The Czechoslovak Review/Volume 2/Liberty Loan record of Bohemians

LIBERTY LOAN RECORD OF BOHEMIANS

The Third Liberty Loan was a wonderful success all over the United States, because an organization was built up that reached every person in the entire country. The most gratifying feature of the latest loan is the unexpectedly large number of subscribers. Among the Bohemian-speaking people of this country there is hardly one single family without a bond, and in thousands of them every member of the family, down to the babies, are the proud possessors of the Liberty Bonds.

Wherever there are Bohemian immigrants, in every state of the Union, there an organized effort was made to line up every one of them for the loan. The Bohemian newspapers were full of reports of Bohemian Liberty Loan meetings and Bohemian Liberty Loan organizations from Hoboken to Seattle. Every local branch of the Bohemian National Alliance| resolved itself into a loan organization. But the greatest effort of all was made in Chicago. The Bohemian branch of the Foreign Language Division had its own press representative who filled the columns of the four local Bohemian dailies every day with the right appeal. One of the most effective means of lining up everybody was the publication from day to day of the “honor list”, names of subscribers. The Bohemian papers deserve a great deal of credit for giving day by day eight and more columns to the boosting of the loan. The results were exceedingly gratifying. While the final figures will not be available for some time, Mr. Felix Streyckmans, director of the foreign language division, gave out the following figures on the last day of the campaign:

 

Germans	$2,959,650	Bohemians	$2,859,500
Italians	$2,700,000	Poles	$2,500,000
Jews	$2,400,000	Swedes	$2,000,000

 

The Bohemians seem to have landed in the second place, though it is likely that the final figures will show them to be first. But it should be remem bered that there are more than three times as many Germans in Chicago as Bohemians, and that while there are many millionaires among the Germans, there are none among the Bohemians. One should also keep in mind that all the other four nationalities mentioned are more numerous in Chicago than the Bohemians. The record of the Bohemian branch, reflects much credit on the excellence of its organ ization and on the patriotism of its people.