Page:America in the Struggle for Czechoslovak Independence (1926).pdf/29

RV 25

“This is our revolution, and we must pay for it with our money.” The first bazaar of consequence was held in New York in the winter of 1916. It yielded $22,250. This was thought an extraordinary achievement. The bazaar given in Cleveland in March, 1917, netted $25,000 and one closely following it in Chicago, $40,000. The comparatively small Omaha community surprised all by making $65,109.20 in September, 1918. A few weeks later the Texas Czechs got together at a bazaar fete in Taylor an other $50,000 or $60,000. The bazaar at Cedar Rapids (Iowa) turned in $25,000. The Thanksgiving Day offering in 1918, which was nation wide, totaled $320,000. To this Chicago gave over $100,000, Cleveland, $40,000. All the money was not spent for political purposes. Large sums went to relieve distress on the other side. For instance, one million francs were cabled to the Czechoslovak Minister of Foreign Affairs in Paris for the purchase of food.

The total sum so raised, augmented by subscriptions contributed by individuals, has never been published. But in any event it was more than sufficient to finance the whole movement in America and the Allied countries, except Russia, which presented a problem in itself and where ultimately the main part of the Czechoslovak legions was organized. One is well within the truth, and the objective historian no doubt will so hold, that the financial help from America in