| Show Merry Go By DREW PEARSON and ROBERT ROBERTS S. S ALLEN Editors Editor's Note The Brass Ring The Washington Rounds Round's weekly award to o outstanding people in the news herewith is IS bestowed upon Eduard Benes president of Czechoslovakia Fifteen years ago one of the Merry Go Round authors clim climbed ed a steep path leading to toa a castle once occupied by the kings of of Bohemia and after traversing numerous passageways which threaded the castle like the corridors of ofa a cave came into the office of the foreign minister min ister of Czechoslovakia Eduard Benes Beres the foreign minister was a avery avery avery very plain-looking plain modest little man with an engaging smile forthright manner and a perfect command of the English language Speaking in that language he waxed elo eloquent eloquent elo- elo lo- lo quent over th the progress of Czechoslovakia her relative prosperity y her true democracy the friendly re relations she enjoyed with her neigh neigh- bors He particularly mentioned Russia and the fact that Czechoslovakia had learned to get along long with Russia at a time when the rest of Europe refused to recognize her existence Foreign n Minister Benes at that time had hada a right to be proud of his Czechoslovakia In Ina Irta a Europe sickened by economic chaos Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia Czecho Czecho- slovakia stood out as a sane and prosperous state Germany was in the throes of disastrous currency c inflation France was existing largely from German reparations payments Poland was in turmoil Austria on the verge of bank bank- In Iii this maelstrom only Czechoslovakia ia stood forth independent healthy and a a going concern This week still proud of his country still proud of Czech enterprise and efficiency Eduard Eduard Ed Ed Eduard Benes as president of Czechoslovakia carried carried car car- ned ried on his shoulders the final responsibility for deciding whether hi his country should surrender surrender surrender sur- sur sur sur- render lall all that he had striven for or or fight With the of Ad Adolf U Hitler rio xio other man in the world held such great power for general peace or war Benes' Benes Background The man who held this power is the son of ofa ofa ofa a a poor peasant family the youngest of ten chil chil- dren Born 54 years ago he worked his his' w way y through school and first attained national fame as a soccer player at the University of Prague It was at the university that he met the man who was to be his greatest inspiration n and whom he was to follow throughout life at last succeed as the president of Czechoslovakia Benes studied philosophy under Professor Masaryk at the University of Prague later came b back ck as a colleague of Masaryk to teach as a of sociology It was from Masaryk that Benes first imbibed his ideas on Czech in independence independence in- in depend dependence nce from Hungary Austria-Hungary and when the World war came these two formed a secret ecret national society to foster an independent state Their activities attra attracted ted suspicion and they were forced to flee to Switzerland where they continued even more eff effectively ct to work for restoration of ancient Bohemia f Both were vere under sentence of de' de death th if they fell fen into Austrian or German hands But they continued the their r operations in London Paris and Petrograd Benes acting as secretary for his teacher Professor Masaryk and beco becoming ng an expert in manufacturing the fake passports on which they traveled It was in Washington however that the Czechoslovak republic finally was born M Masaryk Masaryk Masa Masa- sa- sa ryk came here with Benes in 1917 from Irom Woodrow Wilson and then after a series 0 of conferences with Czech and Slovak immigrants in Pittsburgh Chica Chicago o and other cities finally issued a proclamation of on behalf of the new republic This was the beginning of the country ac acknowledged acknowledged ac- ac to be the most worthwhile experiment experiment ment in democracy spawn spawned d by the World war warthe warthe warthe the the country which Hitler now seeks to low Champion of Peace As foreign minister of Czechoslovakia Benes came to play a powerful and enlightened part partin in n the he councils of Europe He was one of the leaders eader of the League of Nations was hailed as the consistent champion of the little nation t against again t the bigg bigger r. r f u w Benes is a serious-minded serious little man He does hes' hes not smoke or drink He is more studious studious' than an social minded He is absolute an realist real real- 1St never has las underestimated the key position w which M hIS countr country y has occupied in Europe's f fu fu- u ture tl-re- NO ago he told a newspaper interviewer inter inter- viewer t The destiny f will be decided here This country is IS' IS a natural and necessary point f for r European eq equilibrium If this position is given up all of central Europe is gone fe S Copyright 1938 or Th Telegram 7 tf r rr r T i A |
