new_york_tribune_the_slav_lion_in_the_kaisers_path_30june_1918.pdf

THE SLAV LION IN THE KAISER'S

PATH

86,000,000 Oppressed Peoples in Dual

THE POLISH MILITARY MISSION AT THE CITY HALL

Organizing of Their Power Would

Empire Await Coming of Polish

Rob Kaiser of Best Strategic '

Legions to Unite Against

Military Base for Pan-

Their Oppressors

By Caroline Dawes Appleton

German Expansion

Íj>ROM the Baltic and the vast

governments add the weight of their

promise of support.

Slav armies, Polish, Czecho-Slovak

and Jugo-Slav, have been recruited

in America, France and Italy and

have fought individually on many

Í' int.- for the liberation of their peo¬

ple. i:o Polish army, brought to life

by a decree of President Poincaré

of France on June 4, 1917, has met

with the approval and sanction of

the United States and other Allied

governments. Over and over again

small Polish forces have been prac¬

tically exterminated and have risen

again with indomitable courage and

constituted themselves a force to be

reckoned with. The organization in¬

spired and fostered by Ignace Jan

Paderewski, the Polish Army in

France, has recruited in America a

considerable force which has been

and still is in training in the United

States and Canada and is trans¬

ported constantly by contingents to

the Western front.

Poland, for generations crushed

beneath the upper and nether mill¬

stones of Russian and »German au¬

tocracy, has flamed steadily in tire¬

less, incessant but unaided rebellion.

At the outbreak of the war, again

ground exceeding small beneath the

fair promises of both countries, Po¬

land maintained the spirit of her na¬

tional ideals. Thirty thousand young

men died by hanging for refusing to

enlist in the German and Austrian

armies. Polish women, struggling to

keep a foothold upon the land of

their fathers, battered and torn by

fluctuating warfare which swept

backward and forward across the

plains they worship, clung desperate¬

ly to their children, doggedly prefer¬

ring to die with them by slow starva¬

tion.which, after all, held the glory

of martyrdom.to selling them into

the red and tan of the armies of j

."that

pitiable and

miseraMi

Masaryk, who 13 unfortunately ns|

plains of Poland, through and

spanning the fertile valley oí

the Danube and anchoring finally in

the ancient fastnesses of Serbia and

Montenegro, extends a mighty^.chain.

Welded by suffering, oppressiontand

the indomitable fraternity of race, it

cuts in twain the dual monarchy of

pan-Germany. In this chain of

Slavic nations which lies across Cen¬

tral Europe, in the very heart of the

enemy's country, is no crashed, shat¬

tered -weapon for reforging, but a

twe-edged sword which is ready and

waiting to be grasped and wielded

tö the confusion of the tyranny

which threatens the world.

These Slavic nations, Secretary

Lansing reiterated only Friday, are

to be made free before America will

consider the war won. This is the

story of their own efforts toward

winning that freedom.

Of the 180,000,000 inhabitants of

pan-Germany 86,000,000, or nearly

half, are anti-pan-Germanist slaves,

and 59,000,000 of these latter inhabit

the enthralled territories of Central

Europe. .

These figures and others are pre¬

sented by André Chéradame, faie cele¬

brated French military critic, in

recent articles in "The Atlantic

Monthly." Referring to the recent¬

ly agitated insurrectionary move¬

ment among the Slavs of Central

Europe, M. Chéradame says :

"These regions form the most in¬

dispensable and, at the same time, the

most vulnerable strategic base of all

military pan-Germany. In fact, all

the rail and water lines of communi¬

cation which connect Austria and

Germany with Russia, the Balkans

and Turlley traverse these regions.

Three an! a half years of'war have

demonstrated that without the troops

and divers contributions of the Bal¬

kans and Turkey, to which are now

added those of Southern Russia,

Austria-Germany would long since

have been powerless to continue the

struggle. In reality, therefore, any

serious interference with the Austro-

German communications with the

East (Russia and the Balkans) will

be enough to make the situation very

Serbia. And out of the darkness

and the obscurity of the towering j

the only one of his species in tfa

hills would descend Austrian skir¬

mishing parties, to stay a while in

swift, terrible action, and leave be¬

hind them the lesser number, torn

by the brief, ferocious combat, lying

among the echoes of thei# glorious

past.

The battle line which divided Ser- !

bia which sang of Monastir and

Prizrend.that aged fastness an-

chored among the cloudy peaks of

Old Serbia.from some millions of

her loyal sons in Bosnia-Herzego¬

vina who dared sing, but not aloud;

that battle line was drawn between

Serb and Serb and by Serbian blood,

not in civil war but in the most

frightful tragedy of unwilling

fratricide the world has ever known.

In some instances the Austro-Ger-

man governments considered the ex¬

pediency of saving ammunition and

energy in quelling Jugo-Slavic dis¬

turbances otherwise than by actual

slaughter of the civilian population

and the wholesale execution of such

soldiers as proved to be a disturb¬

ing element in their organizations.

They conceived a thorough plan for

their incarceration in prisons and

internment camps. Here their grad¬

ual extermination could officially be¬

come a matter of "accident" and at¬

tributable to the "exigencies of war."

Due to the "unavoidable" condi¬

tions, calculated to appear so favor¬

ably in a final reckoning, Serbian

prisoners diedwith obliging rapidity.

In 1916 spotted typhus ravaged the

internment camps in this section of

Austria. The military authorities

ordered the instant closing of the

barracks. Not until a week had

passed was a regimental surgeon dis¬

patched to investigate the conditions

and if possible localize the disease.

He arrived to find a vast Serbian

grave. Nine thousand Serbians had

perished within the week. They

were buried by the hundreds in one

grave. When the earth was levelled

an inscription was placed upon the

site: "Here are buried Serbian

soldiers who died of wounds received

in the Austro-Hungarian-Serbian

war provoked by Serbia."

Under this epitaph lie nine thou¬

sand Slavs, men of that race which

once stemmed the tide of Turkish in¬

vasion before which Western Europe

trembled, and which is now encour¬

aged and inspired by Middle Europe,

with a firm mailed hand upon the

helm of Turkey's, ship of state.

A "Natural Death"

Devised for Leaders

As Austria-Germany first de¬

scended upon, and fancied crushed,

the learning and leadership of Po¬

land and Bohemia, in bygone ages,

so systematically to-day are massa¬

cred and imprisoned to die a "nat¬

ural death" the scholars and sci¬

entists of Jugo-SIavia. The civilian

internment camps are packed with

professors, lawyers, doctors and the

more educated of the women.

That these tales of misery and

oppression have escaped from the

prisons of the Slavic race is due to

the indefinable, almost wordless com¬

munication which exists between

Slavs in all parts of the world. Slav

leaders in America, who are work¬

ing tirelessly for the cause of their

nation's liberty, receive constantly

frail messages, slight vital details,

flashes of light, from behind the bar¬

riers overseas. Truly and courteous¬

ly concerned with the personal ob¬

jects of the United States in this

war, loyal to its aims and war proj¬

ects, they are yet intensely Slav. In

this very indomitable, unassimilatcd

quality of race the United States has

come to recognize how potent and in¬

dividual an ally may prove the coor¬

dinated millions who are already

seething in the heart of Central Eu¬

rope.

That the condition in these coun¬

tries is pitiable in the extreme is

entirely separate and apart from the

tremendous force of their strategic

possibilities. The Slavic chain is

not a weak, impotent one, despite its

private agony. It requires but the

monarchy!" as Count Czenün bittes»

ly observed.has brought to Am»^

the definite, visible knowledge of tfc»

fiery, waitng weapon whichhis «ma.

try represents. "Not the only «a»

of his species," Professor Masaryirg

presentation of his cause to the

American public, freed and cnhas*

j>ered by the meshes of German di¬

plomacy, is gall and wormwood ta

the Central Powers.

Musician Strikes Note

Of World Harmony

Out of Poland, heading Poland8«

long, proud list of artistic achieve,

ments, is Ignace Jan Paderewski

Quietly, with military efficiency, the

great pianist and composer has laid

the foundations in America of the

forthcoming Slavic army by his care¬

First row (left to right).Mr. Sieminski and Colonel Martin *f the French Military Mission; I. J. Paderewski and Major J.

fully recruited Polish Army in

Kozlowski, Chief "Polish Military Mission to the United States.

Second row.Major J. Wagner, Polish Military Mission; Lieutenant Poniatowski and Captain Grodzki.

France. The latter has so dista.

guished itself in combat that even

France, who is sparing of certain of

The originalplan, emanating from

Slavic leaders in America and in¬

dorsed by M. Paderewski, Dr. Mi-

losh Trivounatz, president of the

Serbian National Defence League

and member of the South-Slav Na¬

tional Council, in Washington, and

Czecho-Slovak leaders, among them

Gaza H. Mika, member of the

Czecho-Slovak National Council, and

others, comprises not only the vol¬

untary enlistment of men exempt

from the draft, but also those

draftees already in training in

American training camps. The lat¬

ter, fervent Slavic patriots, live,

many of them, under the technical

stigma of "enemy aliens" by vir¬

tue of their Austrian sovereignty;

furthermore, their imperfect knowl¬

edge of the English language ren¬

ders their training with American

troops difficult. High ranking

American officers, dealing with this

foreign element and the attendant

difficulties of its training, have-con¬

curred in the opinion that it would be

more practicable to form these men

with those of voluntary enlistment,

and thus create" a Slavic army un¬

der American control; or a Slavic

contingent of the United States

army, to be at least partially offi¬

cered by men speaking the Slavic

tongues.

If, as the resolution of the Sen¬

ate Military Committee would indi¬

cate, the approved plan comprises

merely the enlistment of under and

over draft age Slavs, it is doubtful

that any large force could be raised.

Poles, Czecho-Slovaks and Jugo¬

slavs would prefer, it is considered,

to enlist in such legions as would

distinguish their service by the spe¬

cific designation, Polish, Czecho-

Slovak or Jugo-Slav.

But however the diversities of

the plan may become organized, it

can be but a matter of time, and

little time at that, before the strug¬

gling hordes in captivity will co¬

ordinate beneath the influence of a

free Slavic army. |

tent powers of the Slavic chain.

the Czecho-Slovaks and the Jugo¬

slavs.

The former, a nation of scholars,

scientists and patriots of high intel¬

lectual order, has struggled against

the encroachments of Germany since

the fifteenth century. Through all

the pages of a bloody but magnifi¬

cent history the Czecho-Slovaks

have intensified the artistic, liter¬

ary and religious culture of Bohe¬

mia, sustaining its claim to the

standard of second to none among

the world's centres of learning.

It was the University of Prague

which gave forth the indomitable

spirit of John Hus and the crusade¬

like period of the Hussite Wars.

John Hus gave to Europe the hope

for freedom of individual con¬

science; not only religious reform,

but the philosophic platform which

inspired the French Revolution. He

was burnt alive for heresy, and the

entire Czech nation arose to avenge

his death. What originated as a re¬

ligious war quickly assumed a na¬

tional character; Germany attempt¬

ed an invasion of Bohemia, not once

scene of the most inspired Christian

martyrdom.the helpless, impotent

ally of the abhorred Mussulman,

whose westward progress she sacri¬

ficed her national liberty to impede.

One Hundred Regiments

Desert in Battle

Despite the frantic and subse¬

quently carefully intensive efforts

of Austria-Germany for the Ger-

manization of Bohemia, the flame of

Slavic nationalism has burned as

steadily there as throughout the

Slavic chain. The Slav language,

spoken in the streets of Czecho¬

slovak cities only at great peril;

Slavic industries, schools, churches,

and, above all, political centres,

were crushed beneath such oppres¬

sive vigilance as rendered their

existence impossible. It is due to

just this cautious distribution and

dissipation of community spirit and

effort that the Central Powers have

maintained "efnoient" supremacy

over so vital a race. j

But there was a slip in this ex¬

cellent policy, based, as is said by

André Chéradame, upon German

German governments reckoned with

the dangers of this sudden coordina¬

tion of Slavic influence in the inti¬

mate proximity of regimental or¬

ganization, it is impossible to say. It

is known, however, that in an ad¬

vance upon the Galician front

nearly a hundred regiments of

Czecho-Slovaks deserted in their en¬

tirety to the enemy's side.

In 1916, during Rumania's tragic

stand for justice and liberty, 36,000

Czecho-Slovaks escaped to the -Ru¬

manian border and there fought

with the Rumanian armies; of that

gallant number 34,000 fell at the

siege of Dobrudja. Of the 33,000 who

deserted to the Serbian forces in

the preceding year only 4,000 sur¬

vive to-day.

In Poland, Bohemia and Jugo¬

slavia alike the crime of desertion

became a heroism. The standard

tragedy of our American Civil

War, when brother fought against

brother, has been magnified a thou¬

sandfold in the seething turmoil of

Central Europe.

Crowds thronging the streets of

Polish and Czecho-Slovak cities,

watching with anxious eyes the

posting of war bulletins, have seer

no proclamation, no news whicr

would do less than add to then

agony. The bitter notices whicr

France read, "les pertes énormes,'

which were wfung from them in the

first great German drive, held &\

least the sublime panacea of pa

triotic unity. To the Slavic race th(

report of "enormous losses" in ar

advance, or a retreat, on either sid<

meant the same avalanche of grief

The starving millions in Galicia; th<

terse, fearful news that there nov

exist in Poland no children undc,

seven years of age; that 22,000 vil

lages had been wiped out of ex

istence; that for every hundre«

births in Poland there were tw<

hundred and forty deaths.thes

cool statistical tidings, and a thou

sand more, calculated to terrorize

the civil Slavic population of Cen

tral Europe, but inflamed them th

more. Countless desperate sacn

fices, the literal casting of thei

bodies upon the spear points of th

enemy, have been the only outle

for the desperate misery of th

Slavic race. ,

In Jugo-Slavia, throughout the

colorful, lands of Bosnia and Her¬

zegovina, peopled with the vivid

legends of Southern Slavic allegory

and sentiment, the crisis is supreme.

Here it was not only Slav who

her more delicate compliments, has

christened this Polish force as

"trc .pes d'élite."

In a recent address made before aa

American university, M. Paderew.

ski makes a logical and impassioned

appeal to American centres of learn«

ing for their organized participa»

tion in the great movement which,

after all, involves not only the free¬

dom of a vast race, but the reëstab-

lishment of those ancient mills of

education with which the world can¬

not well dispense in its post-wa»

j struggle for rehabilitation.

In part M. Paderewski says:

"You are here in one of the great«

est power houses of the United

States. You are concentrating here

German slavery even for the vast

sums of "150 marks for a boy and

100 marks for a girl." These terms

appeared recently in placards upon

the walls of Warsaw, signed by Gov¬

ernor General von Beseler.

The Fountainhead

Of European Culture

Out of the blood drenched plains

of Poland (the name is derived from

the word "Pole," which in the Slavic

tongue means afield").a country to¬

day falsely regarded as a "small na¬

tion" and which in 1772 consisted of

nearly 300,000 square miles, or al¬

most 100,000 square miles more than

the present German Empire.have

risen constantly the living remnants

of an ancient and unsurpassed cult¬

ure. The four great universities oi

Poland, the first of them Cracow and

Vilna and subsequently Zamosc and

the heat of thousands of young

American hearts ; you are generating

here the light for hundreds of thou¬

sands of American minds. You art

laying and establishing the sohd,

round foundation for public opinions,

j Vou are sanctioning ideas, conge-

j crating facts.

"Give us some of that precious

heat; give us some of that pricelesa

light; warm up the indifferent; en¬

THE BARRIER ACROSS "MITTELEUROPA"

lighten the ignorant ones; help us t*

break these humiliating chains bind

ing up an ancient and highly civil

ized nation, a nation which has beea

j for centuries, and which can h

I asrain. one of the vital organs o

humanity.

"Take your share in this work.

Help those who have already started

the gigantic enterprise and then the

ancient Polish republic, which has

been murdered by three autocracies,

will rise again, revived by the gen¬

erosity of American democracy."

M. Paderewski in speaking forthe

vast ramifications and complexftitt

of the possibilities forworldfreedom

which will result from the final Hb»

eration of Poland speaks also forthe

remaining millions of the Sit»

population of Europe.

M. André Chéradame goes farther,

from a standpoint of mflitar/

strategy, and points out the indi*

solubility of the Slavic chain in coa*

prising also the at present tentative

attitude and condition of Ruthenift*

Rumania and, on the extreme north,

the Letts and Lithuanians, who, al¬

though not Slavic nations, may eas¬

ily become involved in the gigantic

insurrection which will hem in the

Central Powers from any possibility

difficult, both morally and materially,

for the armies concentrated on the

Western front by the Berlin General

Staff.and this with remarkable

rapidity."

A Sleeping Sword j

In Central Europe

It is justifiable, then, to say that

the vital regions of pan-Germany

Lemberg, are among the first oí

Europe, antedating by a year thi

University of Vienna and bj

600 years that of Berlin. In j

Poland in 1505 was applied a demo¬

cratic parliamentary system, when

for the first time in the history of the

world kings were elected as presi¬

dents for life terms.

In the same year the Polish Par¬

liament declared absolute religious

freedom over the entire republic

and Poland became what America is

to-day, the haven of all oppressed

people fleeing from political and re¬

ligious persecution. Serfdom, the

bitter humiliation to which Poland

has so long been subjected, has al¬

ways been abhorrent to the ideals of

the Slavic race. It is interesting to

note that among all the generals v/ro

fought so gallantly in the American

War of Independence the only one

who had no slaves was a Polish

nobleman, Kosciuszko.

Since it has been the policy of the

Central Powers to exterminate what

they could not assimilate, Poland has

suffered the slow torture of national

death, unarmed and defenceless.

But the weapon is about to be

given into her hand. The germ oi

the idea for a vast Slavic army

originated among the Slavs in the

United States. The enthusiasm oi

these has fed the recent small re¬

bellions throughout Central Europe

The tireless energy of these has

brought about their recognition bj

the President of the United States

who has formally announced hi:

approval of such an organizatior

emanating from America.

Misunderstanding

are occupied by people who are some¬

thing more than passively anti-Ger¬

man, and who in the face of new and

added cruelties, cut off from the rest

of the civilized world and the possi¬

bilities of direct and immediate sup¬

port and assistance, are ready and

willing to cast themselves into the

lion's mouth, if by so doing they may

insure the freedom of Eastern

Europe and, indeed, of the entire

world.

Uprisings and rebellions have

risen for centuries and been crushed

with "efficient" promptness by the

The mighty chain of rebellion

begins to writhe beneath the iron

beel, waiting with ceaseless, pas¬

sionate vigilance for the moment

when it may rise up and bind the

oppressing giant against any possi¬

bility of future tyranny.

Eyes Expectant

For the Light

Interspersing the three most

definite links in the chain, Poland,

Bohemia.or rather the Czecho-Slo-

valr nation of which Bohemia is but

one province.and Jugo-Slavia,

which comprises the expatriated

of dangerous expansion. .*

M. Chéradame indicatesthe terrifie

menace of an Austro-German al¬

liance with the East, which, even ad«

mitting an unqualified Allied victory

on the Western fronjjwould still con¬

stitute a threat to the civilization of

Christian Europe. That the entire

world may escape the centuries of

agony which the Slavic race has en¬

dured as a living barrier to the bar¬

barous advance of the Ottoman Em¬

pire, M. Chéradame says:

"If the Germans had been in our

place, would they not long ago han

fought against Slav, but Serb

against Serb. Here in the heat of

battle brothers and fathers and

sons in different uniforms flung

down their arms and clasped hands,

to be trampled underfoot by ad¬

vancing Austrian4hordes.

Here in the foothills of those

mighty mountains among which

Montenegro still keeps her place

with godlike magnificence and the

surefootedness of an

German and Austrian governments;

swift chastisement has descended up¬

on the first patriotic head to raise

itself above the restrictions imposed

with such care and forethought that

the would-be patriot was dashed at

the outset by the apparent futility of

open rebellion.

But these uprisings, In which great

national heroes have starred and

fallen, have now assumed the dignitj

of organised insurrection. The great

nations of the world, leagued to com¬

bat the enemy of civilization, recog¬

nize that in the midst of torture and

devastation the Slavic countries oi

Central Europe hold the balance oi

power which may liberate the world

The voice of their mad longing foi

freedom and a worthy share in th<

world combat has penetrated th<

walls of their prison; the answering

word of encouragement from theii

exiled and emigrated brothers hat

*ounded back to them; arid now, at

last, the United States and the AUitxJ

Serbs of Serbia, Bosnia, Herzego¬

vina, Croatia, Montenegro, Dalmatia

and the Slovenians of Istria clustered

about Trieste, are Ruthenia and Ru¬

mania. The Ruthenians, or Little

Russians, are a Slavic people speak¬

ing the Slavic tongue, and although

it would appear that Austro-Germany

depends upon their instability in the

event of an organized revolution, it

is doubtful that even the careful

snare of German propaganda will

prevail when the beacon light of a

free Slavonia shines before their

eyes.

Rumania, apparently spared by

her peace terms from the devasta¬

tions which have been inflicted upon

other conquered "territories, still

suffers acutely and unheard. Peace-

»in» n <. mn,i> . i, l

The shaded parts of the map show how a complete barrier against

Germany's dreams of reaching the East, either across the Dardanelles or

campfires flickered amiably upon

antelope,

mixed gatherings of Austrian uni¬

forms and Serbian, and the cliffs

echoed to the rousing hymns of

Slavic liberty and the endless lays

of deeds of ancient heroism.

These naif meetings and their

marked nationalistic tendency.the

tragic, epic consorting of enemy with

enemy.did not appeal to the Aus¬

trian sense of either the humorous

or the sublime. The firelight would

flicker upon the inspired face of

some massive Serb, attired in the

dull gray-green of Austria and sing¬

via the Caspian Sea, will be erected when the nations that have been

made use of the anti-German «le*

mente in pan-Germany, considering

that in Russia they have derived tai

enormous profit that we all know

enslaved by Hapsburg and Hohenzollern have been put on their feet

anchoring of an end in the strong¬

hold of American democracy and

that comprehension of the ideals of

all races which has made this coun¬

try the haven of the oppressed peo-

pies of the world.

Emerging undaunted from the

dark portals of the prison of the

Czecho-Slovaks is Masaryk, that in¬

tellectual, scholarly type of patriot

in whom the Czecho-Slovaks place

their hope of freedom and the reës-

tablishment of a triumph of Slnvir

genius under oppression, of th«

world-famed artistic, literary and

scientific preeminence of Bohemia.

Himself under sentence of death

his daughter a political prisoner ii

The numbers indicate the chief divisions of these peoples.

from elements favorable to their

cause, although they were much less

but many times, and since the fif¬

teenth century these struggles

studies of politics other than their

own ; upon that friendly diplomacy

numerous than those utilisable by

the Allies? .j

"Under these conditions, can thfc

latter refuse to adopt, at last, th$

Aa to U. S. Plans

The Senate Military Commute«

has recently adopted a resolutioi

which renders formal the Unite«

States' acceptance of the plan fy,

a Slavic contingent %i the Un'te<

States army. But somewhere, jb

arainst the Germans have never

ceased.

In 1526 Bohemia entered, with

Hungary, into a defensive alliance

with Austria against the advancing

whose abnormal concern for the

politics of other countries has been

so startingly and painfully revealed

loving, picturesque, an agricultura:

country of fine national spirit anc

much culture, there can be no doubl

of Rumania's allegiance to hei

Slavic neighbor's cause, althougl

by the present war.

The Czecho-Slovali regiments,

strategy of the political science»? j

Turk. Here began the series of

false promises which would appear

to be the animus of Central Euro¬

pean diplomacy. Gradually Bohe¬

mia discovered herself to be bound

hand and foot by treaties which

she alone held sacred. To-day she

"Far from working to the preja*

mobilized at the outbreak of the

war for the defence not of their

own beloved territory but that of

entire pan-Germany, quickly real¬

dice of the Western front, it woaH;

ing resonantly of the keenness of

the blades of his ancestors and the

sublimity of their combats with

Turk and Magyar, the unquenchable

flame of their patriotism, while clus¬

tered in the darkness at his feet was

a fervent audience of his brothers in

work altogether to its advantaga»,

for nothing could afford greater T»*

lief to the Allied troops from the ter¬

the interpretation to the public o

the exact meaning of the Militar;

Committee's resolution, or in tb

presentation of the idea to the coni

mittee, th^sre has been an error.

she alone, of the chain, is not Slai

but of Roman origin.

Moreover, these two somewhat

quiescent states arc dominated a

either end by two of the most po

ized that whatever the outcome of

the struggle Bohemia must forever

lose the last vestige of her national

rible pressure that they are having}

to withstand on that front tban *"|

finds herself.a country once the

life. Whether or not the Austro-

an Austrian jail, Professor Masaryl

til« liberation of Central «uwpi/ v'

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