New-York tribune., 1918-02-23
Slovaks Brand
Austria Partner
In German Crime
Not Plant Tool, but Co.
Conspirator, Is Their
Warning
Ban Separate Peace
League Here Says No Lasting
Amity Would Result From
Such an Outcome

Warning against a separate peace
with Austria Hungary was voiced by |
speakers addressing tho two hundred ,
delegates to TIE conference Of tho !
SIovak League Of America, which /
opened yesterday in Bohemian Hall. |
East Seventy third Street
They pictured Austria- Hungary. not
as the plant tool Of Germany, but as (
her willing and INSCRIPTIONS partner
in the Tcuton- Magyar conspiracy to
| crush the small Slav nations and cstab /
lsh Mttcleuropa.
The motto of the Slovak League
which is composed CT American citi- /
zens who were born in Bohemia, Mora
via. Silesia or the thirteen Hungarian I
counties known as Slovakia, is "nown I
with tho Hapsburgs." The league,
which is q branch of the Czcchoslovah /
National Council organized at Paris in
1915, voices the national aspirations Of
ten million people under the domina-
tion of Germany and Austria Hungary
Its ultimate aim is an indepcndcnt
| state, and the immediate aim Of the
present conference Is 20 aid America in
the prosecution of the war by supply
ing Slovak recruits to her armies, mu-
milton factories and shipyards; to use
its influence for a durable peace on a
basis Of "satisticd nationaism' and to
l. bcl In ho
revolt against Austria Hungary
$4,000 Arch-Patri0ts
There arc 10000 Czechoslavs in the
Russian army stationed near Kjov. and
they VIII never surrender to the Aus
trlans,' said John Jancek Just back
from Russia, standing before the dele
gates with the banner of "thc land of
the Bohemian Crown and Slovakia" be-
hind him. He was cheered to the echo.
There has been considerable con-
Germ for their fate" he said. "for Aus
tria has branded them as traitors and
has condemned them to death. The
talk OF separate peace between Rus
sa and the Central Powers has
deepened This concern.
II assure you that they can take caro-
of themselves. They will fight to vic
tory or death. The Austrians will do
thelr level best to get them. but Russia
is large: They viii never hang as
| traitors
Addressing a Czechoslovak mass
meeting in Terrace Garden last night.
Gaza Henry Mika, secretary of the
Slav Press Bureau, said it was ridicu-
lous to expect that the Allies by some
clever stroke of diplomacy would sue
ceed IN separating Austria Hungary
from her partner in crime.
Dangerous Reality
"Mitteleuropa is not dream. but a
most dangerous reality" he said. Both
Won Hertling and Count Czernin are
playlng the pan German game. One
caters to the military clique of the Cen
tral Powers, while the other talks peace.
not Tor the purpose of concluding any
JUST peace, but, as Count Dumba re-
Gently said for the purpose OF influence
ing paclhst elements in the Allied
countries and to make America and the
Entente slacken their vigiance.'
- "Remember, only on December
ozernln said that those who expected
to split the Central Powers by a sepa-
rate peace were bad psychologists with
childish minds.
"A separate peace with Austria is not
only impossible; it is undesirable 1t
would involve abject surrender TO the
militarist clique of the Dual Monarchy.
Berlin and Vienna are working in close
harmony, and if Austria Hungary
should conclude a separate peace il
would be with the connvance of Ger
many"
Mr. Mika spoke of "thc theorists and
dreamers who would eradicate the ills
o1 humanity by some sort Cf league of
nations.' "Such "a league" he said,
can come only when every govern
ment is based on the consent of the
governed"
tionalism not on a dynamite bomb con-
slsting OF irredentas, enslavcd nation
alltles and suppressed national aspira-
tions." he declared
A word picture OF conditions exist
ing in Russia was given to the dele
gates by Joseph Martinek. who arrived
only fourteen days ago from that
country, lie was positive that the
Bolsheviki could not last, and that in
the end Russia would be found amply
able 10 defend herself against the
Germans
Mr.. Martinek was delegate from
The Bohemian National Alliance TO
Russia and spent over six months
there He declared that the world
would see a repetition Of 1912 If the
German nordes persisted in their in
vasion.
The conclusions reached by MI Mar
timex were largely shared by John
7 Janechk, formerly editor Of a revolu-
tionary paper in Potrograd. who came
TO the United States a few months
ago. Mr.. Janechk is a veteran OF the
war. having fought with the Bohemian
Russian legion against the Germans
He said that the political turmoil in
Russia had been such as to blind the
people of the United States to the
real fighting qualities of millions of
/ the men of that nation.
The conference Will close with two