The Czechoslovak Review/Volume 1/The Bohemian Voice

THE BOHEMIAN VOICE

 

Twenty-five years ago, in September, 1892, appeared the first issue of the first English periodical devoted to Bohemian affairs. “The Bohemian Voice” had an excellent program; to impart truthful information on the political, social, and industrial interests of the Bohemian people here and abroad, to keep the new generation in touch with the progress of its ancestors and “to present from time to time before the forum of public opinion all the great wrongs perpetrated by the Austrian government upon our brothers living within the confines of the quadrilateral mountains”. In fact, the monthly paper of twenty-five years ago was published for the same purpose and was pursuing the same aims as the “Bohemian Review”.

The life of the “Bohemian Voice” was brief, only a little over two years. Time was not ripe in the nineties for its support. But the men who backed it and the editors who filled its columns deserve to be gratefully remembered by the Bohemians of the United States as men of vision and energy. The original impulse was given at the convention of the Benevolent Order Č. S. P. S. in Cedar Rapids, in 1891. A committee of fifteen was appointed, known as the Bohemian-American National Committee, composed of the following gentlemen: L. J. Palda, Chas. Jonáš, John Rosický, F. B. Zdrubek, Prof. Bohumil Šimek, Anton Klobasa, J. V. Teibel, J. H. Štěpán, Vác. Šnajdr, V. W. Vojtíšek, J. V. Matějka, Jos. Wirth, I. L. Gallia, Hynek Opic, and F. Choura. Additional members, appointed shortly after, were K. Stulik, F. C. Layer, and Dr. J. R. Jičinský, for the Sokols, John Pecha, for the Taborites, and John Švehla, for the National Slovak Society. These names include some of the biggest men in America of Bohemian birth. After twenty-five years many are dead, but it is of interest to note that several of them are active today in the work of the Bohemian National Alliance—Prof. Šimek, Mr. Layer, Dr. Rudiš Jičinský, and Mr. Vojtíšek.

The first editor of the Bohemian Voice was Thomas Čapek, at that time of Omaha, now of New York. A lawyer and banker, he has always found time for literary activity. Among the books he wrote are two in the Czech language, one dealing with the first Bohemian immigrants in the 17th and 18th centuries, the other outlining a history of Bohemian journalism in America. His English books are: The Slovaks of Hungary, and Bohemia under the Habsburg Misrule. The second editor of the Voice was J. J. Král, well known as journalist and public speaker, at present statistician in the Department of Commerce at Washington. We publish in this issue an article, entitled the “Sea Coast of Bohemia”, which appeared in the Bohemian Voice in September, 1894.