This is a saying of which the truth cannot be denied, and one which receives confirmation in professional circles. It seems that physical culture among Bohemian-Americans, and particularly among Chicago Bohemians, is not an important subject. In fact, it appears to be regarded with the utmost indifference everywhere among us. With more than 200,000 Bohemians in the United States we have only about 15 gymnastic societies, with about 800 members. Until the recent organization of the National Gymnastic Society the local units in most cases, scarcely subsisted.

Merely 800 members of gymnastic societies among a population of 200,000 Bohemians! These figures do not do us much honor. Were it not for the improvement recently shown, we should have to admit that all hopes of establishing a physical culture program among our compatriots in the United States must be dismissed.

We have noticed for some time past that our fellow-Bohemians are turning away 2from all that is beautiful and useful; that gymnastics, the theater, and many other arts are being neglected. They seem to have nothing else in mind except the organization of benevolent societies. We are not unfriendly to such organizations and wish them to be as successful as any others, for we acknowledge their usefulness. But we deplore the fact that on account of the continual organization of such societies all our other nationalistic efforts suffer.

In Chicago, where we have 25,000 Bohemians, we have two gymnastic societies. How many members have they? Not quite two hundred. This is not proportionately enough. Five or six hundred gymnasts would not be too many for Chicago. So many could and should be counted as members of our two organizations. There are in our city so many Bohemian youths that if one fourth of them were to join either one or the other of our two societies, these organizations would be much larger. Our compatriots, however, continue to remain indifferent toward these organizations and instead of giving them support are actually withdrawing from them.

Only a small part of our people take notice of these organizations, and Chicago 3Bohemians in general think of them only when some charitable purpose is to be undertaken. Then every one remembers that we have two national halls, that we have a Telocvicne Jednota Sokol (Sokol Gymnastic Society) and a Cesko Amerikansky Sokol (Bohemian-American Sokol), and that it is the duty of our racial organizations to support this or that good cause. That either of these gymnastic societies should be noticed at any other time seems to be out of the question.

We believe, however, that no one can excuse himself from joining one of these societies by saying that he cannot afford it. The dues of both are so small as to be a burden to no one.

We have written about this several times, and we repeat: Bohemian youth, concern yourselves about gymnastic organizations, help to uphold our national ideals, and increase your well-being by joining the Sokol National Gymnastic Society.