Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1918-11-24
SLICED FROM AUSTRIA. HUNGARY CzECH0-SL0VAK
 REPUBLIC SPRUNG

Re.Birth of Czecho.SIoyak Independ-
 ence Forms Striking Romance of 2
 War.
 New York, Nov. 23.-Sliced out of the heart of Northern Austria and Hungary by the sword of war, the CZechO-Slovak republic, youngest recognized member of the Allied fam lily of nations is in reality merger under democratic government of the ancient Bohemian, Moravian, Silesian and Slavic kingdoms subjected for al- most 300 years to Teuton and Magyar domination.
 The re-birth of Czech and Slav inde- pendence forms one of most striking romances of the war. For centuries Bohemia stood ill the forefront of Flu ropean culture, giving to the world the Christian martyrs and educators, Huss and Jerome of Prague, the poet kol- lar, the linguist and teacher Comenius and, in the field of art, Brozik, the painter, and the musician Dvorak with many others whose deeds have found places in history. Hardly less advan- ced was the civilization of her sister states. With such inspirations. the Czechc. .Slovaks retained, despite Aus trian oppression, a national organiza- tion, and were prepared even before the start of the conflict HOW .erlnn- ated bN armistice to strike tile blows that have given them freedom.
 They opposed the mobilization of the Austrian army, resisted induction of their manhood, despite courtsmartial anu vt .-....c .xecutioI,, tf .u ulu; the war obstructed and undermined the Austrian administration. From their ranks, through assertion or capture, thousands of, fighting men found their way into the Russian and Italian armies, where they turned and fought the power that had conscript- ed them. By their spirit and efficien cy as soldiers they gained recognition by the Allies of Czecho-Slovak units. and before the war ended more than 10S,0O0 Czecho-Slovak troops, under their own commanders, were embat- tied for the Allied cause in France, Italy, European Russia and Siberia.
 In Russia the CZechO-Slovaks have 80,0O0 men under arms, some recruited from the demobilized Russia army, others deserters fro mthe Austrian forces or former Austrian prisoners of Russia released by the Kerensky or Bolsheviki governments. The Czecho Slovak force in Italy is 20,0O0 strong, composed wholly of individuals or units from the Austrian army taken prisoner by the Italians. In France the organization numbers 1000 including 6,OOO men from the Czech army in Russia and 5000 volunteers from the United States.
 Ruling Liberated COuntrymen. Czecho-Slovaks are ruling their lib- erated countrymen from their capital in Prague today because they foster ed through generations the f1ickering flame of freedom which Austria and Hungary attempted to snuff our in 1921. They maintained a succession of secret political organizations, culmin- ating in that which set afOot active opposition to Austria in the early days of the war; and, through propaganda conducted among emigrants in Rus- sia, laid the foundation for the inde- pendent Czecho-Slovak force which has held fof more than a year the oVlga front, preventing the Germans
 
 food supplies of Siberia.
 1 Of new nations formed or in pro- cess of formation through the uphea- val of war, the Czecho-Slovak was the first to win Allied recognition, and the only one so far fully recognized by i America. Existing only on paper as long as the Hapsburg dynasty remain ed ill power, the republic became an actuality with the dissolution of the the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It's President, Professor Thomas G. Mas aryk, formerly of the University oi Prague and lately stationed in Wash ington, through Dr. Karl kramarz. the Vice President, for years a political prisoner charged with treason against Austria, and his association in Prague is administering the affairs of 13,0OO,- 900 people occupying 4S,0000 square miles of territory Approximately the size of New York State.)
 Extending from SaXony and Bavaria on the west of Ungvar and the Carpa- j thian Mountains on the east, d dis tance of 32O miles, Czecho-Slovaks cuts a swath 120 miles wide into the the former Austro-Hungarian domain It's western half, comprising the ono time Austrian provinces of Bohemia Moravia and Silesia. follows the bor- ders of Saxomy and Prussia on the north and skirts Bavaria on the soutf until the Austrian boundary is reach ed, when it swings thirty miles nortf of Vienna to the March River. The eastern half, formerly the Hungarian Province of Slovakia, follows the Dan ube from Pressburg to the River lpola twenty miles north of Budapest, where it turns northeastward to the Car
 pathians From Ungvar, the easterl
 limit, the line follows the old Cali
 elan border west to the PruSsian lint thirty miles west of Cracow. The nev
 state effectually cuts Hungary of from it's former province, Galacia