Fraternity-Testvériség, 1956 (34. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1956-02-01 / 2. szám
TESTVÉRISÉG 3 This happened in 1902. Four full years had to elapse until the idea could become a reality. In the meanwhile, tumultuous years marked the political life of Hungary. The quarrelsome disagreements with Austria became deeper, more momentous and harmful. The special demands of Hungary were pressed more and more into the forefront. Even when the Hungarians in America already made preparations for the unveiling, owing to the deteriorated political conditions, nobody knew whether or not a Washington statue would really stand in Budapest. Fifty years ago, on the 19th of February, the disheartening event happened: the Hungarian parliament was dissolved by a royal decree, and a detachment of soldiers, with fixed bayonets, were ordered to eject the deputies. The deputies having left shortly before, no one was in the chamber when Col. Victor Fabritius read the royal rescript, ordering the dissolution of the parliament. In those years, when the problem of mass emigration gradually became an always bleeding, open wound on the body of the nation, it could not be expected that the official circles would be unduly enthusiastic about the plan to erect in the capital a statute to the “father” of American democracy. Leaving aside the fact that at that time the Hungarian groups living in the United States, having no particular prestige or influence, were as yet unable to command any real respect on the part of the official world; anyone could, if he wanted to, read in the plan enticement to emigration. In those days the official attitude still maintained that the emigrants became “unfaithful”, disloyal to their mother country. And even it was evidently impossible to stop the waves of emigration, even of those who were of military age — many thought that the problem could be disposed of with a deprecatory shrug: “Let the wormy apples fall aside!” The very idea that these poor-mouthed vagabonds would try to send a “gift” to the country they left, seemed preposterous to some, especially when there were reasons to believe that behind the gift there lurked an amount of unmistakable bragging which betrayed no contrite desire to return; on the contrary, it had shown real satisfaction with the present lot of the donors. And — these people even might try to focus attention to the blessings of a totally different political system. For these reasons the idea of the Washington statue was received with misgivings by the official world. Even the representatives of the “free press”, the newspapers of the capital, displayed a marked coolness toward the idea which in some instances degenerated into open hostility. It sounds strange today to say that the leading “Pesti Hírlap”, which was always an opposition organ of the Independence party, was the foremost of those who denounced the idea. Kohányi had founded and successfully built up his daily, “‘Szabadság”, during the difficult years of the formation of the American-Hun- garians as an articulate group. Naturally, he had plenty of opponents and personal enemies. We might suppose that those in the United States, who tried to frustrate his plans, acted not because they were hostile to the idea itself, but because they wanted to humiliate the honest, but obstreperous, Kohányi personally. Behind Kohányi, however, stood not only his personal business success, but the realization of the Kossuth statue also. He threw himself into the Washington statue movement with his wonted energy and enthusiasm. He practically gave four years of his life to achieve this single aim. The American-Hungarians received the idea very sympathetically. They trusted Kohányi whose work for the Kossuth statue was sincerely appreciated by the masses. The idea that they, the poor-relation outcasts, should present such a gift to the old country, appealed to them immediately and fired their imagination. It was evident that those who rallied to the idea with the greatest enthusiasm would be able to contribute only the smallest amounts. But this was no drawback. On the contrary, it greatly enhanced the inner value of the gift, if mostly poor people would offer their hard- earned cents for this noble purpose. Kohányi, with the sure touch of a successful man, approached many prominent men of the era with the question: what do they think of the idea? He was certain of the result. Everybody liked it. A long list of prominent people, headed by former President Grover Cleveland, could find nothing but praise for the plan. The campaign started with the $100.00 donation of the ‘“Szabadság” in February, 1903. A committee was formed with the following members: Tihamér Kohányi, chairman; Daniel Stef urak, vice chairman; Rev. Alexander Ka- lassay, keeper of the records; Joseph L. Sze- pessy, treasurer; Gustav V. Hamory, Joseph Pipi and Andrew Nemeth, members of the auditing committee. The document offering the statue to Budapest was sent in May, 1905, to the Council of the Hungarian capital, which accepted it on the 25th of May, and shortly afterwards designated its site in the Városliget (City Park), across
