The Clio messenger. (Clio, Mich.) 1907-current, 1922-03-09

absorb the moribund organism Of Austria Hun
gary; the Czecho-Slovak people doomed !;
Prague to he the first In the seEes Of stepping
stones of Prussian power: Vienna, Budapest, Bel
grade, Sofia, Constantnople Bagdad, the Persian
gulf He recognized that the cause Of the Czecho-
Sovak people the cause of the allies, and
fleeing from Austria, he proceeded to convince
statesmen and public opinion In the entente
countries.
At the outset the task seemed almost hopeless
There he was, lone fugitive, under sentence of
death in the land of his fathers, the enemy-Haps-
burg Hohenzollern autocracy-enthroned on the
pinnacle Of military success. Masaryk was I'M
daunted.
"He found" says the Bohemian Review
Czech exiles in Switzerland; he established rea-
lions with emigrants In Paris, London and Russia
He told them that the hour had come to strike
blow for free Bohemia His call reached
across the ocean to the BohemIans Of America .
He lectured In universities, talked to statesmen
gave interviews to journalists, wrote for the
views, established French periodical in the in
terests of his country, enlisted gifted writer's and
generous friends of freedom in the of
Bohemia"
In 1915 Masaryk founded the Czecho- Slovak
National Council In Paris. This body assumed
the role of provisional government of a country
embedded in the very center of the power of the
victorious enemy. Vienna cursed but did not take
AIasaryk too seriously. Step by step the govern
ment without q country" advanced; Ii came to
have an exchequer-supported chiefly by assess
ments and voluntary contributions of the Czecho-
Slovak organizations in the United States; 1t main
tanned army in Siberia and military units in
France and Italy. Vienna still scorned, but the
signs of panic became visible behind the sheer for
meanwhile the passive resistance the "silent revo-
luton" of the Czecho-Slovak people at home con
tnued impeding the activities of the dual
monarchy at every step.
lodi Of cbo-C
begerent power and the CzechoSovak National
Council its de facto government came i'm the
summer of 1913. and on October % of that year
governmental authority at Prague was taken over
by It's local committee. Free Czecho- Slovakia was
a reality.
But II is seldom that Masaryk speaks of him
self The one personal passage Of his birthday
address on March Z that in which he dis
claimed personal merit and good fortune. He said:
MANY pleasant messages came to me today,
bringing out that my life very fortunate
one. must confess that the word fortunate
never carried much meaning for me. never be-
lieved In accident, did not believe in good luck
in the life Of individuals and nations. Fortunate
Is he who has life rich In contents, fortunate Is
he who can, at least partly, through honest effort
realize his ideals. In this sense am fortunate,
but 1t Is not my good fortune alone but Of all who
with me struggled for the liberty Of the nation
1 never talked much of myself, and even today
II is difficult to say something Of myself. / will
only promise you that the task ntrusted to me
by the will Of the people / shall faithfully and
tirelessly carry out"
And today the Austro-Hungaran empire
Hapsburgs and Hohenzoems evil memories
The two epperors William and Karl, lead a
parasitic existence in exile; and MasaryS, the
coachman's son, onetime blacksmith's apprentice
is governing the Czecho- Slovak republic, probably
strongest and best organized of central European
countries and quite possibly destined to become
a model democracy Of the Old World, from the
same Hradcany castle where once the Hapsburgs
regned over o third of Europa