first was started in 1870, and by 1902 there were over thirty Bohemian loan associations of this kind. Six per cent is the highest rate of interest. Of the officers, only the secretary is paid and the books are revised once a year by a state officer. The system of mutual benefit societies has also taken on large dimensions. Svornost[1] gives the name of sixteen orders, which in Chicago have 259 lodges. Denni Hlasatal[2] gives about thirty Catholic associations and this is far from being a full list. These orders pay sick and death benefits, the business basis of the lodges being combined with a social element.
Politics.In politics, the majority of Bohemians are Democratic; the oldest Republican settlers forming an exception. I have often heard the change from the Republican to the Democratic sentiment explained by the readiness of the Democrats to grant offices to the Bohemians. Another and more satisfactory explanation was given to me by a staunch old Republican. The first Bohemians, who left the bureaucratic Austrian monarchy, joined the Republican party with enthusiasm. During all the years that Bohemians were coming in such numbers, the government was Republican. The government in Bohemia was far from popular and the very fact that the existing administration was Republican made the Bohemians willing to listen to the complaints of Democrats and even to join in these complaints. Cleveland's first administration did not change this point of view as the Democrats did not have a majority in Congress. The number of Social Democrats is growing as among other immigrant nationalities.
The Bohemians in Chicago have three daily papers. The Freethinkers have Svornost. the Catholics Narod, and Denni Hlasatel claims to be independent in questions of faith.[3]
Social Life.The social life among the Bohemians is very much alive. There are dances, concerts, theatrical performances. Since the Columbian Exposition a company of professional actors has resided in Pilsen, who on Sunday evenings play before a full house in the large hall, Thalia.
Besides the tendency to avail themselves of the unaccustomed freedom, other factors enter into the social life, such as the rivalry between the Catholics and Free thinkers, the rivalry of individuals, and the indirect economic interest. A new settler finds customers in the club or lodge he joins. This can be reduced ad absurdum, when, for instance, all the grocers from the district meet in the same club with the same intention. The educational element is of great importance. I was struck by the cleverness and efficiency with which the Bohemian women conduct their meetings. The men gain here a training for political life.
Other than these mutual benefit organizations, you will find all kinds of societies especially among the freethinkers, such as turner (gymnastic) clubs (35), singing clubs (18), printing clubs (7), bicycle clubs (5), dramatic clubs (4) and many others.[4]
The Bohemians are born musicians. "Where is the Bohemian who does not love music?" is a cadence in Smetana's music which says everything. You will find on the West Side many music schools, many violinists and pianists, amateurs, besides the professional musicians who have three unions.
A large park near Dunning, a beautiful garden, is the Bohemian cemetery. Its beginning belongs to the time of the separation of the Freethinkers from the Catholic Church. A Catholic priest refused to bury in the Catholic cemetery a woman who died without a confession, and the Freethinkers resolved to have a cemetery of their own. Like the Catechism of Freethinking, this cemetery proclaims how deeply the roots of Catholic logic and way of thinking penetrated the Bohemian soul. The great pomp with which the dead are buried by
- ↑ Svornost, June 26, 1904.
- ↑ Denní Hlasatel, October 28, 1904.
- ↑ Politically Denní Hlasatel is Democratic; Svornost more Republican; Narod, independent. The Socialists have a weekly Spravedenost. Furtner, the freethinkers publish, besides a daily paper, two monthly educational papers, two weeklies, one satirical, and the American which appears twice a week. The Catholic Benedictine press publishes a daily paper, a paper on agriculture every other week. The Friend of Children, a weekly, and The Catholic, twice a week. To complete the list of Bohemian journals I must mention The Woman's Weekly, which is run on a co-operative basis. The Methodists in Chicago publish a Bohemian weekly, and the Baptists a little monthly and quarterly paper
- ↑ Svornost, June 26, 1904.
