Bethlen Naptár, 1956 (Ligonier)
The work of six decades
144 BETHLEN NAPTÁR Even this convention could not pass without having given considerable time to the question of the so called “official journal”, a time and again recurring subject of every convention. At this meeting the question was solved by selecting the “Reformátusok Lapja” as the official journal. The question of raising the monthly dues again, was also discussed and resolved in the hope, that this would be the final raise, but even this solution could not last longer than four years. The Fourth Decade. The Fourth Decade was introduced by the convention held in 1927 also in Ligonier, Pa. This was the meeting which has laid the foundations of the system by which our Federation adopted the practice well proven and accepted by the insurance science and has given our certificates cash and loan, as well as paid up and extended values. This, of course, necessitated renewed rate adjustments but the members accepted these without complaints being well aware, that the changes served their own interest. The convention here declared that the problem of the official journal be solved once and for all by publishing the Federation’s own paper. The well increased membership, and the swelling assets which reached a half a million dollars gave renewed hope regarding the future. Still of greater significance was the convention of 1931, held in Ligonier, Pa., which took up the haunting question of merger plans, which were talked about for decades. The result was that the convention at which an imposing number of delegates took part, decided that our Federation should remain what it originally intended to be: An independent institution of Hungarian American Calvinists with a special purpose. — The official monthly publication of the Federation which appeared until then in a modest form, was ordered to be published in a magazine form with the idea that in due time it would, as a weekly, unite in itself the church publications as well, and in such a way serve all Hungarian Calvinists in America. Unfortunately, partly for reasons of principle, partly for personal reasons, this beautiful plan, notwithstanding several attempts, could not be realized up to this date. Our own publication, first published as the “Református Újság” and at present under the name “Testvériség” — Fraternity — faithfully serves the interests of our Federation since January, 1932. The Fifth Decade. Without any doubt, our most important convention was the one held in 1935, which voted for the centralization of our administration. The situation was such, that an administration demanding more and more work and harmony, was taken care of by a staff of officers, whose president resided in Johnstown, Pa., the secretary in Toledo, O., the Treasurer in Lancaster, Pa., the controller in Cleveland, O., and its tree auditors in Youngstown, O., Pittsburgh, Pa., and Bridgeport, Conn., respectively. To complicate matters the Insurance Department of the District of Columbia issued a definite order that if we desire to keep our Congressional Charter, our Home Office must be transferred to Washington, or the Charter would lose its validity and we would have to seek a registration somewhere else. Our Supreme Council commissioned the Auditing Committee composed of György Borshy-Kerekes, János Estu and István Köteles to prepare a plan for the solution of this problem. The plan was ready for the 1935 convention in Ligonier, Pa., where in the presentation of György Borshy-Kerekes it was accepted- According to this plan our Home Office was opened in our Nation’s Capital on January 1, 1936, with Dr. Ferenc Újlaki president, (who at that time was not yet a full-time officer (and with the following officers, who were elected as fulltime workers: István Molnár secretary, Imre Király treasurer, Ödön Vasváry controller, and György Borshy-Kerekes field secretary.
