1918–1938 Czechoslovakia, and a valley that still workedČeskoslovensko a dolina, ktorá ešte pracovala

Štítnik became part of Czechoslovakia in 1918 along with the rest of Gemer, and unlike the towns down on the plain it stayed on the Slovak side of every argument about where the border should run. Slovak schooling arrived, the paper mill at the head of the valley kept working and the branch line kept running. The village was far poorer than in its iron-making centuries, but it was still a working valley with a reason to exist. That is worth noticing, because it is the last time anyone could say so.Štítnik sa v roku 1918 stal spolu so zvyškom Gemera súčasťou Československa a na rozdiel od mestečiek dolu v rovine zostal pri každom spore o priebeh hranice na slovenskej strane. Prišlo slovenské školstvo, papiereň na konci doliny pracovala ďalej a vlečka jazdila. Obec bola oveľa chudobnejšia ako v železiarskych storočiach, no stále to bola pracujúca dolina, ktorá mala dôvod existovať. Stojí za to si to všimnúť, lebo naposledy sa to dalo povedať práve vtedy.