Czecho-Slovak Student Life/Volume 18/Number 2/Prominent Americans of Czechoslovak Ancestry

Prominent Americans of Czechoslovak Ancestry.
In this issue: Mr. Anton J. Cermak, Dr. J. F. Cherf, and Rev. Ferd. Príkazký.

ANTON J. CERMAK, PRESIDENT OF COOK COUNTY BOARD.

Anton J. Cermak,
President of Cook County Board.

When writing of Anton J. Cermak, the President of the Board of Cook County Commissioners and candidate for Governor of Illinois, it is necessary to reflect back on one of Horatio Alger’s books or some similar record of the absolutely unknown boy rising to a position of an outstanding public leader and business man.

The lives of Lincoln, Garfield, Russell Sage, Governor Al Smith of New York, and D. F. Kelly of Chicago, are all blended into one in the biography of this man who rose from a “mule boy” in the mines at Braidwood, Illinois, to President of perhaps the greatest county in the United States.

There were no college yells or inspiring crowds to spur the young boy that left Braidwood, Ill., at the age of 16 years, to reach the goal he set out to attain. In the first place, he was born in Bohemia in 1873, or rather Czechoslovakia that land across the sea with its athletic organizations which inspired first of all love of freedom, liberty and country; and secondly, created a love for physical exercise which gives the strength of body to carry out the will of mind. He came to the United States with his parents in 1874.

And in 1889 we find a 16 year old Czech boy, standing at the outskirts of Cook County with his fists clinched, his jaw set, his mind full of determination, all of this backed by a foundation of honesty and love for his fellowmen.

Here we have an opportunity to observe what makes for success in the unknown boy, who apparently is the clay from which American successes are molded.

Our next view of this leader is atop a wood-wagon in the vicinity in which he chose to make his home. Humbly, honestly and industriously the young Czech boy pursued his first business venture, serving his people courteously and well. He attended business college at night and later studied law.

Public officials of those days soon learned of this young man, who stood so well among the people he served. He was appointed Secretary to V. E. Cerveny, West Town Collector in Chicago. Just across the Drainage Canal, from where Anton Cermak lived, was a young Irish boy whose historic background paralleled that of the young Bohemian boy. His name was Patrick J. Carr, and he too began life at the zero mark. These two boys met when both were nearing the age of manhood—21 years, and there began a friendship between the two that lasted for more than a quarter of a century. Each year saw both of the boys further up the ladder of success.

Shortly after Anton J. Cermak was of age, he became a leader in local politics and thus began his public service to the people he represented. We find him as court clerk, appointed by Mayor Harrison is 1900. He also held other appointive positions, and then in 1902 his people called him to serve as their representative in the State Legislature.

From 1902 to 1910, Anton J. Cermak rendered an important account of himself in the Illinois Legislature. While he was winning his spurs as a leader in the State body of Law-makers, his people appreciating his services to them, decided to make him also their representative in the City Council of Chicago, and in 1909 he was elected as their representative on the Board of Aldermen. Here he served with honor, instituting various innovations and progressive measures until 1912, when he was further elevated. In November, 1912, he was elected Chief Bailiff of the Municipal Court, and after having served his term with honor in this section of the civil government, he was drafted as the Democratic candidate for Sheriff of Cook County. This proved to be one of his few unsuccessful political efforts, although he was defeated by only 1700 votes, less than one half vote per precinct. But his people returned him to the City Council as their representative and he remained a member of the City Council until he was called upon to represent his party as candidate for president of the County Board. He was elected by a plurality of 25,000 votes in 1922.

The people of Cook County had begun to feel the same confidence as his people had expressed when they first sent him to the Legislature, and he was elected to the most important office in Cook County, namely President of the Board. When the end of his first administration came, there was a demand that he succeed himself and carry on the wonderful work of efficiency, saving, and the extension of charity throughout the Cook County, and he was re-elected by the people of Cook County by a 65,000 plurality.

While Anton J. Cermak was serving his people as their public representative, he was also serving them privately. Through his efforts and real estate operations linked with the Building & Loan Association in which he was an officer, thousands upon thousands of Czech families in his district were given the opportunity and assistance that gave them ownership of their own homes. He has been a member of the real estate firm of Cermak & Serhant for twenty years, and for the past fifteen years has been a director in the Lawndale State and the Lawndale National Banks.

Thus was built up in the section in which he chose to make his home when he arrived in Chicago the greatest community of home owners and stable citizens that can be found in Cook County. During these years the “mule boy” from Braidwood continued to progress. At present Chicago and Illinois has for its slogan: “Al Smith for president; Anton J. Cermak for governor of Illinois.”

Socially during these years the same spirit prevailed in his every act. As Secretary of the United Societies for local Self-Government he established the reputation of being the leader of movements that had as their object the perpetuation of personal liberty, and thus created a feeling among citizens, even those who do not sympathize with his views of personal liberty, that he is sincere and honest in his convictions and does not use the popular question simply as a political football.

Anton J. Cermak represents two distinct personalities. In his office in the County Building he is a hard task master, insisting on a strictly business regime, and in his home or when on pleasure bent, he throws aside entirely the business austerity and becomes the most aimiable host that can be found.

His recreations are golf, motorboating, fishing, and his greatest pleasure is with his family at their summer home in Antioch; and wherever Anton J. Cermak is found seeking pleasure, his wife and daughters can always be found close by. He resides at 2346 So. Millard Avenue, Chicago, Illinois.

REV. DR. JOHN F. CHERF, O.S.B.

The eighth member of St. Procopius Abbey, Lisle, Ill., has recently received a doctorate in philosophy. It is the Rev. J. F. Cherf, O.S.B., who has recently completed his classical studies at the Illinois University.

Rev. John F. Cherf, O.S.B., was born near Bryant, Wis., on Nov. 28, 1894. Since there was no Catholic School in his home town, he attended the public school. In the year 1907 he enrolled at St. Procopius College, Lisle, Ill., where after completing the classic course, he joined the Benedictine Order. In 1916 he received the Degree of Bachelor of Arts from St. Procopius College, and two years later was ordained to the priesthood. During the summers of 1917–18–19 he studied at the University of Illinois, Urbana, Ill. After devoting himself to graduate work at the same University during the scholastic year of 1920–21, he earned the title of Master of Arts.

From then on he was attracted to Latin paleography or the study of Ancient Latin Manuscripts. The majority of extant old books, originally written on parchment, were recopied by the monks of the Order of St. Benedict, who were ever desirous of increasing and preserving the works of the Ancient Classic writers.

Rev. Dr. J. F. Cherf, O.S.B.

After teaching as instructor at St. Procopius College during the years 1921 to 1924, the Rev. John F. Cherf resumed his studies at the State University to complete his work for the doctorate. He now limited himself to the study of the manuscript-tradition of St. Jerome’s Life of St. Paul, the Hermit, as the first part of a larger work, which is to comprise the text and manuscript-tradition of St. Jerome’s Lives of Sts. Paul, Hilarion and Malchus. It was necessary to secure photographs of the ancient manuscripts now in possession of European libraries.

Having difficulty in getting the desired material and information from Europe, he found it necessary to visit the European libraries. The Bohemain Benedictines accepted his suggestion and granted him leave to make the trip. For fourteen weeks he visited the libraries of England, France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, and Czechoslovakia, where he studied the original manuscripts. He arranged for the photographing of many of them and now has at his disposal the photographic reproductions of 179 manuscripts.

After diligent study and hard work he completed his thesis in the early part of 1927, which he presented to the Classic Department of the Illinois University. When his dissertation was accepted and he passed the final examination successfully, the degree of Doctor of Philosophy was conferred upon him at the Commencement Exercises. At present Rev. J. F. Cherf, O.S.B., is a member of the faculty of St. Procopius College, and at the same time is devoting himself to a further study of the manuscripts of the lives of Sts. Hilarion and Malchus, which together with the life of St. Paul will be published in collaboration with Prof. W. A. Oldfather in the Vienna collection called “Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum”.

REV. FERDINAND PRÍKAZKÝ, SLOVAK PRIEST AND LEADER.

“Rev. Ferdinand Príkazký took part, we may say, in every undertaking which has being carried on for the welfare of the Catholic Slovaks in America,” writes the Slovak “Jednota” on Nov. 16, 1927 in reporting Father Prikazký’s death.

He was born on Oct. 19, 1867 in Skalica, Nitra Župa, Czechoslovakia and came to this country in 1904. In the same year he was ordained priest and made pastor of St. Gabriel’s Church in Pittsburg. Here he labored for the next twenty-three years, being always a good Father to his parishioners. Through his effort and ability, he succeeded in building a beautiful church, rectory, and a parochial school now attended by 530 pupils. He was also a real leader of his flock, who ministered to their spiritual wants and led them by his humble and exemplary life.

He was a true American, who, however, did not forget the land of his birth, believing that the Slovak racial group should not forget its mother tongue. For this reason he founded within his parish the first Slovak Franciscan convent in America, and invited the Slovak Franciscan Sisters of Ružomberok, Slovakia, to his parish. Today the above mentioned Sisters have 70 members and conduct schools in various parishes in Pennsylvania. Only recently Father Príkazký, with the aid of his parishioners, began the construction of a $500,000 convent for these Sisters.

Of his many activities for the welfare of the Slovaks in America, we shall mention the following. He was president of the Slovak Priests’ Alliance, chairman of the first Slovak Day in Pittsburg, and one of the leaders in every important Slovak movement.

His congenial disposition won him many friends, and his exemplary and energetic life inspired all who had the opportunity to meet him. He has worked hard, but as many another leader has left his work unfinished. It is up to the American youth of Slovak ancestry to continue in his footsteps and earry on where he had left off. His life of sixty years spent in work is the beacon light which he bequeaths to his successors.

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