"As long as a united, independent Poland is not rebuilt, as long as the Czechs, Moravians, and Slovaks are not free, as long as Serbia and the southern Slavic peoples are not freed and united, as long as the great, terrible war now raging from the Baltic to the Adriatic--a war involving more than fifty-four million highly civilized Slavs--is not won; so long will Prussian ambition remain uncurbed."

The above is from the address by Paderewski in the Coliseum in Chicago [March 3, 1918].

Great wars, great upheavals, produce at the same time, great results. War separates peoples for long years, filling them with a mutual hatred; on 2the other hand, it may bring other peoples closer together and even tie them with bonds that are often indestructible, so strongly does it show them the mutuality of their aims.

We do not want to overestimate the significance of present events, but that which is now happening indicates that a united Slavic state will arise from the hurricane of the present war.

This is neither a new idea nor one difficult to realize. For many years before the war, it had been circulating among the Slavic peoples; it was discussed extensively at conventions of Slavs and at exercises, and still more was it discussed by the Polish, Bohemian, and Serbian press. However, the tendency to establish first an independent national existence, the very struggle for existence itself, and the fatal political division [of the Slavic nations] among the great powers, capable of paralyzing in its birth 3even the smallest movement toward Slavic unity, have made it impossible even to formulate a program on which everyone would agree, to say nothing of actual accomplishment in so luminous a direction.

But this necessity has been felt even more strongly in the United States than in Europe. Thus, real attempts have been made here, aimed at united Slavic action. In truth, this movement has not taken in the entire territory of the United States, rather only certain states, or even only certain localities, but we have already seen on more than one occasion the united action of Poles and Slovaks in Pennsylvania, Czechs and Poles in Chicago, and the Serbs, Croatians, and Czechs in more than one town or city. In Chicago, as the center for various Slavic organizations, important conferences of representatives of these organizations have even been held, with the idea of Slavic unity in America; that no united action was taken was due perhaps not so much to the separation or pretensions of given nationalities as to the lack of capable people who would utilize this tendency, if not for actual 4unity, then at least for a solidarization of the Slavs in America. Despite this, even these short-lived efforts brought it about that at least in many electoral districts, especially in Pennsylvania, the Slavs work hand-in-hand, that the Polish Falcons have created strong ties of brotherhood with the Bohemian Falcons, and finally, that there are to be found Slavs other than Poles in Polish organizations, while in Bohemian organizations, for example, there is no lack of Poles.

Today, after a long pause in the efforts toward Slavic unity, new and powerful voices have been raised. Their foundation is the general Slavic distress in Europe, the mutual misfortunes and blood offerings that have been generously given in a cause no other than that of cementing together the Slavic nations forever. Here in America, the first great voice to be raised was that of the leader of emigre Poles, Ignace Paderewski who, in addition to the words quoted at the beginning of this article, issued the following summons:

"Law does not prevent crimes, it merely prescribes penalties. No agreements, no treaties, no conferences can guarantee freedom or safeguard the national growth of the able, courageous, enterprising, and democratic Czechs, Moravians, and Slovaks. No treaties, conferences, or agreements can guarantee national growth to the industrious, able and persevering Serbs, Croats, and Southern Slavs, so long as they remain under the yoke of a conqueror, so long as they are oppressed by any foreign rule, so long as these countries and nations are not governed by themselves, by the people and for the people. They must have absolute freedom, and with the aid of God, they will attain it. Equality can be established by law, brotherhood can be instilled by religion, but for freedom, one must fight. For there is only one seed from which human liberty grows, and that seed is blood.

"But the war has not yet been won. To battle then, my Polish boys, and to battle, my Slovak brothers, my Bohemian and Moravian cousins, my Southern Slavic kinsmen! You will not be fighting alone. The lofty memories of the 6national heroes so dear to your hearts will be with you at every step. The immortal spirits of those who have done so much for human liberty, the spirits of the immortal Washington and Lincoln, will bless you on the road to deeds of honor and fame."

The necessity for Slavic unity was also strongly emphasized in behalf of the Bohemian National Alliance by J. J. Zmrhal, in behalf of the Serbian Army, by Lieutenant W. Skobel, in behalf of the Croatians, by Dr. A. Biankini, and in behalf of the southern Slavs in general by Dr. Sinko Sinkowicz and Pallandech. Such voices, such ardent and manly mottoes and appeals, will not be lost, but will live on.

As if inspired by this renewed Slavic breath, a great demonstration was held last Sunday at the Polish Womens' Alliance Hall by the Polish Falcons. Representatives of the Bohemian Falcon organization, Dr. Rudis-Jicinsky, editor 7of the Bohemian Sokol Americky, and Mr. Paskowsky, Commandant of the Bohemian Falcons, participated. Filled to capacity with Polish people, the hall shook with applause for the addresses of these guests, and when the Bohemian hymn, "Gde Domow Moj" (Where my home is) was played, the audience arose from its seats. The inspired words of Dr. Jicinsky, that we should fight side by side and move forward together in order to bring about unity of the Slavs, were greeted with enthusiasm. Under the effect of the words of this great Bohemian leader, Rybicki, president of Circuit II of the Polish Falcons' Alliance called for a union of the Polish and Bohemian Falcons in Chicago. It is not the first time that Polish lips have spoken thus, and it seems that this time, they have not been spoken in vain.

How the Polish public accepted this call is attested to by the fact that it rose from its seats and sought to indicate its acceptance of this idea, and also its willingness to co-operate with every effort of the Falcons in this direction by its well-nigh interminable applause.

Sincere, noble, and heartfelt expressions then, have already been made. Now action is necessary. Let this action proceed simultaneously from all sides, from all Slavic groups in America. We Poles will wait for the Czechs, Slovaks, and Serbs to express themselves as we have done, and after this has happened, no doubt action will follow the lofty words. Let the Falcons be the basic element in this action, and we have hopes that it will be taken up by other Slavic spheres.

And then? Then--when the solidarization of the Slavs in America has been effected, the same will happen in Europe, for great ideas are infectious to souls and hearts, and those of the Slavs in Europe are as tender, yet as healthy and sincere as are the souls and hearts of the Slavs in America. And perhaps then our eyes will look upon the realization of the words of the Chicago Tribune--that Slavic unity is not a dream, not a vision, but a reality resulting from ties of blood, from the brotherhood of Slavic hearts, and from the political wisdom of the Slavs in general--as an 9accomplished fact, the United Slavic States.