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frontier and no territorial dispute. The Czechoslovak government does not reject Russia’s hand, but in its attitude must be governed by the general European situation and the attitude of its western Allies. It can promise Chicherin non-interference in Russian internal affairs. The Czechoslovaks as Slavs desire to see Russia strong, democratic and Slav; but if Russia will not consolidate itself internally and will not accept the fundamental principles of international relations, it will remain long in a state of anarchy and in the end lose the fruits of the revolution. The note of Dr. Beneš was well received by all shades of opinion among his countrymen, and Chicherin considered its tenor sufficiently friendly to renew his offer of concluding a treaty of friendship and trade between the two Slav countries.

The revolt of Kapp and subsequent disorders in Germany have caused, among other things, a revival of the talk about secession of Southern Germany from the Reich. It is taken for granted that should such an event come to pass, Austria would join Southern Germany, provided the Entente did not interpose its veto. In Austria the sentiment is on the whole favorable; Tyrol has been trying for some time to get the consent of the Austrian authorities and of the Entente to join Germany in at least an economic union, and the other provinces have by no means the same objection to merging with the Catholic, conservative South as with the Prussian North. But in the opinion of Czechoslovak statesmen all talk of splitting Germany in two and attaching Austria to the oSuth is vain; Germany will not remain divided, and to support Bavarian separatism would merely end in the annexation of Austria to Germany. At present, at any rate, Austria is hardly desirable even as a gift. On top of its inherent economic and financial difficulties comes the incapacity and weakness of the men in charge at Vienna. A country with six a half million people has half a million state employees, if we include the railroads and post office; that would be analogous to eighteen million employes in the service of the United States. And in spite of this abunddance of public servants the streets of Vienna were never as dirty as now. Now the state employees demand a minimum wage of 24,000 crowns a year, nearly 5,000 dollars normally, but only about $120 on the present basis of exchange. The actual deficiency in the Austrian budget is 8800 million crowns, which will be increased by raising the salaries to 14,300 millions crowns. At present the Austrian Republic is taking subscriptions to an internal loan, the success of which is not yet known; but up till lately the deficiency was taken care of by constant issues of banknotes of the old Austro-Hungaran Bank. Thus in two weeks in February the new money put into circulation amounted to 685 million crowns, making the total circulation of the little republic 13,703 million. It can only end in a crash.

While Jews in Hungary are assassinated or forcibly baptized, in Czechoslovakia they are treated as citizens with full rights. They are recognized to be a separate nationality, in the census they may ask to be entered as Jews and not as Czechs or Germans, they may establish their own schools and have them supported from public funds, just like other racial minorities. A world conference of Young Zionists was recently held in Prague at which delegates were present from Palestine, England, Poland, Germany, Austria and other foreign countries. A resolution was adopted expressing in strong terms the appreciation by the conference of the tolerant attitude of the Czechoslovak people and government. The Jewish National Council on the occasion of Masaryk’s seventieth birthday donated one million crowns for the establishment of student home in Prague. The relations between the Jewish minority and the mass of the citizens are better in Bohemia than anywhere else in eastern or central Europe.

Transports of Czechoslovak soldiers from Siberia continue to arrive in Trieste; the third regiment, that of George Poděbrad, reached home at the end of March. In April the big American transports, Mount Vernon, President Grant and America will take more than 20,000 Czechoslovaks from Vladivostok to Trieste via Panama, and the British will transport their share of the army across Canada this month. Many of these men will see their families for the first time in six years, since the mobilization of July 1914. It is no wonder that they are impatient to get home, and it is this impatience chiefly which is responsible for their conflicts with the Japanese in Eastern