added as an autonomous country and whose request was granted by the Peace Conference. Hungarian Russia is the eastermost part of the Czechoslovak Republic (see the map). The language of the Slovaks is a beautiful variation of the Czech tongue, and differs so little from it that he who knows one does not need to learn the other to understand it. There were many Slovaks of note who wrote in the Czech language, as for example, Jan Kolar, Pavel Safarik and others. During the reformation as well as today, the Slovaks used Czech bibles, song books and prayer books, and their culture has always been one with that of the Czechs. They have been and are now in fact one nation, have always and do today belong together and form one homogeneous whole.

The only difference between them is that the Slovaks, separated from the Czechs, became a part of Hungary, and hence to be the victims of the Magyar oppression which was far more brutal and reckless than the Austrian and were not given any chance to develop their natural abilities, which are really considerable, while the Czechs enjoyed much better educational opportunities. The Czechoslovak government made up for this gross injustice by organizing in Slovakia four thousand elementary and thirty-five secondary schools and one university during the first year of its free existence. The Czechs esteem the Slovaks very highly. You can not stay long in Bohemia, Prague especially, without hearing Slovak songs sung, or played by orchestras. They are popular because of their originality, beauty, freshness, feeling, and because they are Slovak.

The writer is often asked the question why the name "Czechoslovak" has been substituted for "Bohemian." This was done to emphasize the unity of the two seemingly different nationalities to emphasize the fact that they are one nationality and also to give the Slovak element due recognition and put them on terms of absolute equality in the Republic.

The Magyars, dissatisfied with having to give up their victim, are doing their best to confuse the public mind as to these facts, and besides, are stirring up trouble wherever they can in Slovakia itself, by sending paid agitators who disturb the minds of the simple folks by various lies, and charging the evils which resulted from the war, such as scarcity of certain articles, etc., to the Czech government. However, the consolidation work is going on steadily, the times are getting better, and the agitators are losing ground very rapidly.

I do not share the view of those who say that Europe has been "Balkanized," that many new nationalities have come into existence, that this situation will be a source of trouble, etc. On the contrary, the European problem has been considerably simplified by the disintegration of Austria, who, by her aggressiveness in the Balkans

and free use of that devilish principle "Divide et impera," was a constant irritator and schemer, setting the various people against each other for personal gain. Czechoslovakia, as we will see later, is oil upon the troubled waters of Europe and an isle of peace and order in spite of the confusion around her.

Anyone unacquainted with the history of the Czecho-Slovak revolution would be a little puzzled at seeing a most progressive, up-to-date and certainly one of the most democratic constitutions in operation, and at the same time, here and there, a law which can grace the statutes of only such a bureaucratic, backward and hide-bound country as was the Austria-Hungarian empire of recent but not glorious memory.

And yet it is the most natural thing that this should be so. The first provisional government, the narodni vabor (national committee) issued on Oct. 28, 1918, the famous declaration of independence amidst indescribable rejoicing and jubilation of all the people.

OLD LAWS PREVENT ANARCHY

To prevent disorder, confusion and possible anarchy, the same committee declared all the Austrian laws valid until they are replaced by new laws legally passed by the national assembly, the newly constituted lawmaking body.

This was an act of wisdom such as we rarely find in history; for it gave the country peace and order such as has never accompanied any revolution in the history of nations. As a result the country passed a period of comparative quiet until on Feb. 29, 1920, the new constitution was published.

It is a document which did, on the whole, satisfy the democratic cravings of the nation. It guarantees all the rights and privileges enjoyed in the most democratic countries of the world-freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, secret and direct voting, equality of sexes before the law and in politics, equal and extensive rights of all the citizens, irrespective of position held or property owned; protection and representation of all minorities, absolute religious and political freedom. In brief, everything guaranteed by our own United States constitution.

HARD PROBLEMS TO SOLVE

However, some of the old Austrian laws are still in force, not having been replaced with new ones, because it was a physical impossibility to make over all the statutes in two years and do it wisely, especially since the two years were years of precarious existence, fraught with untold dangers and most excruciating problems.

Even he who wishes to be very critical will concede, after look

ing over the work actually accomplished, that perhaps no more I could have been done even under better circomstances than those actually encountered.

On looking over the constitution one is impressed with the manifest anxiety of its makers to safeguard the rights of minorities of every description, racial, religious, political.

PROTECTION OF MINORITIES

Take, for instance, the law in regard to the protection of national minorities. In order to make things as clear as possible I shall take the liberty to quote at some length:

(See Constitution, Sec. 128, 1.)

Further, the same section continues: Teach children in Own tongue. (Paragraph 131.)

GENERAL WRANGEL'S MINISTERS AIM TO HAVE LAND GO TO PEASANTS AND WAR'S DEBTS PAID

(New York Times, Sept. 8, 1920)

The basic principles of the new south Russian government have been stated briefly by Prof. Pierre Struve, Wrangel's advisor on foreign affairs, on a recent visit to London. Struve was director of the economic department in the ministry of foreign affairs in the first government following the overthrow of the czar. He escaped from Russia after the bolshevist revolution and returned to south Russia last fall.

The most striking feature of Wrangel's program is the recognition of peasant seizure of land. The next is the proposal to bring about a united Russia through a voluntary union of all of its parts. Here is the program as stated by Professor Struve:

"The seizure by the peasants of land belonging to landed proprietors must be recognized in all cases where such seizure has actually taken place. This recognition should be viewed as the initial stage of an important agrarian reform tending to secure full possession of the land by those peasants who cultivate it by their personal efforts. It is, therefore, a question of legalizing the results of the agrarian revolution which has taken place, in favor of the new owners of the land, and of establishing an agrarian regime based upon the principle of private ownership, a principle which indisputably tallies with the aspirations of the Russian peasantry.

"The future organization of Russia must be based upon an agreement between actually existing political formations. The union of the various parts of Russia into one large federation of bodies politic must be established upon an agreement freely arrived at between them