Emily Greene Balch

“ Classic pieces, both literary and operatic, are much enjoyed; for instance, among the Bohemians, Smetana’s opera, “The Bartered Bride,” is often given. On the other hand, one will see a very sinple spontaneous little exhibition given with the greatest abandon and delight by a club of hard-worked, elderly women, whose triumphs are hugely enjoyed by their families and neighbors. It is an especial pleasure to them to reproduce the pretty costumes of their old-world youth. ”

“ To American eyes the drawback to the model house is a saloon on the ground floor, but this is, of course, in no way repugnant to the ideas of a Slavic community and it may even be that this inevitable resort of the people is under more control here than elsewhere. ”

“ Indeed, there is no such thing as a foreigner in Wisconsin, save in the mere accident of birthplace; for men coming here and entering into the active duties of life identify themselves with the state and her interests, and are to all intents and purposes American. ”

“ These are the picturesque and profoundly suggestive words of a Ruthenian Greek-Catholic priest, Father Paul Tymkevich of Yonkers.
"America does not begin till a man is a workingman; a laborer cannot afford to be an American. He must earn two dollars a day for that." Men earning a dollar and a quarter or a dollar and a half a day are necessarily "underneath America." ”

“ The Bohemians are a people of high conscientiousness, and by nature loyal. In the Civil War their anti-slavery feeling and their devotion to their new country both were shown, and the first company that went from Chicago to fight for the Union is said to have been a Lincoln Rifle Company that some young men of that nationality had organized in 1860. The dominating feature in the great Bohemian National Cemetery in Chicago is the soldiers’ monument, just such a monument as stands on every village common in New England ”

“ IN some cities, as for instance Cedar Rapids, and in some states, as for instance Nebraska, Bohemians are a large enough element in the population to be fairly well known; but they are not so numerous in the United States as a whole, as to be clearly present to the minds of most people. New Yorkers may have seen with interest the National Hall of the Bohemians, Clevelanders may be familiar with the Schauffler Missionary Training School, persons familiar with industrial conditions in Chicago may be aware of the great Bohemian colony there, the largest in the country ”

“ They are sturdy, fresh-faced, bright-eyed lads with a manly and friendly bearing and, like all bright boys, intensely interested in all sorts of things. They may be ready to do some leading later, for they are getting an American education and American standards and at the same time learning to respect and care for their own language and people. ”

“ All of this is quite borne out by the impression one gets of Bohemians both in the United States and in Bohemia. In development and conditions they rank with the immigrant from northwestern Europe. The struggle with the Germans is in a sense the master-thread in their whole history, and this contact, even though inimical, has meant interpenetration and rapprochement. No other Slavic nationality is more self-conscious and patriotic, not to say chauvinistic, in its national feeling, and at the same time none begins to be so permeated with general European culture and so advanced economically. ”

“ Other people have leaders of their own; the German, the Bohemian, the Hebrew and, in a less degree, the Italian bodies of immigrants have strong and influential men among themselves. The workingmen have their leaders in the trade unions, but in this unorganized mass, who is to be looked to for guidance? ”

“ One of the reasons for so many Bohemians as well as Germans, Scandinavians, Poles, and Belgians being attracted to Wisconsin was undoubtedly the attitude of that state toward immigration. A fact that is easily forgotten in the present state of feeling in regard to immigration is the eager and official solicitation of immigrants that was carried on for years by various states. Wisconsin, like many other states, appointed a Commissioner of Immigration to stimulate the inflow. ”

“ The parents too often care nothing for the child's education and home influences make strongly against it. Drinking, swearing and ignorance abound, and after few years the child is out of school and work. ”

“ Many a father, in mining settlements and elsewhere, earning well above the requirements of the family standard of living, is eager to educate a promising son, but finds no good school within reach and is incapable of doing anything for the boy himself. ”

“ The American business agent of a Bohemian farming paper, already quoted, could not say enough in praise of the Bohemian farmers. They farmed better than the Americans. They invested freely in farm machinery. Nothing was too good or too big for them. In the eastern half of Butler County, Nebraska, there were seventeen big steam threshing outfits among Bohemians—something to which you could find nothing parallel in the same arca anywhere in the United States. ”

“ As to the quality of Slavic farming, one naturally hears different reports. I suspect that the American often thinks the Pole or Bohemian a poor farmer because he works on a different plan, while the foreigner, used to small, intensive farming, thinks Yankees slovenly and wasteful. ”

“ They give opportunity for exercise dignified by a sense of the relation between good physical condition and readiness for service to one’s country. Women and children, as well as the men, have their own divisions, classes, and uniforms, and the Sokol exhibitions are important and very pretty social events. In Prague, in the summer of 1906, the Bohemian Sokols had an anniversary international meet, at which the American societies were also represented, and performed evolutions, literally in their thousands, in the open air. ”

“ The more educated they hardly come in contact with, the "aristocracy of labor" is apt to be intolerant and contemptuous of foreigners—or of other foreigners. On the other hand, newcomers do come into contact with everyone who hopes to exploit them. ”

“ Of Bohemian women at work, nearly a quarter were in 1900 servants and waitresses, and more than another quarter workers at tailoring or in tobacco. This corresponds to the fact that many Bohemians in the cities are engaged in the two latter branches; many too are mechanics or tradespeople, often carrying on a small business of their own. ”

“ There are numerous Bohemian papers and periodicals, including the Bohemian “Hospodář” (“Farmer”) of Omaha and the “Ženské Listy” of Chicago, the latter being an organ of a woman’s society, printed as well as edited by women. It is not devoted to “beauty lessons” and “household hints,” but to efforts toward woman’s suffrage and the " uplifting of the mental attitude of working-women.” Its 6,000 subscribers include distinguished Bohemians all over the country, men as well as women.
In religion the Roman Catholics claim a large number of Bohemians, but there is a substantial Protestant minority ”

“ Economically, thinks the priest, they gain by coming here, "physically and morally, no." "In the city, they need more morality." Then again, with deep wisdom "They have no habits. The first step in civilization is to acquire habits, and where can they acquire them?—on the streets? ”

“ Other groups of newcomers find Americans ready to take an interest in them. The educated, at least, have a feeling for Italians based on art, travel and history. They have some regard for the countrymen of Huss and Kossuth. ”

“ The common estimate is that onehalf of the Bohemians in the country are living in country places, occupicd either with farming or with some one of the various employments incident to rural life, from shoemaking to keeping store or acting as notary public. ”

“ The tenement-house put up by the association is markedly superior to those in the neighborhood and to those which its tenants would otherwise probably occupy; the rents seem reasonable judged by the local standards, ranging from seven dollars to eleven dollars. In all there are thirty-nine tenant families. ”

“ The Bohemians are among the most literate of our immigrants. Taking the data for 1900, which I happen to have worked out, we find that of immigrants of all nationalities of fourteen years and over, those not able to both read and write were 24.2 per cent. ”

“ Boys from Ruthenian and Slovak families in different parts of the country are gathered together under Father Tymkevich's roof to enjoy the superior public schools of Yonkers, refined and orderly ways of living and the constant personal influence of a highminded man. ”