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5418478_8_0560.xml
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5418478_8_0560.xml
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<title>
<bibl><title>Denní Hlasatel</title>,
<date when="1915-06-23">June 23, 1915</date>.
<title level="a">"In the Name of the Nation"</title><title level="a" type="sub">(Editorial)</title></bibl>
</title>
</titleStmt>
<publicationStmt>
<publisher>The Newberry Library</publisher>
<pubPlace>Chicago, Illinois</pubPlace>
<address>
<addrLine>60 West Walton</addrLine>
<addrLine>Chicago, IL 60610</addrLine>
<addrLine>USA</addrLine>
<addrLine>http://www.newberry.org</addrLine>
</address>
<idno>5418478_8_0560</idno>
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<notesStmt>
<note>Transcribed from digital images contributed to the Internet
Archive by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.</note>
</notesStmt>
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<bibl><title>Chicago Foreign Language Press Survey</title>, <date>1936-1941</date>,
<sponsor>Works Projects Administration</sponsor>,
<sponsor>Chicago Public Library Omnibus Project</sponsor></bibl>
<bibl>
<title>Chicago Foreign Language Press Survey [microform]</title>
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<change when="2009-12-26">Automated conversion to expanded header.</change>
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<front>
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<div type="group">
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<item>BOHEMIAN</item>
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<item>III H</item>
<item>III B 2</item>
<item>I C</item>
<item>I G</item>
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<div type="citation">
<bibl><title>Denni Hlasatel</title>,
<date when="1915-06-23">June 23, 1915</date>.
<title level="a">"IN THE NAME OF THE NATION"</title><title level="a" type="sub">(Editorial)</title></bibl>
</div>
</front>
<body>
<p>Those who have been following our Bohemian-American life since the beginning of the World War cannot deny that our public, and with it also a part of our press, have been looking at the developments in Europe from a point of view which has changed, and had to change, several times. In order to prove that this is so it is sufficient to go through the issues of any one of our newspapers which have recorded the events of the period between June 26, 1914, to the present. If the war has had any beneficial results, and it has had them, and will have still more of them, we will find that we shall be among those, whom history will subject to a severe, merciless judgment and we shall stand before that court without any protection, and without any biased help.</p>
<p>The very first impact, upon our Bohemian-American public of the war crisis was so powerful and implacably logical, that it has, in the course of time, shattered <pb facs="5418478_8_0561.jpg" n="2"/>all our weaknesses, and has caused us to admit that the problem which has presented itself to us cannot be solved by any usual routine, or any slogans and phrases borrowed from our speakers at political meetings. Neither can it be solved by our pretence of being something into which we have had time and opportunity to develop, or of having something in our nature which actually was not there. But the events following the impact have forced us to a penitent confession, and in time we shall see still more clearly how pertinent it is, that the matters developing in the old country are nothing to be dealt with by a few gala mass meetings and flowery speeches. Simply, they have shown us that this is the time when we are being tried on our maturity, our seriousness, and our honesty with ourselves.</p>
<p>More than that: The course of events in the near future will surely confirm the opinion of those who maintain that all that is going on in regard to our nation both here and in Europe, is a touchstone that will prove whether or not we are able to live the life of a nation that is not only independent, but one that is truly free. It must be sufficiently free to consider <pb facs="5418478_8_0562.jpg" n="3"/>the long-yearned-for freedom not an aim, but only an important means in the difficult struggle of perfecting its own self and developing such nobleness in public and private life as our Komensky (Johann Amos Comenius) desired to see among us, and which is the only criterion of the true value of a whole nation and of each and every one of its individual members.</p>
<p>Bohemian America has set for itself a very lofty objective: to help secure that means for the future development of our nation. But what Bohemian America was the first to violate was the freedom of independent thinking, independent judgment of the development of conditions and opinions. Briefly, the past eleven months, aside from giving us a number of happy moments, tend to show that, while trying to secure freedom for others, we have frequently behaved in a manner much more dangerous for personal freedom than would an Austrian gendarme of the Bach [absolutistic premier, early second half of nineteenth century] era.</p>
<p>The first two things we did, in our effort to bring liberty to our nation, <pb facs="5418478_8_0563.jpg" n="4"/>were--to violate and suppress the freedom of opinion and to enthrone a patriotistic police system. There is no scarcity of documents to prove it, but it is not our purpose to reopen painful wounds by bringing up things which are now just a part of documented history. One thing is sure: The consequences of our actions during the brief immediate past are sorely felt in our life, and because of them our national work, all our patriotic efforts--in spite of the many paper votes of confidence, etc.--are not, and cannot be, as successful as we should like them to be. That we are not the only ones who feel that way, or that the expressed opinion is not an opinion of an isolated individual only, will be seen from Zachar's outcry in the current issue of the Cechoslovak. His article is entitled "Ve Jmenu Naroda" (In the Name of the Nation) and reads in part as follows:</p>
<p>"In the name of the nation, Bohemian America is collecting cents while Europe burns. In the name of the nation, wide-awake organizations are applying for their charters, in the name of the nation sincere enthusiasts are tearing down the dams of ignorance, prejudice, and selfishness. All that in the name of a <pb facs="5418478_8_0564.jpg" n="5"/>nation which had been buried, now is being resurrected, and looks hopefully toward the East where a new day is being born.</p>
<p>"We feel the magic, the majesty, the sacredness of the phrase: 'In the name of the nation'. Refusing to recognize any authority, we bow to the authority of this phrase and do not feel that its light yoke would be any burden. Thus we think that others also feel this yoke to be sweet, that others also enlist with zeal in the royal service of the country.....Sad news has come to us in a few letters from Chicago, sad, because they remind us of the famous words of Governor Johnson of California, uttered in the 1912 Republican Convention held in that city: 'Never before in my life have I seen so many politicians!'"</p>
<p>When thinking about this outcry that resounds from far away Baltimore to Chicago that "there is something rotten in the State of Denmark," we think that there is something rotten in our Bohemian-American community. Because of that our national organization is not functioning as it should; consequently, <pb facs="5418478_8_0565.jpg" n="6"/>in spite of any and all denials, our national work is weakened in its depth, and in its width, and in its quality.</p>
<p>This fact is being felt all over, and now it is not only being felt but also talked about, which makes our great cause suffer.</p>
<p>There is nothing greater at stake than the future of our nation. It would be erroneous to believe that Bohemian America as such could make sure of our nation's future. The point is that Bohemian America can either help in making sure of our nation's future, or--and that possibility is being too frequently overlooked--make the process more difficult by her indifference.</p>
<p>There is one thing, however, we must avoid by all means: to think lightly of the nation's majesty, to use the phrase "in the name of the nation" upon the slightest provocation, to use it as a shield behind which a profitable trade may be made, a thing that has, alas, happened several times. The question is whether or not we want to bear the shield; to keep the name of <pb facs="5418478_8_0566.jpg" n="7"/>our nation clean, so that it would offer to everybody protection and security such as is offered, for instance, by the American flag. A national organization is of some value to the whole only when all its members realize that in the process of fulfilling its mission it must avoid all pettiness, all pettishness, all gossiping, and all intrigue. There is also the self-importance and idle pride of individuals who, no matter how good intentions they may have, lack sufficient tact, good will, and tolerance to be the cement that forms the foundations of society, but are rather an acid that keeps apart and dissolves them. No weaklings, no pussyfooters who are afraid to bump against somebody or something, here and there, even if they know their cause is good, can promote a national organization which would enjoy the necessary prestige and be generally respected. It is less possible still to promote and maintain anywhere an organization which is pervaded by the spirit of a national police.</p>
<p>The outcry of our Baltimore friends goes deep and comes just in time. It is not yet too late to make the necessary changes to rectify these many slips--<pb facs="5418478_8_0567.jpg" n="8"/>and to bless and sanctify the work by the purity of the zeal. Who will--who can accomplish this? Nobody else will, nobody else can, but one who has the right to say:</p>
<p>"In the name of the nation."</p>
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