The Czechoslovak Review/Volume 4/The Month in Czechoslovakia (3)

THE CZECHOSLOVAK REVIEW OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE CZECHOSLOVAK NATIONAL COUNCIL OF AMERICA
Jaroslav F. Smetanka, Editor. Published Monthly by the Bohemian Review Co., 2324 S. Central Park Ave., Chicago, Ill.
Entered as second class matter April 30, 1917 at the Post Office of Chicago, Ill., under act of Congress of March 3, 1879.
20 Cents a Copy	To Foreign Countries $2.25	$2.00 Per Year
Vol. IV	MARCH, 1920	No. 3.

 

The Month in Czechoslovakia

The nation celebrated on March 7 the seventieth birthday of its first president. After a year and three months Masaryk is as popular as in December, 1918, when he returned to Prague to assume his high office. That fact may be pointed to as the supreme test of his statesmanship. Of the big men on the Allied side he alone may be said to be greater today, than when the fighting ceased. Since the armistice there has been a new deal in France and Italy; in England Lloyd George who swept the country in the elections of December 1918 is constantly loosing by-elections, and the popularity of President Wilson has decreased in a startling manner since his first trip to Europe. Paderewski who was decidedly the more picturesque and probably the more popular of the two Slav statesmen a year ago has now disappeared from the political stage. Masaryk alone is stronger with his people than ever; every Czech and Slovak, nay more, every German in the Czechoslovak Republic, looks up to him as the biggest asset of the Republic, and while the German minority naturally merely respect and trust the president, the Czechoslovaks love him as they would love a wise father. No criticism is ever heard of his actions; he may veto laws passed by the National Assembly, and the deputies hasten to re-write the law to meet his objections. The new constitution provides that no president may be elected for more than two terms; but it also states explicitly that this limitation does not apply to the first president. Everybody takes it for granted that Thomas G. Masaryk will remain at the head of the state, as long as he lives or as long as he can be induced to bear this high responsibility. Czechoslovakia on March 7 resounded from one end to another with the sincere cry: Long live our President.

 

With the exchange of ratifications between the Allies and Germany the peace status came to prevail between Germany and Czechoslovakia. The two countries have exchanged diplomatic and consular representatives and proceeded to put into effect certain clauses of the Versailles treaty. The principal change was the occupation of the small district of Hlučín in Prussian Silesia by the Czechoslovak authorities. This district includes 39 villages with about 50,000 people; most of the inhabitants are Czechoslovaks who call themselves Moravians. They were attached to the Bohemian crown until 1742, when Frederick of Prussia robbed Maria Theresa of the greater part of Silesia. In spite of germanizing influences to which these Slav peasants have been exposed for two hundred years, they have maintained their language and will now be rejoined to the main body of their kinsmen. The occupation took place on February 4; German soldiers and officials evacuated the district the night before.

 

The fate of Teschen will soon be decided. In compliance with the decision of the peace conference, providing for plebiscite after the German treaty goes into effect, an inter-allied commission took control of the Teschen district on February 2. The chairman of the commission is De Manneville, and French and Italian soldiers have entered the old duchy to execute the orders of the commission. It will take about three months, before the plebiscite is carried out, and in the meantime the entire district, both that section heretofore under Czech administration and the one under Polish administration, constitute neutral territory over which the Allied commission exercises supreme jurisdiction. The situation is full of inconveniences; instead of the present customs line running through the middle of the contested territory there are now two lines, one facing Moravia, the other Poland. In one part of the now neutral district Czechoslovak crowns are legal tender, in the other Polish crowns and Polish marks. Business is disorganized, and everybody wants the plebiscite to take place as soon as possible. The commission desires to allow each side to present its arguments in a peaceful manner over the entire district, particularly over that part of it heretofore occupied by the opposite party; but intimidation and demonstrations are forbidden. So far there was a minor riot in the town of Orlová, caused by a Polish demonstration in which ten persons were slightly wounded. But as the commission takes its duties seriously and has the necessary armed force at its command, there is no reason to fear any excesses. As to the result of the vote, the Czechs feel a confidence which has been growing steadily during the past year, while the Poles feel discouraged. In connection with the Teschen plebiscite a subcommittee of the international commission is making arrangements for the taking of popular vote in the Orava and Spiš districts of Slovakia. The Poles secured this point in the peace conference by introducing a picturesque delegation of mountaineers from the territory in question to President Wilson and claiming that the people of this territory were really Poles and wanted to join Poland. While the speech of the people shows traces of Polish, the peasants call themselves Slovak and repudiate the name of Poles. No one in Slovakia has any fears that the two small mountain areas in question will declare in favor of Poland.

 

Conferences with Austrian representatives in Prague were resumed to settle economic questions and to liquidate financial and other problems growing out of the dissolution of the old empire. The relations between Czechoslovakia and Austria continue friendly; Vienna acknowledges that it is now getting more coal from Bohemia and Moravia. Both states look with suspicion on the developments in Hungary. The elections there at the end of January resulted, as was expected, in the victory of Christian socialists and agrarians, because the opposition was brutally terrorized. The elections were the first in Hungary under the universal franchise, but never before was intimidation at the polls, always popular with Budapest ministries, as barefaced. Magyars would now like to secure an English prince for their king, but all their suggestions to that effect are received coolly in London. On the other hand the impression widely prevails among the neighbors of the Magyars that the British have decided to make the Magyars their protégés and are inclined to favor them unduly. All the four neighbors of the reduced Hungary—Czechoslovaks, Roumanians, Jugoslavs and Austrians—distrust the present regime in Budapest. They believe that Admiral Horthy, the new regent, means aggression, and they abhor the white terror which assassinates not merely the former bolsheviks, but even good demmocrats. In the meantime the Magyars have not yet signed the peace treaty or evacuated the strip of Western Hungary which was awarded to Austria.

 

With the exception of uneasiness caused by reaction in Hungary the foreign relations of the Czechoslovak Republic are satisfactory. Germany respects its new neighbor on the southeast and has no cause of quarrel with it. Relations with Poland are better and with the settlement of the Teschen dispute will improve rapidly; the present government of Warsaw is more democratic, and economic causes make for closer contact. Negotiations are going on with Jugoslavia about an economic and political understanding, and the interests of Czechoslovakia and Roumania run along parallel lines. It is hardly necessary to repeat that fidelity to the Western Allies gained during the war is the cornerstone of Czechoslovak foreign policy. Russia is the riddle and the chief problem of all European foreign ministers. The address of Dr. Beneš, given elsewhere in this issue, elucidates Czechoslovak policy toward Russia. In spite of the fact that Czechoslovak soldiers in Siberia unwillingly became engaged in warfare with the bolshewiks, the government tried to maintain a neutrality toward Russian parties struggling for control. As against Dr. Kramář who wanted his country to become identified with the cause of Kolchak and Denikin, Masaryk and Beneš held aloof and are watching the developments.

 

Budget for 1920 was approved by the National Assembly on January 29, after a debate of three days. This debate was preceded by a discussion of the budget in the proper committee of the Assembly lasting six weeks. All the parties voted for the budget, even the opposition. As is customary in European parliaments, the general budget debate is employed to bring up for discussion such political questions, as may be agitating the minds of the people. Dr. Kramář on behalf of national democrats criticized the government for being too ready to make concessions to the German citizens of the Republic. But the great majority of the Assembly favored the policy of conciliation, so that the German minority would feel themselves citizens whose rights to their own national culture and to the use of their language in the districts in which they live are respected by the Czechoslovak Republic.

 

The National Assembly is working hard and is sincerely anxious to close its labors quickly, but it is still sitting. In February the parliament debated the army law; there was considerable opposition to the two year compulsory service, but the logic of circumstances was too strong even for the social democrats. Then the discussion of the new constitution, as drafted by the committee on constitution, was thrown into the assembly. We hope to be able to print the constitution, or at least its outlines, in the next issue. Among constructive measures adopted by the National Assembly was the establishment of a legislative reference library which is to inform parliaments of the world of new Czechoslovak legislation by publishing an excerpt in French of all new laws, and is also to keep track of new legislation elsewhere. Masaryk’s Academy of Labor was incorporated; it is to be the central body of technical and engineering experts who will be divided into commissions in accordance with individual industries and work together to promote industrial efficiency. President Masaryk gave to the new organization one million crowns out of funds which were left in his hands from the thanksgiving offering of Czechs in America after the winning of independence. Another important measure passed by the National Assembly appropriated 300 milion crowns, spread over a number of years, to build monumental structures to house the parliament, the various ministries, universities in Prague and Brno, governmental buildings in Slovakia etc.

 

Prague is now a city of almost a million people. On February 6 the National Assembly passed a law consolidating with Prague 38 cities and villages which have grown up on the periphery of the old capital. All of them are connected with Prague by miles of built-up streets; the total area of Greater Prague will be 17,000 hectares (about 115 square miles). The population of the city on the basis of the 1910 census would be 675,000, but Prague has grown tremendously since it became the capital of a republic, so that the next census will find nearly a million inhabitants in Greater Prague. The law annexing the suburban towns to Prague held the attention of a special committee of the Assembly for nearly a year, so many conflicting interests had to be reconciled. The cities and towns that are now annexed were willing to join Prague, but innumerable details of administration, legislation and above all of finances had to be adjusted. Finally the bill as prepared in committee was passed unanimously. The capital city of Prague will be governed by a council of 100, elected by universal suffrage; this council elects the mayor whose title will be the “primator” and three deputies; also an executive body of 24. The first elections will be held within six months of the enactment of the law, and the entire plan will be in operation within one year. In order to put the finances of the city on a sound basis, the Assembly granted the city council the right to lay a special tax on building lots, on all vehicles, on street car tickets and on amusements. Greater Prague will be a city of unique interest to tourists; full of memorials of the Middle Ages, with century old castles, churches, houses and bridges, it has already many great examples of modern monumental architecture. The government will embellish its seat with splendid public buildings. Prague will be the most attractive city in Europe east of Paris. It will rapidly outdistance its old rivals, the capitals of Austria and Hungary.

 

Newspapers display prominently appeals to their partisans to be sure and register for the coming elections. National democrats and people’s party criticise the government, and Czechoslovak socialists have constant bickerings with the social democrats, while everybody in the cities takes a shy occasionally at the farmers who are charged with selfishness. But in parliament they all vote together and all want the prosperity of the republic. In preparation for the elections the oposition in the farmers’ party joined the national democrats, while in Slovakia the significant event is the decision of socialists—Slovak, Magyar and German to vote one ticket, all three nationalities declaring their adherence to the Republic. Magyar workingmen hate the reactionary rule in Hungary proper, while the Germans in Slovakia appreciate the fact that under Czechoslovak rule their national rights are far better respected than they were under Magyar rule. In the Czech social democratic party the left wing published its program in February; it insists on the Marxist platform, is opposed to the coalition of social democrats with bourgeois parties and wants to join the third internationale. But even these radicals go slow; they declare their purpose to hold back the agitation during the elections and only afterwards make an effort to capture the machinery of the party. It is, of course, easy to understand the dissatisfaction of the radical socialists with the present leadership. A government which has half the members socialistic, with a social democrat as the premier, lets go the governmental pressbureau to a private syndicate and announces its approval of the bill for a bank to be the government’s fiscal agent and to have exclusive right to issue banknotes, not as a governmental bank, but as a stock company.

 

Lack of coal, still the principal difficulty in the way of economic reconstruction, was for a time aggravated by a strike of coal miners in the Ostrava district. The strike was meant to be a one day demonstration against the cost of living, both food and clothing, but overturning the plans of the leaders the men refused to return to work and remained idle for a whole week. There were no disorders, but the loss of one week’s production closed many factories, until delegations of factory workers came to plead with miners to resume work. The strikers received 20 per cent increase in wages and the state authorities agreed to supply them with clothing and shoes at reduced prices. A conference of miners, held in Prague on January 28, declared for nationalization of coal mines, and as immediate step toward this end they demanded the establishment of workers, councils with share in management and profits; the government had already agreed to this demand. The minister of food supply announced that stock of flour was low, owing to the impossibility of importing flour from abroad, when the value of crown had depreciated so greatly. At the same time he believed that it would not be necessary to reduce the flour ration. Great efforts are being made to increase the yield of crops for the coming year; the government imported phosphate from French Africa and salts from Germany and is trying to import cattle and feed. Although the farmers clamor for the abolition of the state control of grain production, it is stated this cannot be done in the near future.

 

A new domestic loan was announced by the government. The first loan of the Czechoslovak Republic, the Liberty Loan, will be due in 1924; the outstanding treasury certificates are payable in 1923 and 1924. The new loan is a long term security; it is to be retired on or before 1960 in annual drawings which will commence in 1925. The rate of interest is 42 per cent, but as bonds drawn for retirement are redeemed at 125, the average rate of interest will amount to about 5.15 per cent. This is a lower rate of interest than France offers on its latest state issue. All the old Austrian paper money is now withdrawn from circulation, and thus the danger of forgery of stamped currency is finally done away with. But the government now plans to substitute gradually for the currency, issued by the state, notes of the new Bank of Czechoslovakia. The bank will receive from the government its slender store of precious metal, buildings and special privileges. It will issue its own notes against its hard money reserves, commercial paper, and if possible, against sound foreign money, to be obtained by a loan abroad. State-issued money will be retired, as bank notes will enter circulation. The basis of new money will be the Latin monetary union, in other words the aim will be to make the value of the crown, or whatever the future unit of currency will be called, equivalent to that of franc.

 

The Czechoslovak Republic can only exist as an exporting country, and this is fully realized by the governmental and commercial circles. Great attention is being paid to Czechoslovak ports, granted to the republic in the peace treaties. A conference held in Trieste between Italian and Czechoslovak representatives resulted in making the port of Trieste more available to Czechoslovak trade. Direct freight trains have been provided between Italy and Bohemia with through rates; Italy agreed to furnish open cars of which the Republic has not enough. A section of the harbor was turned over to Czechoslovaks, with docks and all other facilities for handling freight; here Czechoslovak employees and customs officers have full control. Czechoslovak export will be directed as before the war principally toward the Levant, the Black Sea countries and the Far East. Major Sheba, formerly military attaché in Rome, was appointed consul general in Trieste. Similarly in Hamburg Hugo Vavrečka, an experienced engineer and businessman, was appointed consul general and manager of the Czechoslovak sector of the port of Hamburg.

 

England pays much attention to the new Republic. There has been recently founded in London the Czech Society of Great Britain. Lord Robert Cecil, the distinguished statesman and advocate of the League of Nations, is president, and many friends of Czechoslovakia, like R. W. Seton Watson, are among the directors; Robert F. Young, formerly secretary of the British legation in Prague, is the honorary secretary. The society aims at the strengthening of political, intellectual and commercial ties between Great Britain and Czechoslovakia, and to spread in England knowledge of the nation by lectures, meetings, concerts, art exhibits and literary publications. Why is there not such a society in the United States?