The control of the railways was easily secured.  At each of the important stations Czech trains held the sidings.  Due to the delay the trains which should have been en route to France piled up at the stations, and even in European Russia at Samara, Simbirsk and Suizran, a sufficient number of Czechs held the station points to make their capture by Bolsheviki forces a difficult matter.  The Czechs made no attempt to seize the towns located some distance from the stations or any other territory.  They wanted only to make secure their railroad travel.  The high prices which they paid for their necessarily large supplies of provisions and the fact that they paid cash while the Bolshevik forces and Soviets often requisitioned food supplies, likewise their good cheer and personal magnetism, won for them the friendship of the peasant and artisan classes in many of the villages so that when the clash came only such Bolshevik forces as were definitely put to the task of disarming them were actually hostile.  The easy-going and friendly Russian peasant, supine under the violent political changes, is a traditional friend and an unwilling enemy.  This characteristic, which the Allied Governments have harshly criticized, may be counted upon to work to the advantage of the Allies under any fair scheme for economic aid and peaceful penetration which does not give grounds upon which active German propaganda could construct open hostility.

One may well wonder why the hundreds of thousands of Austrian war prisoners in Siberia have not blown up tunnels, destroyed tracks and otherwise tried to stop the Czech expedition.  It may be that the Austrians secretly admired these men and were too tired of war to take the initiative in Siberia.

[Sidenote:  Seizure of Vladivostok.]

[Sidenote:  The people welcome the Czechs.]

The seizure of Vladivostok by the Czechs was characteristic.  From their arrival, they attracted the attention and admiration of the people, many of whom were planning an anti-Bolshevik demonstration.  Every ship commander in the harbor had his men ready for landing parties in case of trouble.  But there was no disorder on the day of the demonstration and not till a month later did a Bolshevik disturbance give the Czechs a chance to free an anti-Bolshevik city from its oppressors.  Japanese, Chinese, English or Americans from the war-ships could have done it.  But when the Czechs did it, a Slavic, Russian-speaking people gained control of a city that gladly welcomed their intervention.  The same idea explains their marvelous success in Russia.  Having braved death rather than fight Russians, the Czechs can now fight oppressive Russian elements without having their motives misunderstood or their plans opposed.

[Sidenote:  Marriages of war prisoners and peasant women.]