Evening star., 1942-08-20
Czechs Act 10 Block
Hodza Plan 10 Give
Autonomy 10 S|ovaks
Ex-Premier, Now in U. S.,
Is Seeking Support for
'Self-Existence' Ideo
BY BLAIR BOLLES.

The CZeCho-SlOvak government.
in-eXile, through its legation here,
today took steps to Illustrate the :.
campaign being waged on. American
soil by Milan Hodza, former Czech
Prime Minister and now member
of the exiled governments State
Council, who is enlisting support of
Slovak- Americans for his. plan to
revise the Czecho-Slovakian Repub-
lie when its territory Is recaptured
from the Axis
This is one of the foreign cam
palgns, confusing the loyalties of
hyphenated Americans, which has
been disturbing the State Depart
ment. The Office of War Informa-
tion has been urging foreign-born
Americans and first and second gen.
Grafton descendants OF foreign-born
to avoid the controversies over the
shape of Europe The ofncial view
here is that those controversies
should be settled by the persons in
volved the Europeans still in
Europe.
DR.. Hodza has been advocating in
the United States what he calls
"self-existence," or autonomy, for
the Slovakian portion of Czecho-
Slovakia. It's present autonomy as
Slovakia, under German guidance,
the United States has refused to
| recognize. The American Govern
ment has signed an agreement for
postwar settlement of lease-lend
problems with the Czech govern
ment-in-exile, the policies of whose
president. Eduard Benes, DR.. Hodza
has criticized.
Problem for Free Nation.
president Benes and the Czecho-
Slovakian government have con-
sistently maintained that questions
relating to internal political prob
lens, particularly the problem Of
the relationship between the Czechs
and Slovaks, can be solved only by
the constitutional organs of the
freed nation after the liberation Of
the state" the legation said today
in a statement issued to the Czech
and Slovak press in America.
The legation took advantage of its
privilege under the new Foreign
Agents Registration Act to try to
halt DR.. Hodza, although the lega-
tion refrained from mentioning him
by name The act gives United
Nations diplomatic missions here
the right to exempt from registra-
tion groups and persons whose ac-
tivity in the United States accords
with the policies of the recognized
government of the nation they speak
for
The statement made it clear the
legation would not seek exemption
for groups allied with DR.. Hodza.
whose appeals have divided the
leaders of the Slovak National
Alliance OF Chicago. It made clear
also that the legation would not
intervene for DR.. Hodza should the
American Government decide that
he should register.
No Political Aspirations.
The attitude of the Benes govern
ment, as set forth in the statement,
was that questions about the future
nature of Czechoslovakia should, as
the Atlantic Charter suggests, be
solved by the people at home. The
governments point is that the
Czechoslovak energy now should all
/ be aimed at destroying the Axis and
not diluted by campaign against
DR.. Benes.
The failure to mention DR.. Hodza
In the statement was said to be
based on desire to avoid an out
right conflict between President
Benes and DR.. Hodza, but the state
ment was worded in a way which
made its application to DR.. Hodza
clear to the Slovak- k-Americans and
Czech Americans who have been
drawn into this Central European
controversy
DR.. Hodza arrived in the United
States last November on an i'm
migrants visa, and he said that he
came for his health. He called on
Minister Vladimir Hurban Of Czecho-
slovakia and reported he had no
political aspirations In the United
States. In March, however, he an
nounced his doctrine of slovakian
"self-existence" and began the cam
paign designed to win the support
OF the Slovak National Alliance.
He won the Slovak Language news
papers, Move easy and Slovenski
Hlasnik, to his cause.
Defines New Doctrine.
DR.. Hodza-who had opposed Slo-
yak autonomy during his political
career in Czechoslovakia from 1918
to l938-defined his new doctrine in
the Move easy thus:
These are the fundamental facts
Of the Slovak program which give
to the American -Slovaks new posi-
ton, new force and new RESPONSE
bility: They will bear in this war
the heaviest burden for the Slo-
vakian military participation in the
Second World War. So how could
anybody ignore their voice
! But they would be ignored if they