The Czechoslovak Review/Volume 1/Doings of the National Alliance

DOINGS OF THE NATIONAL ALLIANCE.

 

During the visit of the Russian commission to Chicago on August 3 and 4 a memorial meeting was arranged by the Bohemian National Alliance in honor of the brave men of the Czech regiments which fought so bravely at Tarnopol. The meeting was addressed by Professor George Lomonossov of the Russian mission. Six thousands Bohemians and Slovaks waited nearly three hours in the Pilsen Park for the distinguished speaker. A Bohemian flag was presented to Prof. Lomonossov with the request that he deliver it to the Czecho-Slovak army in Russia, and tremendous enthusiasm was aroused, when the Russian diplomat kissed its folds, as he received it. The following day at the Stock Yarks Pavilion meeting an engraved address of welcome was presented to Ambassador Bakhmetieff on be half of the Bohemian National Alliance.

During the discussion of the problem of drafting the numerous aliens who claimed exemption as non-declarants, Dr. L. J. Fisher, President of the Alliance, addressed a letter to the members of the Senate committee in favor of a bill to make aliens equally liable with citizens. “All the rules of square deal, all the obligations of gratitude, demand that when the country is in danger, all residents, citizens and aliens alike, should offer their lives in its defense.”

The International Typographical Union, numbering 460 locals with 70,000 members, adopted at its annual convention at Colorado Springs a strong resolution in favor of Bohemian independence.

Steady growth of the Bohemian Alliance in numbers and influence is to be recorded for the month of August. The number of branches reached 215; it will not grow much now, since nearly every Bohemian settlement in this country, however remote, has already a branch of the Alliance. Several of the larger branches are making extensive preparations for a national fete on Labor Day; in attendance and enthusiasm these „posvícení” will probably exceed anything arranged in the past among Bohemians in America.

Among the new workers in the interest of Czecho-slovak independence is Erwin L. Chloupek, an attorney of San Francisco, who is making friends for Bohemia by his English lectures on this little-known country.