There is not a man in the United States today who would question the fact that the United States owes its growth and its bloom to the immigrants in the first place. They were those who carried the initial burden, the heaviest weight of labor upon their shoulders. Their successes came to them as a result of hard labor and persistency. The United States, of today cannot be excelled in natural and produced wealth by any country in the world. America would be guilty of ingratitude if it should forget all of this. The immigrants, on the other hand, would be called ingrates if they saw in America nothing but their debtor. We must not overlook the fact that the United States has repaid the immigrants a long time ago. It has repaid by granting perfect freedom which we wanted in the old homeland; it has repaid by the considerably better living conditions the immigrants found here.

Let us Czechs linger for an instant upon the memories of our life in ancient Austria. Had we not been oppressed there, we certainly would have not decided upon leaving for the New World; we would not have left with ease our 2own Bohemia which we loved; we would not have exchanged it for a foreign country of which we knew only little. We had no idea what fate would have in store for us in a strange country. It was not only political serfdom that we had to endure in the old country. Was it not the heavy taxes heaped on our shoulders by the government that drove us from the land where our cradle stood? Everybody can answer this question for himself in considering that the old country, without Austria, would be for us a veritable paradise.

We live here in America as free citizens, and no one who deports himself as any decent man or woman need fear any terror from any part of the government, because the government of the United States is one for the people and of the people. We enjoy here freedom of speech and of the press. Conditions may vary with different parts of the country, yet the earnings suffice for a comfortable living, provided, of course, that the worker is not over particular as to the kind of occupation, and that he is willing to work at all. There was keen competition in even the most orderly walks of life of the old country, and great dearth of work at the same time. It was the people from the lower 3class and the middle class who have benefited considerably by the conditions in the new country. They should, therefore, be among the last to forget what the new homeland has given to them and the immigrants from every other country.

The immigrant should constantly keep all this in mind, especially now that his new homeland is at War. He should try to prove his loyalty to President Wilson, and to his administration in general. This is necessary when our country has to contend with an enemy who has always, and with typical German brutality and lack of feeling, stood in the path all that was Slavonic. If America with the Allies annihilates Germany, it will have done away with our deadliest enemy, and advanced us nearer to the fulfillment of our sacred dream, the rescue of our motherland and the nation of our ancestors from the paws that have been holding them in bondage for centuries.

For this reason, we American Czechs ought to do our duty, while our gratitude should be another deciding element in our actions. We ought to perform our duty voluntarily and willingly, thus giving a good example to other nations 4that might be more or less defaulting. We ought to try to stand in the first rank as to loyalty to our country, for it might happen that some other nationality would take that distinction. Yes, it might happen that the competing nationality could be even the "loyal" Germans! We do not doubt that the German-Americans also will offer their services to the United States, although War has not been declared so much against the German people as against Berlin and the kaiser.

Do not let us imagine that the American government is not taking notice of the immigrants who offer it their services. It notices and does not forget. It also observes closely what is said or printed. It certainly weighs and gauges what is being accomplished. We have up to the present spoken more than we have done. Now, however, an era of definite aim and determined action has begun for us if we want to prove our gratitude at all. We know from our public life that there is a certain number of men in our community who have placed themselves in the first ranks already, after the declaration of War at the disposal of Uncle Sam. There are not too many of heroes such as these. Many more are needed. Report, therefore, and enlist. Girls and 5married women also are needed, their help is valuable and necessary. America will not forget, and we should not forget either.