New-York tribune. [volume], June 09, 1918, Page 6, Image 26

About New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924

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SLAVS WANT OWN FOREIGN LEGION IN U. S. ARMY
Promoters of Patriotic Enterprise Say if Teuton
Stigma Is Taken Off These Technially Austrian
Subjects 500,000 Are Ready to Fight
Under the American Flag
By Caroline Dawes Appleton
"THAT WILL DOt" declared his
commander with finality.
Well accustomed to injustices, mili?
tary and judicial, the Croatian of this
instance harbored the conviction that
his raco was onco again the victim of
official insult. When assigned in his
turn to a tour of kitchen police he re?
garded it as a peculiar and added
affront unequalled by anything Rave
the* rankest Prussianism. Wherefore,
he and his comrades speedily became
examples of martyrized rebellion,
whose fame could not fail to spread
from camp to camp among relatives
and friends until once again the cruel
oppression of the Slavic race in gen?
eral because the fiery slogan which in?
cited fraternal orders and societies to
more vehement demonstrations of their
But suddenly, over and above them
all, sounded the clarion note which dis?
tinguished the Slavic cry for freedom
as of deeper, more intensely national
origin than the lesser wailings of the
usual, discontented foreigner. It came
and sounded through the sleeping camp
on the eve of the Orthodox Christmas,
about the 10th of January. It was a
muffled rifle shot. A startled investi?
gating party found him, stretched upon
his own weapon, which he had turned
upon himself in the desperate convic?
tion that his technical status ns the
alien enemy both of his own people and
of the service in which he had enlisted
would forever bar him from that active
service overseas upon which hi3 life's
whole interest hung.
The sound of that shot hr.s pene
FROM factory mouth and mine pit, 1
from field and workshop I
throughout America a strange
and as yet somewhat unwieldy stream I
is pouring into the nation's service. It
is a mighty flow of molten patriotism,
white hot and susceptible of being cast
in the mould of a new and powerful
war machine. But at present it is un
guided, annealing rapidly, in grave
danger of chilling into a formless mass
of useless, finely tempered metal.
The Slavic immigrant, Pole, Czech
and Jugo-Slav, refugee from genera?
tions of oppression by the Central
Powers, has found the freedom of his
soul. Fired by the accumulated resent?
ment of years of serfdom, inflamed by
the sufferings of his bonded kinsmen
overseas, who are forced to fight and
die in the support of a rule they detest,
the Slav in America, as in France and
England, has gathered his brothers
about him and declared his readiness
to league the fervor and force of his
ancient fighting race with the modern
war skilled legions of democracy.
France has already tested and proved
the valiant strength of her foreign
legion of Poles, Czechs and Jugo-Slavs.
England, slower to absorb the essential
foreignness of these volunteers, at
le*ngth grasped hands with her Slavic
immigrant. But America, it appears,
is slower still to recognize and use the
?mighty idle weapon at her hand.
Already thousands of Slavs have lost
their lives fighting under the banners
of France and Italy. Nearly 12,000
Poles died upholding the traditions of
the famous Foreign Legion. The Polish
Legion in France has been depleted and
recruited so often that no record of the
?glen who have passed through its ranks
is available, but to-day it numbers 25,
000 men?all volunteers. Fighting in
France, too, are 20,000 Czech-Slovaks,
while 50,000 more of these escaped Aus?
trian subjects are under arms in Italy.
There is besides a "lost army" of 15,
000 Jugo-Slavs in Russia?also men
escaped from Austria?of whose fate
nothing is known here. The Legion of
Polish Volunteers in America, in addi?
tion to those who have gone to join the
colors in France, now numbers more
tban 6,000.
"The Slav is a fire?a living fire!" is
the slogan passed down from father tc
son through all the generations which
have longed and suffered for freedom
Alike on the plains of Poland anc
among rugged mountains of Jugo
S'.avia littla children are trained t<
worship the sacred fire of their nation
alism, to sing the patriotic folk song!
of their fathers, to regard themselvei
as but embers in the mighty leapini
flame of Slavic liberty. When the wa;
?was found to relieve the imm?diat
pressure of the hated domination o
their enemies by emigration to the ne\
world the Slav brought with him thi
flame of his hatred, now fanned into ;
scorching blast.
Has Special Motiye
For Hating Teutons
Through draft boards and recruitin
stations everywhere has poured th
country's full quota of Slavic fightin
power. From the 2,000,000 Poles, 2,000
000 Czechs and 1,000,000 Jugo-Slavs
vast army has been recruited?an arm
tpeaking little or none of the languag
of its adopted country, knowing less <
fta traditions, but an army with
motive and a cause of its own, with
private and particular hatred of tl
common foe before which any othi
anti-German sentiment pales into ii
significance.
But this army is thinly scattere
widely distributed among trainin
canuis and stations, and the tnujorit
of its members are, through a techni?
cality of citizenship, outcast and adrift
from the very cause for which they beg
to be allowed to fight. By very reason
of their former serfdom beneath Teu?
tonic rule, a large percentage of Slavic
draftees in the National Army and en?
listed men of the regular service are
technically classed as "enemy aliens"
and perforce treated accordingly. With
those enemy aliens of avowed pro-Ger?
man tendencies the madly patriotic
Slav is cast into the ranks of the dis?
loyal and denied active service on any
front.
Relegated to the non-combatant
branches of the service, jeered at and
ridiculed by his pro-German co
workers, entirely misunderstood in his
frantic protestations to bo allowed a
gun and something to shoot at, the ar?
dent Slavic patriot works and per?
functorily trains in gloomy depres?
sion. And all the while his heart flames
with the wild hope that he may some
day join the golden ranks of those
heroes whose names Slavonia reveres.
The petty differences of factional
politics which the world arbitrarily
associates with Slavic uprisings are
sunk in the vital spirit of fraternity in
suffering and oppression. A flag, a
government, a place for the sacred
archives of Slavic history and a shelter I
for the guarded flame of national inde?
pendence are the dream of each and
every Slav. Whether laboring uncom- I
prehendingly and misunderstood in the
non-combatant sections of an Allied j
army, whether chafing beneath the en?
forced trappings of an Austrian uni?
form, or bound with the thraldom of
Poland, the Slav sees only the star of
his race's freedom and his hatred of
the Teuton foe. Here, it would seem,
is fighting material for something
more organized, more coordinated,
more vast than merely a foreign
legion.
An Idea Comes
Out of the West
From a training camp in the Mid?
dle West where harassed officers are
! struggling with some thirty-odd na
tionalities and as many languages, the j
j germ of an idea came into existence in
the mind of a high ranking officer.
j Watching with absorption the phleg
! matic or overenthused activities of his
motley official family, he caught one
day the gleam of that "living fire"
which is Slavonia.
On a gusty night, walking alone
among the outposts of the camp, turn
j ing in his mind the thousand perplcxi
; ties of the day, he heard a voice in the
i darkness, singing softly but with in?
tense fervor. The officer paused. Th-e^
strain was wild and gypsy-like, with a
curious martial beat, and the words
were guttural and unintelligible?. Verse
after verse poured forth, rhythmic and
monotonous, fraught with a tremen?
dous intensity. The singer paused sud?
denly as though interrupted, his song
broken off in midair. The officer stepped
forward and saw crouched at the
edge of the camp, close to the barbed
wire inclosure. a slender, boyish figure
which sprang erect as he approached.
There in the darkness the officer asked
a question or two and was answered
quietly and directly.
Who was the singer and what his
nationality? He was a Serb from Aus?
tria.
What was he singing? What, indeed,
but an extemporaneous poem which re?
counted the deeds of his great an?
cestors.
And who were his ancestors? Great
Serbian heroes, sir, who fought for the
! freedom of the Slav against Turk and
1 Teuton in the jjast?oh, very long ago.
Then he, although an enemy alien,
desired to fight against these same
enemies ?
In a torrent of broken English the ?
boy declared his passionate willingness !
to fight any one ? anywhere ? that
would bring about the freedom of his
people. In fact, he insisted upon fight?
ing, immediately, in the most sangui?
nary sectors possiblel
"Do you not realize," the officer ?
pointed out, "that if captured you will
be shot for treason by your own gov?
ernment?"
"I suffer more here, a non-combatant,
than by being tortured by an Austrian
executing party!" answered the boy
simply.
Slavic Contingent
Of the U. S. Army
"Well, turn in now," directed the offi?
cer, flatly. But the seed was sown.
Somewhere in his memory the wild
strain of that patriotic lament echoed.
Its queer abrupt ending irritated him.
Suddenly he remembered having heard
somewhere that these people sang end?
lessly in this fashion, and their abrupt
terminations were a part of their
musical history?the result of the in?
variable interruptions of their meet?
ings and song-feasts by investigating
parties of soldiers whose mission it
was to quell these dangerous national?
istic s?ances among the bonded Sla\
whose territories they ruled by con?
quest.
Smiling at his reminiscent digressior
into the sphere of musical history, the
officer turned in his mind the feasibil
ity of forming these countless Slavii
draftees of his own and other campi
into a vast Slavic army; not a foreigi
legion, but a Slavic contingent of the
American army, to fight beneath the
American flag and according to wel
tested systems prescribed by the regu
lations. But this army should be offi
cered?at least its noncommissione
officers and a certain portion of th
commissioned?should be picked me
who know the language and customs c
the Slav and of all the Slavic countrie;
and who could guide their men an
fight with them in their own cause
which, after all, is identical with our
The plan is big. With the recent u]
risings in Bohemia, the presentatio
to the State Department of the orgai
ized movement whose object is the sy
tematic encouragement of these patri-1
otic demonstrations in Austria, the I
military feasibility of the plan in?
creases. Immigration and citizenship
experts as well as military are concen
trating upon the upbuilding and main
tenanue of the Slavic spirit which ap?
pears to be so rapidly dissipating un?
der the adverse conditions of the train?
ing camp.
And He Is Mentally
Overlooked
It has been remarked that the vari?
ous societies and the elaborate and
effective systems which have been es?
tablished in the various training camps
for the amusement and recreation of
the men treat with the foreign speak- |
ing soldier not at all. Lectures and
plays in English he cannot understand;
the camp library is a closed door to
him; his mind is continuously be?
fogged regarding the issues and prog?
ress of the war, and he is conscious
only of living to do what he considers
to be menial and unworthy labor be?
neath a stigma of citizenship which he
can never overcome and which forever
bars him from active service.
But the acuteness of the situation
has become so marked as to attract the
necessary attention of the government.
Plans are afoot to provide the Slav
with the mass meetings his heart
thrives upon; the native speakers to
thrill him and keep alive in him the
great spirit of his people, and event?
ually to make him part of the vast
army which shall deal justice and ret?
ribution to his oppressors?perhaps
by descending upon them through the
eastern gateway to Russia.
Many tales, pathetic, amusing and
even tragic, are told of the training
camp situation, while the wheels of
government revolve to control and re?
lieve the tension.
A young company commander,
weary with explaining over and over i
his simplest commands to a score or
more extremely foreign members of
his company, and suddenly realizing
that after all these were technically
enemy aliens and never to utilize their
arduous training in any active fashion,
gave way to his exasperation.
"You're nothing but a bunch of huns,
anyway!" he roared irascibly. "What
you can understand you won't. Not a
- one of you will ever fight under
me?I wouldn't trust you out of my
sight!"
The Old Mistake
Was Made Again
They understood this time. Under
the suppressed laughter of a hundred
odd of their more Americanized fel?
lows, the handful of Poles, Czechs and
Austro-Serbs looked at each other sul?
lenly and morosely. The old mistake
had been made again. In that silent
exchange of glances they picked their
leader. After drill he approached his
commander respectfully.
"Sir," he said, "I and my brothers
are indignant. Again we are treated as
enemies and traitors. I'm not an Aus?
trian. I am Croat?two of them are
Austro-Serbs?ten of them are Czechs
from Bohemia ? another a Serb
from"
"Nothing of the kind!" snapped the
exasperated officer. "You're all Aus
trians. "There may be political differ?
ences and all that in your own coun?
try?you're always kicking up some
kind of a row over there?but you're
all cut off the same piece of cloth. I
can't stop to argue with you. Either
you're an American, an alien or an
enemy alien."
"No, no! I am a Croat?a Slav?my
people have always fought; why, sir
the first two prisoners taken by the
American Army in France were taken
by Poles!"
determination for the liberation of
their kind, under any and all circum?
stances and governments.
Patriotic fervors, self-sacrifices and
self-abnegations have arisen and tran?
spired in impassioned sequence.
The Slav Note
Brings an Answer
One man, practically ignorant of
the English language, enlisted because
he had gathered the impression that
the cause which America had espoused
was the cause of his own freedom. Ar?
riving at a training camp and being
promptly classed with the enemy aliens
whom he hated and despised, he aban?
doned a particularly offensive round of
kitchen police and in "unbefitting
terms" addressed his commanding offi?
cer. He declared wildly that he had
entered the army to fight, not to slave
in a kitchen, and that he desired most
earnestly to be sent to France, Italy,
anywhere, immediately, and thus be
removed from the hateful society of
his fellow soldiers, who happened to be
of most pronounced pro-German ten?
dencies. When reprimanded for insub?
ordinate conduct he retired, to suffer
acutely, but not in silence. He wrote
at random to everyone he knew de?
scribing the cruel injustice of his posi?
tion, which, needless to say, was not
apparent to his commanders, overtaxed
as they were with the strain of trim?
ming to the rigid olive drab confines
of the service the variegated and very
raw material in hand. The age-old
wrongs of a hot-hearted Slavic patriot,
while forming the essential leaven of
the loaf of Slavic emancipation, failed
to impress the military authorities a?
unusual, and his periodical protests,
arriving invariably' with his tour of
kitchen police, were hastily classed
with the other unintelligible com?
plaints which reached their ears daily
in some thirty-five languages.
THE GATHERING OF THE POLISH LEGION
Part of the thousands of Polish volunteers who gathered near Buffalo to begin their training for service on the Western front?
-?
trated to the furthest corners of the (
country's understanding. America has ?
come to look upon the Slav with new j
and somewhat wondering eyes; to as- j
sume somewhat her own share of the j
responsibility of the lack of compre?
hension in which she has been at fault
as well as the failure of the Slav with?
in her gates to adequately express
himself in the new tongue, or to ade?
quately inform himself of the tradi?
tions of the new country.
The Most Difficult
To Assimilate
The Slavic immigrant has lost, per?
haps less than any other, his national?
istic tendencies and enthusiasms. He
is difficult, if not impossible, to assimi?
late, and that which so definitely de?
clines to assimilate is scarcely popular
in America.
The first thought to be carefully im?
pressed upon the arriving immigrant is
the importance of his immediate Amer?
icanization. This had been a definitelj
constructive policy upon which mucfc
of the country's present unity depends
The Slav demonstrates thoroughly anc
courteously his willingness to be
Americanized, but not his willingnesi
to be assimilated. It is his proudes
boast that though Slavonia is at pr?s
ent a nation without freedom, th
Slavic race has never been assimilatec
by any other. He maintain? that th
strength of his race lies in the ver
stubbornness of his determination t
become nothing and remain a Slav.
Certain military and civil authoritie
of the United States government hav
come recently to believe that in thi
strength may possibly lie the greates
weapons of all those various and star
lingly discovered defences and n
sources which America has rev?ale
beneath the developing processes <
the war. The old question which hs
taxed the brain of immigration e
perts, as to the feasibility of inco
porating .Jnto the nation's existen
these unassimilated foreigners, is sui
into oblivion before the military ?r?
portance of utilizing a ready-ma<
nationalism which has its own pec
liar and intensified reasons for hatii
and fighting the common foe.
For this assimilation of the und
niabfy rich resources of the Slavic tel
perament and energies, the Centr
Powers, foreseeing the present situ
tion no doubt, have struggled with i
creasing perturbation since Bisniarcl
drastic step immediately after t
Franco-Prussian war. The Iron Chs
cellor first proclaimed the imperati
necessity of absorbing the Slavic ra
primarily by the abolition of its lanj
age, dialects and customs throughc
central Europe.
The Language of
Hope and Freedom
With ponderous German textboi
and their systems of pedagogy fli
rishing in an overnight growth throi
Bohemia and Jugo-SIavia, the Sla
tongue slipped into the intimate ch
neis of love, home, laughter and mu
and with the indomitable spirit of
origin it has laughed softly and res
?ntly throughout the years, the s<
language, tha love language, tho 1
euage of music and childhood Wherever
Slavic homes live and hope for futur?
freedom.
"I am a Slav?a living fire! A Sla?--^
a living fire!" chants a childish voice
that could sing to you by the hour of
the heroic deeds of his ancestors who
fought and died and left behind him
the glory of his name and the flame of
the sacred fire. A fire, unquenchable
indomitable is the metaphorical got,?
which the Slav treasures above all
earthly wealth.
"Slavonia is a fire?a living fire!" ;,
the slogan muttered in the wet dark of
Austrian trenches where weary sen?
tries peer into the darkness, not for 4
spying enemy but for the listening
Austrian, who is more than enemy
and whose uniform they wear. Meet?
ings, conferences, those gatherings of
patriotic sympathy which has kept the
fire alive, are held in dugouts in the
very teeth of the Austrian defence?
where Poles and Czechs and the lithe
mountain men whose heritage is among?
the ancient rocky heights of Montene?
gro curse the bondage which drives
them forth to fight the battles of their
enemies.
In a memorandum prepared by a
ranking officer of the United States
Army, who has made an exhaustive
study of the situation, he states what
he considers to be an effective plan for
the "organization of Slavs in America
and Europe against the Central
Powers." He says in part:
An Army Plan for
Using Their Energies
"To get any real promise of adequate
results in the tremendous operations
that are possible on the Eastern front
there must be a complete organizatioa
under a competent military officer. Ut
should be placed in complete contml
and held responsible for organizing tod
directing the efforts of all the Slav
peoples in the United States. These
are divided into two classes:
"One?Those who are conscripted in?
to the United States Army for opera?
tions over-seas from these Slavic races,
and he should be authorized to have
his agents in every camp where the?e
are sent after being conscripted.
Two?He should also have charge of
the organization, coordination and di?
rection of the efforts of the varions
Slavic Councils in the United States.
This latter includes the organization
and direction of all propaganda that
may be sent out.
"The high grade mentioned should
be accorded because of the beneficial
effect this grade will have upon all
Slavic peoples in this country as well
as abroad; and as a second reason be?
cause, should he go abroad to assum?
command of any ?liied expeditiom
(which, of course, must be contem?
plated), there would be no questioi
about his being a senior in grade to all
commanders of these allied forces com?
ing under his command. He must b?
senior to all such officers, because this
work must be taken over?if we are to
secure success?by the American got
ernment, and the sooner this fact il
recognized the better for all concerned
"The sooner this officer is selectei
and authorized to commence his organ
ization the more promptly he will se
cure results.
"It goes without saying that this en
tire proposition must be taken up wit
the governments of Great Britaii
France and Italy and he should b
given proper recognition before thea
governments on all proper occasions.
"The first thing to be done, of cour*
is to complete our organization i
home and to advise these councils (
the various Slavic races here exactl
what the United States government ;
prepared to do, both as to the handUn
of the enemy alien situation and tb
recognition that will be accorded t
them now and at the final peace coi
ference.
"The qualifications of the militai
man who should be placed in charge <
this have previously been given and
should be emphasized that this job
an entirely different one from that |
the man in command on the Westei
front. The knowledge in Washingtc
of the capabilities of the army men <
experience should enable them to d
cide upon the proper person.
One Slav Body
Opposes the Plan
The one Slavic organization which
opposing the organization of Slav
legions is the Polish National Defen
Committee, which was organized
1912 for the purpose of aiding t!
movement for independent Polaa
From the first, funds were forward'
to Joseph Pilsudski, now General P
sudski, heading the Polish Legions, f
the maintenance of military schools
Poland organized by him.
Pilsudski used the money for tl
formation of secret military schoc
for the training of officers, and wto
the present war started he headed
small army. Since the great fight
Poland was directed against Russii
autocracy, the Polish Legions, wi
General Pilsudski as their command?
directed their attention to fighti:
Russia. When the Russian revoluti
overthrew the Czar, General P?sud!
refused to fight Russia. As a rest
the Germans imprisoned him in t
Fortress of Magdeburg, together Wl
20,000 men of his army.
"The committee anticipated the ?
trance of the United State3 into t
world war," said Dr. B. D. Kulakovs
editor of "Wici." official organ of fc
Polish National Defence Comtnitt?
'"For this reason we did not ally ?
selves politically either with G?
Britain or With France. Wo oppos
the formation of Polish military um
on the side of the Allies, or in t
United States. An army is one of t
attributes of the sovereignty of a st?
and is the force guaranteeing the int
pendence of a nation. It is in the i
terest of Poland that the United Stat
be militarily strong and efficient. T
splitting up of the uniform mil?*
organization of the United States ?
Italian, Greek, Polish, Armenian, Sy
?n or Jewish armies would be tan'
mount to complete chaos.
"Those who wanted to serve rai
tionary political ends, who denounc
Pilsudski and his followers as B|
sian mercenaries, must now *????
their error. The only belligerent
American soil is the Government ox ?
United States. We urged all the m?
bers of our committee, and there <
over 10,000 of them, at the time ? ?
entrance of this country into 'naJ*l
to prove by their acts that the rj?
in America are conscious of their ?
toward this country and of the Pou
tradition of fighting for 'our a??' Il
freedom.' "