In 1915 the Czech National League was joined by the Sokols and the National Mutual Aid Organization. About that time a regularly monthly levy on the members was introduced for the support of the political movement. The rivalry between Chicago and New York for the leadership was removed by an agreement at a meeting of the two organizations in Cleveland, when the Chicago organization was recognized as the headquarters. By the end of 1915 the organization of the Czech National League had been elaborated by lectures, journalistic work, and propagandist tours of Vojta Beneš, and this led to a great increase in the membership and in the financial resources. The Slovak League also took part in the work at a comparatively early date. As far back as October 22 and 23, 1915, it had sent members to a joint conference with the National League, and its representatives signed the manifesto of the Foreign Committee on November 14, 1915. The President of the Slovak League was Albert Mamatey, of Pittsburg, who rendered invaluable services, while Milan Getting was head of the Slovak Sokols.
The leader of the Slovak Catholics was the Pennsylvanian priest, Murgaš, while the Slovak Evangelicals were represented by Bradáč. Of the Chicago group special reference should be made to the work of Andrej Schustek. Elsewhere I shall refer to the propagandist activity carried on by the National League in American political and journalistic circles. It was equally necessary to carry on propaganda work among our actual fellow-countrymen in America in order to enlist the sympathies of our colony there for the liberation movement of the National Council in Paris. For this purpose meetings and lectures were arranged, personal visits were made, pamphlets, leaflets, and copies of our Paris paper, Československa Samostatnost, were distributed, and so forth.
In 1916 a number of journalists (Pšenka, Dr. Vojan, Mach, Tvrzický, and Vinklárek) founded a weekly paper, V Boj (Into Battle), the aim of which was to counteract the activities of Dr. Iška and his paper Vesmír. Later on, the National League issued a monthly periodical Poselství (The Message), edited first by Vojta Beneš then by F. L. Musil. At the beginning of the war Zeman’s Válečná Tribuna (War Tribune) appeared for some time. An effective and original method of propaganda, partly to promote recruiting, partly to stimulate the national consciousness among our fellow-countrymen, was supplied by the striking posters which the painter Preissig designed. Karel Horký’s
