government treated the Czech nation with special brutality. The
persecutions in Bohemia were opposed not only to the liberal ideas of
Czechs, but especially to their national feelings. The anxiety of the
censor for the safety of the monarchy often bordered on absurdity. The
word 'shocking' was deleted from a play, for instance, because it was
English. _Henry IV_. was not allowed to be played 'until we reach a
settlement with England,' and it was only when it was reported by the
Vienna and Berlin papers that the prohibition was withdrawn.

_Persecution of the Czech Press_

"The Czech press was persecuted in a peculiar manner. Its editors were
not allowed to receive papers from neutral countries and to express
their own opinions as regards the propaganda of the Czechs abroad.
Under threats of suppression of the journals and imprisonment of the
editors, the journals were obliged to print and publish articles
supplied to them by the police, without mentioning the source from
whence they came. The articles had to be put in in such a way that they
appeared as if they were the editors' views. The articles betrayed the
low intellectual level of the authors who lacked any knowledge of Czech
affairs. Such articles which the Czech journals were compelled to
publish were, for instance: 'In Foreign Pay,' published March 25, 1916;
'The Czechs in America against Masaryk's Agents,' published in all
Czech papers on April 8, 1916; on January 16, 1917, the article 'Our
Answer to the Quadruple Entente.'

"The Police Directorate ordered first that such articles should appear
on the same day in all papers and in the same wording, but recognising
the stupidity of such an action, they compelled only one journal to
publish them and the others had to 'quote' from them.