Verhovayak Lapja, 1950 (33. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1950 / Verhovay Journal

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February 15, 1950___________________________VerflOVCiy

KULPMONT BRANCH 2 PRIZES 61 YEAR OLD 15-STAR FLAG

— HISTORIC ‘OLD’ OLD GLORY DESCRIBED, FOUNDING OF THE VERHOVAY REC ALLED BY SHAM OKIN NEWS-DISPATCH. —

WASHINGTON’S BIRTHDAY AND HUNGARIAN AMERICANS

— An Editorial —

This is just the story we wanted for the issue appearing shortly before Washington’s Birthday. A story symbolic of the deep reverence in which Americans of Hungarian origin always have held and always will hold the Flag under which Washington’s army so gloriously fought and won the War of Independence.

To the immigrant Hungarians arriving in the United States during the second half of the last century, this Flag, the Old Glory, the Star Spangled Banner, held the glorious promise of “liberty and justice for all.” And in their letters to their fathers, mothers, wives and sweethearts, brothers and sisters, neighbours and friends, they solemnly bore witness to the fact that this country has faithfully kept and fulfilled all the promises of which this Flag is a symbol forever.

These letters, written by the unpracticed, toil-hardened hands of honest men, confirmed the rumors invading the darkest and most secluded corners of old Europe, the rumors that spoke of a continent which is “the land of the free and the home of the brave.”

The men who wrote these letters found no easy life in this country. For them the streets were not paved with gold bricks, they weren’t paved at all. Bottomless mud, dire boarding houses and the black pits awaited them. Into these they descended, hundreds of them to die in the black depths of the earth while those who survived kept on toiling sixteen hours a day, for less than a dime an hour.

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In a way, those early immigrants may be likened to Washington’s hungry, tired, freezing army in Valley Forge. What they had was nothing but misery, but what they hoped for and believed in made it worthwhile for them to endure all the sufferings the fates could visit upon them. And as Washington and his army emerged from Valley Forge to finally win victory Independence under the Star Spangled Banner, so thousands and thousandsof these Hungarian miners emerged from the dangers and deprivations of the mines to advance with the country to a better and more prosperous future under the Star Spangled Banner.

.Meanwhile, thousands upon thousands of their countrymen followed the call to the new world. In the letters of their American friends, the promise of the Star Spangled Banner called them. And arriving at the shores of this land, the Statue of Liberty welcomed them. Generations upon generations of Hungarian immigrants arrived to look with tearful eyes and thankful prayers upon the mighty statue. They didn’t see the tablet on the pedestal and if they saw it, they couldn't understand the meaning of the poem it bears to this day, but deep in their rejoicing hearts all of these immigrant Hungarians knew that through “The New Colossus” the Heart of America was speaking to them, thu<:

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“Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land,

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of exiles, from her beacon-hand Glow world wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

“Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she With silent lips, “Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breath free.

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

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OFFICIAL COMMENT

(Continued from page 4)

Boy Scout movements, bowling teams, baseball teams, basketball teams have been sponsored by the Association. Today the Association’s national sport is bowling and each year it sponsors a National Bowling Tournament. Participants from every corner of the country enter this huge event and share in the indirect dividends.

We also like to think of all those professional men and women of today, doctors, nurses, lawyers, engineers, school teachers, who received a helping hand from the Verhovay in the form of Scholarship Loan grants.

90 DAYS GRACE — PROTECTS INSURANCE PROGRAM

Then, too, we must not forget one of the best indirect dividends of the Association: the ninety day grace period extended to all members. The additional time given to our membership certificate holders in which the dues may be paid, has certainly helped many of our members, especially so today our coalminingmembers who have suffered so much lately.

LOW INTEREST RATE ON POLICY LOANS

Special mention must be made also of the low interest rate applying to loans made on Verhovay membership certificates. While most insurance companies as well as fraternals charge 6%, or at the very least 5-%, interest on policy loans, Verhovay’s interest rate is only 4%, a substantial difference, the cost of which in lower interest earnings on funds thus invested amounts to many thousands of dollars each\year. Another indirect dividend to the membership of our Association!

And last but not least, let us not forget those indirect divh dends which cannot be estimated in dollars and cents: the friendships you have made at the many fine occasions of entertainment such as banquets, dances, lectures and musical affairs.

SOMEONE BEHIND YOU . . .

These indirect dividends which, of course, have cost our Association much money, can be had only through membership with a fraternal life insurance organization. It is possible that not all will share alike in these extra benefits, but, then, neither are the members alike as far as their need for such benefits is concerned. And is it not a good feeling to know that there is someone behind you, who is willing to help if and when you should need that help?

Your best investment today is your membership with our Association. Keep it and cherish it, and strengthen it by keeping your Asssociation growing. Recommend your friends for membership. Let your friends read this article. Then take them to your branch manager or district manager. Or better still, notify your representative that you have prospects for membership for him. He will do the rest.

Your fraternal life insurance membership means security at all times. Those fraternal plus benefits known as indirect dividends may help you should the hour of need come to you. And let us not forget that today we do not know what is written on the pages of the book of tomorrow about our future.

Thus, America spoke to the Hungarian immigrants arriving with empty hands and hopeful, grateful, loyal hearts at the great gate to the land of the free. Thus speaks America today7 to the new exiles of a war-torn world arriving here. Thus speaks America in words in which lives the spirit of Washington, the great, invincible, divinely inspired spirit of the Father of the. Nation, of whose heritage the Star Spangled Banner is the symbol, held in grateful reverence by all Americans of Hungarian origin. How such reverence was born, hew it was maintained and expressed, is told in the surprising story from the Shamokin News-Dispatch.

‘OLD- OLD GLORY

“When visitors to the Hungarian Club* of Kulpmont see the highly prized American flag- owned by the organization, they invariably do a fast ‘double take,’ then start counting the stars in the banner. The reason is that the stars add up to a total of . . . no, not 48, but' 45. /

Now everyone knows the American national banner contains 48 stars, so those not ‘in the know’ are likely to begin asking questions; They may even ask if Hungarian-Club officials are aware that the Star Spangled Banner should be spangled to the extent of 48 stars.

The fact is, club officials are aware of what appears to be a discrepancy, but when the flag was purchased 61 years ago there were only 45 states in the Union. Oklahoma. New Mexico and Arizona were still territories when the Verhovay Fraternal Insurance Association, Branch Number Two, or the Hungarian Club, as the organization is widely known, secured the flag.

The 45-star flag is believed to be the oldest copy of Old Glory in Kulpmont, and perhaps in this area. Despite the flag’s advanced years, its condition is good. Eight feet long and six feet wide, the banner shows little evidence of the wear and tear of its three score years.

Outlined in geld braid, the 61-yearold flag was hand-made of the finest^ quality of silk. Anthony Katona, clubpresident, and Vendel Petrovicz, general manager of the insurance branch, two of the oldest and most! active ^embers of the organization, said records do not indicate where the flag was made. However, they are of the opinion it was made in New York City.

The 45 white stars were sewed by hand on the field of blue. Except for

At the time the flag first appeared in Kulpmont, it was out dated. In 1909, 46 states were included in the a slight tear in the lower left hand corner, which was caused by years of contact with a wooden standard, and a slight rip along the right edge, the flag is in perfect condition, attesting to the high quality of the material.

For years the flag was displayed in the organization’s social hall. Two years ago, oficials of the club withdrew the banner from public view and stored it in a felt-lined case with other flags, one of which is a silk duplicate of the old Hungárián empire flag. Removal of the flag from the social hall was a move designed to insurance preservation of the club’s most prized possession.

Katona and Petrovicz said the Hag was made in 1889 and purchased the same year by the Hungarian social group. The flag first appeared in Kulpmont in 1969 when the organization moved to that community from Mount Carmel.

Instead of the conventional six rows of eight stars each, the 61-yearold flag has three rows of eight stars and three with seven. The #i*&t, third and fifth rows have eight stars, and the second, fourth and sixth, seven stars.

Union. Oklahoma joined the nation in 1907. New Mexico and Arizona, were destined to follow five years later.

The 45-star banner flew for years on the club’s flag pole until it was replaced by an up-to-date replica of Old Glory. In recent years, the flag seldom has been removed from the club’s headquarters. Occasionally it may appear In a Memorial Day parade.

The Hungarian club is the oldest social organization in Kulpmont, having built its home in 1916. The building was the first home constructed by a social group in Kulpmont. Verhovay Fraternal Insurance Association was organized February 21, 1886, by a>, group of immigrant coal miners living in Hazleton.

Katona has been president of the Kulpmont Club for 25 years. He served his first term in 1919. Petrovica has been the manager of the Branch since 1922.”

(A picture showing the 45-star flag held by President Katona and Manager Petrovicz aceompained the above article in the Shamokin News- Dispatch.}