Evening star., 1923-08-30
Czechoslovakia Is Attacking
Titles and Land PrODerty

indebted to foreign governments IL
the tune of 100000, one-third Of
which is owing to the United stats
Treasury. Much money has also been
borrowed here from nOn-offic5aI
sources, and attempts are being made
all the time to float Czecho- -Slovakian
loans here for the development Of the
marvellous resources and of the many
industries of what was formerly Boz
hemla. But Americans will not he
willing to open their purses any
longer when they realize that prom
erty is insecure in CZechoslovakla
and at the mercy of a parliament
which. if not socialistic, at any ratt,.
has adopted some of the most tx
rannical. despotic and spoliatory meth
DDS of communism.
If large estates. many of them
comprising mines and other indus
tries, can be confiscated without
compensation in order to satisfy tho
alleged land hunger of pcasau-
population, there is no reason why
great manufacturing and other con
mercial and industrial enterprises IN
which American capital has been in
vested should not become the prey "'
similar socialistic laws for the benefit
OF the non-rural labor population.
The land owners have no redress.
They are notified. by the government ;
that the ownership and the inventory
of the property are to be turned ov'r
to the state on such and such a day.
ceiVe, at the same time, notice that
after the date named, their scryicg+
will be no longer needed. Anon
those who have been driven. in th'T
fashion, from their homes have bc.u
the three morganatic children Of tn
murdered Archduke Francis Ferd
nand, whose assassination at Sar.-
jevo in June. 1914, prccipitated -
great war. Yet it was always cN-
pressly stipulated by law and other
wise that the children of the ill-fattI
archduke's morganatic marriage wer,
excluded from the imperial family
and had no place in it's ranks; wer-,
indeed, nothing but mere mobiles who
now have no longer even their prime,
ly titles. Konopischt, the maCnificr't
country seat in Bohemia whore tho
spent their childhood. and upon which
their murdered parents spent so uu i
money in beautifying alike tn" wnr j,
derfully picturesque chateau and 49,
superb grounds, we'll as al tn
treasures contained in this CouH;r..
| palace, have been contiscated.
x X x Z
| Another victim is the former rriur'
John of Schwarzenberg. who w.5
| likewise Duke of Krumau and Land
grave of Kleggau. When his castln
of Wittigau. in Bohemia, was seized.
he omitted to mention, in the inyer-
tory, the mausoleum in which thu
members of his house for the last coo
years sleep their last sleep. lie mai
urally assumed that, being conSg-
Grated ground, it would be respected.
But learning not long ago that tho
mausoleum was on the verge Of being
torn down, he made an appeal to
President Masaryks government TO
arrest the work of demolition and To
protect the remains Of his forbearss
from sacrilegous disturbance. But hck
received a reply to the effect that Il /
was too late to interfere, since he
had omitted to include the mausoleum
and the tombS on his inventory.
Prince SchwarZenberg' treatment, in
this respect, is no isolated case.
Numbers of others of the great no
| bles and former territorial mag
mates have been subjected to similar
ruthless treatment with regard to the
! tombs and vaults and mausoleums of
| their ancestors. 1t looks as if the
authors of these predatory laws and
those intrusted with their enforce
ment are imbued with u holshevist
| determination not only to despoil the
noble and the landowner of his prop
| erty and of his wealth. but even of
| the ancestral traditions that they,
| have inherited That is the only un-
| derlying aim that can be found for
| this shameful destruction of; family
graves. ~s!