CZECHOSLOVAK INDEPENDENCE
Perhaps the French experience may aid in solving this important problem.
At least on one occasion the Czechoslovak representatives were confronted by a rather delicate situation. President Wilson’s fourteen points appear in his address to Congress, January 8, 1918. Point ten maintains: “The peoples of Austria-Hungary, whose place among the nations we wish to see safeguarded and assured, should be accorded the freest opportunity of autonomous development.” But the Czechoslovaks were not willing to accept mere autonomy—they demanded independence! And Senator Owen, of Oklahoma, following Mr. Wilson’s address, introduced in the Senate a resolution endorsing the fourteen points. From the Czechoslovak point of view this would have made matters worse. But what to do and not antagonize the White House?
The representative of the Bohemian National Alliance called on Senator William Stone, then Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and brought the situation to his attention. The Senator at once understood that point ten to Czechoslovaks and other Austrian nationalities was unacceptable, but he also understood that a public and open attack upon this point, taking issue with the President, by any Czech, would be
[ 68 ]
