Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-11-25
BITTER RACE CLASH
Czechs and Austrians in 3D.
hernia Always at War.
PRAGUE'S OLD UNIVERSITY
A Double arreled School Where
Students Fight.
FOUNDED BY A FAMOUS KING
Institution Dates Back to 134S.
When Charles I Ruled in Bohemia.
Career a Stormy One.
FOUNDED BY A FAMOUS KING

BY WILLIAM F.. CURTIS
Written for The Star and the Chicago Record
Herald.
The University of Prague is a double
barreled institution, which is due to the
intense hostility between the two races
that make up the population of b.
hernia. The Austrians and the Czechs
will not mix. or at least they will fight If
any attempt is made to mix them. Hence,
since 1882 there has been double school
system. similar to that in the city of
Washington and the southern part of the
United States for the white children and
the colored children.
The bitterness is so strong that the
Germans and the Czechs cannot attend
the same theater, and they have different
rathskellers. No Czech would dare be
seen in a German theater OF beer garden
for fear of being denounced as a traitor
to his race. No Czech would permit his
children to attend German school. The
CZechs pretend to be ignorant of the
German language, and consider it an in
suit to be addressed in that tongue. The
only safe way for a stranger is to use
French in his transactions with the
CZechS. if he does not know their own
language and cannot command the serv-
ices OF an Interpreter.
The language question is one of the
most serious points of difference. There
are Language riots every now and then,
which are provoked by government Off
Gals or municipal authorities or others
who use the wrong language in any way,
Or attempt to force the language Of one
faction upon the other. Several years
ago there was riot because the street
car company put German signs on the
cars in Prague. The CZechs tore them
off. and now they appear in CzechiSh
only, like the signs on the street lamps.
During the reign of Maria Theresa. and
later during that Of Joseph Ii, the Aus
TRAN authorities attempted to compel the
Bohemians to use German and made il
the language of the schools. The b.
hemians not only refused to submit, but
in several places they tore down the
schoolhouses. Throughout the entire
province or kingdom as they prefer to
have 1t called, the government schools
were boycotted, and private schools were
started by the Czechs. in which nothing
but their language was spoken This
movement did more to revive the ancient
Bohemian tongue than anything else that
could have happened, and it is now used
almost universally throughout Bohemia.
In 1871 there was another renaissance
and revolution in which for time il
seemed probable that the controversy
over the language would result in a
restoration of the ancient Bohemian con-
stitution and the ancient kingdom. Again
in 1870 the movement was renewed with
great enthusiasm and the government
was compelled to concede the Czechs
their language to prevent them from de-
handing more.
All of these movements have widen.
ed the gulf between the Austrian
and the Bohemian sections of the popu-
lation. and both sides admit that it can
never be bridged. The German king
element are mostly manufacturers and
business men. The Czechs are land
owners and farmers. petty merchants,
mechanics and laborers, and they out
number the Austrians five and six to one.
Therefore, they are able to carry any
election. and usually control the munich
pal and provincial governments, although
the Austrians have the imperial authority
behind them