Page:The Czechoslovak Review, vol3, 1919.djvu/81

 A great impression was made upon the American public by the wonderful posters, mostly recruiting posters, drawn by a Czech artist, Vojtech Preisig, professor at the Wentworth Institute in Boston. The Czechoslovak Arts Club of New York published with rare taste a number of booklets, among them Declaration of Independence of Czechoslovak Nation; Czech artists of Chicago have also applied their talents in the service of their people. The French bi-monthly, La Nation Tcheque, is received by the Alliance from Paris, and hundreds of copies are mailed regularly by the Chicago office to the principal libraries and to individuals who have manifested an interest in this valuable periodical. A great deal was also done through the medium of addresses. Hundreds of speeches in English were delivered before large audiences, prominent clubs, social gatherings, scientific and business societies. Charles Pergler has been foremost in this work, while Dr. Smetanka, Prof. B. Šimek, Prof. J. J. Zmrhal, Prof. Šárka Hrbkova, Albert Mamatey, John Straka, Rev. Oldřich Zlámal and Rev. Francis Jedlička have been doing faitfully and successfully the work of informing the American public about the aims and accomplishments of the Czechoslovaks. Joseph Martinek, a Czech socialist who spent six months in Russia and witnessed the evil effects of Bolshevism, delivered a number of lectures on the condition of the Czechoslovak Army in Russia and the unfortunate situation caused by the Bolshevik revolution. A great debt of gratitude is due to the Bohemian and Slovak press in America. All the other races had among their publications in this country numerous sheets fighting the interests of their own people from motives more or less creditable. But out of more than one hundred Bohemian periodicals only one small weekly served the interests of Austria—the ill-famed Vesmír which soon went down under the indignation of the people. All the rest of our press stood firmly by their people; without its steady and enthusiastic support the great work of the Bohemian National Alliance could not have been accomplished.

The past year is the culmination of our work not merely from the political point of view, but also in the matter of organization. The constantly growing scope of activities of the Czechoslovak National Council implied large demands upon our financial ability. At the beginning of 1918 the Central Committee of America of the Bohemian National Alliance, not including the Catholic branch, prepared a budget which provided for the collection of half a million dollars. It was no small task to gather such a large sum among our working people in the United States and Canada, for even in 1918 most of the gifts came in small amounts from the great mass of the people, rather than from the few wealthy men. The National Alliance is divided into sixteen districts, and the Central Committee determined the proportion which each district should raise of the total required. As the various districts sent in their collections month by month, they were advised of their standing, so that soon there was a rivalry among the various districts as to which would exceed its percentage by the biggest margin. All of them came up to what was expected of them, and some did unusually well. Thus the Pacific District with headquarters at San Francisco turned in 310 per cent of the amount expected of it, the farming district centering around Omaha collected 301 per cent. Chicago was first as far as the actual sum collected, for it turned over to the Central Committee over $200,000.

The best means of raising money were national bazaars. Thus the Chicago bazaar brought in $50,000 of net proceeds, the Texas bazaar netted $60,000 and the Omaha bazaar was first of them all with $70,000. There have been many bazaars held in this country in support of various war charities, but I feel sure that none of them were run with such a small proportionate expense. Our bazaars never paid out more than 8 per cent of the receipts for running expenses, and the bazaar of Cedar Rapids which turned in over $25,000 had not a cent of expense; all was done or donated free. These are only some of the larger bazaars, but similar fairs and national fetes were held in almost every Bohemian settlement in the United States.

Another undertaking, in which the Catholics took part, was the campaign for a national thanksgiving offering. It was scheduled for the Thanksgiving Day, but the collection went on during December. Its proceeds amount now to $320,000, while the total expense connected with this nation-wide campaign is only $2200, less than one per cent of what was collected. Recently one million francs out of this sum was sent to the Czechoslovak Foreign Minister