath of the present war shall never again occur. ”