If there is one among us who thinks that our strife for the liberty of our old homeland is not legal, or even a real violation of American neutrality, that man has surely revised his opinion by now.

The break with Austria has removed all real and imaginary obstacles, and freed the hands of all those who work one way or the other for the liberation of our people.

One of the characteristic traits of the American nation is the sympathy with which they regard the small oppressed nations. In fact, the American people, in the pursuit of these sympathetic inclinations, have gone sometimes so far that neutrality was overtly violated.

The Federal government was well aware of the propaganda carried on by the 2Czechs in this country; it did not pay any attention to it until the activities of the Austrian consulates and the Embassy became conspicuous. The reason why the government did not take any steps against our propaganda here is found in that the Federal authorities understood in what relation the Czechs stand to Austria. They viewed our endeavor here as a natural consequence of that relation; they did not look at it as any violation of American neutrality; they identified it partly with American nature.

One issue has not been cleared up properly: Austria has begun the War, and is an ally of Germany. The latter, by murdering innocent people on land and sea, and by damaging and destroying property of the United States, has forced the United States to take steps which amount to a declaration of war. Our government has, nevertheless, tried to keep up good relations with Austria. It was exactly this attitude which constituted the deadliest danger for the Czech cause. There was the fear that the United States, at a peace conference, would take a certain tolerant attitude towards a friendly nation; that it would not agree with the program of the Allies which aimed at the dismembering of Austria. By the same token, the Allies would be willing to respect the wishes of the 3United States out of gratitude for valuable help extended to them during the War.

Now, however, Austria, under the command from Berlin, has disrupted relations with the United States. It has taken the side with Germany regarding the ruthless submarine war. No more tolerance need be shown; no objections will be made to the program of the Allies which, in addition, is in complete harmony with the principles of the American nation. Austria has very likely signed its own death warrant when it broke with the United States. It cannot nourish any hope for a possible favorable separate peace. It will thus have to atone for the crimes committed against unhappy Servia, and against mankind in general. It will be broken up and partitioned among Czechs, Slovaks, Jugoslavs, and Poles, all of whom will become liberated. The Magyars will form an independent state; the Servians will issue from the War bigger and stronger than Hungary, Austria, or the German state. This result seems unavoidable if the War is carried on to the limit.

The split between Austria and the United States will also benefit the actions of the National Alliance of the Czech Catholics, whose exertions can be defined 4in simple, intelligible words: "To work for the greatest possible liberty of the Czech nation, as far as our power can reach and our duties as citizens allow."

The duties as citizens are giving us a full right to demand in all authoritative places accessible to us, that the lands of the Crown of St. Vaclav and Slovakia also become a free republic in which the people will enjoy political and religious liberty guaranteed by a constitution, similar to the one of our new homeland.