Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1937-09-30

having been suppressed under the
militaristic rule of Austria Hungary
for generations and centuries yearned
for freedom and liberty. AS con-
sequence they fitted well into Amer
lean life and those who came to our
shores have become good citizens
here.
Masaryk was proclaimed president
of the newly formed Republic of
Czechoslovakia after the World war,
though he had been continuously
absent from his country for four
years, and was 4,5OO miles away.
Two factors dominated the life of
the Bohemian StateSman-hiS faith
in Czechoslovakia and his pursuit of
the truth. He was characterized as
a blacksmith boy, having worked at
that trade in his youth, and grew
to have perhaps the finest intellect
of the century. He was an unchal-
lengeably firm democrat who, in the
debacle of the modern world still be-
lieved in rule by tolerance.
President Masaryk said, "We shall
world, but when small nation &C
complishes something with its linn
tied means, what it achieves has an
immense and exceptional value like
a widows mite"
On another occasion Masaryk said,
"It is a deliberate and discerning
love of a nation that appeals to me,
not the indiscriminate love that as
sumes everything to be right be-
cause it bears national label" He
also said that love of ones own ma
ton should not entail non-love of
other nations and that institutions
by themselves are not enough. In
other words, President Masaryk said
that buildings and material gains are
not enough, but there must be last
ing contribution to culture.
This great statesman merited the
recognition he received. There was
no need for propaganda, loud shout
ing from the house tops, roaring of
cannons, or the music of bands, to
arouse the people to an apprecia-
ton of him. 1t was spontaneous. 1t
came from the hearts of his country
men and admirers the world over.
In this connection an excellent ed1-
torial was published in The Nation
which is here quoted:
Thomas c. Masaryk in death made
a last contribution to the cause of
democracy that he served so well in
life. The world has grown used to
gigantic spectacles in which vast
throngs pay tribute to dictators &C
cording to blueprints drawn up by
ministers of propaganda. Orders go
out to party functionaries all over
Germany to send to Nuremberg on
a given date so many men, so many
women, so many children, wearing
such and such uniforms, to he'll Hit
Ter in mass formation at given signals,
and to yield so many decibelS of
noise in so doing. Similarly, Italians
are massed on order to yell Doc
chayv at strategic moments. And
these demonstrations have come to
be regarded as proof of the potency
of fascism, contraSted with the weak
tea of democracy; as the ultimate
victory of circuses over freedom. The
spontaneous reaction of the people
of Czecho-Slovakia to the death of
Observation-Disclosures Masaryk is an
eloquent refutation of the theory.
There is no all-powerful party in
that country to supply flag-wavers,
mourners, or demonstrators at the
order of a propaganda ministry, no
Gestapo to take note of those who
fall below the required standard of
enthusiasm. Yet the Czech govern
ment, through the press, had to beg
the public to stay away from Prague
because days in advance of the
Masaryk funeral that city of mil
lion had already doubled its popula-
ton. Despite the requisitioning of
all possible emergency quarters, thou
sands had to spend at least one night
in the streets. And few were the
windows in all Czecho-Slovakia that
did not display a picture of the man
who brought the American demo-
cratic tradition to the heart of
Europe"