CZECHOSLOVAK INDEPENDENCE
its very extensiveness and detailed nature will come as a surprise to many who are fond of rather ungenerous criticism of everything connected with the conduct of foreign relations. Certainly the material presented in this chapter should go far toward dispelling the charge, often enough made, that recognition of Czechoslovak independence was brought about by clever intrigue, or alleged personal friendship of particular officials.
When the United States entered the war, and throughout the conflict, as well as for a period thereafter, questions relating to Austria-Hungary came within the purview of the Near East Division of the Department of State of which the chief then was Dr. Albert Hutchinson Putney, formerly Dean of the Illinois College of Law in Chicago, and an author of a number of works on legal subjects, particularly on constitutional law. In his official capacity Dr. Putney prepared for the Secretary of State and the President a memorandum entitled The Slavs of Austria-Hungary. The document has already become one of first rate importance in Czechoslovak history, and this work would be but fragmentary indeed did it not devote considerable attention to its nature and very evident influence upon the formulation of
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