“ No other nation at war has had such a large percentage of its manhood at one time in prisoner camps. From three to four hundred thousand Czechs alone, not counting the Slovaks, all former Austrian conscripts, could be found in the camps of Siberia, Serbia, the Greek islands, Italy, France, Japan and in the uttermost parts of the earth. ”

“ While sporadic efforts were made in every Bohemian settlement in the United States to satisfy this spiritual hunger of masses more numerous than the entire Bohemian born population of this country, a small organization in Chicago undertook to reach every camp, from France and Italy all the way through Asia to Japan, with Bohemian newspapers and books. ”

“ If the same percentage were applied to America, it would mean five million men as prisoners.
From their friends at home these men received little news and no reading matter. The Austrian government did not permit Czech newspapers to be sent to the prisoners of war in Russia. Now every Bohemian can read and newspapers are as indispensable to him as they are to the American. Letters that came to this country in the early days of the war from Serbia and Siberia told of many privations which were the lot of the Slav prisoners on account of Serbia’s poverty and Russia’s lack of system. ”