.0^ t":"* o ■^•^'^n^ 4 o >^ J'\ '^tf 5> /j<\W/k- '^^ C^ '-^ THE CECH (BOHEMIAN) COMMUNITY OF NEW YORK WITH INTRODUCTORY REMARKS ON" THE CECHOSLOVAKS IN THE UNITED STATES By THOMAS CAPEK Author of "The Cechs (Bohemians) in America," etc. Published by the Czechoslovak Section of America's Making, Inc. NEW YORK, 1921 m ^ 1922 CONTENTS PART I THE CECHS Chapter Page I. Old Country Ideology Transplanted to the New 5 II. The Number, Distribution and Occupa- tion of Cechoslovaks 12 III. Distribution According to States 14 IV. Distribution According to Cities 16 V. The Cech Community of New York 20 VI. Occupation 23 VII. Economic Strength 36 VIII. The Press ...38 IX. Politics and First Political Demonstration. 43 X. The Halls 49 XI. The Churches 50 XII. The *'Cech Library" 51 XIII. The Neighborhood Houses 52 XIV. Benevolent and Other Organizations 53 XV. The Artists^ Colony 56 XVI. The Language School 57 XVII. The Pioneers 58 PART II THE SLOVAKS Foreword Chapter Page I. Historical Background and Causes of Emigration 80 II. Statistical . 83 III. Occupation 85 IV. Fraternal Organizations and Churches. ..88 V. The Press 91 VI. The Banks 93 3 PART I THE CECHS CHAPTER I Old Country Ideology Transplanted to the New If we analyze the currents and cross currents of the national life of the Cechs, we shall find that every great movement in the mother country, has produced repercussion among the nationals in America, that it synchronized perfectly with like responsive actions here. A brief survey of their principal activities proves it. Slovanska Lipa. A society styling itself the Slovanska Lipa (Slavic Linden) was organized in Prague in 1848. Its program was national and political — equal rights before the law for Cechs and Germans, Slavic reciprocity, constitutional liberty. The name and the purpose appealed to American Cechs so strongly that in a dozen years every larger settlement boasted of a Lipa. The by-laws of the domestic Lipas provided for the fostering of the mother tongue, founding of circulating libraries, encouraging choral singing, theatricals, etc. The American Lipas fully justified their existence. Later, when the advantages of personal insurance became more fully appreciated several of the Lipas became charter members of the C. S. P. S. benevolent organization. The Sokols. The Sokols had their inception also in Prague, in 1862. It is a mistake to think that the system of physical training as practiced by American Sokols is patterned after that of the German Turners. Back of the Cech system, as elaborated by Miroslav Tyrs (1832-84), and Jindrich Fugner (1822-65) was an idea which aimed higher than the mere training of the body. The Sokol was required to be like the Samurai of old Japan — courageous, faithful to duty, lover of his country. From Bohemia the Sokol ideology spread to other Slavic countries. How accurately Tyrs and Fugner had visualized the future significance of this body was demonstrated in the war just ended. The Sokols were at the bottom of every move directed against the Hapsburg monarchy. Choral singing and amateur theatricals. No national group is more given to amateur acting — producing plays in the national tongue — than the Cechs. So much importance is attributed to these theatricals that local historians are wont to register not only the titles of plays acted in this or that settlement, but likewise the names of the talent impersonating the leading roles. Since the Civil War, New York was never without a dramatic society — at times it had as many as six. Priests, editors, farmers, mechanics, business men, domestics — immigrants and their American-born progeny — all were eager to taste the exhilaration and the glory of the footlights. Lately amateur impresarios are compelled to lean more and more on volunteers drawn from the ranks of the native born; in the choral societies, it is no secret, Americans are already in the majority. Amateur stage folk and singers combined, have even invaded the field of light opera. That the fondness for this sort of amusement 6 has been brought over from old Bohemia goes with- out saying. Under the Austrian regime, which kept a watchful eye over the doings of the Cechs, the stage, the amateur stage and later, when actors had been trained and Cech stock companies started out on their itineraries from town to village, the profes- sional stage, constituted a strong link in the chain of national revival. Opposition to theocracy. One-half — according to some authorities more than one-half — of American Cechs have given up their inherited faith. Some joined other religious bodies, but the bulk of the dissenters do not affiliate with any church. One finds nothing quite like it among other immigrants, certainly not among American Slavs. What is the cause of this religious abstention? Here again, to understand, we must turn back to the fatherland for explanation, read the story of this war-scarred country, study the national characteristics of the people. The old-time Cechs, historians tell us, were given to religious meditation, clinging tenaciously to their beliefs. For faith and country the Hussites in the fifteenth century faced huge armies of cru- saders sent to crush the ''heretics." The Church of Bohemian Brethren, from which the Moravians in England and the United States claim descent, sprung from a desire of its founders and followers to lead purer lives in strict accord with the precepts of the scriptures. The emigration from Bohemia after 1620, following the victory of the Hapsburgs over the Protestants, was of a rehgious character. Tens of thousands preferred banishment to the renuncia- tion of their faith. The most merciless persecution on the part of the civil and ecclesiastic authorities during the era of the restoration of Catholicism 7 which extended from 1620 to 1781, when the Patent of Tolerance was issued, could not wholly eradicate the "hidden seed." In past ages every village boasted of its **pismak," a wise man, who was versed in the "pismo," meaning the Bible and who expounded its lessons to the villagers. Prior to the Battle of White Mountain (1620), the Cechs had been Prot- estants. By 1914, ninety-six per cent, (according to Austrian official figures) professed the Catholic faith. That such a fundamental religious re-making of a people could not be accomplished without leaving a mark on its character and without influencing the direction of its thought, is self-evident. At present Bohemia again finds herself in the throes of a religious rebirth. A concerted movement is on foot (it was inaugurated in October, 1918, when Cechoslovakia rid herself of the Hapsburgs), which can be expressed in three words: ''Away from Rome!" Already hundreds of thousands have severed their connection with the old church and have joined the Cechoslovak National Church. The self-same propaganda, ''Away from Rome!" has been carried on in Cech America for more than half a century. The result is as stated at the outset of this paragraph. Slavic solidarity. No one in particular propagated here the thought of closer cultural relations with other Slavs — Slovaks, Russians, Poles, Serbo-Cro- ations — yet the idea of Slavic reciprocity, of close comradeship, was popular from the start. Slavic "congresses" had been called and societies had been organized to foster and encourage Slavic fraterniza- tion. The first body of men to volunteer from Chicago for service during the Civil War received the name Slavonian Rifle Company. In the sixties, 8 as stated elsewhere, settlement after settlement "planted" its Slovanska Li'pa society; other organi- zations bore the names of Slavic Union, Slavic Reciprocity, Slavic Alliance, etc. The first news- paper was called "Slowan Amerikansky" (American Slav). In the preface the publisher-editor (Frank Korizek) addressed himself '*to the beloved Slavic nation," and he deplored the fact that that nation ''lived so disunited in the New World." By "Slavic nation" Korizek of course meant his countrymen, the Cechs only, because no other Slavs (except a handful of Poles), lived at that time (1861) in the United States. A farming element in Wisconsin became discon- tented with conditions in America — aggravated as these were by the bitterness of civil war — and a plan was conceived to move American Cechs to the province of Amur in Asiatic Russia. Two men were chosen to go to Russia to work there to the end "that a foundation might be laid for a new fatherland in Slavic Russia."^ Fortunately, this migration never took place; one member of the committee of investigation (Barta) returned to Wisconsin, dis- gusted with the red tape methods of the Czar's government. The other (Mracek) stayed in Russia and died there. During the Polish rebellion of 1863, the formula of Slavic fraternization was given a practical try- out — and was found wanting. In much the same way as in Bohemia, the Cechs in America were divided in their sympathies on the Russo-Polish struggle. One faction, numerically the stronger, sided with the Poles; there were those, however, who loudly defended the course of the Russians. ^"The Slavic," December, 1861. 9 The attitude of the Cechs, let it be said, pleased neither the Russians nor the Poles. The fraternization between New York Poles and Cechs manifesting itself in invitations to and presence at balls, picnics and meetings, came to an abrupt end when the Grand Duke Alexis of Russia came to America in 1871, and again in 1877. The Cechs of New York and Chicago sent deputations "to greet our brother Slav." This ''act of perfidy" on the part of the Cechs cut the Poles to the quick; never after that did they invite the Cechs to their social affairs nor asked them to take part in anything at which the Russians were present. With Russians left out, Slavic accord, was, of course, a nullity; with Russians and Poles in, co-operation was out of the question. During the Russo-Japanese war, the Slavic Alliance of New York made an effort to bring under one roof the leading men and women of Slavic blood. But because the Russians came in, it was a sufficient reason for the Poles to stay out and they did stay out. Sixty years of fraternization with American Slavs, sixty years of inspiring speeches at Slavic banquets — what are the evidences of constructive work .? Almost none. True, the Sokols have carried the Sokol ideology in the ranks of some of the Slavs . . . .Occasionally joint public protests had been ar- ranged and held ... .As for instance, when the New York Slavs met in Carnegie Hall, December 14, 1912, to ''protest against Austria-Hungary's unjustified in- terference with the Balkan Slavs." Ask a New York Cech in what part of the City the Serbo-Croations live. He does not know. In- quire of a Pole where the Cech quarter is located 10 and the chances are he will have to ask a police- man to direct him to it. In Chicago, Poles and Cechs professing the same faith bury their dead in a common cemetery. In several instances these two worship in the same churches. But the tie that binds in this case is not racial kinship, but religion. 11 CHAPTER II The Number, Distribution and Occupation of Cechoslovaks x^s a country of origin Austria first appeared in the United States official census in 1860; Bohemia in 1870. The (13th) census of 1910 has ascertained 539,392 persons of Bohemian and Moravian stock. Precisely how many American Slovaks there are and where they live we shall learn for the first time when the results of the 1920 census are made public. The figures of the previous censuses were not de- pendable for the reason that census gatherers in many instances classified the Slovaks as Hungarians. Private estimates by Slovak publicists and the official Washington returns varied greatly; private estimates, as a general rule, being invariably much higher. Even the Cechs contended in the past that the census man has treated them unfairly; that at each decennial count he caused thousands of their compatriots to disappear in the column set aside for Austrians. As a Cechoslovak state, Pennsylvania leads in 1920 all, with a population of 67,577. One can easily guess how much of this total is purely Slovak and how much the share of the Cechs. According to the census of 1910, the Cechs in Pennsylvania ag- gregated 13,945. Of this, 3,453 Hved in Pittsburgh (largely in Allegheny), and 1,652 in Philadelphia. Next after Pennsylvania comes Illinois, with 66,463. Obviously, this is Chicago and its suburbs, for outside of the city not many are known to reside. 12 Chicago is the metropolis of the Cechs and has been ^ such since 1870. It is one of the three leading cities with strong Cech and Slovak centres. New York and-^ Cleveland are the other two. New Jersey's 16,194 is more than two-thirds Slovak. On the other hand, Iowa's 9,148, Kansas' 3,466, Minnesota's 12,538, Nebraska's 15,817, Texas' 12,809, Wisconsin's 19,785 (except Milwaukee, which is mixed, Cech and Slovak), continue to be preponder- antly Cech. When the census is published in its entirety we shall be able to appraise more accurately the numerical strength of the Cechoslovak stock, both foreign and native born. 13 (N CO "^ 05 CO »0 CO (N -r^ ocoioeoi-H05oot> p^co CO rH '-"lO 1-H ca (N^" cTcooco COrl '-•CO r-iOOc0^rtHOCO'*C-CO CO i-HQOOCOOl 1-H C^ (N 00 b- (N C0O»0^' Cq Oi-^ r-l t^ r-H CO • (N (N rH t^oo (N QO COIN CO- IN OOlNOOTj^CO-^^rHiOCO (NiNiOi-H iOOOtHiO oo ic to co^co o"co '-T (NoT o H o Q Pi o u o < o H n ►H H Oi l> 00 05 i-H rj< (N CO CO CO lO 00 CO CO cOC0Oi(N T-t CO OO C 1—1 b» £ ^ J2 ^ b ro C e i^-igjljgjs^ - o rt flj > c ^ o rt.2 -^OOCOrJH^OSOiOSOiC^I iOCOTt.00tOTH tOrt< rH (Nr^t^ ©-(N rH ^"b-- »OtOOCOTH05005c005 COO-^C^ OOi-it^CD CO" rH^c^r 05b-c00iC0(NC0OO'-i OOOt-HOi (NiNcOcOrr t>- rHCO tH -H OOO .-2 ^i'l J.^ oj tn O nj ■ "-p-u ^ rt S 5*J3 c j: T* TO ' 5^ a ,&s'i 14 <©OOr-iooi005i-HTt<(MiCOO(N 10 QO CO O Tj^ 0 00 00 ^ — COt^00lO'-HCOiOt>.COiO^00i-i00^ lOt^CO T-H CO '-H Ttt rti CO CO CO CO Tt^ '^'-H >-^ 0_ CO '^.'"i.^.fN f^ CO CO 1-h" CO i-TiOi-H CO TtiOcO'^COl^i— iCOl>.iC00 CO (N (N CO --I »OOOCO^COC00005'-i0505005i-*T*H^OOCOiOOOOCOOcOCi'-i »o oi o ^ o (N r-1 oi o 10 1> CO i-H T-i 00 ^ T-H rx r>. CO oco Ca r-i 00^ CO '-I —lO^C^ 0_ ">:JH_ C^^ (N 05_ CO CO cT t-h'^" (n c^" CO '-H C^iOOOiCOOiCOOO-^ ■^C^lO,-Hf-((M,-ITtll-H CO 00 TjH t^ co' " 00 00 t^coot^'*^c 1> t>. (N ^ l> (MO "^^ •o Co" tH (N t-T c o 01 CO -^ T-^ CO -"Tfi 00 o CO O iC (N CO CO CO CO (N Id CO ■* '-^ (N .-1 O CO__ cO__ 00 co" i-T .-T (m" CO COt^OCO i-H(NrHO00 lO CO 00 CO t^ o" Ir^cO' CO i-H (M ,-< O CO '-I '-' T-i 00 ■ 1-H 10 "^ CO t^ 10 O T-H T-H Tt< l>. f-l t> CO to t>- 1-1 00 t^ o il .2 o X"^ ^1 o > tfl rt ™ 4) c >. — ^ rt »- "y ouQ "J ^ ■* """^ '^ x: ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^tlti.ojS 15 2 c'c g 5-Ji c £ l:^ C 00 .S3 1— ( 03 CO u CO S -a T-H c CO 03 CO C oT rt CO 10 C . CO cti C CO vm c s" 1^ l.!- 03 4^ r>. V- 00 c (N .2 **" o" &0 -^.