Fraternity-Testvériség, 1951 (29. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1951-05-01 / 5. szám
TESTVÉRISÉG 5 I IN PLAIN AMERICAN I A monthly page conducted by Edmund Vas vary BiIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMIIIIIII» .........Illlllllllllli Since no one bothered with noticing that the present officers of the Federation have been in office for 15 years at the turn of the year, I think it is time for blowing our own trumpet a little. President Újlaki started in his office 4 years earlier, but the four present officers, the President included, have been working togeher for more than 15 years. Since the progress of the Federation during these 15 years (financial or otherwise) has been closely connected — as we believe — with the faithful and conscientious services of the officers, I hope I will be excused for mentioning this anniversary. ♦ The conferences held once a year in each of our six organizational districts are steadily gaining in popularity and prove to be more and more successful and useful. Such friendly meetings were held during the past few months in Passaic, N. J., Pocahontas, Va., Ligonier, Pa. and Whiting, Ind. All of them were well organized, friendly gatherings in which, besides our co-workers, the directors of the districts, two officers from the Home Office and a number of guests participated. There is always something to learn at these occasions, and we are convinced that all participants return home not only with the memories of a pleasantly spent day, but with new knowledge of the workings of our Federation and with renewed enthusiasm for the work ahead. ♦ Our Federation will be 55 years old this coming Fourth of July, but some of our Reformed Churches are still older. The first sixtieth anniversaries of any Hungarian churches in the United States will be celebrated this summer. The First Church of Cleveland, Ohio was the first Hungarian congregation of the Reformed faith organized in this country (1891), closely followed by the church in Pittsburgh, Pa., to which latter, incidentally, belongs the distiction that its people erected the first Hungarian church building of any denomination in the United States. This is the modest building still standing at its old Bates Street location. The First Church of Cleveland celebrated this im- portand anniversary May 27th, our President, Dr. Újlaki, participating in the services. The celebration in Pittsburgh will be held on Sept. 2,— where the principal speaker will be the writer of these lines, the only living former pastor of this historic congregation. In both cities the church was the mother of the Federation. It is only natural that our Federation joins the good people of these churches in wishing a successful and blessed future in the service of God and humanity. ♦ The Bethlen Home will be 30 years old this coming Fourth of July, but the celebration of this important anniversary is postponed to Labor Day, Sept. 3, for the reason that simultaneously with the jubilee, the new addition to the Old People's Home on the hill and the new dwelling for the Director of the Home will be dedicated. It is going to be a memorable day in the history of the Home, a new start for even more work in the humanitarian activities of this branch of our Federation's manifold program. ♦ Our new co-worker in the Home Office is Sarah Kalassay, daughter of the late Dr. Alexander Kalassay, the founder of our Federation. Miss Kalassay for nine years was a faithful worker in that period of the Bethlen Home’s history, when with many older children in the main building, 25—30 babies under two years were cared for by her in a separate building. Later on she worked in our Lorain, O., East Chicago, Ind. and Chicago, HI. So. Side churches as deaconess and organist and for one year she was employed by us in our Chicago office. She was warmly welcomed by the personnel of the Home Office, most of whom are old friends of hers. We can say with good conscience that she has already fulfilled all our expectations concerning her personality and working abilities. The people of the Chicago, So. Side church (Rev. Árpád György, Pastor) said farewell to her with a splendid banquet which was attended by several hundred people. _ ♦ In the Home Office the work in the Secretary's department, done by our late friend, Nicholas M. Kovács, was taken over by Mr. Valentine Boldogh, our oldest co-worker in the service of the Federation, whose former duties in turn now are fulfilled by Miss Kalassay. ♦ Dr. Újlaki was the principal speaker at the 35th anniversary celebration of our Elyria, O. church, Rev. Louis Novak, Pastor. This is a beautifully appointed church, as everyone knows, with very good people. Our Federation has a good sized branch there under the able leadership of Mrs. Sigmund Palágyi. We wish many happy returns of the anniversaries to our good friends in Elyria! ♦ What price bigness? There are many insurance companies in the "billionaire" class, that is companies which have one or more billion of insurance "in force". According to the 1950 reports, the largest of these is the Metropolitan, with over 45 billions of insurance "in force". Please read the following carefully. The net income of the invested assets of the ten largest "billionaire" companies for the year 1950 was: 1. Metropolitan ..................i................... 3.07 % 2. Prudential ............................................. 3.15 % 3. Equitable ............................................. 3.07 % 4. John Hancock ..................................... 3.02 % 5. New York Life ................................... 2.95 % 6. Travelers ............................................... 3.06 % 7. Aetna ................................................... 3.08 % 8. Sun, Canada ....................................... 3.37 % 10. Mutual, N. Y......................................... 2.97 % And the net income on investments of the Hungarian Reformed Federation of America (insurance in force: 26 million) for the same year was 3.46%, — that is, better than that of any of the biggest "billionaire" companies.
