BUILDING A REPUBLIC

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 23 February 1929, Page 9

BUILDING A REPUBLIC

JJQW the young republic of Czechoslovakia has attempted to combine iii itself the great ideals of the past with the best isociajt aims of toda- was described in an iinterview by Prof. Frederick Bodnar, of the Hus T-h-eo.ogical Faculty dn Prague. In the years 1620-1640, the period of the Thirty .Years War, more than throe-fi patters of the lan-cl had been confiscated and'given into the hands of foreign “nobffem-en.” fit was • only natural, therefore, that, after 300 years of such exploitation, the loaders of the Czechoslovakian Republic, in proclaiming, their independence on October 28. 19lS, should express their intention of making a wide use of the best i deal'ls of Bohemian and Slavic history. During the Great, War, -the nation had been ruined ecanomioafily. The existence of numerous bankrupted States in the Balkan area constituted a ..serious menace to its economic stability. ‘ One of the most important of the social reforms lvad to do with the land problem. The confiscation of the ’and which hod taken place 300 years before had robbed thousands of Czech families of their immww.le property. There were districts where Czech-speak-ing populations were entirely dependent upon the mercy of great landed pro-

CZECHS USE IDEALS OP PAST

prietors. who po-sse-ased enormous estates. The Czechoslovakian Government resolved-that the maximum measure of land ownership must not go beyond .a certain number of hectares. All additional acreage was to he expropriated by .the Government and the proprteoTS were ito receive an (indemnity for the land thus taken. This process proved to be a restitution of the former state of things with the land thus passing into the hands of the nation. It was not regarded as a policy iof confiscation, but or restitution. It enabled thousands of families to live on and to cultivate the land -that they love. Many hundreds of smaller estates were created. The land reform is not yet finished, and will not be for many years to come. When asked about the situation with regard to communism. Professor Bodnar said: “Not a few of our .people fcGt that a revolution, similar to the one that had been effected by the Soviets, constituted the most promising escape from their labyrinth of cure. On th© other hand, a majority of our trusted leaders believed that Czechoslovakia could never become a country of Communism. It, may now he said that the influence of Communism in our national life is verv definitely waning, though it still remains our noisiest party.”