Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1917-03-31
Why THE BoHEMIANs ARE NO
.iH FRIENDS or THE GERMANS
fRY a. W. IuLIsl

. . -
The terrible war raging In Earope
has at last taught the people In AM
erica to take little interest in Euro
pean geography. They have no diff
Guilty now to find the Dardanelles on
the map and even the location OF such
obscure provinces as Flanders. Tyrol.
Galicia or Bukowina Is no longer q
secret to the average newspaper read
er OF the United States. But as 10 the
races inhabiting the little known
countries of Eastern Europe there Is
still good deal Of confusion. II Is
safe enough to call man born I'm
France Frenchman. and a man born
in Germany a German; but to know
that a man comes from Austria does
not in itself give the slightest indica-
ton as to the mans race or as 20 his
Isympathies with one or the other
camp into which Europe Is at present
divided. For Austria, or rather Aus
tria-Hungary as the ally Of Germany
Is officially known, is not nation in
the sense In which Great Britain or
France or Italy or even Germany is a
nation Austria is not a nation. but
rather queer tumble of III nations or
fragments OF nations unwilling and
unable TO cooperate. and held together
only by force Of arms.
II the Hapsburg empire was based
on united people like the rest OF the
states Of Europe, It would not be
such negligible factor in the councils
and on the battlefieIds OF Europe. For
both in area and in population Austria
exceeds most OF the better known
powers. In area 1t is second only to
Russia. in population it takes the third
place. after Russia and Germany. hav.
ing 49,2l1,727 people, according to
the census of 1910. In other words
Austria Hungary Is twice as large as
the British Islands and contains 4,000.-
600 more inhabitants. And yet not
withstanding its size and its resources
in men and money Austria would have
been overrun by the Russians long
ago, II Germany had not come 10 It's
assistance. Austria cannot do its
share In the present war, because q
large majority of the inhabitants do
not want Austria or Germany to win.
II is difficult for an American. from
whichever side Of the international
boundary he may be, to realize the ex-
tent OF the misrule to which the races
of Austria had been subject for CEN
turtles Austria Is an anachronism,
medieval survival In the twentieth
century. The political principle on
which the dual monarchy rests Is
this: The minority rules. For many
generations the German minority, rep
resented by the HaRsburg emperors.
tried to force the German language
upon all Of the Hapsburg possessions,
but after all the German element was
in such small minority that in 1857
they reluctantly gave up this ambi-
tion and reached an agreement with
the Magyars to divide the empire into
German and Magyar spheres Of influ-
ence. The part left to the tender mer-
cies Of the Germans kept the name of
Austria, while the share Of the Mag
vars is known as Hungary.
Both races were and are In the min
ority in their respective territories,
but they have worked together as
loyal partners to keep down and
eventually destroy the national life Of
the other nine races Of the empire
Today, Of the fifty million Austro-
Hungarian subjects 1t Is the German
and Magyars element numbering
twenty million, that really wants the
German side to win; the other thirty
-Bohemians, CrOatiars, Serv-
ians, Poles, Ruthenians, Sloyaks and
Slovenians. Italians and Rumanians-
realize full well that German triumph
would mean oppression ten times
worse than before the war, and that
the German policy of "frightfulness
Sc brilliantly exhibited in Belgium and
France and upon the high seas, would
be applied to those who might sim
have the temerity to refuse the boon
of German kultur. The race that
would suffer the most, the race that
has the worst to fear. in the unlikely
event of German victory, is the race
generally known as Bohemians, or in
their own language, Czechs.
The northwestern corner OF Austria
consists of the lands of the ancient
Bohemian crown. There is first the
kingdom of Bohemia with seven mil
lion inhabitants To the east lies that
Margrayate Of Morayia with 1888
square miles and 2,600. 900 people, and
still further east is small duchy OF
Austrian SIesia with 1887 square miles
and 1000. 900 people. The Austrian Of.
fetal census, which is VIGOROUSLY par
tial to German claims, found 20 per
cent Of the population nsing the Boz