The sun., 1918-08-25
Centuries Old Hate
of Austrian Oppres-
sors Bearing Fruit
by Reconstruction
of Russia
By r. CUNLIFFE.oWEN.

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role played therein by the Czeeho- Slovak
troops who are now endeavoring to hold
the fort in Siberia for the cause Of the
Entente and civilization against the forces
of Bolshevik anarchy united to German
barbarism.
Compelled to fight for their Austrian
and Hungarian oppressors against their
Nuseovite kinsmen, they took every op-
portunity Of surrendering and Of desert
ing in the carly stages Of the struggle,
especially in the battles that ragged in
Galicia. Welcomed with open arms by
the Russians, scores Of thousands Qf-them
volunteered to serve under the Cars flag
against the nations by whom they had
been subjected to intolerable tyranny.
The Czecho- Slovaks fought hard and
we'll to the very last for the cause Of De
Entente, and when the Bolsheviki be-
trayed Russia and her allies by con-
Guiding a dishonorable and utterly con-
temptible peace at Brest-Litovsk they
Withdrew into the interior and awaited
events. Last spring they decided that
they could best help the members O. their
race in the Dual Empire by making their
way across Siberia to America and thence
to the French front.
They-made their way into Siberia,
helped everywhere by the respectable In
habitants, who were wearied to death of
the BoIshssiki and of their anarchical and
terrorist activities. They did not, how
ever, form one large body. They were
too numerous for that. AS unit their
march eastward would have offered too
many difficulties in the way Of food and
transport. They separated into several
we'll disciplined armies. An advance
guard even managed to reach Vladivostok
and then got into touch once more with the
outer world, and especially with the rec
ognized leaders of Czeeho- Slovak nation
alism, foremost among whom IS DR..
Thomas Masaryk, the eminent sdholar and
statesmen, who hay long at Prague under
sentence of death and who is now in
America.
Recognized as q Nation.
At Vladivostok the commanding officers
Of the Czecho- Slovak vanguard learned
that their people had been recognized as
an independent nation by the Powers of
the Entente and that the latter had
pledged themselves to the emancipation
Of Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia from
the despotic rule of Austria Hungary and
to their formation into sovereign State.
They also were apprised that DR.. Masaryk
had been elected by the Czecho- Slovak
leaders as their President and chief and
had been accepted as such by the Gov
ernments Of the Entente.
1t was brought home to them that they
had been raised to the status of allies OF
France, Of the United States, Of Great
Britain, Italy and Japan, and that their
military services would be more useful to
us in Siberia and in Russia than on the
French front. And they were instructed
to turn back to reinforce the comrades
whom they had left behind them pend
ing the arrival of troops OF the Entente.
Several American regiments have al
ready been disembarked at Vladivostok,
as well as a large Italian contingent.
French troops have been hurried thither
from Tonkin and Indo- China and large
British force from India. The bulk, how
ever, of the allied army which is to pre-
serve Siberia, with all her boundless in
dustrial and commercial possibilities and
her literally inexhaustible latent riches,
for the Russian people from the economic
and political despotism of Germany is
being furnished by Japan.
The Czecho-Slovak forces have retained
their arms. But they are handicapped
by the lack Of ammunition and above all
by the absence Of artillery, both light and
heavy. They have against them not alone
the Bolsheviki, but also considerably more
than 100000 German and Austrian
prisoners of war who after their capture
we're informed in Siberia, who were re-
leased under the terms of the Bolshevik