Page:The Czechoslovak Review, vol3, 1919.djvu/308

 awake from its long sleep. Most of the contents were derived from Holland papers and now and then we managed to get hold of an issue of the Československá Samostatnost, the Paris organ of the independence movement; again we published in the Hlasatel an appeal to persevere, or perhaps stuff that the censor cut out of the regular newspapers, or text of treason charges against our leaders which the Prague papers could not publish. There was plenty of material, more than I could handle. I was the editor, printer, at first even the colporter. From money contributed I bought a hectograph, paper and typewriter. I made the stencil myself and struck off the copies myself. Very often I changed the location of my “printing plant” so as to minimize the chances of discovery by the police. For a while I ran the newspaper in a suburban cottage of Professor Rosa beyond Smíchov, then in the editorial rooms of the Čas, later in the flat of ‘Uncle’ Fialka in Dejvice, finally in the atelier of architect Pische above the Čas. Copies destined for Prague I turned over to Fialka who delivered them to Prague “subscribers”. Packages for country towns were mailed every Thursday, made up as books coming from the publishing firm of F. Borový and addressed to book sellers throughout Bohemia. Inside was the address of the confidential friend who agreed to see after local circulation. After a while a certain book seller opened the package, and when he saw what dynamite it contained, he wrote all scared to leave him but of it. Then we sent the packages of Hlasatel as any other mail. If the police had got hold of it, the man named on the cover would have simply said that he knew nothing of it. But although we worked this scheme from spring of 1916 to October, 1918, the police never got onto it. Dr. Šámal himself sent the Hlasatel to all Czech professors by enclosing a copy in the Journal of Czech Professors, of course with the co-operation of the “Unie” publishers.

The Hlasatel made the most of Horký’s pamphlet, written for our people in America, entitled “Teď anebo nikdy” (Now or Never). Jaroslav Kvapil borrowed it from the press bureau of the Ministry of War from editor Pallausch, a good Czech, who secretly let us have foreign periodicals. Kvapil brought it to Prague and I copied and struck it off in one night. The pamphlet was published in America at the end of 1915; I got out the first 70 copies in April, 1916, and a month later Horký’s desire was fulfilled; his booklet was distributed everywhere, at the front and in the furthest mountain village. No one of all the multitudes that read it notified the police, and not till two years later did the police in Pilsen get the first copy of it by arresting two citizens who read it aloud, as they walked on the street. The pamphlet did have a great effect; not because of its contents which we all condemned. For it was out of question to start crazy revolutions, even while the Russians were in the Carpathians, to say nothing of the situation, when they were retreating. If we had followed Horký’s advice, the nation would have been slaughtered; why, the Hapsburgs and the Germans were eager to have a Czech uprising. But nevertheless the pamphlet stirred up the people. One of my friends brought it home and read it to wife and children at night with windows hermetically closed. They sat till morning, so aroused were they over it. Even Kalina’s well-known poem which captured Prague in one night was not as popular as Horký’s pamphlet.

Later in the summer of 1917 we re-organized the Hlasatel. We found a reliable and careful girl to type my manuscripts and make copies on the hectograph; she did this work in the Praga advertising agency. In that way we got more copies and they were more readable. Miss Joškova did this work without charge, after her office hours, with the assistance of another employee of the advertising agency. I devoted the time thus gained to more careful editing of the Hlasatel. After “Uncle” Fialka left Prague for Lemberg, the circulating end of it was looked after by Mr. Holan, a court official.

Who received the Hlasatel? In Prague people of all classes; high state officials, professors, school teachers, workingmen. An issue appeared one day, and the next day some piece of news was known to everybody that no official dementi could shake. I was careful to select reliable news, handled them with common sense, added a sober explanation, and as a result nobody in the whole world could destroy the confidence of my readers into the truth of everything that appeared in the Hlasatel. The greatest number of readers we had in