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Czechoslovakia At A Century of Progress
By Dr. Ferdinand Veverk A Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the Czechoslovak Republic at Washington, D. C.
THE International Exposition in Chicago representing a century, of marvelous industrial progress, will again turn the attention of my countrymen to this mighty continent. It will again strengthen the admiration which we have always had for America. This admiration concerns not only the technical and industrial progress of America, but also American political institutions. The American ideals of Liberty, so beautifully expressed in the American Declaration of Independence, have for decades inspired our nation striving for its own liberty. Our political leaders in the old Austrian Empire never ceased to assert that we, too, had a place in the sun, that we, too, were entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And the American ideals of democracy, so poignantly, stated by your immortal Abraham Lincoln, have served as guiding principles to the framers of our constitution. Anyone who studies it cannot fail to realize that Czechoslovakia, too, was a nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men were created equal. The people are the sole source of all State power, and the government is that of the people, by the people, and for the people. This great admiration in which America was always held by our people has been justified by the events of the Great War. Our nation fighting for its freedom found in America a true friend. No one stated the rights of small nations to freedom and independence so powerfully as your great President Woodrow Wilson. It was in accordance with his principles of self-determination of nations that Czechoslovakia was established. And America was one of the first countries to recognize the political independence of Czechoslovakia. Czechoslovakia is also taking a great interest in the cultural life of America. American literature, American educational institutions and American intellectual endeavors have found many ardent students among Czechoslovaks. Most of the American authors, both classic and modern, have been translated into Czech. Emerson and Whitman, as well as Dreiser, Lewis, and Anderson, have been made accessible to the Czech readers. Many Czechoslovak students attend American universities and colleges. Various corporations, both in America and Czechoslovakia, have taken upon themselves the duty of facilitating and of supervising the studies of Czechoslovak students in America. In this respect great support is also received from individual American Universities and Colleges which offer scholarships. No survey of the relations between the United States and Czechoslovakia would be complete without mentioning the lively trade relations between these two states. Czechoslovakia exports a good many articles to the United States, but on the other hand she imports goods, the value of which is twice as large as the value of her export. These commercial relations have been somewhat marred during the present economic crisis, but we hope that with the return to normal conditions, they will again assume their former extent and liveliness.
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