The Czechoslovak Review/Volume 2/Bohemia in the American press

BOHEMIA IN THE AMERICAN PRESS

 

During the month of December the Bohemian cause received much atention in the newspapers of this country. The declaration of war against Austria-Hungary brought to the fore the question of immigrants from the Dual Empire. The results of the work done during the past three years by the Bohemian Alliance| were apparent in that the press unanimously referred to the Bohemians as an element about whose loyalty to the cause of the Allies there could be no doubt. Bulletins of the Slav Press Bureau, published in influential dailies, help to inform America of the real situation in Austria-Hungary and of the revolutionary part played in Austrian politics by the Bohemian delegation to the Vienna Reichsrat. Resolutions and telegrams to the President, approving of the declaration of war on Austria, have received publicity in the newspapers of every city where there is a settlement of Bohemians, and have thus helped to make clear the sentiments of the Bohemians in the eyes of the American people. The leading article of the last issue of the Bohemian Review has been quoted with approval in some half a dozen daily papers.

One of the warmest and most influential friends of Bohemian independence is Col. Theodore Roosevelt. He has taken a stand absolutely opposed to any compromise with the Central Empires. In his program of reconstruction which he continues to urge upon the public opinion of this country by pen and speech he always includes the creation of a Greater Bohemia as one of the essential conditions of a just and permanent peace. Bohemians owe a vast debt of gratitude to Col. Roosevelt.

Another strong friend of Bohemia is the Chicago Evening Post. In its editorials it has advocated over and over again the justice of Bohemia’s claims. In an editorial article on December 17th, entitled “The Importance of Bohemia”, based on Andre Charadame’s powerful discussion in the Atlantic Monthly, the Post says: “M. Cheradame believes it possible to give both moral and material impulse to the spirit of revolt that has never been extinguished in Bohemia and its Slavic co-vassals. Assuredly it seems folly to refrain from the word that would quicken the flames. Justice to peoples who have suffered much, as well as reasonable concern for our own cause and that of the Allies, argues for such effort as we can put forth to make the century-long struggle of these liberty-loving races at last victorious and a contribution no less to the freedom of the whole world.”

This resume of the discussion of Bohemian questions in the American press would not be complete without a mention of two articles contributed to the learned journals of this country by two members of the Bohemian National Alliance. The January number of the Yale Review has a contribution from Charles Pergler, vice-president of the Alliance, summarizing in a telling manner the arguments against the preservation of Austria-Hungary. The Journal for Race Development has an article by the editor of this monthly on “The Demands of the Bohemian People”.