Page:The Czechoslovak Review, vol3, 1919.djvu/154

  in Prince George, where the majority of them are located, is a model of neatness, productiveness, and thrift.

One of the best-known business men of Petersburg told this writer recently that he had sold many thousands of dollars’ worth of goods to Bohemians in Prince George, Dinwiddie, and Chesterfield and never had lost a dollar on a single purchase. A year or two ago a Bohemian sold his Prince George farm and went to Chicago to live. When the news came to the merchant mentioned, he made up his mind to charge to the profit and loss account the $60 which this debtor owed him. But inside of three months he sent him $30 and inside of six months remitted the remaining $30 of the debt.

“Business men of Petersburg will not resent, in the sense of becoming angry, the slurs cast upon our ‘Bohemians’ by this speaker, but will regret that he failed to inform himself more accurately before expressing his opinion.”

Action was also immediately taken in the matter by the Chamber of Commerce of Petersburg which has resulted in a satisfactory explanation from the incautious visiting speaker. A most hearty public indorsement of the Czechoslovaks has been expressed, and all classes of citizens have united in voicing their approval of them as agricultural settlers for the south-side Virginia counties.

As we study these people, their political, social, and literary history, and begin more fully to appreciate their character and their dominating ambitions—really begin to know them—we cease to marvel at the rapidity of the progress they are capable of when given a real chance. More than this, we suddenly begin to realize that they too possess some of the higher traits of civilized humanity. It becomes harder to carelessly class them as “undesirable immigrants”, for even the most prejudiced of us in the south are forced to recognize merit in them, as they have proved that they can do on southern farms what we ourselves are apparently unable to do.

A deeper feeling of sympathy also awakens in us, as we realize in our more sober moments that with the coming of the Slavs to the South we are recruiting in part the army upon which we must depend to build the greater nation through the building of a greater South. With the awakening of that greater sympathy, even though it be born for self-interest, we also feel the added responsibility which the coming of these people places upon us. We begin to see that we of the South owe these people a certain duty. The best interests of the Nation, as well as those of the South, demand that as they come to make their homes among us, we meet them with kindness, with fairness, and with an appreciative understanding of their needs.

Aspersions on the Czechoslovaks who fought in Russia are answered by Mme. Catherine K. Breshkovsky, the venerable “Grandmother” of the Russian revolution. Mme. Breshkovsky came in close personal contact with the Czechoslovaks at Omsk, Ekaterinburg, Ufa, Samara and other East Russian and Siberian cities. She testifies enthusiastically to their discipline, courage and kindliness and to the affection in which they were held by the Russian populations which they rescued from the clutches of Lenine’s Red Guards.

It stands to reason that the Czechoslovaks were humane and considerate in their treatment of the Russian communities in which they operated. They were soldiers with the highest military ideals. They were intense patriots, fighting for the liberation of their own country from Austro-Hungarian oppression. They could never have remained in Russia—a handful of men, thousands of miles from any base of supplies—if they had not won the confidencecconfidence [sic] and support of the civilian population. They were not looters and mercenaries ,like the Red Guards. They were not fighting for plunder or power. They were not making civil war. Lenine foolishly prevented them from leaving the country. They stayed on and fought him because he had sold himself to Germany.

The Czechoslovak adventure in Russia was one of the great romances of the war. Only soldiers with clean hands and a spirit of chivalry could have carried that adventure through. The results of the campaign made by the Czechoslovaks speak for themselves. Hardly 100,000 strong, they conquered Siberia and drove the Bolshevists back to the line of the Volga. They contributed more than any other single factor toward saving Russia and Siberia from falling into the hands of the Germans. Mme. Breshkovsky says of them “Everywhere and in all circumstances I found them the same—noble, unselfish, strong in their duties and faith. I always found them fine men, beloved and esteemed by all the Russians.”

She means, of course, by the real Russians, not the criminal and bloodthirsty followers of Lenine. Their work is to be judged not only by the friends but also by the enemies they made.

—N. Y. Tribune, March 12, 1919.