The subject of yesterday's great lecture of our world traveler and writer, E. St. Vraz, was the present war, its immediate causes, and its enormous significance for the Slavic peoples. The lecture was held in the Sokol Plzen Hall on Ashland Avenue. The timeliness of the topic and the popularity of the speaker, who has hardly an equal on any speakers' platform, proved to be especially strong attractions, and the great hall was filled to the last place.

Vraz gave his audience an evening that will not be easily forgotten. Every word gave proof that they were being addressed by a speaker of poetic temperament, a great Bohemian, a great Slav, but first of all, a great man. As a man of cultural aims, Vraz looks at war from a standpoint of humanity; he dreads and deprecates it because he feels that once war breaks out, the work and efforts of great and noble spirits in the field of culture are thrown to the winds as superfluous, as a burden, and humanity sinks to the 2same level at which it was in the neolithic times, when right had to submit to power, when man-barbarian, with a stone weapon in his hand, went after anything he desired at the moment, spilling his neighbor's blood for the smile of a beautiful woman or making human sacrifices for religious ceremonies. But war is much more to be deprecated, and becomes a more unpardonable and loathsome blot on civilization, when it is waged for business reasons, for material profits, for monetary gains--a war such as the present one. There can be no doubt that the cause of this world tragedy is nothing else than the German commercialism--Germany's desire for commercial expansion. Germany has been growing nationally, has been growing commercially, and its desire for greatness has been particularly strong in the sphere of militarism.

The German Reich has felt that its commercial expansion would bring it sooner or later into a conflict with other great nations, and has been preparing for such a conflict for long decades. The fundamental reason for this unprecedented murdering is not what has remained of the former hatred between nations, but commercial greed, pure and simple. As if upon a given signal, war severed all 3cultural contacts between nations, and one stroke of a pen was enough to make enemies of people who heretofore had been working together in science, arts, and humane endeavors. Men, because of chauvinistic reasons, all of a sudden have started advocating principles quite different from those for which they had been working before. This is the most deplorable part of the present bloody tragedy.

Germany has found in Austria a worthy ally in its endeavors--Austria, whose brainless diplomacy could not understand that the Monarchy's mission is among the Balkan Slavs rather than in plotting with Berlin. Austria could have contributed a great deal to the better future of the Balkan nations; it could have been a deciding factor in their economic and industrial development; it could have derived considerable commercial benefits from them, but instead of all this, at the dictate of Germany, it has been putting obstacles in their way.

After this introduction, Vraz took his audience, by word and picture, through 4the countries afflicted by the war.....

The conclusion of his lecture was its most interesting part. The speaker said that he has been reproached on various sides for not placing himself at the head of some helpful action in these stirring times, and that there have even been some good souls who ventured the opinion that he was keeping in the background because of fear of losing the favor of the leading circles of the Austrian Monarchy. Vraz made his standpoint clear in a simple but easily understandable way. He said that in none of his lectures held in Bohemian America has he neglected to encourage his audience in their patriotic activities, and in the support of everything that has been helpful and of advantage to the Bohemian cause. But he has failed to head any action because of one single reason, that is, because he lost confidence in his own organizing ability. At one time he wanted to build something great--the Cesko-Americka Narodni Rada, to which he had given the incentive, and which had the 5most noble, most beautiful objectives--but all his efforts were frustrated by the indifference of the public. He could talk himself into the hearts of those who heard him, and they applauded, but he could not talk himself into their pocketbooks. Where are our well-known rich men? God knows! There are among us well-to-do people who could make generous contributions to a good cause, but evidently, they are not Bohemians, or do not feel as Bohemians since they do not contribute to our collections as they would if they were Bohemians. Vraz has had many bitter disappointments in Bohemian America and that has made of him a pessimist. It may be that even we shall experience an awakening of the Bohemian consciousness and feeling, but that will come undoubtedly after Bohemia has become a sea of tears and sighs of pain--not before. No matter what may be the outcome of the war, Bohemia will suffer painful consequences because all strata of our people will be in economic misery. Therefore it should be our sacred duty to help our people overseas as generously as possible. "Slavdom" is now in a process of ferment, and the speaker expressed the hope that this fermentation may result in good, healthy 6wine, a rebirth of "Slavdon" to its great, prosperous, and noble future.

That Vraz spoke straight to the hearts of his audience was proved by the huge applause by which he was rewarded. May he repeat his lecture not once, but many, many times!