Page:The Czechoslovak Review, vol3, 1919.djvu/192

 self in his French uniform spoke at recruiting meetings in Chicago and New York. In the winter and spring of 1918 Štefanik, promoted to General by the French army command, spent his attention on the Italian problem. The army in France was growing every day by additions from Russia and from the United States; in Russia the biggest Czechoslovak army was guided by Masaryk himself. But in Italy there were tens of thousands of Czechoslovak prisoners of war, anxious to take a hand in the fight against Germans, but confined in camps. On April 21, 1918, Gen. Štefanik signed a convention with the Italian government on behalf of the Czechoslovak National Council; by this convention the Italians agreed to organize volunteers from among Czechoslovak prisoners of war into an army corps which should be subject to the supreme Italian army command, but politically would come under the jurisdiction of the Czechoslovak National Council.

Of Štefanik’s work in Paris which made of the French the warmest champions of Czechoslovak independence Dr. Beneš could say a great deal, if he thought it possible to speak now of the inner history of diplomatic moves. In the summer of 1918 one state act after another followed recognizing the Czechoslovaks as allies, and as a result the Czechoslovak National Council constituted itself the revolutionary Czechoslovak government in which Štefanik became the minister of war. Shortly after Austrian rule was overthrown in Prague, and when Masaryk was elected president of the republic, Štefanik was confirmed in his post.

As minister of war he had under his orders, at the time fighting stopped, Czechoslovak legionaries in France, Italy and Siberia. And so in November 1918 he crossed again the United States on his way to Ekaterinburg, the headquarters of the Czechoslovaks in Urals. Upon his arrival the Russian branch of the National Council turned over their authority to him; he reorganized the revolutionary army of exprisoners of war into the expeditionary army of an established republic and raised the morale of the discouraged soldiers by his appearance. In February of this year he sailed from Vladivostok to France by way of Suez. He visited Rome and Paris in March and April and was on his way home after many years’ absence, when death came upon him unexpectedly. Finding in northern Italy that train communications were extremely unsatisfactory, he obtained the loan of an Italian aeroplane to fly directly to Slovakia. On May 4 while nearing the end of the trip the machine in some unexplained manner became disabled and fell to the ground, causing the death of Štefanik and two Italian officers who accompanied him.

The loss of Štefanik is a real calamity to the young republic. He was like Masaryk a man to whom all parties looked with confidence; he was a hero of the revolution. His own people, the Slovaks, fairly worshipped him.

General Štefanik was slight in stature and had always been in poor health. During his campaign in Serbia he sustained an ugly fall, the effects of which made him suffer torments ever since. How he managed to do his tremendous work was a mystery to all who met him. His body was a broken reed, but his spirit conquered all obstacles. His courtesy and his gentleness gained friends for him, wherever he went. Those who knew him will remember him as a gallant gentleman and noble patriot.

In addition to his diplomatic work in Washington Commissioner Charles Pergler is very active in telling Americans about the progress of affairs in the Czechoslovak Republic. Being an excellent speaker he receives invitations to address the most influential gatherings in various parts of the United States. Thus he spoke on March 22 in New York before the League for Political Education; on April 22 he talked to members of the New Orleans Chamber of Commerce on trade relations between the South and Bohemia. The New York Chamber of Commerce invited Mr. Pergler to give an address before their annual meeting on May 1, and a few days later he spoke in Philadelphia before the American Academy of Political and Social Science. His next address was given in Memphis before the local chamber of commerce on May 5, followed by four meetings in St. Louis on May 7th and 8th. He spoke in Chicago at a luncheon given in his honor bythe [sic] Iroquis Club on May 19 and the following day delivered an address to the students of the University of Wisconsin at Madison. At the end of the month he spoke before important gatherings in the city of Boston.

From his recent literary work one ought to mention an article in the Independent on “The Birth of the Czechoslovak Republic,” an article on the “Czechoslav” in the Christian Herald, and a discussion of “The Importance to Europe of the Czechoslovak Republicof the Czecho-Slovak state to Europe [sic]” in the May Current Opinion.