Page:The Bohemian Review, vol1, 1917.djvu/67

 with the natives, that all prejudice against them as foreigners has been broken down, and they have been gladly welcomed into the farming community of the state.

Bohemians have now been in Texas since the fifties, so that we have now a third generation growing up. It is interesting to observe the process of Americanization amongst them. In spite of several tendencies which would seem to work in the other direction, the Bohemians of Texas are better Americans than those who have made their homes in our large cities. The Bohemians have kept by themselves a good deal, even out on the farms. It is seldom that you will find a Bohemian farmer settled in the midst of Americans. Generally they settle in the Bohemian regions of Texas, and there, through their churches and societies and in some cases through their schools, they foster their own language and their own racial consciousness. Furthermore, owing to the fact that it is only a year since Texas secured a compulsory education law, and to the further fact that the children are put to work at an early age in the cotton fields, a great many, though born in this country, have grown up with a very meagre knowledge of the English language. But, in spite of this fact, they are good Americans. That is to say, they seem to have grasped the spirit of America, of her ideals, traditions and institutions even better than some of their country men who have learned the English language and American ways so fast that they have forgotten their mother tongue and the ideals and traditions of their forefathers. All this goes to deepen in my mind the conviction that it is a great mistake to hasten unduly the process of Americanization, and the belief that the more loyal these foreigners are to the traditions of their old country, the more loyal will they be to this, their adopted country. Of course, the Bohemian language is doomed to a slow death. I venture to predict that it will endure longer in Texas than elsewhere, and yet it is there that the process of Americanization has borne the greatest fruits.

In Texas, as elsewhere, I have found it to be true that it is those who are the most ardent Bohemian patriots who are the most loyal in their allegiance to America. A Bohemian who will not support the Bohemian National Alliance in its effort to liberate Bohemia from the hand of the oppressor, is not likely to support the American government in its fight for freedom and democracy. Whereas those who are most active in the propaganda for the independence of Bohemia, are encouraged in their activity by the very keen appreciation which they have of the liberty and democracy afforded to them under the American flag.

My visit to Texas has done much to deepen my affection for the Bohemian people. They are amongst the most progressive of our new citizens. They are making great contributions to our economic, political and cultural life. They have an intense love of liberty which makes them most appreciative of all that America stands for. It seems to me that the least we Americans can do is to give them a hearty welcome into our community of liberty-loving citizens, and lend to them our sympathy and support in the noble effort they are making to secure political independence for Bohemia.

The immediate occasion of the European war was the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand and his wife, Princess Hohenberg, in the capital of Bosnia, June 28th, 1914. The Austrian government saw in the double murder a complete justification for making war on Serbia, regardless of the strong probability that invasion of Serbia would bring on general war. The ruling persons of Vienna have defiantly proclaimed to the world that it was fitting to have millions of the common people die rather than leave the murder of the two august personages unpunished. This is a terrible doctrine from the point of view of American democracy, even when sincerely believed in. But the fact is that the rulers of the Austro-Hungarian empire, the few people around Francis Joseph who decided to use the Sarajevo murders as an