The Washington herald., 1921-03-20

uAs q great, fundamental thing been done
IL In the first Of those republics in central
Europe to establish q competently function
ing government. By writing into Its ccnsti-
tuition Q requirement for compulsory votingf
Does this idea of compulsory exercise Of
the franchise mark an epoch in the develop
ment Of self government? Win Il sweep
the world1 Will Americans, for instance,
soon be faced with the necessity Of voting
or going to jail?
These are questions that are brought to
Bedrich stepanek, minister from Czecho-
slovakia, recently arrived at Washington.
We are provincial in the United States
and hardly know what to expect when We
90 visiting around among the representa-
dives Of nations other than those Of west
ern Europe with which we are familiar.
30, when I presented myself at the Csecho-
eioyak legation felt that I was visiting q
foreign land. To be sure Il was housed In
Q large American residence Just on the
socially correct district in Washington.
The furnishings were American. There was
an cir about 1t of being but q temporary
~~S-ep AoE elcs Ac8abAOn - ooVu " " AhSfet
into other quarters.
The first foreign touch was given BY the
boy who opened the door. He was a Czech,
q slav, q type Almost the frst impression
one gets Of Q Czech is his reetangularity.
He has broad face, q face that Is almost
square. There Is no aquilinity to IT, It
is quite fat There IL a great deal Of width
and prominence Of the under jaw The
bodies Of this race are square and stocky,
giving the appearance of strength and en-
durance. They are larger than the peoples
Of southern Europe. As tb hair, they are
quite blonde, but there Is q darkness Of the
skin, an absence Of ruddiness THAT shows
through In the peoples Of western Europe.
The boy who let me in had stiff, light
hair. He spoke English with little accent
but occasionally transposed q word as when
he said: His excellency will be immedi-
ately down." A square secretary came
through with stiff, light hair and mustach..
Then the minister entered.
His face was as square but his body more
slender and graceful. Though but .,iirty
si1 years Of age he was very bald. He bore
a box Of cigarettes in one hand and a con-
stitution Of Czecho- Slovakia in the other. |
had previously been told that he was one Of
the few Czechs who had been Thoroughly
trained in diplomacy under the old regime.
He had gone to the diplomatic schools Of
Austria Hungary and had been in the sery
Ice before the war. He speaks eleven
languages.
Czecho- Slovakia," said the minister
has done one or two new things in the
establishment of its government. Ii 1, a
republic modelled chiefly on the United
States and France. think il is probably
true that 1t has more of America in its con-
stitution than Of France. The one point in
which 1t departed fundamentally from IN.
American method is in making 1t possible to
overthrow the government as it Is done in
France. We believed that the French re-
tponsiveness of government to public will
was better than the American form.
"The novelty in our form is, of course.
the compulsory vote. believe that when
our elections were held in May it was the
first time in history that any people had y,
cast its ballot. A whole people, male and