The daily progressive-miner., 1918-07-06
CZECH0- ARM EMPTiES UKRAINE
 CUPBOARD.

WASHINGTON. July b.-A.niu me many easy triumphs which enabled the Teutons this year 10 slice great sec tions from the map of Russia. like coupons from 3 bond. Germany and Austria both suffered one frightful disappointment And the paag was in the weakest part of their political ana.omy-the collective stomach Of their peoples.
 The grain Of which the two F.aisers expected 10 plunder the Ukraine was not thereat lsast. there was so lit tle of il that Germany had to lower her bread ration while Austria con- .inued 10 starve bi tmore rapidly. The supplies had been burned.
 These fires were lighted. with kind Of poetic justice. by the remnants of the Czecho- -Sloyak Army-ieserters from the Austrian ranks and inveter- ate enemies of inc Hapsburgs. who had been reconstituted into Russian military units under the kerensky regime and fought so splendidly for Russia before the whole nation col lapsed from the gnawing Of the Bol- Sheviki
 Un.:, March Of this year this Czecho-Slavok Army had been sta t;onea in the Ukraine-50. .o00 men ill line and 5e,0oo more in reserve. Then Bolsneviki representatives dissolved their organization and took away their arms. though about 10000 refused 10 part with their weapons They were given promises that they would be allowed 10 leave Russia for the United States, but. Of course, no means Of trans porEation was provided And so they remained where they were.
 Systematic Burning.
 T. was fortunate for the Allies that they did. As soon as they realized thac Germany chief objective in Rus sia was the Ckrainian grain supply. they began 2 systematic campaign of p;liage and burning. in which they were assisted by the peasants them selves. aroused at the thought that the old landowners were 10 return under German protection.
 The evidence that the Czecho-Slo- Sloyaks were successful is incontesti- ble Count Czernin. Austro-Hungarian prime minister until his little exchange Of pIaasan-rias with II CIemenceau. placed the responsibility for the bare Uk7ainian cupboard on inc shoulders Of the Czecho-Slovaks German repre- sentat.ves il the Austrian Reichsrat repeated the charge in greater detail. \ Magyar deputy in the Hungarian Parliament recently declared that the Czecho-Sloyak Army in Ukraine had burned or taken away everything Of value.
 Not only did they destroy what they could. but they fought bitterly 10 pre- vent the Teu-ous taking what was left. Retiring and hampered by their lack Of equipment, they stopped 10 meet the advancing Germans repeatedly in -heir field. Their last battle. one Of those confused struggles whcih get little space in the cable reports, was fought near Bachmac, halfway bet ween Kien and kursk or the road to Moscow After the fight, though the .he Czecho-Slovaks had been armed chiefly with axes they themselves buried more than 300 Germans.
 Certainly in Ukraine the Czecho. Slovaks have had their revenge for three centuries of suffoca1ion and op- pression in Bohemia But throughout The war they have launched shattering blows against their Austrian and German enemies and the whole idea Of Mittel-Europa.
 Eating into Austrian Unity AS early as August II, 1914, riots against mobilization began al Prague, and -henceforth Czech soldiers and