CZECHOSLOVAK INDEPENDENCE
of their capacity to govern themselves. The difficulty was solved at least temporarily and partially by presenting to Colonel House a memorandum addressed, however, to the President himself.
The memorandum in question was the work of one of the then vice-presidents of the Bohemian National Alliance; an Iowa attorney, and had the approval of both the Bohemian National Alliance and the Slovak League of America, and was delivered to Mr. House in his New York apartment by two officials of the Alliance in May, 1917. The document, after a historical survey, dealt mainly with the fact that the plans, occasionally broached, for federalizing Austria-Hungary, were not feasible, and that Austria-Hungary, preserved in any form, would be a constant menace to the peace of the world.
Colonel House asked the Czech representatives many questions and himself showed complete familiarity with the problem. He also stated that the President was well acquainted with, and very much interested in, the Czech cause.
That the matter was present in Mr. Wilson’s mind very soon after America’s declaration of war is well illustrated by his Flag Day address, delivered in Washington, June 14, 1917, from
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