Page:The heart of Europe; an address delivered by Charles Pergler in Washington, December 11, 1916, at a conference of oppressed or dependent nationalities (IA heartofeuropeadd00pergrich).pdf/29

German dreams of world dominion will be doomed. A year from now, two years from now, five, ten, or twenty years, from now, in any event at some future time, those parts of Austria inhabited by Italians will be joined to Italy; those parts inhabited by Roumanians to Roumania; those by Serbians to the new Serbia; and Galicia undoubtedly will constitute a part of the future autonomous Poland. When this logical historical process is carried out, even if a remnant of Austria should be preserved, the only nations left within the new Austria will be the Germans, the Magyars, the Bohemians, and the Slovaks. It will be seen from a mere statement of this fact that such Austria would be in the future, as it has been in the past, a menace to European peace. In such a state the Czechs and Slovaks would constitute the minority. The internal conditions of such a state would be volcanic. Austria so mutilated would mean the perpetuation of oppression of Czechs and Slovaks by the German and Magyar element, and since oppression inevitably breeds resistance, here again would be a foundation for future upheavals. A mere statement of this condition, once made, seems to show conclusively that the only possible solution of the Austrian problem is to get rid of the Austrian Empire once and forever, and not to permit the repetition of experiences the world had to undergo while Turkey was permitted to pose as an European power. After all, the Austrian question is the Turkish problem in another form. Austria can be no more federalized than European Turkey. To permit Austria to exist in any form when this war is concluded