not have expressed the views to which he gave utterance regarding the character of these people had he obtained first the opinions of our business men regarding their character and general cesta as citizens.
It would be impossible to find a better class of people to bring into America from Europe than the Bohemians. Almost without exception they are hardworking, honest, thrifty, and fine farmers, They have made sections of Prince George to blossom like the rose. The farm of the average Bohemian in Prince George, where the majority of them are located, is a model of neatness, productiveness, and thrift.
One of the best-known business men of Petersburg told this writer recently that he had sold many thousands of dollars’ worth of goods to Bohemians in Prince George, Dinwiddie, and Chesterfield and never had lost a dollar on a single purchase. A year or two ago a Bohemian sold his Prince George farm and went to Chicago to live. When the news came to the merchant mentioned he made up his mind to charge to the profit and loss account the $60 which this debtor owed him. But inside of three months he sent him $30 and inside of six months remitted the remaining $30 of the debt.
Business men of Petersburg will not resent, in the sense of becoming , the slurs cast upon our “Bohemians” by this speaker, but will regret that he failed to inform himself more accurately before expressing his opinion.Action was also immediately taken in the matter by the Chamber of Commerce of Petersburg which has resulted in a satisfactory explanation from the incautious visiting speaker. A most hearty public indorsement of the Slavs has been expressed, and all classes of citizens have united in voicing their approval of them as agricultural settlers for the south-side Virginia counties.
SLAVS AS WE KNOW THEM.
This high recognition which the Slavs have won for themselves as desirable agricultural settlers in the South, awakens an interest in them as a people.
Americans are more or less informed about Russia, the great “Slav Empire,” and readily understand, in a general way, something of the Russians. Many do not know, however, that there are almost as many different kinds of Russians as there are Slavs, if we attempt to disregard the national unit and divide the Russian people according to their respective races. For instance, within the term “Russians,” as commonly used in the United States, are included several Slavish races. They are the Lithuanians out of the great race of the Letts; the Poles living in the territory annexed by Russia upon the partition of the ancient Polish Empire by Austria, Germany, and Russia in the past century; and the Russians proper, who include the Great Russians, the White Russians, and the Ruthenians or “Little” Russians.
All American students of European history also know the story of the ancient glory and the final fall of the Polish Empire. They know too of the exploits of Count Casimir Pulaski, the exiled Polish soldier and famous general of the American Revolution; and many Americans are sufficiently informed to look back with pride to the services rendered America in the Revolution by Thaddeus Kosciusko, the great Polish patriot. Thus, as a people, the Poles are not unknown to us in America.
The recent Balkan wars have also stimulated American interest in the Bulgarians and the Servians, and have resulted n a wider and deeper understanding of these two branches of the great Slavish race. Not so much is known, however, of the Croatians and the Slovenians,
