More than 80 per cent of the members of this colony own property free of debt. The farms vary in value from $1,000 to $10,000, averaging about $2,000. A large number of them bought their farms while working in the coal mines of Pennsylvania and Illinois, and after paying for them and saving a little capital moved to Arkansas.
The coming of the Slovaks greatly increased land values in the locality, and it is stated that nearly every cent of their earnings is immediately invested in improvements on the farms and in live stock. Many of these families own more than 20 cows and from 5 to 10 horses and mules, as well as large numbers of hogs.
This colony forms an independent group, and visiting among themselves is almost the only form of enjoyment indulged in on account of the isolation of the colony, although the younger people occasionally hold dances. The Slovaks associate freely with the Americans in the county and in the towns when they are abroad, and no prejudice exists against them in any part of Arkansas. As a race and as farmers they are highly respected.
There are about 75 men of voting age in the colony, over 90 per cent possessing full naturalization papers. They play only a minor part in local elections, however, and very few of them have held public office. There have been several Slovak members on the county school boards, and ore or two of them have held positions as road overseers.
The Slovaks in this part of Arkansas have greatly improved conditions in agriculture. They have not introduced any new methods or crops, but they brought with them capacity for hard work and their characteristic thrift, with which they have turned the former barren prairies into a productive farming region.
BOHEMIANS ON TEXAS FARMS.
Turning again to Texas we find the State has an estimated Bohemian population, in addition to the Poles, of over 50,000, engaged principally in agriculture and scattered through 80 counties.
More than 60 per cent of these people own their property, and over 50 per cent of that number have their holdings free of debt. The majority of them entered Texas without sufficient money to purchase land at first, and have won their present prosperity by thrift and hard work.
The first Bohemians, together with a group of Serbs of the Luzice-Serbian stem, settled in the State as early as 1835, before the days of the Texan Republic, in what is now Burleson County. The first permanent colony, still in existence, however, was not established until about 1853, in Fayette County. Their farms to-day vary in size from 40 to 1,000 acres, averaging about 100 acres. They are chiefly cotton growers; but, unlike the natives, they produce enough trucking stuff to supply the demands of the family and raise sufficient feed to provide for their live stock. They are on the richest cotton lands in the State, and their numbers are increasing annually.
In Texas the Bohemians farm intelligently and use the most improved implements and methods of cultivation. As a result, farm values in the localities where they are found are steadily going up. They form a group of citizens of which Texas is proud, and every effort is being made to induce greater numbers of them to settle in the State.
