Fraternity-Testvériség, 1957 (35. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1957-05-01 / 5. szám
14 FRATERNITY A “SHORT VISIT” TO U. S. HAS LASTED 53 YEARS DR. GÉZA FARKAS By Walter Wagner, “Toledo Blade” Staff Writer Dr. Géza Farkas, grand old man of Toledo’s Hungarian community, set sail for America in 1904 for a “short visit”. Now, 53 years later, he thinks his visit may be termed more or less permanent. “After all, I’m the Hungarian George Washington”, he says, half in whimsy, half in pride, as he explains that his birthday is February 22. At 80, Dr. Farkas is a spry, civic-minded Toledoan, who has run through a half-century of a busy career as soldier, lawyer, politician and editor. Clear eyes smiling back through the years, Dr. Farkas recalled his youth in St. Groth, near Budapest, before the turn of the century, when the Austro-Hungarian empire loomed mighty in world politics. The son of parents employed by the government, the young Geza prepared to enter the priesthood and studied eight years before changing his mind. In 1899, he was graduated from the University of Budapest with a doctorate in law. He also spent six months in the University of Zurich, studying German, because “no Hungarian lawyer then could become successful unless he knew the German language.” After his return from Switzerland, he joined the K. and K. Army, donning the “most beautiful” blue and gold uniform. Three more years of law study followed his discharge; then he decided to make his “short visit” to America — “to see for myself the country that everyone was talking about.” He headed for Cleveland and settled among the thousands of Hungarians then streaming to the new world. In three years he became city editor of “Magyar Napilap”, the first Hungarian daily newspaper published in the United States. At the time Dr. Farkas was barely on speaking terms with the English language, so he held up his daily report to the Hungarian community of Cleveland until his special delivery-edition of “Staats Zeitung”, a German-language daily published in New York City, arrived on his desk in time for some hurried rewriting. One morning the young editor couldn’t get to work on time because someone had ripped up the trolley tracks the evening before. “I decided right then I wanted to be a citizen of a wonderrful country where such a thing could happen”, Dr. Farkas said, explaining that the tracks were torn up in a dispute between city officials and the transportation company over fares. He became an American citizen in 1911, three years after moving to Toledo to open a foreign-exchange bank, which serviced would-be immigrants in Hungary with boat tickets, currency and documents.
