There are nearly as many newspapers in the United
States in the Slovak language as in Hungary, with a much larger total
circulation. This press has stimulated industrial and business
enterprises in the Slovak communities. There are numerous small
mercantile establishments. In Philadelphia, New York, and Chicago, wire
and tinware factories established with Slovak capital and conducted with
Slovak labor are securing the cream of this trade in the country. For
centuries the tinware of Europe was made largely by the Slovaks. They
have a high position also for electrical designs and other skilled work.
[Sidenote: Organizations]
They are a great people for organization. The National Slavonic Society
was organized in Pittsburg in 1890, with 250 members; it now has 20,000
active members and 512 lodges. It is primarily a beneficial
organization, but has done a valuable work in educating its members and
inducing them to become American citizens. The society requires its
members, after a reasonable time, to obtain naturalization papers and
thus promotes Americanization. It has paid out nearly a million dollars
in death benefits, and much more in sick benefits; has aided students in
this country and Hungary, and national literary and patriotic workers as
well, besides coming to the rescue of Slavs in Hungary persecuted by the
government.
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