TOMORROW IN BOHEMIA

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 88, 8 January 1919, Page 5

TOMORROW IN BOHEMIA

• . _$ CZECH PREPARATIONS M. BENES ON THE FUTURE The recent announcement that among those taking an official part in the Ver T sailles Conference which considered the conditions of the armistice was M, Benes, the Foreign Minister of the Provisional Government of the Czecho-Slovaks, takes us yet a stage further in the recognition of the new State ad an effective Ally. " It was only at the beginning of last' September that the National Council, sitting at Paris, was accepted by Mr. Wilson as a <le..facto Government, and, following the confirmation of the Allies, towards the end of the same month the- Cabinet—whioh at present consists of three persons—was constituted. Very little eeems to be known about these statesmen in England, and as they aie destined to play a not unimportant role at tho peace table, I may T>e allowed; writes the Paris correspondent of- the "Westminster Gazette," to furnish.a few particulars, to which I will add the interesting statement of M. 'Benes just made in an interview. The chief'of the trio is M. Masaryk, who, although Premier and Finance .Minister, is not at present in Paris. He is in America, fulfilling a mission on behalf' of the Czechs. Hβ is a man of fifty: years'of age, tall and, active, who has been indefatigable since the early months of the war in advocating the liberation of his country and in appealing, to the Allies to regard Bohemia not as an enemy but.as a friend. There have been moments ■when the success of our arms seemed doubtful to those who did not realise the determination of Prance and England; but H. • Mnsaryk never faltered in his belief that freedom would come through our ■ triumph. General Stefanik. the Minister of War, is also absent. He ifeva comparatively young man of not more than thirty-five. Hβ is thin, the face eniaciated, of precarious health. Nevertheless he did ;iot hesitate in his' Choice; he entered the Foreign Legion, and' afterwards served as' an aviator. He was not long in making a mark in his military career. He has fought in Italy, and is. now at the head of an army in Siberin. The third member of the Cabinet is M. Benes, who. in fact, actually is tho Government. He has organised the relationship Ijftween Prague and Paris, and is now from his offices here engaged in making known the desires of his people. Hβ came from Prague in 1916. In complete accord with II- Kramar,- the Czech Liberal lender, and with tho Socialist statesmen who pursued- the same ideal, he has been in reality a sort of Ambassador to France; He is generally regarded as the drivingforceof the movement for independence. 1 Prague, the Capital. , Naturally the present limited Government, with its small personnel and its seat on a foreign though friendly soil, cannot exist without epeedy expansion; ami when the* other offices nro filled it will probably be by those who are at home in Bohemia, and who will .thus direct national affairs from within. . It will be at Prague, which will remain the capital, that tho Cabinet will unite later, said M. Benes. As for tho possibility of internal difficulties, owing to the rabidity with which the now State will have to be organised, the Forei"n Minister anticipates none. Much has been done quietly for years. It is not at this moment that the task has beon begun. The Administration, the placing of tho Army on a proper footing, all has been foreseen, all has been prepared for this very situation. For a long time for the people of Bohemia have been dreaming, but they have also been scheming- Their leaders have not been content with pious aspirations: they have thought out practical nlans. Ine machinery' can bo put in march at a moment's notice. ■ < Of course, there will be, M. Benes admitted, a difficult period of transition, but there is no fear of famine. There is almost sufficient food i in Bohemia; and when there is no obligation to send coreals into Gormnny and into the rest of Austria. Bohemia will find herself sufficiug unto horsolf. Will the present. Government command the suffrages of the inhabitants? There is. according to 11. Benes, no reason ,to doubt it. M. Masnryl; has the complete confidence of the worker-;. There nro 13,000,000 inhabitants, . who twill by a vast majority, remain, faithful to him. As for the Germans and Magyars who constitute a portion of the population, their numbers have been eroatly exaggerated. They will certainly not prove (lanerous to the existenoe of tho new State. The German-Austria Menace. In this connection it is important to record tire opinion of M. Benes, that the peril of a German unification,at the expense of Bohemia, is not so formidable as it is declared to be by many persons in Franco. Indeed, he is inclined to regard the "menace" as a manoeuvre, a piece of blackmail, an attempt to frighten Hie Allies into saving. the clumsy edifice of tho ramshackle • monarchy now tumbling into pieces. So far as Bohemia is concerned, he says, she is a. gwiitraphical twhole. an economic unity, a notion witli a consistent history. Order will not bo hard to maintain, since,tho country-hns not arrived at its liberation as the restiit of a wild agitation, a sudden accident. It has tho exumple of Bussia before its eyes; and it is «ob<T and resolved. It has..a solid Soc- | iiilist block—composed of Democrats p»d Nationalists—wlio possess nn undeniable authority; and it is estimated that 40 »er cent, of the voters are organised Socialists. Their policy will aim nt the proctioti of a solid and unshakable Czech State.