Branch Number 18 of the Russian Independent Mutual Aid Society held a picnic Sunday, July 7. The picnic grounds were not crowded, but the occasion was an interesting one and was significant, both for Branch Number 18 and for the Russian Independent Mutual Aid Society as a whole.

Two speeches were delivered at the picnic. Mr. I. Raskatov, the first speaker, spoke of the necessity of preserving Russian cultural values among the young Russian-American generation. Here are some of the more salient points of Mr. Raskatov's speech:

"Branch Number 18 of the Russian Independent Mutual Aid Society, since it is the youngest of all the branches of this organization--it was organized two years ago--cannot have contributed a marked number of achievements. In this short time, however, Branch Number 18 has enlarged its membership, and has 2created the youth department, which now has more than sixty members, boys and girls. Branch Number 18 has been very active in spreading education, culture, and general enlightenment among the Russian people in Chicago and vicinity. In our work two objectives have always been paramount and have constituted the foundation of all our activities. These were the growth and expansion of the Russian Independent Mutual Aid Society, and the dissemination of knowledge and culture among the Russian people.

"The Russian Independent Mutual Aid Society has a much wider scope of activity than merely the sale of insurance policies. This activity alone, without the work intended to preserve and further the development of the Russian language and culture among Russians in America, would meet with disastrous failure. Stress is now being put upon our youth activities; for the future of our organizations and of our Russian national life in this country lies with our youth. Branch Number 18 desires that all its members become imbued with the real meaning of Russian culture, as expressed through the medium of language, 3literature, music, painting, and sculpture. There are Russians in this country who are letting the Russian culture down, are forgetting the language, and are indifferent to Russian art. They are making a great mistake, but even they do not know it, to say nothing of their children. They do not realize what treasures are hidden in their own national culture. I am not an orator, but if I had a tongue of flame I would fire their hearts and their souls with the flame of inextinguishable love for everything Russian. Had we preserved in our hearts this feeling of love and devotion to our national spiritual treasures, we would have been different than we are now. We would not have to rack our brains on the problem of how to hold our youth within the pale of our Russian national life."

Mr. Raskatov made a touching appeal to the parents to send their boys and girls, if they are over thirteen years of age, to the youth club maintained by Branch Number 18 of the Russian Independent Mutual Aid Society.

During Mr. Raskatov's speech the Russian Bolsheviks suddenly appeared on the 4scene, as though from nowhere. At their head was their leader, one Eberhardt. They appeared disturbed and very indignant over Mr. Raskatov's assertion that the Russian Independent Mutual Aid Society is the largest Russian organization in the Middle West. They went into a fit when they heard the second speaker, Mr. Dzayko, denounce the Bolsheviks for their attempt to undermine the Russian Independent Mutual Aid Society by changing it into a Communist organization.

The Bolsheviks came to the picnic loaded with communistic literature--pamphlets, leaflets, newspapers, and magazines, all of which they tried to sell or give away to the picnicking crowd. After they had heard Mr. Dzayko's reproofs and castigations they quietly left the picnic ground.

Branch Number 18 deserves credit for its important contributions to the growth and development of the Russian Independent Mutual Aid Society and for its work in diffusing Russian culture among the younger generation of Russian-Americans.