Fraternity-Testvériség, 1956 (34. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1956-04-01 / 4-5. szám
10 FRATERNITY The first officers of the Federation were: President, Emil Nyitray; Vice-President, Sándor Harsányi; Secretary, Sándor Kalassay; Treasurer, Pál Szabó; Controller, Gábor Dókus. Condition for the final founding and of the actual functioning was to obtain a membership of 500. Although the first 500 had not been recruited as quickly as it was hoped, the provisional officers still obtained the consent for the final formation of the Federation at the Cleveland meeting, held on February 5, 1897, with 320 members and a capital of $272.15. This meeting elected Bertalan Demeter treasurer and György Bandré controller in lieu of the provisional officers who previously held similar positions. Looking back at this event and considering it in the light of present conditions, it was a daring undertaking to start a national organization with so few members and insignificant “capital”, and with a rather primitive insurance and collection system. But at that time fraternal insurance was at a primitive stage, and a start had to be made. The intention was good, and God’s blessings followed for decades to come. By January 1, 1898, there were already 936 members, of whom 816 were Calvinist, 31 Lutherans, 86 Roman Catholics and 3 of the Jewish faith. This statistics proves the already existing liberalism of the Federation which has not known religious prejudice and brought under its flag all Hungarians believing in fraternalism. Our Federation is still standing by this principle, giving full rights to every Hungarian, regardless of his religion, and in general to every one of its members, who are of good moral character and recognize and respect the Calvinistic background of our Federation. It is a real satisfaction to mention here that with the exception of an incident in 1898, there was absolutely no trouble in this regard during the past 60 years. Like all similar institutions, our Federation also had its initial hardships during the first decade. However, it has outgrown both, the organizational and personal difficulties, so that by 1906, it had a membership of 2,000 with a surplus fund of $3.200.74. Thus the Federation survived the economic crisis in 1904 which caused many difficulties to similar institutions. THE FIRST JUBILEE The first ten-year jubilee was observed at Trenton, N. J., the place of the founding where a convention was held. The officers at that time were: President, István Molnár; Vice-President, István M. Kováchy; Secretary, István Papp; Treasurer, József Tomcsányi; Controller, Tamás Madarassy; Auditors, Sándor Kalassay and György Bandré. The branches sent 29 representatives to this meeting. Dr. Lajos Nánássy preached at the jubilee service. The festive meeting was presided over by István Molnár, who proudly announced that the Federation in its first ten years had paid out 100,000 dollars to the beneficiaries of its deceased members. It is at this meeting that we find the first illusions to the idea of establishing a home for orphans. Sándor Kalassay writes about this in his manuscript, as follows: “After the opening address of the president, Sándor Kalassay read the ten-year history of the Federation. At the conclusion of his address, he
