A Bohemian mass meeting called by the Ceske Narodni Sdruzeni (Bohemian National Alliance) to express approval of the work of the Sdruzeni and to offer a helping hand toward the liberation of our old country, the Bohemian Crown lands of Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia, and probably Slovakia, was held in the Pilsen Park Pavilion last night. Every Bohemian-American who still has an interest in the destiny of his old country, or the native land of his forefathers, will no doubt wish to know what the result of that meeting was, how many countrymen attended, how enthusiastic they were, and to these inquiries we shall say that the meeting was a great demonstration, but it would have been still greater and mightier had they also gotten rid of their inertia, had they also attended it, and had they--as one of the speakers aptly remarked--not "let the pocketbook separate those who are one in heart" [Allusion to a Bohemian proverb saying that "no oceans can separate those 2who are one in heart"]

According to the estimate of the committee on arrangements, there were about one thousand men and women assembled in the spacious hall, and it is only fair to say that the women were not in the minority.

The program of this representative meeting started with a musical selection presented by the band of Sokol Karel Jonas, after which the president of the Sdruzeni explained the purpose of the meeting in a brief address. He talked about the present situation of the Bohemian nation, and stressed the fact that the time has come for action, for powerful and decisive action which, however, must be conducted carefully and to some extent even secretly, because of the possible revenge the Austrian Government could take against some of the leaders abroad; and the Austrian Government has its spies also among us and knows everything we do and the preparations we make. He asked those present to have confidence in the Narodni Sdruzeni, which will, in due time, give a public 3account of its actions, an account with which our people will be fully satisfied. He explained that the Narodni Sdruzeni was organized from purely patriotic motives and upon the request of important leaders from Bohemia, who have resigned everything at home and have sought safety in Switzerland only in order to give their services and lives for their nation, a nation which for three hundred years has been suffering under the Hapsburg yoke. They are offering their services at a time when they are most needed. The great war has unleashed some of the most powerful influences, and is shaping events so that the Bohemian nation has the right to hope for the realization of its age-old desire,--the desire to which it has been directing all its efforts,--that of political, social, and economic independence.

His speech was received with a great deal of enthusiasm, as was also the speech of the secretary of the Sdruzeni, Mr. Tvrzicky-Kramer, which followed.

Mr. Tvrzicky aptly pointed to the fact that many of our rather well-to-do 4countrymen and business firms are using the neutrality of the United States as an excuse for their neglect of national duties. If this should be a valid excuse, then every branch of any nation settled here in America for generations would have to be described as violating neutrality. All of them have been collecting money for many years, money with which to help the struggle for freedom of their native countries. The Irish, the Poles, the Germans or any one of many other nationalities may serve as an example. They have collected not thousands, not tens of thousands, but millions of dollars for their national purposes in Europe. Austria itself, with the help of Polish Austro-Hungarian patriots, has been collecting funds in America for the past two years, money which it is now using for the equipment of Polish Sokols, whom it is sending now into the fight against Russia. This collecting took place in times when nobody, with the possible exception of Austria and Germany themselves, had even an inkling that a war might come; it is still going on, and nobody seems to claim any violation of neutrality. The American nation is and always has been truly democratic enough to consider it its sacred 5duty to help smaller nations in their fight for independence. Surely it is much more our own duty, as nationals of Bohemia who, unable to bear the oppression of a foreign government, have sought liberty here in America, and who are of the very same blood as the Bohemian nation now spilling that blood in the cause of its independence.

The history of Bohemia and the Bohemian nation tells about the position of prestige that the country and its people had in the past, and we are being properly reminded of that prestige by our great French friend, Professor Denis, who adds a challenge to act, recapture that prestige, and live in it in the future.

Mr. Tvrzicky did not neglect to say something about the feelings of our countrymen who have come here and become American citizens. There is not one among them, he said, who would not have at least a little love for his old country in his heart, a feeling that he may treasure without danger of being 6a poor American. We have a shining example of this feeling in one of our Bohemian-American great men, Karel Jonas, who, while at the summit of his political career, could receive a much more important and lucrative appointment than that of the United States Consul in Prague, but who preferred to take this poorly paid diplomatic position in the hope of being able to do a piece of good work in the country that was so close to his heart. Nor has our unforgettable Vojta Naprstek seen any violation of neutrality in the saying that is so pertinent to the present times, "No seas can separate those who are one in heart".

The speaker maintained that these historic times are most suitable for our nation's fight for independence, and reminded his audience that this is an especially significant year, the year of the five hundredth anniversary of the martyrdom of John Huss. This should be a powerful incentive for making this the first year of independence after almost three hundred years of oppression by the Hapsburgs, who knew how to exploit the Bohemians, how to 7have the sons of Bohemian mothers killed on battlefields, but who never knew how to be grateful for all these sacrifices and services. In his further remarks, the speaker stressed the work of the Ceske Narodni Sdruzeni as one in which all of us are safe in having full confidence, but a work which even here in democratic America is being spied upon and studied by Austria's secret agents of whom we have to beware, as the opening of even registered letters has proved. His speech ended with an appeal to this, the third largest Bohemian city in the world, for ample and willing support of the work of the Narodni Sdruzeni.

After a musical selection, there followed the introduction of the delegates of the various Bohemian bodies by the president of the Narodni Sdruzeni. Mrs. Klaus spoke for the Grand Lodge of the Jednota Ceskych Dam (Bohemian Ladies' Unity), Mrs. Stolfa for the Grand Lodge of the Ceska Sesterska Podporujici Jednota (Bohemian Sisterhood), Mrs. Vodak for the Grand Lodge of the Jednota Ceskych Vlastenek (Unity of Bohemian Patriotic Women) , Mrs. Stepanek for the 8Sdruzeni Cesko-Americkych Dam (Bohemian-American Ladies' Alliance), Mrs. Svoboda for the Cesko-Americka Jednota (Bohemian-American Unity), Mr. Janda for the Cesko-Slovanska Jednota (Bohemian-Slavonic Unity) , Mr. Krumpos for the Cesko-Slovanska Bratrska Podporujici Jednota (Bohemian-Slavonic Fraternal Benevolent Society), Mr. Stan. Skala for the Ceske Odvetvi Socialni Strany Demokraticke (Bohemian Section of the Social-Democratic party) , Mr. Nosek for the Socialni Vzdelavaci Beseda J. V. Fric (J. V. Fric Socialist Educational Club) , Mr. Dittert for the Sokolska Zupa Fuegner-Tyrs (Sokol Unit called Zupa Fuegner-Tyrs), Mr. Anton J. Cermak for the Narodni Jednota Sokolska (National Sokol Unity) , and Mr. Pecha sent by mail a sufficient assurance that the Cesko-Slovanske Podporujici Spolky (Bohemian-Slavonic Benevolent Associations) approved of the work of the Sdruzeni and would support it. All the speakers showed a deep understanding of the importance of these historic times and pledged all possible help by their organizations.

After Mr. Skalsky's stirring declamation of Eliska Krasnohorska's poem "Nase Hory" (Our Mountains), which was most fittingly selected for the occasion, 9Mr. Tvrzicky-Kramer read messages of the branches of the Narodni Sdruzeni in New York, Detroit, Boston, Omaha, Baltimore, Cedar Rapids, Cleveland, San Francisco, and New Bedford.

Thereafter the meeting drafted and unanimously approved the following proclamation:

"The Bohemians of Chicago and the representatives of the principal Bohemian organizations, such as the Grand Lodge of the Jednota Ceskych Dam, the Grand Lodge of the Sesterska Podporujici Jednota, the Grand Lodge of the Jednota Ceskych Vlastenek, the Cesko-Americka Jednota, the Cesko-Slovanska Jednota, the Cesko-Slovanska Bratrska Podporujici Jednota, the Ceske Odvetvi Socialni Strany, Socialni Vzdelavaci Beseda J. V. Fric, the Sokolska Zupa Fuegner-Tyrs, and the Narodni Jednota Sokolska, assembled at a manifestation meeting called by the Narodni Sdruzeni make the following declaration:

"In these historical times, when the Bohemian people are being kept down by 10the rule of bayonets and cannon, the American Bohemians, being one eighth of the whole Bohemian nation and its living branch, have the duty to support as much as they possibly can all efforts of the friends of the Bohemian nation aiming at the liberation of that nation in Bohemia, in Moravia, in Silisia, and in Slovakia. Our nation, the nation of Komensky (Johann Amos Comenius) and Hus (John Huss), has always acted as a bridge between the West and the East of Europe, and served the interests of education and progress throughout the existence of the Bohemian State. As one of the foremost Slavic nations, and a nation showing the greatest tax return in Europe, it has the right to develop freely all its qualities, talents, and powers.

"Since the battle of White Mountain, which marked the end of Bohemian independence, our nation has been rudely exploited by the Hapsburgs, and forced by that dynasty to fight battles and wars hopelessly lost in advance. One persecution followed another; the nation was being reduced to poverty by undue taxation, 11which was used to pay for Austrian militarism and an incompetent, always anti-Slavic government.

"After hundreds of years of experiences with pledges, sworn to but never fulfilled, by the Hapsburg government, the Bohemian nation knows it can gain nothing by remaining in Austria, which has proved itself an absolutely incompetent formation artificially held together by dynastic interests.

"The idea of a federation of Central-European nations under the Hapsburg scepter has proved to be only a passing and impossible dream.

"The unjustified and extremely bloody persecution in Bohemian lands only goes to prove that Austria cannot govern its people in any other way but by blood and iron.

"In these historic times, in which it has been clearly shown that nations must govern themselves if they would not be used as living fodder for the 12insatiable appetite of militarism, we are directing to all the powers engaged in this war and interested in the securing of right and justice for small nations, an appeal for full independence and freedom for the Bohemian nation also.

"We are ready to back up this natural desire by every means in our power, without, however, compromising the neutrality of the United States, whose loyal citizens we are and wish to remain.

"We request all Bohemian associations and organizations of Chicago, particularly such institutions as the Cesky Narodni Hrbitov (Bohemian National Cemetery) and others, to support the movement for the liberty of our native Bohemian lands by contributions commensurate with their importance.

"We address a direct request to our well-to-do countrymen who have made their 13money solely by doing business with and among Bohemian immigrants, to remember their origin and bear in mind their national duty.

"We promise to bring the movement for the liberation of the Bohemian people to a successful conclusion, and to make it possible for them to form in their lands an independent and free nation.

"We approve the action that the Narodni Sdruzeni, with all its branches, has started, and recommend its continuance. We express our full confidence. We ask the whole of Bohemian America, all Bohemian settlements and colonies, to give a helping hand to the Ceske Narodni Sdruzeni and to join with it in this undertaking.

"Let us all, without distinction of status and party, become united under the slogan, 'Bohemian America in John Huss year--to John Huss' country!'"

Finally it is necessary to say that the attendance at the meeting, while quite 14considerable, was not as large as had been expected. Our countrymen here should try to emulate the example of smaller Bohemian communities. Our purpose, the realization of long dreams and desires, can be achieved only by the most active interest, application of energy, and willingness to sacrifice.

The collecting committee, composed of Messrs. James Stepina, Vasak, and Vanek, reported that yesterday's collection yielded $188.19.