France for conferences with Professor Masaryk and for further important work to which he was called by his diplomatic talent. Since Dr. Štefanik left America less than a year ago, he has accomplished work of great value for his people in Italy and has received personal distinction by being promoted to the rank of brigadier-general in the French Army. All his countrymen in the United States, and particularly the Slovaks, will welcome him with much enthusiasm and are delighted that he is physically stronger than on his previous visit here.
Another distinguished visitor is Major General M. Janin, commander of the Czechoslovak Army in France and as such commander of all the Czechoslovak armies, since the armies in Russia and Italy are looked upon as expeditionary forces of the army in France. The general was born in 1863 in Lorraine. His family had to leave the province after its annexation by Germany. Janin graduated from the military Academy at St. Cyr and spent all his life in the French Army. At the opening of the war he was colonel of the 66th Regiment of Infantry. At the Marne and the Yser he commanded the 35th brigade. In June 1916, General Janin was appointed chief of the French Military Mission to Russia, for which task he was well prepared by his thorough knowlewdge of Russian and other Slav languages, as well as by his previous sojourn in Russia. He became interested in Czechoslovak affairs, when Štefanik came to Russia in 1916, and when in the following year the organization of the Czechoslovak Army in France was undertaken, he was assigned by the French Government to the command of this army at the request of the Czechoslovak National Council.
Our boys believe in him and love him, and the Czechoslovaks in America extend to him a hearty welcome.
BOHEMIAN NATIONAL ALLIANCE
The American recognition of the Czechoslovak National Council is a great victory for the Bohemian National Alliance. Fou ryears ago this little body was organized by a small group of men in Chicago, who formed a little society to which they gave the name of the Bohemian National Alliance of America, with the idea of striking a blow for the freedom of Bohemia. For a long time their efforts met with little encouragement, even though the organization spread rapidly into every settlement of the Czech people in this country. But when Masaryk wrote from Switzerland early in 1915, the men of the Alliance saw their task clearly and went about it with a determined mind. Their task was on the one hand to back financially the movement organized by Masaryk which was crystallized into the Czechoslovak National Council, and on the other hand to gain the public opinion of the United States and the Government of this country for Czechoslovak independence.
The work has been long and tiresome and the workers often feel, as no doubt the French poilu feels after four years in the trenches. But of the two victories which the men of the Bohemian National Alliance looked forward to, one has already been attained, the government of the United States has entered into relations with a Czechoslovak Government, after the other Allied Powers had already given it recognition. All that remains now is to lick the Germans to a standstill, and that long-for goal seems to be in sight.
THE CONVENTION OF THE Č. S. P. S.
The convention of the Č. S. P. S. (Czecho-Slav Fraternal Societies), the great fraternal organization of Czech immigrants in America, held its quadrennial convention in Chicago on August 24-31. This organization numbers 25,000 members and is the oldest Bohemian fraternal and beneficial society in the United States. Like every other death benefit society it has felt the effect of so many of its members being called away on military service, with the danger of largely increased death rate. Nevertheless the convention voted to pay out of its own funds the death benefit dues of members who have been called to the colors. The convention further endorsed the great Bohemian National Alliance of America, and elected Professor Masaryk honorary member. They also issued an appeal to its membership to enlist in the Czechoslovak Army for service in France. The offices of the organization for the next four years were removed from Cedar Rapids to Cleveland, and Charles Bernreiter, a zealous worker in the movement for Czechoslovak independence, was elected president until the next meeting of the convention.
PRESS COMMENT ON CZECHOSLOVAK RECOGNITION.
There is an event which means even more now and hereafter than the current military advance. That is the recognition of the Czechoslovak government by the United States, as a cobelligerent agains the German and Austro-Hungarian empires.
The allied armies may be checked, or (God prevent it) they may be pushed back somewhat, as the fortunes of war may determine. But the recognitoin of the new nation will not be set aside. It is now a historic and settled fact, one of the fundamental facts of the war which will dictate the nature of victory and the nature of peace.
This is perhaps the first time in modern history that a nation has been formed by a migratory people, and certainly the first time that it has been created and maintained in the heat of war and without a definite location. At present the Czechoslovaks are scattered all the way from Moscow to Vladivostok. Most of the people of this race are still under the dominion of Austria-Hungary. The head of the government, president of the National Council and comamnder-in-chief of the army, is now in Washington. The army itself is holding a part of Siberia, with allied assistance. Never was there such an anomalous situation. And yet it is the logical outcome of events.
