Verhovayak Lapja, 1944 (27. évfolyam, 1-52. szám)
1944 / Verhovay Journal
Our Freedom Are We Thankful for Our Liberty? May 11, 1944 Day after day the sad news comes from Hungary, the land of our fathers- Many of these news Items are contradictory, others again are confirmed, and through these we are enabled to picture to ourselves the life of the Hungarian people as it is today.The men of Hungary are soldiers Just like our men. But there is a great difference between being a soldier in the Hungarian army and serving the Star Spangled Banner. The majority of Hungarian soldiers have been placed into an exceedingly tragic situation. They have to fight on the Side of a nation which they know Well as their greatest enemy, and they have to fight against another nation from which they expect their liberation. They have to help save their enemies and they have to attack their liberators. Such military service is utterly immoral, senseless and involves a tragic split in the personality of every soldier in the Hungarian army. Many of course ask why they fight against the Russians, the English and the Americans? The answer is simple. The Hungarian soldiers are distributed among the German units. It is impossible to revolt or to lay down their guns when there are machine-guns trained upon them, ready to shoot them at a moment’s notice. Our soldiers know what they fight for and they also know that they are fighting on the side ot true comrades against a real enemy. Such fight has a moral justification and gives a meaning to the sacrifice involved in serving as a soldier. Civilians have no freedom either in Hungary. In the middle of the last month all women between the age of 16 and 36 have been conscripted for compulsory labor, by government order, as reported by the Office of War Information. They are conscripted for heavy labor, building fortresses and roads to help the Nazis fight against the armed forces of those nations that Will ultimately liberate the en slaved Hungarians. The flower of Hungarian womanhood conscripted for forced labor .., terrific work Which must break their bodies and wilt their beauty! Our women work, too. But they Work when and where they want to work, and receive decent pay for their labors and retain their Individual freedom to use their off time as they please. It is strictly forbidden to sell or buy property. It is a capital crime to listen to foreign radio programs. Newspapers are suppressed and only those are per mitted to appear that fully col laborate with the present Quisling government. The farmer is told what to plant and how much to raise of everything. He must surrender the results of his labor and be satisfied with whatever is left for him, Which more often than not is less than he and his family need. Travel Is forbidden. Preaching In the churches Is strictly con trolled. Priests and ministers who voice their protests, are arrested, and none of them are permitted to preach from the pulpits. One of the most famous Hungarian political leaders, Bajcsi-Zsilinszky died in a gun-fight against Nazi soldiers who came to arrest him. Anna Kethly, a Hungarian representative met the same fate. She received the soldiers sent out for her arrest with a gun in her hands, and used it(!), until she was killed in her own home... More than 300 persons have been executed since the Nazi occupation took place ... We, Americans, too, are at war but we have retained our liberties. JThe press, the radio, the individual is still free and there is still freedom of worship, freedom of speech and we have still retained our inalienable rights of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. These liberties will remain ours, however long the war may last. We asked in the subtitle of this article if we are thankful for our liberty. Thankful to whom? To lie United States? That goes without asking. Of course we, are deeply grateful to this glorious nation that has become the symbol of liberty for all ages to come. Of course we love this country for the liberty it grants to its citizens. Of cpurse we are thankful to America... But we, American citizens of Hungarian descent, ought to express our gratitude to someone else, besides the United States. If we ever had a reason to be thankful to our FATHERS AND MOTHERS who many decades ago decided to leave their homes and emigrate to America •.. now we have a reason. It is they whom we can thank for being free children of a free nation. It took courage for them to leave their little towns, their homes, their parents and relatives. It took courage to come to a strange land, among strange people whose ways and language have remained strange to many of them. Yet they persisted. They have stayed here, married here, built their homes and reared their families in this country. What if they didn’t have the courage? What if they would have preferred to remain in Hungary like so many millions of Hungarians did? You would still be in Hungary ... and clothed in rags and without adequate food you would live like slaves • • • You would be fighting a senseless war against your liberators.. . you would be helping your oppressors ... your girls would work on the highways, building roads, repairing railroads and building fortresses. The government would own you, life, body and sóul, and your share of the bare necessities of living would be cut so as to make dying impossible and living a nightmare of fear, cold, and hunger... Those grand old -Hungarian American men and women... miners, millworkers, small business-men ... they may be oldfashioned ... they may have clung to some of their “old-fashioned’’ ways and notions... yet they have given their children the greatest inheritance of all • •. by bringing them into the world, and rearing them in the “land of the free and the home of the brave.” If there ever was a time that has brought home to us the great debt we second-generation Americans owe to our courageous parents... now is the time! Verhovay Journal Page 3 How to Conduct an Unsuccessful Meeting There are several ways to do a thing right but many to do it wrong. Since almost all of our officers and public leaders are so sure of knowing that they have found the perfect way of conducting their business, there seems no point in writing about how to conduct a successful meeting. But the cause of public enlightenment may be furthered if we offer a few suggestions as to the conducting of unsuccessful meet ings. We hear so many complaints about poor attendance at meet iigs and similar sympt9ms that we feel it would be a contribution to the cause of lodge-life if We tried in a systematic way to list those ways and attitudes that have brought about such deploriile state of affairs. Perhaps, upon reading these suggestions, some Haders may decide that there are still ways for improvement in the negative direction. We may not have sufficient information as o the ways of conducting successui meetings but here is our guaranee, or your money back, if after following these rules for six months in succession you do not succeed killing your lodge completely. l. RULES FOR PRESIDENTS. Please arrive late for the meeting, preferably at a time when the few members who are present, already are discussing whether or not it would be best if they left. If you cannot come that late, at east arrive completely unprepared. Have no idea about the business of the day. If you have any material, leave it at home and claim having forgotten it. If, by mistake, you brought it along, pretend not having studied it and pretend being entirely uninformed on all matters. There are two ways to insure failure at the very beginning of lie meeting. Either greet the members by making a long speech, preferably dwelling for half an hour on the historical aspects of fraternalism, or by not greeting them at all; just numble “the meeting is opened" after several attacks of coughing spells. One of the most successful ways to conduct an unsuccessful meeting is to reproach the few mem bers present for the absence of the majority. It will completely disgust the present members for being bawled out, and it will have absolutely no effect on the chronic absentees since they cannot hear your reproaches. If you contemplate making some sort of a speech at the meeting, never gather your thoughts before speaking. Temporize: after all, if Webster could do it, so can you. What did Daniel Webster have, that you don’t have? In temporizing, use the phrase “you know what I mean” at least 50 times per minute: you will be surprised to find how little you have to say. On the other hand, your members, naturally not knowing what you mean since you don’t say it, have a grand time nudging one another or talking over last night’s hangover. If under such circumstances a general bedlam ensues, just hammer on the table with your presidential gavel which is supposed to cover up the fact that you don’t say anything and adds to the general uproar. There are a few specially talented presidents who have a gift of bullying a meeting. It is very effective if you know how to do it. If you don’t succeed in letting the meeting degenerate into general bedlam. It i« worth trying to make it a very very dry and business-like affair. Don’t permit a whisper, reprimand everyone who attempts to alleviate the tedium by an innocent crack and be enerally disagreeable. Take the Cfo attitude that people are there to listen to you and no one else, and if they don’t like it they can stay away. They will. Never think about any suggestion you may offer. When the minutes have been read» and the few matters on- hand have been slowly disposed of, ask the members if they have any suggestions to offer for the betterment of the social life of the branch. If no one has, ask again. Ask at least six times. By that time everyone will be talking to everyone and you can close the meeting without the fact being noticed by anyone. There are a few tricks that can be successfully applied in between. Suppose you had some affair, a ance or a picnic; don’t give credit to anyone just to a few picked members who possibly had the least to do with the affair, but on the other hand, they are the ones whom you personally like. Never give credit to a person whom you dislike. Expect all the I operation from your enemies and give all the credit to your friends who let your enemies work. There are some backward presidents, who prepare for their meetings. They read up on the problems and arrive at the meeting with some constructive suggestions in their heads. They have a smile for everyone, they conduct the meeting in a businesslke, yet friendly way, where there is room for smiles, yet it never gets out of their hands. They dispose of the business matters in 45 minutes, make it a rapid and efficient affair which is usually topped by some nice entertainment or informal social g3t-together. Naturally that would not do. Such ways make meetings successful, and, after all, we are interested right now in the opposite. II. RULES FOR SECRETARIES. A branch secretary has naturally a much less conspicuous role than the president but he may also contribute to the failure of the meeting through the way his minutes are composed and read-It is advisable to read either very slowly, giving due emphasis to every sentence and stopping occasionally to censure some members who are not paying sufficient attention, or to read very fast, numbling unintelligibly, leaving the audience entirely in the dark as to what happened at the last meeting, if anything. The way of composing the Minutes may substantially contribute to the general darkness, and o illustrate we submit from actual records an example which may be followed and copied carefully since it would apply to each and every meeting. In fact, some branches have records of hundreds of meetings past, the minutes of which read exactly the same. Here goes: “MINUTES, taken at the regular monthly meeting of branch 1001 of the Verhovay Fraternal Insurance Association at the Verhovay Hall in Tombstone, Xy, Present were the president, the secretary, the manager and several of the member:*, At 3:30 sharp the president openBfl the meeting greeting the members and requesting them to pay due attention to all matters coming before the meeting and asks the secretary to read the minutes of the last meeting. The Secretary reads the minutes of the last meeting which were accepted and approved. Three letters Were read which were lengthily iscussed and their matter finally approved. A motion brought by brother Jones has been discussed and adopted. Another motion brought by sister Doakes has been rejected. Since there was no other business, the President thanked the members for attending the meeting and closed same. Respect* fully, John Paul Secretary.” Some of these minutes may be longer, very few shorter. Nevertheless, short minutes like that can contribute substantially to the utter failure of the meeting. You will note that the secretary in each and every instance dwells lengthtily on the habitual and seemingly obligatory exhortation of the president. The same sentences will appear in the minutes taken of every meeting throughout a score of years. Note further that not a word is said about the contents of the letters read or of the motions brought and adopted. Only the form of the meeting has been preserved for posterity, nothing of its substance. There are some backward secretaries who make a record of what actually happened at the meeting but that wouldn’t do if you want to conduct an unsuccessful meet* ing. These suggestions are submitted With the respectful conclusion that if the president and the secretary form a real team, then nothing stands in the way of their sue* cess because the members quick to appreciate the qualities of their leaders, will stay away in droves. On the other hand, if you want to conduct a SUCCESSFUL meet* ing, just avoid following the above listed rules and by golly your members will even love to attend your meetings. (Jittery Japan is ripe for bombing. American land invasions are (smashing her island defenses, and her fleet and air forces are defi! nitely outclassed. A ring of steel is blockading Jap shipping, t<> (starve out her people, deprive her industries of raw materials, and (prevent reinforcements from reaching her troops. Chief threat to I Jap cities lies in the ability of carrier-T>ased planes, fuelled by 100- octane gasoline produced in American refineries, to raid industrial and military targets. ♦
