Of late the otherwise placid life of our Sokol units has been stirred by the question of building a large athletic field which would serve the Sokols during the summer months. Were such a place available it would be useful not only as a regular exercise grounds, but it could likewise be used for many large Sokol enterprises. The idea originated in the Zupa Stredni (Central District [of the American Sokol union]), and there were several meetings in which it was discussed. An appropriate committee was appointed to make all the necessary inquiries, and to make a report with recommendations as to what steps are to be taken to insure the success of the project. As usual there were some members who opposed the idea vehemently, but the great majority recognized the need for such a field and were quite willing to help to make it possible.

It is easily understood that the location must not be far from our Czech settlements, and that transportation, too, must be good. Places of this kind, 2which would answer our purposes, are rare today, and it took a long time before it could be found. Yet it was found. The field is located at 18th Street and Crawford Avenue, in the midst of the Czech settlements of Merigold, Tabor, Cicero, and Bohemian California. The transportation facilities are ideal for here one may use the streetcars on Crawford Avenue, 16th Street, 22nd Street, and Ogden Avenue, to say nothing of elevated trains. The size of the property is seven and one-fourth acres; its frontage is on Crawford Avenue; fifteen lots adjoining the property could be profitably sold.

It is also readily understood that our difficulties are mostly financial, but with good will and good understanding even this problem would not be difficult. The solution of it could be worked out about as follows: The Central District has about four thousand members living either in Chicago or the immediate vicinity. A per capita tax of five dollars could be levied not as gift, but as a loan which would bear no interest and which could be amortized within ten years.....In this manner a certain sum could be paid annually....and 3the property would pay about $20,000.

When they built the gigantic athletic field in Prague, Czechoslovakia for the Seventh Sokol Convention all of the Sokols of Prague and its environs had to guarantee gratuitous labor. Similarly, when the gymnasium of the annex of the Prague Sokol was being built, all members, young and old, made such sacrifices as befits every Sokol who works for the good of the whole.

I have an undaunted faith that we of Chicago can perform similar feats of industry. There are in our midst carpenters, cabinet makers, plumbers, etc., who in a group of four thousand would form a respectable working personnel. And when we consider the fact that each one of them would donate his services, which otherwise would be worth at least four dollars a day, the total figure thus obtained would amount to about $16,000. I have no doubt that all of them would come and give their services gratis, for I know how deeply the love for the Sokol cause is implanted in their hearts.

It would be a sad, a deplorable idea, were some of our brothers opposed to such gratuitous labor and refused to put their shoulders to the wheel. We were able to make sacrifices at other times, we have become enthusiastic on other occasions; let us, therefore, make more sacrifices now; it is for our own cause that we intend to labor! At present our objective is to have only an athletic field; but it would be quite dignified if the Chicago Sokols owned their own central meeting hall which would represent our combined national aspirations, interests, and ideals, to say nothing of a modern gymnasium and other appropriate meeting halls.

In Prague they have their Tyrsuv Dum (Tyrs Memorial); why not have a similar institution here in Chicago and call it by the same name? The building could house the offices of the Sokolska Obec ([American] Sokol Union), of the Central District; it could have a large concert and lecture hall. We need all these facilities here in Chicago and need them badly. The cost of such a project could be borne by floating a bond issue, or by means of contributions.

We have a great number of prosperous banks and industrial enterprises besides some very wealthy countrymen; all of them would surely contribute. Are not the Sokols worth it? The Sokols, who always and everywhere and under all conditions stood their ground, who always answered the call of honor made by the dictates of nationality, and who gave their lives to liberate the [old] homeland! It was the Sokols who fought at Zborov, on the steppes of Siberia, in Italy, and on the French front. It was our American Sokol brethren who first answered the call to arms when it was issued by the United States, who volunteered under the Stars and Stripes of the Union, who filled the ranks of Czechoslovak legions; it was they who never hesitated to make the supreme sacrifice when the freedom of the [old] homeland was threatened!

It is because of all this that I believe that when some day the Sokols confront their countrymen with a request for help, they will not be refused.....

Na Zdar! (All hail!)

M. Brichta,

Secretary of the Central District [of the American Sokol Union].