Page:America in the Struggle for Czechoslovak Independence (1926).pdf/43

RV 39

them always at odds with the Germans within their gates and with the government set over their heads. They desire at least the same degree of autonomy that has been granted to Hungary.(Par. 740.)

These excerpts show clearly enough that in the case of Woodrow Wilson, Czech propagandists were spared the necessity of teaching him the history of their nationality and of convincing him of the heterogeneity of the Austro-Hungarian Empire; a task they were confronted with in the case of many another war-time statesman. Equally clearly, a recognition of Czech claims must have been a pleasant task for Woodrow Wilson once the Czechoslovak legions appeared in the field, and once proof was established that nothing short of independence would satisfy the nation.

As a matter of fact, one of the statements of Mr. Wilson, appearing above, furnished the Czechs of America with a slogan which they eagerly seized upon and never tired of using: “NO LAPSE OF TIME, NO DEFEAT OF HOPES, SEEMS SUFFICIENT TO RECONCILE THE CZECHS OF BOHEMIA TO INCORPORATION WITH AUSTRIA.” This crisp sentence was for the first time quoted by a Czech spokesman at a hearing before the committee on foreign affairs of the