THE MAGYARS
IN AMERICA
D.A.SOUDERS
.THE MAGYARS
IN AMERICA
D. A. SOUDERS
THE MAGYARS
IN AMERICA
BY
D. A. SOUDERS
SUPERINTENDENT OF IMMIGRATION OF THE REFORMED
CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
CHARLES HATCH SEARS
NEW SfJUr YORK
GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY
* \
COPYRIGHT, 1922,
BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY
THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA. II
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
INTRODUCTION
The New American Series consists of studies of
the following racial groups, together with a study
of the Eastern Orthodox Churches:
Albanian and Bulgarian, Armenian and Assyrian-
Chaldean, Czecho-Slovak, Greek, Italian, Jewish,
Jugo-Slav (Croatian, Servian, Slovenian), Magyar,
Polish, Russian and feuthenian, or Ukrainian, Span
ish (Spaniards) and Portuguese, Syrian.
These studies, made under the auspices of the In-
terchurch World Movement were undertaken to
show, in brief outline, the social, economic and re
ligious background, European or Asiatic, of each
group and to present the experience — social, eco
nomic and religious — of the particular group in
America, with special reference to the contact of the
given people with religious institutions in America.
It was designed that the studies should be sympa
thetic but critical.
It is confidently believed that this series will
help America to appreciate and appropriate the
spiritual wealth represented by the vast body of
New Americans, each group having its own peculiar
heritage and potentialities; and will lead Christian
America, so far as she will read them, to become a
better lover of mankind.
^The writer, in each case, is a kinsman or has had
direct and intimate relationship with the people, or
group of peoples, presented. First-hand knowledge
and the ability to study and write from a deeply
sympathetic and broadly Christian viewpoint were
primary conditions in the selection of the authors.
5324H71
vi INTRODUCTION
The author of this volume, Rev. D. A. Souders,
D.D., first became interested in the Magyars when
he was made pastor, in 1891, of the First Reformed
Church, Irwin, Pa., in a county where 25 languages
were spoken. He became successively a member of
the Synodical Board of Home Missions in 1893,
Superintendent of Missions in 1903, and Superin
tendent of Immigrant Work in 1909, his interest in
the Magyars and work among them growing with
the years. His regard for them as a people and his
success in work writh them led to his selection as the
writer of this book.
These manuscripts were published through the
courtesy of the Interchurch World Movement with
the cooperation of various denominational boards,
through the Home Missions Councils of America.
At this writing arrangements have been made for
the publication of only six of the Series, namely,
Czecho-Slovak, Greek, Italian, Magyar, Polish and
Eussian, but other manuscripts will be published as
soon as funds or advanced orders are secured.
A patient review of all manuscripts, together with
a checking up of facts and figures, has been made by
the Associate Editor, Dr. Frederic A. Gould, to
whom we are largely indebted for statistical and
verbal accuracy. The editor is responsible for the
general plan and scope of the studies and for ques
tions of policy in the execution of this work.
CHARLES HATCH SEARS.
The cost of publication of this volume was guaranteed by the
Board of Home Missions of the Reformed Church in the United
States. Other Boards may order copies from the PUBLICATION
AND SUNDAY SCHOOL BOARD, Reformed Church Building, Fifteenth
and Race Streets, Philadelphia, Pa., or from THE CENTRAL PUB
LISHING HOUSE, 2969-75 West 25th Street, Cleveland, Ohio.
CONTENTS
Part I: European Background
CHAPTER PAGE
I MAGYAR HISTORY AND CHARACTER
ISTICS .13
A GENERAL TREATMENT
II PRESENT CONDITIONS IN HUNGARY . 25
(a) Political Situation 25
(b) Economic Conditions . . * . 28
(c) Social Conditions . . . . . 29
(d) Religious Conditions .... 37
Part II: The Magyars in America
III IMMIGRATION . 51
IV CONDITIONS IN AMERICA .... 60
(a) Economic Conditions .... 60
(b) Social Conditions . . ... 65
V RELIGIOUS CONDITIONS IN AMERICA 78
AN INTENSIVE STUDY
(a) Church Work among the Magyars . 78
(b) Magyar Reformed Churches . 4 89
(c) The Valley of Decision .... 97
(d) Forms of Religious Approach . . 107
VI SPECIAL PROBLEMS 112
(a) Leadership of Foreign Language
Churches 112
(b) Forms of Religious Break-up . . 117
vii
viii CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER VI [Continued]
(c) Extra-church Movement . . . 119
(d) Pressing Need for Magyar Mission Lit
erature ....... 123
(e) Parish Evangelism 125
(f) Religious Education .... 127
APPENDICES
I Americanization as the Foreigner
Thinks of It 135
II List of Magyar Publications in the
United States 138
BIBLIOGRAPHY 143
INDEX 147
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Reformed Church and Parsonage, Toledo, Ohio . . 32
Magyar Church of Debrecszin, Hungary ... 32
Village Square and Protestant Magyar Church at
Turkeve, Hungary 33
Typical Magyar Ministers, Father and Son ... 64
Magyar Reformed Singing Club, Toledo, Ohio . . 64
Magyar Protestant Orphans' Home, Ligonier, Pa. . 65
Officers of a Beneficial Society, Lorain, Ohio . . 80
Foreign Mission Pageant, Magyar Young People,
Bridgeport, Conn 81
Reformed Women's Society at Their Business Meet
ing 96
Night School Maintained for Adults (Studying Eng
lish) 96
Present Building of Oldest Magyar Church in Amer
ica, Organized May, 1890, East Side, Cleveland,
Ohio 97
Congregation at Service 128
Confirmation Class, Reformed Church, West Side,
Cleveland ... .128
Daily Vacation Bible School of Magyar Presbyterian
Church, Philadelphia, Pa 129
PART I: EUROPEAN BACKGROUND
THE MAGYARS
IN AMERICA
Part I: European Background
Chapter I
MAGYAR HISTORY AND CHARACTERISTICS
The Magyars came into Europe from Asia some
time during the eighth or ninth century. They be
long to the Ugro-Finn branch of the human family
and are thus related to the Chinese and Japanese.
Their only relatives in Europe are the Finns and
possibly the Esthonians. Hungarian tradition says
that two sons of Nimrod, Hunyar and Magor went
hunting in the Ural Mountains and found in addition
to game a very promising outlook for conquest in
what is now Russia. They got their father's con
sent to migrate to the new country and Hunyar went
westward and became the founder of the country
now claimed by the Finns while Magor remained in
eastern Russia and was the leader of the people now
known as Magyars.
Authentic history relates that these people mi
grated from southeastern Russia into the plains of
Hungary with their flocks and herds in one great
horde of a million souls in the year 896 A.D. under
Arpad, founder of Hungary's first dynasty. Here
they made a place for themselves which they have
maintained ever since. Having come into the most
13
14 THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
fertile part of Europe, the Alf old, called by a French
writer the Jar din I) 'or, the garden of gold, they
abandoned their nomadic life and became herdsmen
and farmers.
As might be expected from their origin the Mag
yars are a virile, powerful race. They are such
lovers of horses that there is a proverb, "The Mag
yar was created on a horse. ' ' The Magyars of this
period were "trained riders, archers and javelin
throwers from infancy." In the 70 years follow
ing Arpad's reign (who died in 907), the Magyar
horsemen became the scourge and terror of Europe,
ravaging Germany and Bavaria to the Rhine, and
Italy as far south as Otranto. Otho I, king of Ger
many and later founder of the "Holy Roman Em
pire, " in 955 proclaimed them "the enemies of God
and humanity." There is no certain connection be
tween the Hungarians or Magyars of this period and
the armies of Attila that devastated the Roman Em
pire 600 years before, though the territory ravaged
was much the same. From these incursions into the
west and south they brought back booty and cap
tives who all unwittingly to their captors helped to
change them into a European nation.
Christian missionaries. — The Magyars became ac
quainted with Christianity about A.D. 972 when
their duke, Geyza, married a Christian princess,
Sarolta, of Transylvania, whose father had been
converted to Christianity while in Constantinople.
It was a question of some time to decide whether
the Greek or Roman Church should be recognized,
but ultimately Adalbert missionaries from Ger
many, who had labored earnestly from Wolfgang
(917) to Geyza, prevailed, and Geyza 's son, Viak,
was baptized by Adalbert of Prague in 994, and was
given the name of Stephan. He asked for the rec
ognition of the Pope and was crowned by Sylvester
II of Rome, A.D. 1001, and was designated by the
MAGYAR HISTORY AND CHARACTERISTICS 15
Pope, St. Stephan, "Apostolic King of Hungary/'
Since his day, all Hungarian kings are crowned with
his crown.
Stephan I. — Stephan proved himself a great king,
a constructive statesman and a great Christian, and
has ever been the great idol of the Magyar people.
First he changed the constitution from a tribal union
to a kingdom. Then he undertook the Christianiza-
tion of the people, traveling from one end of the
country to the other, preaching, baptizing, and or
ganizing governments.
He recognized the futility of conquests in the west
and set about organizing his country into a stable
form of government. In this he followed the models
of western nations, subdividing the country into
counties, establishing bishoprics and founding
churches, convents and schools. He established a
national council of lords temporal and spiritual and
of knights of a lower order. Thus he gave form to
the national assembly and prepared the way for the
constitution which has ever since been the mainstay
of the Magyar's civil and religious life. Fortu
nately, too, his successors carried forward his work
with a reasonable degree of fidelity, so that the na
tion became more and more affiliated with European
life and ideas.
Great names. — There are other great names of
kings in the Hungarian history besides that of her
first great " Apostolic King," Stephan.
There is Coloman (or Kalman), the Learned
(1095-1114), who was much in advance of his times
and greatly improved the laws; Louis I, "The
Great " (1342-1390), another great lawgiver. John
Hunyadi (1387-1456), "the greatest general of his
age," called "the Eaven Knight," because he had a
raven with a gold ring in his beak on his coat of
arms, who in the two great battles of Semendria and
Belgrade saved Europe from the menace of Moham-
16 THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
medanism ; and his son, Matthias (1456-1490), re
garded by many historians as the greatest king in
Hungary's history.
But, as we shall see later, hoth the nobility and
common people have furnished reformers and lead
ers of undying fame.
The Golden Bull. — There is no written constitu
tion of Hungary. This, like the English constitu
tion, is the product of laws extending over a series
of centuries. The first written document, similar to
Magna Charta of England (1217), is the Bulla Aurea
or "Golden Bull" of Hungary, granted by King
Andrew II in 1222 A.D. The immediate purpose of
the king, no doubt, was to strengthen the authority
of the Crown against the encroachments of the oli
garchy (Drage, p. 271), but in order to secure what
he wanted he was compelled to make important con
cessions to the nobles and lower estates. The main
provisions of the Golden Bull, put into few words,
are that " Breach of faith on the part of the sover
eign makes rebellion lawful" (Drage, p. 271). True,
the Golden Bull has been violated. It has been sus
pended for fear of the people and at best it was a
concession to the nobles rather than to the people
themselves, but it has always served as an ideal
toward which the people of Hungary has strug
gled.
For centuries the franchise in Hungary was lim
ited to those who had secured privileges through
concession of the king, but as the franchise has from
time to time been enlarged, the provisions of the
Golden Bull have served for the greater freedom of
the people at large.
The Crusades.— The time of the Crusades is the
darkest period in Magyar history, for, during that
time the country was so devastated and depopulated
that immigrants were invited from the west and from
the Balkan provinces to take the places of slain and
MAGYAR HISTORY AND CHARACTERISTICS 17
captive Magyars and so were sown the seeds which
have ever since grown harvests of serious racial,
religious and national problems. Hungary had been
under the Arpad dynasty for about two centuries,
and under various other royal families for two cen
turies more. Then came the Crusades, during which
time the contending armies in turn ravaged the
country. Hungary fed the famishing Crusaders on
their way to the Holy Land and protected their
broken remnants as they wandered back.
The Magyars were not, however, left in undis
puted possession of the land, but for several cen
turies they were subject to invasion and were al
ternately under the influence of western or eastern
civilization according to the power of the invaders.
It suffered one invasion of the Turks after an
other, until, utterly exhausted, the losses of Magyars
in Transylvania were so great that they invited
Saxons from the west to migrate into the territory,
and encouraged Eoumanian herdsmen from the east
to take the places of herdsmen fallen in the wars.
At the same time many people who fled from Turk
ish cruelty in the Balkan peninsula remained to be
come part of the Hungarian population. Thus was
introduced the racial problem which has perplexed
the Hungarian government ever since.
The most disastrous of these invasions was that of
the Ottoman Turks in the sixteenth century under
Solyman, "the Magnificent/' which culminated in
the battle of Mohacs (1526) and resulted in the di
vision of the country between the Moslem and Chris
tian.
During all these centuries Hungary rapidly de
clined and the country was finally divided into three
parts. Transylvania became the refuge of the Hun
garians; the Turks took possession of the central
part and the Austrians secured a foothold in the
western provinces.
IS THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
The Hapsburgs. — With this division of territory
came the fateful rule of the Hapsburgs in the person
of Ferdinand I, who was elected by the Hungarian
Diet in December, 1526. It was hoped by the Hun
garian nobles to secure help, in this way from the
tyranny of the Turks, but they were grievously dis
appointed, for, too often, the Hapsburg rulers saw
in the Turk a help to keep the Magyars from assert
ing their constitutional privileges and exercising
their inherent love of freedom, so the Turk was
rather helped than hindered in his oppression of
the Magyar people.
The policy of the Hapsburg dynasty was declared
to be to make Hungary German, Catholic and poor,
and according to their well-known motto "Divide et
impera" to play off one race against another. She
tried to carry out this dictum to make Hungary
German, but failed; she tried to make it Catholic
and succeeded in part ; she tried to make it poor and
succeeded but too well. Austria never succeeded in
her attempts to make Hungary a province of Aus
tria. It needs to be emphasized that there never has
been an Austro-Hungarian Empire but a Dual Mon
archy, with two governments and one king and a
Federal Parliament representing them.
The Reformation. — The division of the country
helped to prepare the way for the progress of the
Reformation in Hungary. The Turks still held the
central part; two pretenders to the throne of Hun
gary held the rest; John Zapolya the east; Ferdi
nand the west; both contending for possession of
the whole country.
During their struggle for supremacy the Refor
mation was allowed quietly to spread as it caused
no disturbance. It took possession of the ground
and priest and congregation compromised with each
other. In 1549 a new confession was drawn up
which King Ferdinand accepted and confirmed. The
MAGYAR HISTORY AND CHARACTERISTICS 19
first persecutions in Hungary were not by Koman
Catholics, but between Calvinists and Lutherans,
and not till the Jesuits returned in 1577 did the
government take an active part in the suppression of
the new faith. The Protestants rose in revolt led
by Prince Bocskay, of Transylvania, and compelled
the king to grant freedom of conscience and liberty
of worship (1606), and these articles of treaty were
incorporated with the laws of the land by the Diet
(1608). When the king made an attempt to cancel
the whole treaty he was deposed and his brother
Matthias was raised to the throne. The state of the
evangelical churches in Hungary remained, however,
very uncertain for several centuries, till in 1781 the
Edict of Toleration was granted by Joseph II. This
placed Protestants in all points on an equal footing
with Eoman Catholics. Eeligious freedom has been
maintained ever since.
We may, however, note in passing that the variety
of religion represented in Hungary has added one
more factor to the complications of the inter-racial
problem — since the Eoman Catholics have been in a
large majority and in closest harmony with the rul
ing house of Hapsburg; the Eastern Orthodox have
held tenaciously to their faith and have been to a
large degree influenced by the relation of church and
state in other Eastern Orthodox countries; and be
tween them the Protestants have sometimes been a
helpless minority and at other times have held the
deciding vote in parliament.
Racial agitation. — From the time when the Haps-
burgs gained a footing in Hungary, till the begin
ning of the World War, three distinct racial agita
tions disturbed the peace of both Austria and Hun
gary. First came the effort of Austria to make
Hungary German and Catholic.
Pan-Germanism. — This continued with varied de
grees of intensity from century to century till the
20 THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
unsuccessful revolution of the Hungarians in 1848.
It was intensified by the frequent agitations in be
half of the Roman Catholic Church. It was further
aggravated by the fact that when the revolution
promised success to the Hungarians the Austrian
government called in the aid of the Russian Slavs to
subdue the Magyars.
Pan-Slavism. — Since the Hungarians already felt
the pressure of the Slavs, both north and south of
them they were the more thoroughly roused and
alert to scent the Pan-Slav movement. Here again
we must note the religious factor, for allegiance to
a nation professing the Eastern Orthodox faith in
volves also allegiance to the Eastern Orthodox
Church.
Pan-Magyarism. — Under such circumstances it is
not strange that there should have been all along
a strong Pan-Magyar movement in Hungary.
Though for centuries a minority of the population,
the Magyars had been the largest single nationalistic
element. They had been the most aggressive, most
coherent and most progressive element; and by all
odds the most masterful in administration among
the diverse elements of the Hungarian population.
The fears which agitated them have found confirma
tion in a remarkable way in recent historv. Austria
which sought to rule by playing off tTio Slav against
the Magyar has been dismembered by the Slav till
only one province remains German. And Hungary
by the same influence has been reduced from a -popu
lation of eighteen millions to five and a half millions
and from a territory of 109,216 square miles to
24,605, the size of West Virginia.
The Revolution of 1848. — Three names stand out
prominently in this effort to raise the people to
higher standards of living and to the enjoyment of
greater freedom : Stephan Szechenyi, Francis Deak
and Louis Kossuth. Szechenyi was of aristocratic
MAGYAR HISTORY AND CHARACTERISTICS 21
lineage but sincerely interested in the welfare of
the common people. He was a member of parlia
ment, and labored faithfully in behalf of the people
both in and out of parliament for 15 years, but he
sought mainly to improve their living conditions
and to counteract the Germanizing influence of the
Court in Vienna, without aiming at any constitu
tional changes. Kossuth, on the other hand, though
also of noble birth, was a son of the poorer class of
the gentry who support themselves by their own
exertions, and so was in touch with the common
people, a real "commoner."
After 1840 the bulk of the nation and especially
the small gentry whose predominant influence was
making itself felt were unwilling to follow Szech-
enyi, and became ardent followers of Deak and Kos
suth. These men felt that economic reforms were
not sufficient without a modern constitutional gov
ernment. Kossuth was the editor of a newspaper
and when the Diet in 1832 forbade newspapers to
print reports of its deliberations, Kossuth wrote out
these reports, had them copied and distributed
among the common people, and when the govern
ment sought to bribe him to silence he asserted his
independence and defied the government. The re
sult was his imprisonment for 3 years, during whicE
time he prepared himself by the study of English to
carry Ms cause to the free nations of the west.
After being released lie began the publication of the
Pesti Hirlap (still in existence) and through it "elec
trified the masses who were always rea3y to give
their unconditional support to his bold and far-
reaching schemes."1
Magyar characteristics.— Chief and most promi
nent among the characteristics of the Magyar is his
intense and persistent patriotism. As quoted in an
1Vambery, History of the Hungarian Revolution.
22 THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
article published in the Saturday Evening Post of
June 12, 1920, he dates everything back a "Thou
sand Years,'7 and makes this a basis for all present
and future nationalistic endeavor. His patriotism
has all the faith, fervor, determination and hope of
a religion. In fact it has been so interwoven with
the religion of the country as to be almost in
separable from it. The question springs to mind
whether his patriotism has not partaken of the fatal
ism of his eastern ancestors and the predestination
of the Calvinistic religion which most of the Protes
tants profess.
It was aggressive nationalism which won them a
place in Europe; that found expression in the
Golden Bull; that armed them against the Turk;
that again and again thwarted the purposes of their
Hapsburg emperor-king; that inspired the revolu
tion of 1848; that upheld them during the dark
period from 1848 to 1867; that grave purpose and
impulse and power to the wonderful development of
Magyar government, culture and life during the last
half century; that now maintains them under the un
certainties of the present world upheaval; that gives
them hope after defeat in war and the threatened
loss of 66% per cent of their country, reducing it
from 109,216 to 24,605 square miles.
Temperly, in Westminster Review, January, 1908
(p. 4), says: "The Magyar race, none admires more
intensely their virility, capacity and energy, their
geniality and winsome qualities as a nation. In the
region of politics the record of the Hungarian gov
ernment since 1867 is full of great achievement suc
cessfully executed. No nation has had more fire and
vigor, more sturdy love of independence, etc."
Magyar assimilating power. — Though much has
been said recently about their oppression of the
lesser nationalities there has also been considerable
willing acceptance of Magyar life, manners and cus-
MAGYAR HISTORY AND CHARACTERISTICS 23
toms by people of the sub-nationalities. Many of
these may have done so for preferment at the Haps-
burg court but since the Hapsburgs were never much
liked by the Magyars there must be some other ex
planation. It provokes a Magyar to-day to tell him
that some of his greatest heroes were of these na
tionalities. Kossuth, their great liberator of 1848,
a true Magyar, was the son of a Slav. Petofi, their
poet of liberty during the revolution, was also of
Slovak ancestry. " Intermarriage has been so com
mon that it would be hard to find a Magyar who has
not the blood of one or more of the sub-nationalities
in his veins. Those whose mother-tongue is German,
Slav or Roumanian enjoy perfect freedom in the
use of their idiom. . . . When the abolition of the
privileges of the nobility overthrew class distinc
tions in 1848 all those who had received a good edu
cation, of whatever nationality and rank of society
became Magyars in tongue and in sentiment. Even
children of foreigners recently settled in the coun
try have become Hungarians in the first genera
tion."2
On the other hand another writer says: " Their
Chauvinism is almost a disease, although sur
rounded as they have been by enemies, excessive pa
triotism has helped save the race from extinction. ' ' 3
Notable achievements. — Among the notable
achievements of the Magyar government since 1848
2 Delisle, in Hungary of the Hungarians.
Quotations from Delisle are given prominence because he is a
recent English writer of 1914 who seems entirely impartial. In
his preface he writes "Some writers have sought to obtain the
goodwill of the Hungarians by flattering them and their land.
I prefer to regard the Hungarians as a people too magnanimous
to be influenced by doubtful means; too great to be offended by
honest criticism; too intelligent to resent the telling of a truth
when sometimes it happens to be disagreeable."
8 Patterson, Arthur J., The Magyars : Their Country and In
stitutions, p. 53.
24. THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
may be mentioned the overthrow of class privilege
which exempted the magnates and nobles and a long
list of professionals and clericals from taxation and
put heavy burdens on all other classes ; the reclaim
ing of waste lands which largely increased the cul
tivable acreage and prevented devastating floods
which cause loss of crops on the farms and death in
the cities on the river banks ; improved the literacy
of its people from 1880 to 1890 as the accompanying
table shows :
1880 1890
Per Cent Per Cent
Germans 68.25 79.63
Magyars 53.56 72.52
Slovaks 39.27 60.36
Servians 37.25 48.38
Roumanians 11.01 23.88
Ruthenians 8.64 17.78
(Delisle, Hungary of the Hungarians, pp. 213, 214.)
created a labor bureau for peasant labor; established
accident and old age pensions; created a building
fund for peasant homes on the farms ; and more re
cently (1912) enlarged the franchise.
Schierbrand. recent writer (1917), says of the
different races in both countries, "If each of them
could but contribute to the general life his best quali
ties what a gain that would be to Europe" and of
the Magyars he writes : " If the Magyar would con
tribute his eloquence, his political tact and skill of
administration, his poetical and dramatic fire, etc.,
what a gain it would be !"
Chapter II
PRESENT CONDITIONS IN HUNGARY
(A) POLITICAL SITUATION
It is well nigh impossible to write about the pres
ent political situation in Hungary. The only source
of information is a series of pamphlets published
by a Commission of Protestant Hungarians to The
Hague in 1919. We quote at length from one of
these pamphlets entitled, " Backgrounds of our
Church Crisis. " Under the head of "Our Country,
Our Churches and the War," we read: — "Our na
tion was not even in her interior affairs in posses
sion of her full sovereignty, but had to endure the
autocratic tendencies of the court and of bigger and
smaller political bosses subservient to the lat
ter. . . .
"Though we had a Parliament performing most
constitutional formalities, this Parliament was by
its origin and composition but a parody on the real
feelings and intentions of our people. . . .
"The will of our people could not be freely ex
pressed at elections; ... we were not masters of
our national destinies even at home, not to speak of
those abroad.
"We had no efficacious check whatever on the con
duct of the forei.m affairs of our country. The only
means of control was the delegation of the Hun
garian Parliament before which the foreign min
isters or their representatives appeared. This body,
consisting largely of Lords and high officials, met
only once a year (if it met at all) and adjourned at
25
26 THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
the end of a few days' session after merely deliver
ing some prearranged speeches. Within the last ten
years the Court managed to shut off from our coun
try all adverse criticism of her own policy. ' '
Then came the World War, and the methods of
the court to secure the help of the Hungarian na
tion. ' ' The slogan of loyalty was given out, the men
drawn to the colors and the country placed under
martial law. . . . When the war became a clear-cut
issue between free nations and autocracy and when
the men in the ranks had time to ponder over the
affairs of their country, . . . many went over to
the pretended enemy while others remained only be
cause of a sense of military duty and loyalty which,
was more strongly developed in them. . . ."
Effect on emigration from U. S. — We can form
some idea of the present effect of the political sit
uation from statements of Hungarian pastors and
foreign-exchange bankers in America. The former
report that large numbers of their members have
gone home during the first six months of 1920.
Some estimates run as high as- 20 per cent. For
eign-exchange bankers do not keep record of racial
bookings but estimate that about 10 per cent of the
Magyars in America will go home. They estimate
further that most of those going are from Rou-
mania and go because their families or relatives
need their presence and help.
Unrest in America. — Since the Peace Conference
assigned to Czecho-Slovakia, to Jugo-Slovakia and
to Eoumania the larger part of the territory for
merly belonging to Hungary many of the Magyars
in the dissevered provinces are in very serious and
uncertain situations. These write to their relatives
and friends to come to their aid. This causes much
unrest among Magyars in America. In every
Magyar colony money is being collected for the aid
of their families and relatives at home and in many
PRESENT CONDITIONS IN HUNGARY 27
instances husbands and fathers here are induced
by letters from home to return for their protec
tion.
Present indications as to emigration from U. S. —
Letters received from those who have gone home
are likely to stem the outgoing tide, for more fre
quently than not they bring information of great
disappointment and severe suffering of which num
erous examples might be given; one will suffice.
Mr. Perzsotzy of Johnstown, Pa., had been in
America for fifteen years. During this time he had
been sending home money regularly for the support
of his family who declined to come to America be
cause the children were getting along well in the
schools and one of the sons was a student for the
ministry at the breaking out of the war. Mr. Perz
sotzy became an American citizen and hoped to
bring his family over with him so he returned home
early in 1920. He found his son disabled and his
family in extreme poverty. To make matters worse
he was himself arrested and is now in prison be
cause he had left the country in the first place be
fore having finished the term of his army service.
His experience is likely to deter any other Magyars
in Johnstown from going home.
The better informed Magyars in America say the
result of present conditions in Hungary will be a
very large migration from the dissevered prov
inces, and that unless conditions in the territory
remaining to Hungary improve very soon the only
escape from intolerable conditions will be emigra
tion either to North or South America, and that the
evident preference will be the United States.
The report of the Commissioner General of Im
migration for 1919 is interesting on the subject but
inconclusive, there being reasons for emigration
from the United States and equally strong reasons
to expect a large immigration.
28 THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
(B) ECONOMIC CONDITIONS
The economic development of Hungary has taken
place within the last fifty years. Hungary by na
ture is deprived of several factors necessary for
economic development. She is largely an agricul
tural country; she had only a very small seaboard
before the war, and this by artificial arrangement,
and has none now. She was restricted by some of
the conditions of the Ausgleich or Compromise of
1867, by which she was required to sell her agricul
tural products under free trade conditions to Aus
tria and get her manufactured products from Aus
tria under trade protection to the latter.
Government aid. — The present government, how
ever, is wide awake to the economic interests of the
country and has recently passed a number of acts to
develop the economic resources of the country. The
government welcomes foreign capital for the pur
pose, and offers favors and concessions to foreign
ers to locate their plants in the country. More than
500 such firms have been assisted since 1902 and
they in turn have found employment for more than
15,000 Hungarians. The result has been that she
has secured the latest discoveries and inventions as
applied to industry and has in return secured also
a large number of trained men among her own
people ; the government making it obligatory to em
ploy Hungarians whenever such can be secured.
The government spent no less than $6,000,000 to se
cure the above results.
Industrial schools. — A number of industrial
schools have been established. " There were in the
year 1914 four high grade industrial schools,
twenty-three handicraft schools, one industrial
school for girls and five artisans' schools, the whole
number accommodating 18,500 pupils. Besides
these there are 460 apprentices' schools with 66,300
PRESENT CONDITIONS IN HUNGARY 29
pupils. " The progress resulting is remarkable, for
in 1869 only 9.4 per cent of the workers were em
ployed in industries; in 1914 the percentage had
risen to 15 per cent.
Industrial insurance. — There has also been legis
lation helpful to the workers. In 1891 a law was
passed requiring all factory hands to become mem
bers of the sick fund which guaranteed them free
medical attendance, medicine, and sick pay, as well
as confinement allowance in case of wives, and de
frayment of funeral expenses at death. The em
ployer paid one-third and the employee two-thirds
of the contribution. This was changed in 1907 so
that each party paid one-half of the contribution.
Postal Savings Banks. — Post-office Savings Banks
were established in 1886. For the first five years
they were not popular and were run at a loss, but
since then they have become a safe and popular
help to the people and by the end of 1911 they had
780,000 depositors and held deposits to the amount
of over $24,000,000 for the year. Other institutions
patterning after these banks swelled the amount of
deposits to almost $600,000,000, or an average of
about $360 for each depositor.1 These facts about
economic conditions are mentioned because they
have an important bearing on the customs of the
Magyar people in America as applied to thrift,
economy and benevolent cooperation.
(c) SOCIAL CONDITIONS
To understand why there has been so large a
migration from Hungary during the last fifty years
we must study the social as well as the economic
and political conditions from which this migration
sprang.
1 See Hungary of the Hungarians, Delisle, pp. 254-270.
SO THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
Society in Hungary. — Society in Hungary was di
vided for centuries into four distinct classes: (1)
The magnates, or greater nobles, who secured their
titles and their estates from the king for some spe
cial service rendered in times of storm and stress.
They have been therefore more closely allied with
the royal court in Vienna and Budapest. They are
even charged with having changed their language
and their religion in order to be in favor at court.
As a result they have lost the favor and respect of
the lesser nobles who once were on friendly terms
with them.
Nobles. — (2) The Nobles are the landed proprie
tors who came into possession of their titles and
estates centuries ago, because they bore arms in the
conquest of the land. They are called the backbone
of the country, who have held to the soil through all
vicissitudes. They are the great middle class, the
progressive class in Hungary, and are noted for the
sincere and liberal hospitality with which they en
tertain. The magnate does not manage his farm;
the noble is proud to do so and his wife shares in
the duty. He supervises the work on the field; she
takes charge of household affairs. He is usually
well read and speaks several languages. A knowl
edge of English has become quite common among
this class.
Peasants. — (3) Next come the peasants or farm
laborers. They may be divided into two classes:
Beres, or those employed for the whole year, and
the Betyars, who serve for a few months during the
busy season. The former are considered a part of
the family and are usually well cared for and
kindly treated. They occupy one end of the table,
while the farmer and his family occupy the other.
The Betyar or occasional farm hand does not
fare so well. He works for wages and these are
low and vary in amount according to season. The
PRESENT CONDITIONS IN HUNGARY 31
amounts paid in 1906 were in spring time 34.4
cents; in summer 53 cents; in autumn 37.8 cents,
and in winter 26.4 cents, being an average of 37.9
cents per day or $2.27 per week. Of course, this in
cluded board and lodging, but both were of the plain
est sort. The result was low standards of living,
low morals and the least desirable class of farm
labor.
Tenant farmers. — Another class of peasants are
the small tenant farmers. Farms in Hungary are
either very large or very small. Four classes of
farms are designated: Dwarf (from 1 to 5 acres),
6.15 per cent of the arable land; small (5 to 100
acres), 48.77 per cent of the whole; middle (100 to
1,000 acres), 14.22 per cent of the whole; and large
(over 1,000 acres), 31.19 per cent of the whole.
There are 1,500,000 farms averaging 2% acres, and
4,000 averaging 4,630 acres. Large estates include
practically all the forests ; arable land is much more
in the hands of small proprietors and renters.
More than half the arable land is owned by small
holders. Middle sized farms are being bought up
by land speculators and sold in parcels at exorbi
tant profit to small holders who got the money from
friends in America.
Tradespeople. — (4) The last social class to con
sider is the Tradespeople of the towns, and the
laborers of public improvements. The former con
sists largely of Germans and Jews, for the Magyar
is not remarkable for his business capacity. At any
rate he is not a match for either the German or the
Jew, which two nationalities have captured the
greater part of trade and industry. Many Magyars
were, however, driven into the city by adverse eco
nomic conditions on the farms. These came largely
from the peasant class, who sought labor at better
wrages on the government projects of reclaiming
\vaste lands and building river retaining walls — a
32 THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
work which was practically completed about the
years 1886 to 1889. Their only resource after this
was in the factories in cities, which were few in
number, or to migration to America.
The government was not blind to the necessity of
keeping its peasant population on the farm, but for
a time the magnates and nobles were not willing to
pay the price. After the revolution of 1848 the
nobles surrendered many of their ancestral privi
leges for the common good. Among these was the
exemption from all taxes which they in common with
the magnates enjoyed. The magnates refused simi
lar action and since then there is little social fel
lowship and considerable feeling against them both
by the nobles and the peasantry.
Farm laborers. — It was the custom of farm labor
ers to hire out in groups to work on the farms near
their resident villages. There was no permanent
human relation between them and the land owners
for whom they worked, so they were influenced
more and more by labor agitators to shirk respon
sibility and in 1890, after several seasons of bad
crops which prevented the land owners from pay
ing the demands of ever-advancing wages, there was
a great strike of farm laborers. In 1904, about
100,000 of them migrated to America and thousands
of others went from the country into the city. Then
the government took matters in hand and organized
a farm bureau that could furnish 10,000 farm labor
ers, who could be sent wherever needed, i.e., strike
breakers under government control. For the good
of these laborers the government furnished reading
matter and entertainment ; revived the old farm and
country fairs and festivals ; secured better housing,
and provided a sick and old age pension, etc.2
2 Booker T. Washington, The Man Farther Down, pp. 92,
93, 94, 95.
REFORMED CHURCH AND PARSON AGE, TOIJiDO, OHIO.
MAGYAR CHURCH OF DEBRECSZIN, HUNGARY
.
I I2l£ll|f
g lljpll!
I slfljjil
* ^ |^xl^||^
1 1 ;|ijgj|
a M
SI
h
PRESENT CONDITIONS IN HUNGARY 33
The farm laborers who sought work in town and
city fared little better than their fellow countrymen
who remained at home. For a time the government
furnished labor on projects to reclaim marsh land
and to control rivers in time of flood. This both
furnished labor for thousands of unemployed men
and in turn secured thousands of acres of land
which formerly lay waste. This work was, how
ever, practically complete by 1890, so the men em
ployed upon it were set free to seek employment in
the towns and cities or resume the quietness of
country life from which they had emerged. The re
sult was a glut of the labor market in the city and
much loafing in the country. Migration to America
was preferable to either.
Housing of farm laborers. — The government act
of 1905 passed by recommendation of the minister
of Agriculture, Dr. Daranyi, provided for the better
housing of agricultural laborers which is worth not
ing. It provides for the building of cottages by the
government, or the providing of the material at cost
for such buildings. The cost of material varied
from $165 to $185 per cottage, to be paid back to
the government in ten to fifteen annual payments;
the peasant himself to erect the building. Each cot
tage must have a plot of ground of from 1,000 to
1,200 square yards. In case the government builds
the cottage it will cost from $155 to $310 and is to
be paid for in from twenty to thirty annual pay
ments. In 1905, $12,000 was expended for such pur
pose; a year later the amount was increased to
$63,000. In one year there were built 10,943 cot
tages. One specification of the law is that during
the period of its being paid for no alcoholic bever
ages are allowed to be sold on the property.3
3 Booker T. Washington, p. 95 seq.
THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
EDUCATION
State schools were established in 1875, but before
that there had been many noted church, municipal,
and private schools. The latest available statistics
show the following:
Number of Number of Number of
Kind of School Schools Teachers Pupils
Elementary
Roman Catholic 5,305 9,431 710,799
State 2,744 5,291 316,005
Parish (Municipal) 1,417 4,314 265,094
Reformed 1,903 2,110 204,822
Greek Oriental (Uniates) . . 1,723 2,320 148,162
Evangelical 1,338 2,317 137,514
Eastern Orthodox 1,963 2,207 132,574
Jewish 466 903 35,594
Private 308 21,636
Unitarian 36 301 2,021
Colleges, etc.
State Colleges 125 237 25,000
Teacher Training 89 8,000
Classical Colleges 178 . 3,341 54,199
Realskola 32 710 9,540
Universities 59 12,000 x
of science 2
of technology 1
of law 10
of theology 46
1 1914-15.
Museums. — Anthropology, Commerce, Technol
ogy, Industrial Arts, Agriculture, Geology, all at
Budapest. Many of the principal towns have
museums hardly inferior to these.
Libraries. — The National with 1,420,000 volumes
and manuscripts. The Academy with 200,000 vol
umes and manuscripts. The University with 400,000
volumes and manuscripts.
PRESENT CONDITIONS IN HUNGARY 35
What results have these several grades of schools
attained I
The literacy of the people is given as follows:
By Religion By Nationality
Per Cent ljer Cent
Jews (can read) . . . 83.03 Germans 79.63
Evangelical 82.26 Magyars 72.52
Reformed 75.52 Slovaks 60.36
Roman Catholic . . . 68.26 Servians 48.38
Unitarians 64.95 Roumanians 23.88
Eastern Orthodox . 23.86 Ruthenians 17.78
Greek Oriental
(Uniates) 20.83
The result of all this educational endeavor for the
last fifty years has given Hungary high rank among
the nations of Europe for educational and cultural
standing. We quote from Hungary of the Hwi-
garians, p. 217.
" Hungary with her 20,000,000 of inhabitants,
ranks to-day (1913) next after Germany and France
for her cultural means and the earnest efforts she
puts forth in the interest of popular enlighten
ment. ' '
Illiteracy of immigrants. — Illiteracy in the home/
land as a whole was 18 per cent in 1910, while thalk
of the farms was of necessity larger. Compared )
with the literacy statistics of America, Magyars fall
short about 9 per cent. We have, however, only
meager statistics about the Magyars separate from
the immigration statistics of Austro-Hungary.
Statistics from census reports for the years 1899 to.
1909 credit the Magyars as follows :
Total number over 14 years of age 282,740
Total of those who could not read 32,170
Percentage of the illiterates 11.38
Compared with these figures are:
36 THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
Per Cent
Polish 35.4
Roumanian 34.7
Slovak 24.3
Bohemian 1.7
Until 1867, education was entirely in the hands
of the clergy. It will be seen from the table on
page 34 that the Elementary schools are still
largely parochial. The marked disproportion be
tween the number of theological schools and those
of science, law and medicine is due to sectarian
schools. Out of 49 theological schools in 1900, 29
were Roman Catholic, 4 Eastern (Greek) Orthodox,
5 Uniate (Greek Oriental), 10 Protestant and one
Jewish.
There is no trace of literary production in the
Magyar tongue before the twelfth century. Pre
vious to that time all publications were in the Latin
language, and until the close of the eighteenth cen
tury, Latin was the language of the court, the
higher schools and worship. The first alphabet for
the Magyar language was a Latin one, invented by
early missionaries. The monasteries became cen
ters of arts, handicrafts, new methods in agricul
ture, and focuses of civilization. The earliest trans
lations were of legends and books of the Bible.
Later came folk-tales, folk-songs and folk-sagas.
Gutenberg's Bible was printed in 1456. An almanac
was published in 1457. A few years later almanacs
were published in Hungary under King Matthias.
The Reformation inspired great literary produc
tion. Epic, lyric and dramatic poetry and ballads;
novels, short stories, satires, and philosophy were
produced in this period. The first newspaper in
Magyar was founded by Rath in Pressburg in 1780.
The golden a^e of Magyar literature was the thirty
years preceding the Revolution of 1848. To this
period belongs Petofi, the great national poet, and
PRESENT CONDITIONS IN HUNGARY S7
Jean Arany, Szasz and Vorosmarty, poets of inter
national fame. Arany translated Shakespeare,
Tasso and Goethe, and Szasz translated Moliere,
Hugo, Dante, Shakespeare, Tennyson, Goethe, Schil
ler and Heine. The great novelists of the period
were Jokai, Kemeny and Eotvos.
(D) KELJGIOUS CONDITIONS
In writing on this phase of the subject we wish to
acknowledge our debt to an English book of joint
authorship by L. Kellner, Madame Paula Arnold,
and Arthur Delisle, published by the Pitmans of
London, in 1912. We also acknowledge our debt to
a number of Magyar Protestant missionaries, Eevs.
Alex. Ludman, Alex. Kalassay, Alex. Harsanyi, and
Louis Bogar.
Since the promulgation of the Ausgleich or com
promise agreement with Austria there has been re
ligious freedom in Hungary for all phases of Chris
tianity, but not all the religions have secured the
same help from the government. While all were
free, not all were recognized by the state. From
the eleventh century till the Kef ormation, the Hun
garians bore undivided allegiance to the See of
Borne. The Slavs, however, in the meantime had
requested the (Greek) Eastern Orthodox Church
to send them missionaries and their request having
been granted the Slav provinces of Lower Hungary
were in the early part of the thirteenth century re
ceived into the (Greek) Eastern Orthodox Church.
Later on, some Greek priests with their people went
over to the Roman allegiance. These are now
known as the IJniate or Greek Oriental Church.
They anoint the sick, baptize by immersion, admin
ister communion in both kinds, and the clergy
marry. It SPPHIS strange that such concessions
should be made by the See of Borne and the ex-
38 THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
planation is given by Count Julius Andrassy as:
"The Hungarians never developed that zeal m per
secution 01 heretics which tne ir'ope expecieci of
them. In spite of most urgent requests to the con
trary they tolerated the J ews in the country and did
them no harm." The dogma of papal iniallibility
(1872) was published by only one Hungarian Bishop
and he was compelled to resign his see. It is not
strange therefore that a people of such independent
spirit should take readily to the doctrines of the
Reformation and that the Protestant Church began
in Hungary before 1523, and has grown to a mem
bership of almost four millions, including those of
all racial elements of the population.
Though the Magyar is passionately tenacious of
Ms individual liberty he yet submits in a large de
gree to the dictates of those in authority and among
few people does the minister, or priest, or the officer
of the state exercise such power.
The king of Hungary has alwavs been the head
of the church but he has delegated his ecclesiastical
authority to three archbishops and under these are
numerous bishops and lesser clergv, representing
the various religions : Roman Catholic, Eastern Or
thodox (Greek), and Protestant.
The Hungarian government until its downfall,
however, kept a controlling hand on the affairs of
the church. The Minister of Public Instruction is
also the Minister of Religion. He is appointed by
the king and his views on matters, religious and ec
clesiastical, must be known to the king before he
gets his appointment. It was a foregone conclusion
that he would be of the same religion as the king,
a Roman Catholic. "The Catholic priest, the Prot
estant pastor, and the Jewish rabbi are practically
on the footing of state employees, the amount of
their salaries, emoluments, and pension allowances
being fixed by the government and paid out of a
PRESENT CONDITIONS IN HUNGARY 39
fund raised by a tax per capitem." 4 Everybody, ir
respective of denominational affiliation pays this
tax. In one sense therefore everybody in Hungary
belongs to some church. Even strangers living in
Hungary for some months will be asked to register
their preferences and be assessed on the tax list un
less exempted by special request. Delisle, the au
thor of the book referred to, gives this experience :
When the official came to inquire about his religious
affiliation he wrote ' ' Congregational' ' on the ''Iden
tity Form." By and by he received a demand note
for the payment of one pound, ten shillings, about
$7.50. He said: "I never trouble these people, never
go to their churches, I receive nothing from them,"
and the document goes into the waste basket. A
fortnight later a collector calls in person and should
the citizen remain obstinate, the collector will pro
ceed to appraise certain articles of his furniture as
a preliminary to removing them if the amount be
not paid within eight days from the date of the
visit.
Under such regulations the religious census sta
tistics, we may conclude, are fairly accurate, al-
thouo-h we cannot say so much about the effect upon
the reli,2rious life of the people.
It is usually supposed with reference to our alien
population in America that the Protestant element
among: them is a negligible quantity. However, this
may be with reference to the aliens in general, it is
not correct with reference to the Magyars.
The following statistics are quoted from the Hun
garian Census (1910) :
Per Cent
Roman Catholics 9,919,713, or 51.5
Uniate (Greek Oriental) 2,815,713, " 14.6
Reformed 2,441,142, " 12.7
Eastern Orthodox (Greek) 1,854,143, " 9.6
4 Delisle, Hungary of the Hungarians, p. 211.
40 THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
Per Cent
Evangelical (Lutheran) 1,288,942, or 6.7
Jews 851,478, " 4.4
Unitarians 68,568, " .4
Baptists and others 14,760, " .1
This table gives the statistics for the respective
religious bodies irrespective of language, so it must
be compared with another table to arrive at the esti
mated number of Magyars belonging to these re
spective religions:
Taking the respective religions separately it is
found that:
Per Cent
Speak Magyar
Unitarians 99.09
Reformed 98.24
Roman Catholic 60.50
Evangelical (Lutheran) 28.56
Eastern Orthodox (Greek) 13.39
Greek Oriental (Uniate) 1.39
By comparing these two tables we find there is in
Hungary the following religious distribution of
Magyars :
Per Cent
Roman Catholic 6,001,547, or about 60
Reformed 2,398,177, " " 24
Eastern Orthodox (Greek) 248,269, " " 2.4
Evangelicals 110,333, " " 1.2
Unitarians 67,944, " « .68
Jews and others 999,700, " " 11.72
Of course, this is only an estimate and must be
taken as such. On this basis we may, however,
safely count that about 25 per cent of the Magyars
are Protestant Christians.
THE ORGANIZATION OF THE REFORMED CHURCH OF
HUNGARY
It will be helpful in under st an din z Mae^ar mis
sion work in America to cast a erlance at the organi
zation of the Protestant church in Hungary.
PRESENT CONDITIONS IN HUNGARY 41
Districts. — The government of the Keformed
Church of Hungary was at first based on a geo
graphical distribution. There were five districts
each with its own peculiarities of organization.
1. — The Transylvanian, established in 1553 with
David as bishop.
2. — The Transtibiscan, established in 1562 with
Melius as bishop.
3. — The Cis-Danubian, established in 1570 with
two Classes but both under one bishop.
4. — The Trans-Danubian, at first under the direc
tion of two superintendents, was made into one dis
trict with one bishop in 1616.
5. — The Cistibiscan was first organized into four
Classes with one president in 1648, but was united
into one district in 1735 when Szentgyorgyi was
elected bishop.
Episcopacy vs. Democracy. — These facts are given
to show that there was a tendency from the more
democratic toward the episcopal organization dur
ing more than 150 years. In general the congrega
tions in Upper Hungary followed the Genevan plan
of government while those in the southern districts
adopted the episcopal form of government.
Double presidency. — This divergence of plan led
to a compromise between the princes and the advo
cates of presbyterial form of government by which
there was a double presidency of Classes and Dis
tricts (Clerical and Laical). The result was that the
civil magistrates put two of their chief opponents
into jail, one of them being a professor who had
published a book on Elders Governing the Church.
Between these two tendencies in addition to the op
pressive measures secured against the Protestants
by the "Roman Catholic hierarchy, the churches
passed through many gloomy decades and even cen
turies and, says Prof. Balogh, "The third centen
nial of the Reformation (1817) was observed with
42 THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
dismal prophecies, and the situation was not much
changed till 1844. "
Its organization. — Coming to the organization of
the congregation and higher ecclesiastical bodies
there are some peculiarities. The officers of the con
gregation are chosen from its membership, but
among the elders there is one preeminent : the chief
elder, or as he is called, the curator. He is usually
a man of prominence in the social or political affairs
of the community. His authority, if we may judge
by the way curators in America speak and act, is
often greater than that of the pastor. He will speak
of my church, and my minister, and will tell both
people and minister what to do. Of course, it may
be that he is only more outspoken than some promi
nent elders or councilmen in our American churches.
Classis. — The churches of a specified district in
Hungary, usually a county, constitute a Classis.
Here, too, the double arrangement of officers pre
vails. There is a president, usually a minister,
but there is also a curator of almost equal author
ity.
Synod. — Next higher are the Synods, five in num
ber and here again there is an ecclesiastical presi
dent, a bishop, and a curator, a layman only, since
the Synod is so much higher than a congregation or
Classis, the curator is proportionately a more promi
nent citizen of the territory of the Synod, a baron
or count.
General Synod. — Highest of all is the General
Synod, where the presiding officers are always a
bishop and a baron or count. The bishop, of course,
would have preeminence in matters pertaining to
faith and doctrine, but the curator or civil president
would negotiate all matters pertaining to the rela
tion of church and state or as pertain to affairs in
America. He would carry through all negotiations
with an American church or church board. This at
PRESENT CONDITIONS IN HUNGARY 43
least has been the experience of Boards in America
dealing with Hungarian church officials.
Conventus. — The conventus is an executive body
conducting the affairs of the general church in the
interims of General Synods, which are held only
every ten years. It consists of about sixty members
(ex-officio), all the ecclesiastical and lay heads of the
five synods, and other elected members.
Reference is made to this organization of the
church in Hungary to explain the church organiza
tion among Protestant Magyars in America. The
first fact that impresses a visitor to an American
Magyar church is the authority of the minister and
then little lower is the authority of the curator.
These two men practically "run the church," for
though the election may be somewhat tumultuous,
the minister usually secures the election of his
curator.
Present religious conditions in Hungary. — The
estimate of present religious conditions in Hungary
comes to us from the Hungarian Commission at the
Hague from which we quoted concerning the politi
cal situation.
Beginning with a paragraph on the need of new
spiritual connections the pamphlet says :
"During the last two or three generations the time
came finally for our churches to devote their atten
tion to their own inner upbuilding. . . . Providence
used our brethren in the West to give us the most
valuable help." This came from the great Bible So
cieties of England and America and from the ' ' Scot
tish Mission" of the United Free Church of Scot
land. Of the work of this "Mission" the writer
says: "There is scarcely a single religious move
ment on foot at present in Hungary the beginnings
of which are not linked up somehow or other with
this Mission."
Among other agencies noted are the Presbyterian
44 THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
World Movement; the influence of numerous Hun
garian students from Scottish colleges and univer
sities; the influence of denominations of recent
origin in Hungary such as the Methodist, the Bap
tist and the Seventh Day Adventist. i ' Though small
in numbers and struggling with many difficulties due
to their lack of a historical past in the country, yet
these denominations soon exerted valuable influences
. . . and became stimulating rivals in Christian ac
tivities to the historical Protestant denominations."
This significant paragraph occurs in the pamphlet
quoted: "Unfortunately certain personal factors of
our Reformed Church, in its dealings with the Home
Mission Boards of some of the American sister
churches sadly misread the real spiritual interests
entrusted to them. They adopted an attitude with
regard to the care of Reformed Hungarians in
America . . . which prevented the rich fruits of a
possible cooperation to ripen from the inner devel
opment of their own church." There is promise in
another paragraph :
"All those movements which shape the future of
Hungary's religious life most directly, are inti
mately bound up with the religious forces of Great
Britain and America; such as the Young Men's and
Young Women's Associations, the Sunday Schools,
the Christian Endeavor Societies, the Student Vol
unteer Movement."
"Repeated visits in Hungary of such world-wide
known representatives as John R. Mott, Robert P.
Wilder, Ruth Rouse, ushers in new stages of devel
opment. ' '
From a private letter to the author, dated Febru
ary 10, 1922, written by the pastor of a New York
City Magyar Church, lately returned from Hungary,
a very illuminating view of the conditions of Protes
tant Church life in Hungary is obtained. He says :
PRESENT CONDITIONS IN HUNGARY 45
"The sufferings of the war of four years, and the
indescribable experiences of two revolutions in five
months, and of Bolshevism and the Roumanian in
vasion created a new atmosphere in our church in
many senses. Multitudes, even outside the churches,
disillusioned by all the experiments, both of the So
cialistic and Bolshevik regimes, now turn with more
trust to spiritual things, where they find consolation
after their awful losses of material and other things.
These good signs and the collapse of some of the
Christian Churches (Roman Catholic, Reformed,
Lutheran, etc.) in the cities and the country, awak
ened many of those ministers who themselves were
but mildly interested in Spiritual things before the
war. By these ministers our little group of Gospel-
preachers was greatly interested and last summer,
in one of our frequently repeated and successful
ministers' conferences, we determined to lay the
needs and methods of supply before the General
Synod of the Hungarian Reformed Church just held
in Budapest. We did that. There we started an
Evangelistic campaign for the whole country. For
preparation we established the First Religious Hun
garian Tract Society and started the work with four
colporteurs. As soon as we get from some source
enough financial help to cover the expenses, we will
send out fifteen of our best preachers to the country
for a whole year. The doors are everywhere open
for us. If we do not get enough help we will start
the work with five preachers and they will do this
work for three years instead of one as above pro
posed. The Methodists and Baptists in Hungary are
pushing ahead. This fact is also stimulating the
historical churches of Hungary. The Roman Cath
olic Church is making desperate efforts to get
the leadership in everything (politics, etc.). They
are mourning the failure of the coup of the Haps-
46 THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
burg Charles, the ex-king of Hungary. We have the
hope and assurance of the triumph of the Gospel in
Hungary — or we are lost."
A plea for just judgment.— Before closing this
Study of the Magyar background in Hungary, it will
be worth while, in the interest of history in its wider
bearings, to note the debt which Christian civiliza
tion owes to Hungary as a buffer state between it
and Mohammedanism as that military religion is
represented by the Turk with his greed for conquest,
his disregard for all national and human rights and
religious freedom.
Again and again, in the reigns of Sigismund, Hun-
yadi, and Matthias, and in 1683 with the assistance
of Poland and its soldier king, John Sobieski, Hun
gary drove the Turk back to his own soil. The battle
of Vienna in 1683 broke forever his power and men
ace to Europe. " Honor to whom honor is due."
The Hungarian is no longer a "Hun" but a
Magyar. Why should the Magyar of to-day be meas
ured by or punished for the sins of his ancestors of
a thousand years ago?
HUNGARY'S NATIONAL SONG
Rise, Magyar, is the country's call !
The time has come, say one and all.
Shall we be slaves, shall we be free?
This is the question, now agree!
REFRAIN :
For by the Magyar's God above
We truly swear,
We truly swear the tyrant's yoke
No more to bear.
Alas! till now we were but slaves;
Our fathers resting in their graves
Sleep not in freedom's soil. In vain
They fought and died free homes to gain.
PRESENT CONDITIONS IN HUNGARY 47
But by the Magyar's God above
We truly swear,
We truly swear the tyrant's yoke
No more to bear.
A miserable wretch is he
Who fears to die, my land, for thee!
His worthless life who thinks to be
Worth more than thou, sweet liberty!
Now by the Magyar's God above
We truly swear,
We truly swear the tyrant's yoke
No more to be:.r.
The sword is brighter than the chain,
Men cannot nobler gems attain;
And yet the chain we wore, Oh, shame !
Unsheathe the sword of ancient fame!
For by the Magyar's God above
We truly swear,
We truly swear the tyrant's yoke
No more to bear.
The Magyar's name will soon once more
Be honored as it was before!
The shame and dust of ages past
Our valor shall wipe out at last.
For by the Magyar's God above
We truly swear,
We truly swear the tyrant's yoke
No more to bear.
Written by ALEX. PETOFI.
Translated by WM. N. LOEW.
PART II: THE MAGYARS IN
AMERICA
Part II: The Magyars in America
•
Chapter III
IMMIGRATION
Distribution of Magyars in U. S. — The census of
1920 classifies under "foreign white stock " those
born abroad and those born here, one or both of
whose parents were born abroad. . The Census
Bureau has issued several bulletins concerning our
immigrant population. The first reported 397,282
born in Hungary. The second 598,170 born in Hun
gary and 512,735 born of foreign-born Hungarian
parents, a total of 1.110,905. A later bulletin made
it 1,129,796. It must be remembered that these fig
ures are for Hungary before the war and include
all people from Hungary regardless of race, such
as Roumanians of Transylvania, now a part of Rou-
mania, Slovaks of Slovakia, now a part of Czechc
Slovakia, and Croats, Slovenes, Austrians and
others living in the territory of Southwest and West
Hungary. The last bulletin (issued June 28, 1922)
gives the figures for Magyar "stock" as 268,112 for
eign-born Magyars and 205,426 born in the United
States of foreign-born parents, a total of 473,538.
These are real Magyars, speaking the Magyar lan
guage, and are the people concerning whom this
book is written. Of these 473,538 the state of New
York has 95,000, Ohio 88,000, Pennsylvania 85,000,
New Jersey 47,000, Illinois 40,000, Michigan 26,000,
Connecticut 15,500, Wisconsin 12,000, Indiana 11,000,
Missouri 9,500, West Virginia 7,300, California 6,000,
Minnesota 5,000. No other state has more than 3,000.
51
52 THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
Every state in the union has Magyar immigrants.
The state with the smallest number (46) is Nevada.
The cities with the largest numbers are : New York
City 75,000, Cleveland 33,000, Chicago 31,000, De
troit 23,000, Philadelphia 20,000, Akron, Ohio, 8,000,
St. Louis and Bridgeport, Conn., 11,000 each, Mil
waukee 6,000, Pittsburgh, Pa., 7,500, Newark, N. J.,
and Bethlehem, Pa., 5,500 each, Trenton, N. J., 5,000,
Passaic, N. J., New Brunswick, N. J. and South
Bend, Ind., 4,000 each, Toledo, 0., 4,000, Cin
cinnati, 0., 4,000, Perth Amboy, N. J., 3,500,
Buffalo 4,500, Youngstown, 0., 3,600, McKeesport,
Pa., 3,000, E. Chicago, Ind., 3,000, St. Paul, Minn.,
and Los Angeles, Cal., 2,500 each, Roosevelt
and Garfield, N. J., Baltimore and San Francisco
2,000 each, Jersey City, Lackawanna, N. Y., Eliza
beth, N. J., Johnstown, Pa., Yonkers, N. Y. and Nor-
walk, Conn., 1,800 each, Mansfield, 0., 1,400, Brad-
dock, Pa., 1,300, Gary, Ind., Canton, 0., Columbus,
O., 1,200 each, Barberton, 0., 1,150, Clifton, N. J.,
Alliance, 0., Elyria, 0., Aurora, 111., Racine, Wis.,
1,000 each, Homestead, Pa., Kenmore, 0., Paterson,
N. J., 900 each, Schenectady, N. Y., 800, Omaha,
Neb., Denver, Col., Farrell, Pa., Portland, Ore., 700
each, Whiting and Hammond, Ind., Granite City, 111.,
Hoboken and Bayonne, N. J., New Haven and Tor-
rington, Conn., N. Tonawanda, N. Y., Lakewood, 0.,
and Steelton, Pa., 600 each, Monessen, Pa., Oakland,
Cal., Joliet, 111., Rochester, Tonawanda and Pough-
keepsie, N. Y., and Phillip sburg, N. J., 500 each.
The following cities and towns have less than 500
each: Connecticut, Derby, S. Norwalk, Hartford,
Wallingford, Stamford; Pennsylvania, Hazleton,
Freeland, Mt. Carmel, Sheppton, Weston, Pricedale,
McAdoo, Etna, Star Junction, Sharon, Berwick,
Elizabeth, Barnesboro, Windber, Beaver Falls,
Throop, Brownsville, Winburne, Scalp Level, Shick-
shinny, Vintonville, Ambridge, New Castle, Erie,
IMMIGRATION 53
Duquesne, Seanor, Erwinna, Heilwood, Hoods Hol
low, Yatesboro, Smithdale, Uniontown, Ferris, Ros-
siter, Donora, Puritan, Clymer, Harrisburg, Nesque-
honing, Smithton, Ellwood City, Punxutawney, Dee-
gan, Avella, Masontown, Helvetia, Lloydell, Wilkes-
Barre, Phoenixville, Orient, Federal, McKees
Rocks, Palmerton, Sharpsville, Leechburg, Scran-
ton, Syano, Zelienople, New Brighton, New Alexan
der, Forbes Road, Clairton, Monongahela, Saga
more, Red Hill, Van Meter, Vestaburg, Bruceton,
Northampton, Luzerne Mines, Devault, Canonsburg,
Crab Tree, Iselin, Irwin, Renovo, Expedit, Seminole,
Aliquippa, Altoona, Mclntyre, Epton, Yukon, Board-
man, Forest City, Millenauer, Benscreek, Macdon-
aldton, Edri, Jessup, Lyndora, Cherry Valley,
Studa, Oakdale, Portage, Coatesville, Stove, Argen
tine, Springdale, Connellsville, Hanover Green,
Kingston, Cuddy, Elinor, Shamokin, Benning, S.
Bethlehem, Latrobe, Whitsett, Rankin, Willock, Mar
tin's Creek, Allegheny, Keiser, Minersville, Black-
lick, Snow-shoe, Pottstown, Wehrum, Mutual, Udell,
Daisytown, Burdine, Lebanon, Westmore, Dunmore,
Dickson City, Morrisdale, Traveskyn, Trauger, Oil
City, Broughton, Charleroi, Glenwood, Vestaburg;
Ohio, Fairport, Dillonvale, Hubbard, Murray, Ash-
tabula, Barton, Medina, Collingwood, New Philadel
phia, Drakes, Congo, Clay Center, Maynard, Fair-
port Harbor, Tilltonsville, Martins Ferry, Hollister,
Bradley, Ramsey, Adena, Connorville, Grand River,
Niles, Lansing, St. Clairsville, Painesville, Mid-
dletown, Rossford, Portsmouth, Robyville, New
Comerstown, Bedford, Conneaut, Fremont, Glencoe,
Rayland, Newark, Steubenville, Byesville, Ashtabula
Harbor, Crescent, Glens Run, Gypsum, Startle,
Bannock, Sweden, Jobs, Huron, Warnock, Coshoc-
ton, Modoc ; New York, So. Tonawanda, Witherbee,
Ithaca, Roseton, Depew, Garnerville, E. Kingston,
Portland Point, Kreischerville, Peekskill, New Mil-
54 THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
ford, Hudson, Hastings on the Hudson ; New Jersey,
Alpha, Keasbey, Wharton, Franklin, Chrome,
Franklin Furnace, Oxford, Eoebling, South Eiver,
West Newark, Cliffside, Manville, Carteret, Wood-
bridge, Oxford Furnace, Flemington; Indiana, In
diana Harbor, Clinton, Sullivan, Terre Haute, Uni
versal; Illinois, South Chicago, Westville, Harris-
burg, Zeigler, West Pullman, Divernon, Waukegan,
Clifford, Kincaid, Buckner, Hegewisch, Springfield,
Decatur; Mart/land, Lord, Luke; Michigan, Kear-
sarge, Muskegon Heights, West Detroit, Owosso,
Port Huron, Wyandotte, Mohawk, Kalamazoo,
Grand Eapids, Bellevue, Eed Jacket, Flint, Besse
mer; Massachusetts, Boston, Everett, S. Boston;
Georgia, Budapest ; West Virginia, Eed Jacket, Mor-
gantown, Landraff, Glen Jean, Gary, Benwood,
Clarksburg, Holden, Baxter, Keystone, Montana
Mines, Tarns, Filbert, Farmington, Logan, Minotti,
Ward, Viropa, Dobra, Thorpe, Algoma, Elkhorn,
Hutchinson, Kempton, Wheeling; Virginia, Stonega,
Pocahontas, Dante, Tom's Creek; Delaware, Wil
mington; Colorado, Primero, Pueblo; Kentucky,
Freeburn, McVeigh, Jenkins; Wyoming, Eock
Springs, Sweetwater; Oklahoma, Coalgate; Rhode
Island, Providence.
The following table, showing the distribution of
Magyars in the United States, has been prepared
from the Census statistics of 1920. It contains the
number of foreign-born and native-born Magyars in
each state and the number of counties, cities of
10,000 or more population and other places where
Magyars are found.
From the table below it will be seen that Magyars
are found in every state of the Union. They are
found in more than half of the 2,873 counties and in
584 cities of 10,000 or more inhabitants, as well as
in a great number of smaller cities, towns and rural
districts.
IMMIGRATION 55
1
C/Q
0
rO
I
K|
0
rO
1
s
<u
}t
Z.*!
•^ *"
No. of other places
where found
New York .
53,653
41,758
62
57
11
Ohio
50,304
37,710
75
49
39
Pennsylvania . . .
New Jersey ....
Illinois
49,086
26,697
22,695
36,785
20,572
17248
62
21
73
75
39
42
104
16
41
Michigan
14,921
11,339
80
27
63
Connecticut ....
\Visconsin
8,726
6,623
6,108
5,033
8
67
18
21
5
48
Indiana
Missouri ....
6,172
5,327
4,691
4,349
58
57
28
10
35
50
W. Virginia ....
California
4,130
3,470
3,139
2,627
35
56
9
24
23
40
M. inn eso t a
2832
2152
73
9
74
North Dakota . .
Maryland
1,663
1,285
1,253
977
46
22
3
4
45
20
Massachusetts . .
Virginia
Colorado • .
918
853
763
698
648
580
8
34
46
8
13
5
25
45
Kentucky
715
543
27
7
22
Washington ....
Texas
698
621
530
472
100
28
10
75
Montana
616
468
45
6
41
Oregon
602
457
30
4
30
Nebraska
535
407
54
5
55
Iowa
493
375
Kansas
411
312
62
13
51
South Dakota . .
Florida
386
252
293
192
55
30
2
6
55
25
Alabama
246
187
28
9
20
Wyoming
230
175
19
2
18
Tennessee
215
163
21
7
15
IjOuisiana . .
201
153
22
4
20
Oklahoma
Vermont
205
173
156
131
41
8
10
3
32
7
Georgia
162
123
20
8
17
Idaho
154
117
Delaware .
143
108
3
1
2
56 THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
rO
B
counties
lund
1 §^
" 1
her places
und
s,
A
^^
0 !***
o<
5
'6
•§
£
s s
V ^
•S
J^
Q
Q ^
w-S ^
<-j ^
^
«l
^
^ 3
S o §
^ 3
Dist. of Columbia
145
110
Arizona
140
106
Utah
118
90
Rhode Island . . .
116
88
5
1
6
New Mexico ....
86
65
14
1
15
Arkansas
71
54
24
5
20
Maine
48
35
New Hampshire.
74
34
m
m
North Carolina .
44
34
18
4
15
South Carolina .
37
28
14
4
12
Mississippi
31
23
Nevada
26
20
Total 268,112 205,426 1,411 584 1,248
Migrations in the United States. — There has
always been much moving from place to place among
the Magyar people owing to changes in wages and
kinds of employment. A slight increase of wages
or a more agreeable kind of work may send them
across the continent. A large majority of the men
are single or men whose families are in the home
land. It is therefore easy to go from place to place.
It is, however, impossible to form an estimate of the
magnitude of this migration. The only criterion
would be the quarterly reports of missionaries to
their respective Boards, and from these it appears
that a missionary may report increases or decreases
of membership in his congregation of from 10 to 20
per cent per quarter or possibly a change of 30 per
cent per annum.
Return to Hungary. — In the matter of return to
the home land we have more definite information,
IMMIGRATION
57
for since the year 1907 the government gives by na
tionality not only the number of immigrants but also
the number of emigrants. From government re
ports for the years since 1907 we cull the following
facts :
STATISTICS TAKEN FROM REPORT OF Til E COMMIS
SIONER-GENERAL OF IMMIGRATION FOR 1921.
TABLES XV, XV B, XVIII
Immi-
Year g rat ion
1908 24,378
1909 28,704
1910 27,302
1911 19,996
1912 23,599
1913 30,610
1914 44,538
1915 3,064
1916 981
1917 434
1918 32
1919 52
1920 252
1921 9,377
Emi
gration
29,276
11,507
10,533
18,975
17,575
11,496
14,254
2,262
394
133
41
10
14,619
12,457
Net Immi
Net
gration
Deported
Increase
-4^98
65
-4,963
17,197
i 42
17,155
16,769
304
16,465
1,021
46
975
6,024
39
5,985
19,114
269
18,845
30,284
99
30,185
802
2
800
587
4
583
301
2
299
-9
0
-9
42
2
40
-14,367
. . .
-3,080
Total 213,319 143,532 69,787 874 68,913
From these figures we learn that in the fourteen
years ending June 30, 1921, 67 per cent of the Mag
yars coming in returned home, and 33 per cent re
mained. The net gain for this period by immigra
tion, only, was 68,913.
Since the close of the World War, Magyars have
been returning in large numbers. Some Magyar
colonies report one-third of the people as either hav
ing gone or going. The number returning in the
year ending June 30, 1920, was 14,619, and in the
year ending June 30, 1921, 12,457. In 1920 only 252
came in, but in 1921, 9,377.
58 THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
No one can yet tell what the future will bring. The
uncertainties of Hungarian politics, and the figures
given above make forecasts mere guesses.
The population of Hungary according to the pres
ent proposed alignment of territory for Hungary
makes the population almost exclusively Magyar.
The population of Hungary as it was is reckoned
at 18,264,533 ; that of Hungary as it is to be is given
at 5,509,168. The percentage of Magyars in this ter
ritory will be 89.4 per cent as over against 54 per
cent in Hungary before the war.
Inquiry of Magyars in different cities shows that
those returning are largely from the eastern coun
ties of Hungary, and from agricultural communities
in Hungary.
An illustration shows to what extent this prevails.
A Magyar Eeformed man came to bid farewell to
his pastor while the writer was present. He told of
fourteen other men from the same congregation who
were going on the same vessel. When told of the
unsettled condition in the eastern part of Hungary
he said : i ' That is just why I am going home. I have
a wife and four children living in territory now oc
cupied by the Eoumanians and my wife writes that
they are in great need, having been deprived of most
of their furniture and all the food they had not hid
den away in the fields. What should a husband do
when he gets such a letter! I go. The men who go
with me go for the same reason." Similar condi
tions are reported from every Magyar colony of any
size.
Will they return again? — The answer to this ques
tion usually is: "Yes, unless we find conditions in
the homeland much improved from what they were
when we first came to America." They are hopeful
that this will be the good fortune of Hungary and
therefore the inference is that those going home will
remain. Others say, "No, we are going home to
IMMIGRATION 59
bring our family to America. America has been
good to me, it will also be good for my family.''
No one can tell what the trend of migration will be.
As we have seen even the Commissioner of Immi
gration in his report for 1919 is very uncertain.
Since the new Hungary will be almost exclusively
agricultural, the Commissioner-General of Immigra
tion thinks it is not unreasonable to expect that when
something like normal conditions are restored in
central and western Europe, Hungarian agriculture
will find itself in a highly favorable position, and
this would normally act as a powerful restraint to
emigration. It is therefore only a vague guess what
will be the trend of immigration from Hungary to
the United States.
Chapter IV
CONDITIONS IN AMERICA
(A) ECONOMIC CONDITIONS
The moral and industrial status of the Magyar in
America is according to Prescott F. Hall, Immigra
tion, p. 61, "higher than that of the Slavic races, but
they are more high-strung and nervous and less
adaptable, for example, than the Slovaks. . . . And
they do not readily assimilate or adopt our citizen
ship. " Magyars are credited with about $16 per
capita when they come to America. While here they
are industrious and send home large sums of money
for the benefit of their families or other relatives.
One out of thirteen is said to be a skilled laborer.
Social effects of economic conditions. — This is a
difficult estimate to make. Eichmond Mayo-Smith of
Columbia University well says: "We can compare
the constitutional and administrative systems of dif
ferent countries and say which unites the greatest
security for life and property with the greatest lib
erty of the individual. . . . But there is no adequate
expression for the degree of morality, or even its
respect for law, much less for the tone of its social
life and the loftiness of its social ideals. . . . We
are in the same position when we try to measure the
social effects of immigration. ... It would be ab
surd to trace effect back to specific cause or say that
certain desirable things are an inheritance from our
American ancestry and that others, undesirable
ones, are the result of immigration. We can only
study tendencies and distinguish certain character-
60
CONDITIONS IN AMERICA 61
istics of the American people before the immigration
commenced and say whether we are preserving or
losing them."
The same reasoning pertains to the Magyars in
America. We must bear in mind that a very large
percentage of them come from the farms of Hun
gary and that in the homeland they enjoyed less edu
cational opportunity than was enjoyed by their more
fortunate fellow countrymen of the towns and cities.
As probably 72 per cent of the Magyar immi
grants were agriculturists before they came to
America we find most of them employed here in un
skilled labor. They are found mostly in mines and
factories where they at least begin as laborers,
though they soon work their way up to better pay
ing positions.
Housing conditions. — These changes in occupation
were no doubt brought about by the opportunity
to earn higher wages. They have not, however, re
sulted in higher standards of living. When the men
worked in the mines they lived mostly in company
houses and of late years the great coal companies
have housed their workmen in better houses and sub
jected the tenants to occasional visits of an inspector
to see how they live. Besides the house, they usually
had a small plot of ground which furnished vege
tables for the family. This applies notably to the
great coal companies of western Pennsylvania,
where the tenants are encouraged to keep the house
and lot clean by the gift of prizes for the best look
ing yard and in several instances by affording spe
cial bathing facilities.
When on the other hand these men move to the
manufacturing town or village they live in rented
houses located in the foreign section, where they
must pay exorbitant rents for unsatisfactory and
often unsanitary houses and as a consequence they
crowd the house with boarders till beds are occupied
62 THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
by two shifts of men : one by day and the other by
night. An exception to this rule is found in South
Lorain, Ohio, where the town is well laid out with
broad streets and neat houses on broad lots.
As a rule the Magyar housewife is neat and clean
and very proud of her culinary skill so that if she
has a fair chance she keeps the house clean and the
table well supplied with nourishing food. Prof. Ed
ward A. Steiner in the Outlook for August 29, 1903,
says of the Magyars in Cleveland, 0. : ' 4 Some 20,000
live round about the great steel mills. Although
street after street is occupied by them I have never
seen a house that showed neglect. ... A large
Catholic Church, a Greek Catholic Church and a
flourishing Protestant Church show that the Magyar
does not neglect his religion. A weekly paper keeps
him in touch with the affairs of the day both at home
and in America. ' '
There was in 1906 in New York City a Hungarian
Home and Free Employment Office, which, during
the year 1907 found employment for 1,407 Hungar
ians, distributed as follows :
237 in Coal Mines..
288 in Factories.
270 in Brick Yards.
300 as Porters and Domestic Servants.
312 as Farmers.
All were sent to Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio,
New Jersey, Connecticut, and West Virginia. The
average wages for all of them were $1.46 per day.
Wages. — " Wages vary greatly in the same indus
try. They do not depend so much upon their ef
ficiency as upon the character of the industry in
which they work. . . . Magyars in cotton mills get
about $8.92 a week, but in iron and ore they earn
$13.96,^ and in oil refining $14.61. The best wages
are paid in mines, glass works, oil refining, cigar and
CONDITIONS IN AMERICA 63
tobacco factories, slaughtering and meat packing
houses and on the docks. " *
Industry and thrift. — The amount of money sent
to Hungary from 1900 to 1906 in postal money or
ders is as follows :
Number of orders sent 7097
Sum total of money $249,885.37
Average per order sent $35.21
Average per year $41,647.56
What proportion of this was sent by the Magyars
it is of course impossible to tell as the immigrant re
ports did not differentiate races till the year 1907,
but we may infer that at least one-fourth of this
amount was sent by Hungarians, or about $62,471.34.
Savings. — The Magyar is not remarkable for his
financial ability. He is industrious and honest but
he is rather free in the spending of money. His
home is usually well furnished, his table is well sup
plied ; his wife and children are well clothed ; but his
hospitality often gets the better of him. There is
an adage among Magyars to the effect that "The
last man closes the door," i.e., when the purse is
empty and the owner must leave the home in poverty
he closes the door.
The average of deposits in thirty-one immigrant
banks investigated by the United States Immigrant
Commission showed the aggregate amount deposited
to be $209,190 for 3,196 depositors, or an average of
$65.45 per depositor. The Magyar stood at the bot
tom of the list with a credit of $52.74 while the
Greek reached an average of $115.90. We should,
however, say to the credit of the Magyar that he
mistrusts the immigrant bank and that he sends
home large sums of money through the postal au
thorities.
1 The New Immigration, p. 69.
64 THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
The very purpose of their coming to America is
to improve their economic condition. It would be
interesting to know the per capita amount they save,
but since this is impossible we may note that some
years ago the writer inquired of the Postmaster of
Irwin, Pa., where at that time many Magyars
worked in the mines, what amount of money was
sent to post offices in Hungary. The accommodat
ing official reported an average for six months as
being $3,400 per month, or an average of $72 per
order. A more recent (1919) estimate at the same
post office is $109 per order.
It is true among the Magyars, as among all immi
grant people in America, that every able-bodied
person must work. The result is that children are
sent to the mine or the mill as early as the law
permits, and the number of producers is limited
only by the number of children in the family.
The following table gives a comprehensive view
of social and economic conditions of the Magyar
working man in America.
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DATA BY PERCENTAGES
(COMPARED WITH NEIGHBORING PEOPLE)
•*» i i
SS 'rS $
IH *•!
11 .* JE, <X> S
Political Condition
Naturalized
33
11
46
9
9
First papers
16
16
28
14
13
Literacy
Speak English ...
56
46
66
51
33
Can read
90
91
99
71
82
Can read and write . .
83
90
96
69
81
Gabriel Dokus Sr. European Trained Gabriel Dokus Jr. American Trained
TYPICAL MAGYAR MINISTERS, FATHKR AND SON
MAGYAR REFORMED SINGING CI.UB, TOLEDO, OHIO.
CONDITIONS IN AMERICA 65
h '-2 o ^
»^
^ 2
g £%», £<
^
0 °»
O
0 ^
B«S S1
*4-^,
^ S£
***** CO
**~-,'S
^*»2
11
«*.a
II
<O V
11
^ §
M ^
!|
|£U
P
p
o
v o
*«'
Occupations at home
15
7
29
3
5
54
66
31
81
74
Laboring
10
12
10
8
11
Trade
3
I
2
.6
3
Households
Average number of
persons
In household ....
6
7
5
8
12
In room
1.4
2
1.18
2
3
In sleeping room . .
2.5
3
3
3
4
Keeping Boarders
Per cent of house-
33
54
9
60
80
Residence of Wives
In Europe
23
43
8
59
74
In America . . . .
77
57
92
41
26
Kind of Employment in
Industries, percen
tage of workers
5.2
'*
Iron and steel
..
5.4
']
\\
Car building
3.5
Electrical supplies . . .
2.9
Sewing machine fact .
t
3
"'
''
'*
Weeklv Income in Cash
Men
$11.92
$11.65
$13.07
$11.37
$10.00
$ 790
$ 7.74
$ 9.28
$ 7.57
Belong to Trade Unions
Native Americans . . .
. 14.1
. .
. .
. .
. .
Foreign born
13.4
9.7
4.8
5
0
(B) SOCIAL CONDITIONS
Neighborhood life. — A study of Magyar neighbor
hood life is very interesting. Every neighborhood
66 THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
differs in some respects from every other. In the
early history of the neighborhood most of the peo
ple came from the same neighborhood in Hungary,
and so transferred the old neighborhood peculiari
ties. Brother sent home for brother ; father sent for
son; son for father. Next came mother or sister
or other relatives. In the meantime neighbors in
the old community learned by letter of the land of
liberty and opportunity and cam© to be neighbors
here.
Neighborhood spirit. — Neighborhood spirit is pe
culiarly strong among the Magyars, and usually it
clusters about the Church. This results in help to
the church in memory of the home land. Two illus
trations will suffice: The Protestant congregation
in Homestead, Pa., is composed largely of people
from one county in Hungary (Ungh), but not all of
the colony belong to the congregation here. The
neighborhood spirit, however, prompted the people
to offer to erect an iron fence around the church,
property as a remembrance of the home community.
It was supposed to cost $400. It really cost $900,
but was paid for on the day of dedication. All
things pertaining to a church or church property
must be dedicated, be it fence or bell or finial to the
spire. Of course, a dedication is also a day of
recreation.
The Magyar colony of Martins Ferry, Ohio, comes
from another county in Hungary, where different
customs and a different spirit prevail. Here there
is not such attachment to the church but more in
terest in social community life. This found expres
sion in the erection of a Magyar House, which is
used by the Benevolent Association and for social
purposes. The Protestant people or Roman Cath
olic or Greek Catholic alike have the privilege of
using the hall for religious service on Sunday morn
ing, only the brass band may be practicing in an
CONDITIONS IN AMERICA 67
adjoining room. Frequent dances and dramatic
entertainments serve to preserve the old-world com
munity spirit.
The newer colonies are more varied in their per
sonnel. They are composed more largely of men
and women who have come from the older Magyar
communities in America in order to get better wages
or better living conditions. Probably the most
characteristic of such colonies is that of Akron,
Ohio, which has grown with the rapid growth of the
city. The result is that there is more Americanism
manifest, but also more unrest and contention
among the people. Protestant Ministers, here,
complain that the people are hard to get along with
and do not respond readily to the ministrations of
the church. The Protestant minister observing this
has done his best to have the people enter Ameri
canization classes, and he himself teaches the com
munity classes.
Relation to the old country.— The attachment of
the Magyar to the homeland is very strong. In an
swer to a question as to why this continues in
America when the people left the homeland because
of the trying conditions in which they had lived,
the answer given was: "The Magyar people al
ways loved freedom but could not have it because
of Hapsburg rule and the submission of the nobles
of Hungary to Hapsburg influences. We have ever
hoped for freedom and in 1848 almost got it. We
hope for it still and when we get it we will go home
to help preserve it." They revere their historic
heroes with great devotion. Nothing will bring
them to their feet and invigorate their singing like
the Magyar national hymn and their folk songs.
All Magyars in America apologize for their part
in the World War. They say they were dragged
into the great war by a pro-Hapsburg government
against the will of the people; that when the war
68 THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
broke out the Hungarian troops were stationed on
the western front and the Austrian troops were
stationed in Hungary for the purpose of suppress
ing any revolutionary attempt. Now that the war
is over and the nation is under a new government
it is hoped that freedom will be secured and that a
new day is dawning for the Magyar race.
Sympathy for the homeland. — All the colonies of
Magyars in America, through their churches and
lodges, are showing their sympathy for their suf
fering countrymen and relatives by sending home
very liberal sums of money and by earnest
endeavors to secure from the League of Nations the
restoration of the dissevered provinces. We limit
ourselves here to a brief statement of the liberal
support they are giving to the war sufferers in the
homeland. On the occasion of a visit to the Magyar
Reformed Congregation in Toledo, 0., during the
month of February, 1920, we learned that the three
Religions : Roman Catholic, 1,500 members, Eastern
Orthodox (Greek), 500 members, and the Reformed,
500 members, would send home next day the sum of
$3,333 each, and that by the end of May, they would
send home $10,000 more. More recently all the
Magyar colonies in America have sent home large
sums of money to secure the return of war prisoners
from Russia.
Relation to Americans. — Of the Magyars as of all
immigrants it is true that they keep very much
aloof from Americans. There are numerous rea
sons for this. First, they have their own old-world
ideas, and being very proud of them as having been
of the dominant race in the old country, they do not
freely mingle with Americans. It has been said
that the Magyars coming through the gateway of
the nation, Ellis Island, are greatly different from
other immigrants in that "they show an upstanding,
independent spirit far above most immigrants." It
CONDITIONS IN AMERICA 69
is well to know that they maintain this spirit long
after they have passed the gateway. In the next
place, they say they have received hard treatment
from Americans with whom they have come in con
tact both in economic, social, and even religious
association. And lastly, their pride prompts them
to live here in full expectation of going home again.
Only about 15 per cent of them took out naturali
zation papers before the war as over against
33.0 per cent of Slovenians, 24.1 per cent of He
brews, and 21.9 per cent of Lithuanians. Why
should they seek to mingle freely with the Ameri
cans, if they did not wish to remain here, and espe
cially if the Americans did not wish them either to
become American or to associate with them. It
must be borne in mind in this connection that all
immigrants of the laboring class are unwelcome to
the American laboring class, and that the higher
classes in America do not freely associate with the
laboring classes either foreign or American born.
Since the war the number of naturalized Magyars
has reached about 30 per cent (estimated from vary
ing figures).
There was in fact very little done by the Ameri
cans before the war to show the foreign-born any
of the better characteristics of our American society
in any of its relations. We left them severely alone,
and they felt it. It is worth noting that where the
Magyars did come into contact with American life
they made good. Employing corporations speak
highly of them. A number of years ago, during
the time of the great strike at Homestead, Pa., it
was said of the Magyars, "They did not strike;
they stopped work after notifying the corporation
that they wished to quit for their personal safety
and would come on again as soon as the danger had
passed. " The corporation has ever since then
taken interest in its Magyar workmen and has
70 THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
favored them in their church work. The citizens
of the town, too, recognize their readiness to cooper
ate in civic improvements.
Since the war there are also numerous occasions
when Magyars and Americans have cooperated in
civic betterment and in religious services. Ex
amples of this were enjoyed by the writer about
two years ago in East Chicago, Indiana Harbor,
and Whiting, when the Methodist people of Indiana
Harbor joined with the Magyar Reformed people in
East Chicago, in an afternoon Americanization serv
ice, and the latter returned the compliment in joining
with the Methodist congregation in the evening in
a bi-lingual service in Indiana Harbor. It was also
the writer's privilege to take part in similar serv
ices in Lorain, 0., where Magyars and Americans
joined in Americanization services on Sunday after
noon and Sunday evening and ended with a Magyar
supper in the Magyar schoolroom at which the ad
dresses were given by prominent men of the city,
English and Magyar. At Bridgeport, Conn., a sim
ilar occasion was graced by three congregations,
their pastors and their choirs, the Presbyterian, the
Congregationalist and the Magyar Eeformed, all in
the Magyar Church, where the congregation cele
brated its twenty-fifth anniversary.
It is certain that all these occasions aided in bet
ter acquaintance and closer association in civic and
religious affairs in the future.
Moral standards. — In writing about the moral
standards of these people in America it is necessary
to take into consideration the changed conditions in
which they live. At home 68 per cent of them lived
on the farms and led the simple life characteristic
of the country. In America more than 75 per cent
of them live* in the large cities ; and they live in the
foreign section. Magyars have a peculiar love of
the country and try to enjoy its sights and sounds
CONDITIONS IN AMERICA 71
even in the city. Plants and flowers and birds are
everywhere in evidence in the Magyar colony; but
in these colonies also are in evidence crowded tene
ments and rooms suffocating with the presence of
boarders. True, the Magyars are not as much given
to taking lodgers as some other nationalities, being
the sixth on the list, yet, their rating is that 53.6
per cent of them keep boarders. In all the unfavor
able conditions in which they live, "The percentage
of domestic infidelity and immorality among Mag
yars is not greater than it is among English-speak
ing people in the same social status" (Roberts — -
New Immigration, p. 141). It is the general tes
timony that the morals of the home are maintained
in a remarkable degree considering the conditions
surrounding the home.
Honesty. — Merchants testify to the honesty of the
Magyars. A baker in Scottdale, Pa., stated that
on one occasion during a strike in the coke region
a Magyar customer disappeared and was not seen
for more than a year, when he entered the store and
explained that he had worked in West Virginia and
could not save enough to come and pay his bill until
now. The bill was $28.50. Some time later another
came from a distance to pay a balance of $0.68.
The comment of the baker was: "Americans don't
come back." The testimony of employers is that
Magyars do an honest day's work for fair wages.
Drinking. — Probably the most serious vice among
the Magyars is drinking, but this, too, is more an
American than a Magyar product. It is well known
in western Pennsylvania, that until prohibition went
into effect the whisky agent and the beer agent can
vassed the foreign colony at stated times and took
orders which were delivered to the home and to the
boardrno- honqp on Saturday a^prnoon. There is
not nrn^Ti difference between fifteen .Arnpricans sit
ting around beer kegs on Sunday afternoon at 4
72 THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
o'clock or the same number of Magyars. The kegs
will be empty and the men will be full. Worse even
than this was the fact that boarding-house keepers
got a percentage for the use of a large supply of
beer and so young men who abstained were soon
told to get board and lodging elsewhere. Saloon
men tried in every way to cultivate the habit. Dan
was a saloon man in a large city. When the
new pastor came from Hungary, Dan told him the
best place to become acquainted with his parish
ioners was the saloon. The young minister accepted
the advice, till he found himself taken in to drink
and to gamble away his salary. It needs to be said
that the young minister got his eyes opened in time
to save himself from ruin. The liquor traffic is
banned, but the evil remains though the Magyar
ministers and the prominent men among them are
fighting the illicit traffic. The first Magyar book on
Temperance was written by Kev. Dr. A. Harsany, of
Homestead, Pa.
Regard for law. — Little wonder if the Magyars
with other nationalities, have small regard for
American laws. At home they were under strict
restraints and were severely punished for infraction
of law. Here they escape punishment by giving a
bribe, or they lose respect for the officers of the law
because they are not fairly dealt with. A constable
in a small town had brought in a Magyar to the
office of the squire charged with fighting. The
charge was established; the man was fined $5 and
costs; the bill was $9.50. When the constable saw
him take a $20 bill out of his pocket he told the
squire to add $10 to the bill.
Morals of the children: the second generation. —
In common with all alien people the Magyars have
great difficulty in maintaining the morals of their
children. Parents are likely to lose the control of
their children when they reach the age of self sup-
CONDITIONS IN AMERICA 73
port. Girls hire out in families and usually adopt
the style of living and the habits of their employers.
They no longer obey father and mother. Boys go
to the mill or the mine and swagger and carouse
with the proceeds of their labor. Much credit is,
however, due these parents for instilling into their
children much of moral and religious instruction,
which safeguards their morals. It is safe to say
that the children of the Magyar people know more
about the requirements of the moral law than do the
average of American children of the same age.
John Lengyel had a general store in the coke town
of Trauger, Pa. Some years ago he entertained the
superintendent of missions on Sunday. The near
est Sunday School was a mile away along a country
road. This was John's excuse for not sending the
children. John resented the suggestion that his
children were losing very necessary religious in
struction. He called them, four in number, from
the kitchen into the sitting room and had them
stand in line to recite the Lord's Prayer; the Apos
tles' Creed; the Ten Commandments; the Twenty-
third Psalm ; the Beatitudes, and then they sang the
Twenty-third Psalm all in Hungarian. With a
twinkle in his eye, he asked, ' ' Does it matter in what
language we know these things? Can the Ameri
can children of their age, from 5 to 10, do any
better!" Frankly, they cannot. "Who taught
them?" John answered, "Mother and I, on Sun
day afternoon."
In addition to this home instruction, the Magyar
children are sent to the minister for from four to
six weeks' instruction in the teachings and duties
of their religion. But they need it all and more,
for the work they will do when men, the conditions
surrounding them, and the temptations assailing
them will, if anything, be more seductive than is the
experience of the American-born child. Magyar
74 THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
pastors testify that comparatively few of their
young people make moral shipwreck; but they
lament that so many of them become negligent of
their religious duties and spend Sunday in the park,
on the auto journey, or in the socialists' club. To
hold them to the church they encourage special
meetings for young people and permit them to have
entertainments in the school-room of the church on
Sunday evenings.
Care of the Orphans in America. — No people care
better for children than do the Magyars. No people
are more kindly disposed toward orphans. Hith
erto, however, the Magyar orphans in America were
cared for either in the homes of kindly disposed
friends or neighbors or they were sent to American
orphans' homes to be cared for by the general
benevolence of the American people or the liberal
ity of the churches maintaining such homes. When,
however, the Magyar people had done so much for
the war orphans in Hungary, they also determined
to establish an orphans' home for the needy children
without parents in this country.
The task was undertaken by the Federation of
Eeformed and Presbyterian Benevolent Societies in
the spring of 1921. This organization purchased
a fine summer hotel on the mountainside at Ligonier,
Pa. The location is ideal, the outlook across the
valley is magnificent. The building is compara
tively new, having been erected only eight years
ago. The grounds are large and a good spring of
mountain water is near the building.
The superintendent and his family are very well
qualified for the position they occupy. Eev. Dr.
Alex. Kalassay came to America more than 25
years ago and for about 18 vears was pastor of the
oldest Eeformed Magyar Church in America, in
Pittsburgh, Pa. For the last 15 years he had been
President of the Western Classis of the Hungarian
CONDITIONS IN AMERICA 75
Reformed Church in America. The call of the
orphans was clear enough and strong enough for
him to leave his congregation and take up this new
work.
There are now only about 40 orphans in the
home, but the number is increasing every month
and no doubt before the first year of the home's
history is completed it will be filled to capacity,
about 100 children. No activity of the Magyar peo
ple in America is eliciting so much enthusiasm as
the orphans' home, so its future is well assured.
Organizations. — Magyar people have a genius for
organization. There are besides the great benevo
lent associations in connection with the churches
and mentioned elsewhere in this "study" about 60
organizations, located largely in our cities of the
industrial zone but in reality spread out all over
the country. The objects for which they exist are
"too numerous to mention," but a statement of a
few will serve to show their variety. Among them
are numerous social organizations ; a number of so
cieties evidently intended to perpetuate Hungarian
patriotism; a few educational societies; some ath
letic associations; many industrial and trade socie
ties and possibly several Soviet organizations judg
ing from the names they bear. Most of them seem
to be flourishing and serving well the purpose of
their creation.
It would be interesting to characterize them in
detail, but this is impossible because of the very
nature of such societies, whether English or Mag
yar. Because they are all more or less exclusive
we content ourselves by referring the reader to lists
published by the Inter-Racial Council.
The reports from the officers of the three most
prominent Benevolent Societies show that they have
representatives in various places as follows:
(1) The Reformatus Egysulet (Reformed Benev-
76 THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
olent Federation), of which Alex. Covier of Johns
town, Pa., is president, and Stephan Molnar of
Toledo is secretary-treasurer, reports 7,500 mem
bers, residing in 189 different localities. Since this
society admits to its membership only Protestant
Magyars it is no doubt represented in much the
same localities as the Verhovoy, which admits Mag
yars without distinction of religious affiliation.
(2) The Verhovoy, with 25,000 members, has rep
resentatives in 329 places.
(3) The Bridgeport Hungarian Federation has
7,000 members.
LITERATURE
Newspapers. — There are 68 Magyar newspapers
and magazines published in this country, not count
ing a number of parochial papers published by Mag
yar ministers and priests.
The list includes secular papers in the following
cities: New York City, 11; Cleveland, 5; Detroit,
5; Pittsburgh, Buffalo and Chicago, 3 each; New
ark, N. J., New Brunswick, N. J., South Bend, Ind.,
Bridgeport, Conn., and Youngstown, O., 2 each;
Akron, Cincinnati, Martins Ferry and Lorain, 0.,
Trenton and Passaic, N. J., Philadelphia, Hazleton,
Bethlehem and Johnstown, Pa., Los Angeles and
Oakland, Cal., St. Louis, Mo., and Hammond, La.,
1 each.
Of these three are great dailies — the Sabadzag
of Cleveland and the Nepseva and Elore of New
York. Most of the others are weeklies. Some are
general newspapers, others are trade journals and
one at least, the Dongo, is a comic paper.
The three great dailies run high in the newspaper
world both for the reliability of their news and for
the talented manner in which it is presented. Of
many of the other papers it must be said, as by a
CONDITIONS IN AMERICA 77
friendly writer concerning newspapers in Hungary :
"They leave much to be desired, " both as to matter
and appearance. Editors should use more discrim
ination in accepting articles and should use the
scissors more freely in editing them. The pages of
many Magyar papers in America lend themselves
too readily to unseemly and unprofitable contro
versy. This, at least, is the general criticism of
their Magyar constituency.
There are 12 religious papers — two each in Tren
ton, N. J., Wallingf ord, Conn., and McKeesport, Pa. ;
one each in Pittsburgh and Bethlehem, Pa., Brook-
field, 111., Wallingford, Conn., St. Paul, Minn., and
Cleveland, 0. One is Seventh Day Adventist, one
Eoman Catholic, three Baptist, one Lutheran, one
Presbyterian and Reformed Church in the U. S.,
Hungarian Churches of Trenton, N. J., one, Hun
garian Reformed Church in U. S., one, Hungarian
Reformed Church in America, one, and two are in
dependent. (See Appendix II.)
The editors say the character of the paper is
largely due to the inclination of ministers and other
professional men to publish a paper of their own
if their contributions are not published as they send
them in or as early as they desire. There is a scar
city of Magyar ministers in America, but there seems
to be a superabundance of editors. It is well known
that the refusal to publish an article is followed by
criticism of the paper and lack of interest in it, and
frequently the publication of a personal paper. Too
often this places the editor between Scylla and
Charybdis. Either he must yield to the whims of
his contributors or must see his circulation decrease.
He may leave his chair to a successor and then he
is likely to cease his endeavors in behalf of the
publication.
Chapter V
RELIGIOUS CONDITIONS IN AMERICA
(A) CHURCH WORK AMONG THE MAGYARS
Religious distribution. — From the tables on pages
39, 40 a fairly accurate judgment may be formed
concerning the distribution on arrival here of our
Magyar population, between Catholics and Prot
estants, and between Evangelicals and non-Evan
gelicals.
Readers are referred to those tables rather than
repeating them here.
The Census of 1920 reports 268,112 foreign-born
Magyars in the United States and 205,426 native-
born, total 473,538. According to the foregoing
percentages the Magyars in the United States are
divided as follows:
Roman Catholics 284,122
Reformed 113,649
Jews 47,969
Eastern Orthodox 11,364
Lutherans (Evangelical) 5,682
Unitarians 3,220
Baptists, Presbyterians and others 7,489
The only sources of information regarding the
work American Churches are doing among the Mag
yars in America are the reports of the respective
Mission Boards and Associations. From these we
learn the following facts :
The first Mission Board to take up mission work
for the Magyar people was that of the Reformed
Church in the United States, which began its work
July 1st, 1891, in Pittsburgh, Pa., Eev. John Kovacs,
78
RELIGIOUS CONDITIONS IN AMERICA 79
pastor, and in Cleveland, O., January 1, 1891, Eev.
Gustav Jurassy, pastor. Its work grew apace till
1903, when it had 17 organized congregations with
about 1,800 communicant members ; in addition there
were about 15 filials, or outlying preaching places.
The Presbyterian Church in the United States of
America had also begun work in 1900, and by 1903
had several preaching places and organized congre
gations. It has now (1922) 30 organized churches
and 16 Missions.
A new denomination came into this work in 1903.
Up to this time the Reformed Church of Hungary
did no mission work for her children in America,
but as their number was rapidly increasing by im
migration, the Church of Hungary saw the impor
tance of beginning such work. The nucleus for it
came from the Reformed and Presbyterian mis
sions; the Reformed Church giving up seven con
gregations and the Presbyterian Church five, to the
new organization.
In 1920 this church had 46 congregations and over
9,000 members, the largest element in Magyar
Protestant church life in America. Unfortunately
the division of the Magyar people into these several
branches resulted in considerable friction and hind
rance of the real \vork of a church. Some of the
congregations formerly belonging to the Reformed
and Presbyterian churches seceded to join the
church of their fathers.
The Baptist Church is very active and is doing a
very commendable work among the Magyar people,
having 20 organized churches and 25 Missions. The
Baptists lead in supplying Magyar literature. Other
churches doing good work are the Presbyterian
Church (U.S.), the Reformed Church in America,
and the Lutheran and Protestant Episcopal
Churches, until now as we gather the reports they
are as follows:
80 THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
CQ
ii
§ <X>
1'i
jl
S
S*t^
II
Reformed Church in the
US
42
15
7,459
4,035
Reformed Church in
America
2
3
144
86
Presbyterian Church, U.
S A
31
14
3,370
1,828
Presbyterian Church, U.
s
3
17
326
113
Lutheran Church . . .
7
5
957
300
Baptist Church (N)
Protestant Episcopal
Church
20
10
25
1,200
1,387
1,650
Independent Magyar Re
formed Church in
America
6
1,375
1,400
The reasons for the situation in America are
easily found in the fact that the older denominations
receive them on their declaration of having been
members of the Reformed Church of Hungary, and
thus receive them in groups or colonies, while the
newer denominations usually require a personal re
newal or declaration of faith.
The churches first mentioned are w^ell-known by
the Magyar people at home. The Eeformed Church
in Hungary is claimed to be the largest Eeformed
Church on the continent. Its history dates back to
the times of the Reformation. This allies them to
the Reformed Churches in America. It is a sig
nificant fact that the Reformed Church in the United
States received every congregation by request of
the Magyar people themselves. The same may
probably be said of the Presbyterian and Lutheran
Churches.
OFFICERS OF A BENEFICIAL SOCIETY. LORRAINE, OHIO.
RELIGIOUS CONDITIONS IN AMERICA 81
The doctrinal teaching of the Church in Hungary
is Calvinistic, and so the people when they come to
America readily ally themselves with the Presby
terian Church. Again there is a very considerable
number of Magyar Protestant people in Hungary,
especially in Transylvania, who, though Magyar in
language, are the descendents of German people
who came to Hungary early in the history of
Protestantism, and who are now Evangelical (Lu
theran) and naturally affiliate with the Lutheran
Church in America.
It is, of course, a question as to which method is
preferable. By the former method a much larger
proportion of a group or colony is kept under the
influence of the Gospel; under the latter there is
probably attained a higher degree of Protestant
Evangelical Christianity in the smaller congrega
tion. Sure it is that the churches to which the Mag
yar people have come in groups should hold them
selves responsible for the higher attainment of the
entire group and should spare neither effort or ex
pense to prevent any of them from wandering out
into the world to be gathered in one by one after
they have wandered away. Even now there are
distressing losses from the fold.
It needs to be remembered, too, that it is the cus
tom of most Magyar congregations to count only
the heads of families as members. This indicates
that possibly half of the Protestant Magyars attend
churches and contribute occasionally to their sup
port. Eeliable authorities say there are now in
America about 110 Protestant ministers working
among these people in about 125 different localities.
Much work remains yet to be done for these worthy
people.
In the pages immediately following will be found
lists of Magyar Churches, by denominations, in the
United States. A study of these lists will be very
THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
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RELIGIOUS CONDITIONS IN AMERICA 83
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RELIGIOUS CONDITIONS IN AMERICA 85
STATISTICS OF MAGYAR BAPTIST CHURCHES AND
MISSIONS: ORGANIZED CHURCHES (1922)
Members Adherents
First Hungarian Baptist Church, Akron,
Ohio, Rev. G. Kecskes, 930 Grand St. . . 16 25.
First Hungarian Baptist Church, Bridge
port, Conn., Rev. S. Gazsi, 149 Ash St. 93 40
First Hungarian Baptist Church, Buffalo, N.
Y., Rev. J. Botka, 350 Austin St 45 25
First Hungarian Baptist Church, Cleveland,
Ohio, Rev. M. Biro 152 50
West Side Hungarian Baptist Church,
Cleveland, 0., Rev. J. Matuskovits, 6008
Chatham 66 30
Second Hungarian Baptist Church, Cleve
land, O., Rev. Wm. Dauda, Cor. 118 &
Buckeye Rd 72 25
Hungarian Baptist Church, Dante, Va.,
Rev. L. Yoo, Box 54 15 15
Hungarian Baptist Church, Detroit, Mich.,
Rev. F. S. Fazekas 66 30
Hungarian Baptist Church, Granite City,
111., without pastor 10 10
First Hungarian Baptist Church, McKees-
port, Pa., Rev. L. Stumpf, 139 Diamond
Ave 40 20
Hungarian Baptist Church, New Castle, Pa.,
Rev. S. Bertalan 45 25
First Hungarian Baptist Church, New York,
N. Y., Rev. W. Dulitz, 225 E. 80th St. . . 109 40
First Hungarian Baptist Church, Perth
Amboy, N. J., Rev. S. Balogh, 375 Law
rence St 53 25
First Hungarian Baptist Church, Philadel
phia, Pa., Rev. M. Majorcsak, 1410 Ran
dolph 30 20
First Hungarian Baptist Church, Scranton,
Pa., Rev. G. Gogolyak, 1214 Philo St. ... 15 10
First Magyar Baptist Church, Trenton, N.
J., Rev. A. Toth, 2343 Wm. St 52 30
First Hungarian Baptist Church, Home
stead, Pa., Rev. Arthur Stumpf, 149
Fourth Ave 40 20
First Hungarian Baptist Church, Walling-
86 THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
ford, Conn., Rev. M. Szilagyi, 50 Pros
pect St 32 15
First Hungarian Baptist Church, West Pull
man, 111., Rev. A. Petre, 11803 Emerald
Ave 63 25
First Hungarian Baptist Church, Elyria,
Ohio, Rev. L. Revcsz, 403 W. River St. 32 25
Hungarian Baptist Church, Harrisburg Pa.,
Damian lovan
Cincinnati, 0
E. St. Louis
Total ' 1,046 505
STATISTICS OF MAGYAR BAPTIST CHURCHES AND
MISSIONS: MISSIONS
Members Adherents
Canton, Ohio, Rev. J. Kovach, Harrisburg
Rd 17 15
E. Chicago, Ind., Rev. E. Revy, 3247 Mell-
ville Ave 30 15
E. Hammond, Ind., Rev. E. Revy, 3247 Mell-
ville Ave
Gary, Ind., Rev. E. Revy, 3247 Mellville
Ave
Dayton, Ohio, Rev. F. Ver 14 15
Lorain, Ohio, Rev. L. Revcsz, 403 W. River
St., Elyria, 0
Flint, Mich., without pastor 6 15
Lansing
H. Park, Detroit, Mich., Rev. P. F. Schill
ing, 605 Wheeland Ave
Irwin, Pa., Rev. M. Biro, 139 Diamond St.
Duquesne, Pa., Rev. M. Biro, 139 Diamond
St
New Brighton, Pa., Rev. S. Bertolan, New
Castle, Pa
Ellwood City, Pa., Rev. S. Bertolan, New
Castle, Pa
Ward, West Va., Rev. N. Dulitz, 225 E.
80th St., New York
Brooklyn, N. Y., Rev. N. Dulitz, 225 E. 80th
St., New York
Ogdensburg, N. J., Rev. N. Dulitz, 225 E.
80th St., New York
RELIGIOUS CONDITIONS IN AMERICA 87
Franklin Furnace, N. J., Rev. N. Dulitz, 225
E. 80th St., New York
Chrome, N. J., Rev. S. Balogh, Perth Am-
boy, N. J
Berwick, Pa., Rev. G. G. Gogolyak, Scran-
ton, Pa
Youngstown, Ohio, Chas. Bamayai 27 15
Sharon, Pa., Chas. Bamayai
So. Norwalk, Conn., Rev. M. Szilagyi, Wall-
ingf ord, Conn
Roda, Va., Rev. L. Yoo, Dante, Va
Martins Ferry, 0., without pastor 35 20
Rayland, Ohio, without pastor
St. Paul, Minn., Rev. A. Kandler 25 20
Buffalo, N. Y., Jos. Botka
Chicago, 111., Stephen Groza
Chicago, 111., Albert Paxte
Garfield, N. J., N. Kovacs
New Brunswick, N. J., J. S. Fazekas
Total . 154 115
Total members and adherents 1,200 620
STATISTICS OF MAGYAR MISSIONS OF THE
REFORMED CHURCH IN THE U. S. (1922)
S.S.
Congregation — Minister Members Members
Akron, Ohio, Rev. Arpad Bakay 110 60
Ashtabula, Ohio, Rev. Eugene Vecsey 100 65
Bridgeport, Conn., Rev. Alex Ludman 420 350
Bridgeport, Conn., Rev. Komjathy 200 165
Buffalo, N. Y., Rev. Andrew Urban 95 56
Chicago, 111., Rev. Eugene Boros 316 175
Cleveland, Ohio, Rev. Alex Csutoros 332 175
Cleveland, Ohio, Rev. Alex Toth 750 375
Columbus, Ohio, Rev. Julius Hanko 151 58
Conneaut, Ohio, Rev. Eugene Vecsey 50 24
Dayton, Ohio, Rev. John Azary 212 145
Detroit, Mich., Rev. Michael Totli 550 350
Drakes-Congo, Rev. Alex Radacsi 84 30
East Chicago, Ind., Rev. 189 150
Elyria, Ohio. Rev. A. S. Kalassay, Jr 126 75
Fairport, Ohio, Rev. Charles J. Krivulka ... 75 46
88 THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
Flint, Mich., Rev. Beni Jozsa 95 40
Gary, Ind., Rev. Alex Mircse 112 46
Holsopple, Pa., Rev. John B. Szeghy 30 15
Homestead, Pa., Rev. Samuel Horvath 350 95
Johnstown, Pa., Rev. Ernest Porzsoldt 115 40
Kalamazoo, Mich., Rev. Stephen Virag 45 40
Kearsarge, Mich., Rev. 45
Lorain, Ohio, Rev. Francis Ujlaki 280 193
McKeesport, Pa., Rev. Julius Melegh 210 90
New Haven, Conn., Rev. Alex Ludman .... 26
New York, N. Y., Rev. Geza Takaro 485 140
Northampton, Pa., Rev. 28
Passaic, N. J., Rev. Ladislaus Tesrze 238 39
Pittsburgh, Pa., Rev. Edmund Vasvary 300 130
Pocahontas, W. Va., Rev. Andrew Kovacs 45 22
South Bethlehem, Pa,, Rev. Emil Nagy 130 170
South Chicago, 111., Rev. Rudolph Pompl ... 90 25
South Norwalk, Conn., Rev. Gabriel Dokus . . 220 140
Springdale, Pa., Rev. 51 38
Toledo, Ohio., Rev. Louis Bogar 426 251
Tonawanda, N. Y., Rev. Andrew Urban .... 18
Torrington, Conn., Rev. Alex Ludman 22
Uniontown, Pa., Rev. Andor Harsanyi 22 12
Wallingford, Conn., Rev. Bela Kovacs 50 46
Whiting, Ind., Rev. 63 40
Windber, Pa., Rev. Bela Kerekes 130 72
Woodbridge, N. J., Rev. Frank Kovacs 53 34
Total 7,459 4,035
MAGYAR CHURCHES AND MISSION STATIONS OF THE
REFORMED CHURCH IN AMERICA
ORGANIZED CHUKCHES
Peekskill, N. Y., Rev. L. S. H. Hamory, Peekskill 90 51
Manville, N. J., Rev. Andrew Kosa, Manville .... 54 35
MISSION STATIONS
Hudson, N. Y., Rev. L. S. H. Hamory
East Kingston, N. Y., Rev. L. S. H. Hamory
Roseton, N. Y., Rev. L. S. H. Hamory (a brick
yard near Newburgh)
informing, because they will show not only where
the various denominations are working, but how far
RELIGIOUS CONDITIONS IN AMERICA 89
they are cooperating, and whether any localities
where Magyars are numerous are being neglected.
So far as can be learned from the Magyar relig
ious papers there are in America 46 Roman Catho
lic congregations, and about 200 Protestant con
gregations. The Refonndtusok Lapja is authority
for the statement that there are 72 Protestant min
isters in this country. The above estimate of Prot
estant congregations assumes that each minister on
an average serves two congregations. According
to the same authority, the Roman Catholic congre
gations are located by States as follows:
MAGYAR ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCHES
State Places
New York Buffalo, Lackawanna, New York City.
New Jersey Alpha, Newark, New Brunswick, Passaic, Perth
Amboy, Roebling, South River, and Trenton.
Connecticut Bridgeport and South Norwalk.
Pennsylvania Allentown, Connellsville, Farrell, Johnstown,
Leechburg, McAdoo, McKeesport, Northampton,
Palmerton, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, South Beth
lehem, Trauger, Throop, and Windber.
Illinois Chicago.
Indiana East Chicago, Gary, and South Bend.
Minnesota St. Paul.
Virginia Pocahontas.
(B) MAGYAR REFORMED CHURCHES
Having been accustomed to large churches in the
homeland, the Magyar people in America strain
every resource to have fine churches. They are
seldom erected in the midst of the community in
which early Magyar settlers located, but usually in
the most prominent location in the city or village.
The plan is similar to that of churches at home;
90 THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
usually rectangular, with a high steeple in front
and the chancel and pulpit at the far end. The
structure will be two stories in height, the main
auditorium being on the second floor, and intended
to serve for purely religious services only. No
money will be spared in its ornamentation, its ap
pointments and its furniture. It is the delight of
the members of the congregation, men and women,
to contribute something for its ornamentation.
Stained glass windows are usually contributed by
congregations from other cities, by the Benevolent
Society of the congregation, — seldom by a family of
the congregation. Families and individuals will
find opportunity to give other things, such as a fam
ily pew; a hymn board; a pulpit; covers for the
pulpit or for the communion table; or even a pipe
organ. They may also contribute for the outside
adornment of the church ; a bell or even a finial for
the spire. Every one wishes to give something.
The result is that sometimes incongruous things find
their way to the church, such as bouquets of paper
flowers, pulpit covers of inharmonious colors. The
most interesting small gifts are the contributions
of the women, which consist most frequently of
covers for the Communion table. These are always
appreciated because they represent the handiwork of
the donor. They may be of rich white silk as richly
embroidered; or rich lace covers two yards square
which represent a year of the donor's spare time to
make. Being appreciated as they are, they are all
used on every occasion, so that the chalice plates
and cups at the service are usually covered with
from four to eight of them.
Church business meetings. — Business meetings of
all sorts are held in the basement of the church; it
is not so sacred as the auditorium. It is well such
meetings are held in the basement, for they some
times become boisterous. If it is an election that is
RELIGIOUS CONDITIONS IN AMERICA 91
being held, the nominations will be made vive voce
and there will be a right and a left as clearly marked
as in the Parliament in the home land. The nom
inee of one side will be freely characterized by some
speaker on the other and will in turn be answered
by the proposer of the name. The nominee will be
present and will likely resent the uncomplimentary
remarks made about him and may even refuse the
nomination because of them. "All right; that
leaves the way open to nominate some one from the
other side."
Entertainments. — Where there is no community
house the basement of the church is used for enter
tainments. In most cases they consist of dramatic
performances and are given by the young people
of the congregation. These are both interesting
and helpful to the young people. The preparation
for the entertainment brings them to the church two
or three evenings of the week, where they rehearse
under the direction of the pastor or some other
responsible person. The audience to whom the en
tertainment is given consists of the members of the
congregation and their friends. Any one is ad
mitted, but during the time of preparation the per
formers have sold tickets for reserved seats ( ?) so
that late comers must stand. If there is neither
business nor entertainment to bring the people to
the church during the week, the pastors encourage
their men to come to the basement for a social eve
ning which is spent in conversation, debate, games
and smoking. If there are any churches in America
which as a rule make the church a social center more
constantly than the Magyar Reformed Churches we
should like to hear from them.
Old country church methods retained. — Not only
old-country faiths, but also the customs of the
people in which these faiths find expression are
continued m America. Magyar Reformed congre-
92 THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
gations in America are organized after the type
prevailing in Hungary. The people elect their
officers and pastor. The officers are all ordained
and installed as elders, but each is designated to
some special duty. The chief elder is called the
Curator, who acts for the congregation and the
"Presbyterium" official board in all business af
fairs, and is also to stand by and assist the pastor
in the more spiritual duties of an elder. Other
elders are elected secretary, treasurer, and collect
ors. The collectors are to gather all the funds
needed for the support of the congregation. This
official body divides the entire community and even
the vicinity into collection districts which are visited
by the appointed collector regularly once or twice
a month, according to the frequency of "pay-day,"
to receive the money of the members. In addition
to these funds the people give an offering in the
Lord's Day services. For a number of years all
persons who contributed at any time during the year
were counted regular members. Since, however, this
resulted in confusion and frequent contentions, most
of the Magyar congregations now either use the en
velope system of monthly payments and count as
members only those who contribute regularly. Spe
cial offerings are given at every festival service,
and, we may add, even at weddings held in church
during the week, the last named offering being for
the use of the church.
Pastor's salary. — The pastor's salary is usually
fixed at so much per month together with the use
of the parsonage. In addition to this he, however,
gets rather liberal perquisites (Stola) the amounts
of which are designated by the official board; so
much for a baptism, for a wedding, for a funeral,
or for some other specified duty of the minister.
There is considerable dissatisfaction among the peo
ple with reference to this custom, because the
RELIGIOUS CONDITIONS IN AMERICA 93
minister is the chief beneficiary and is sometimes
supposed to receive or even charge unduly for his
services, especially in outlying districts. The min
isters, themselves, are discouraging the custom and
asking for a sufficient support in a specified salary.
The average salary of the Magyar minister cannot
be exactly estimated because of the "Stola" sys
tem, but the Magyar people desire their ministers
to live well and provide liberally for their needs.
A general estimate is that the salary should be
$1,500, parsonage and the "Stola."
The Lord's Day services are of peculiar interest.
The people are unusually devout. All are attentive
and take part in the services. The singing, consist
ing of Psalms, is remarkable for the choral music
used and for the volume of voice with which every
one sings. The congregation stands during the
reading of Scripture. It is the voice of God and
calls for this attitude on the part of the people.
They also stand during prayer. Offerings are usu
ally very liberal, amounting frequently to an aver
age of from 50 to 75 cents per attendant.
The minister. — The minister in the Reformed
Churches of Hungary appears before his people
during the singing of the first psalm, wearing the
"Palast," a cape extending from the shoulders to
the feet. He uses a liturgical order of service with
an occasional prayer prepared and written by him
self. The sermon is based on some scripture
passage rather than on a text, as is the custom
among American ministers; and usually applies to
some present-day subject. Before the Great War
there were frequent references to the aspirations
of the Magyar nation ; since then there is more fre
quent reference to the sufferings of the people and
the comforts of the scriptures. There are also more
frequent references to Americanization and the need
of help from the American Christian Churches.
94 THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
In making these comments it is of course under
stood that the various phases of thought and doc
trine which prevail in America according to denom
ination and school, prevail still more among the
Magyar ministers according to the measure in which
they have studied American conditions and the
teachings of American theological schools.
Catechisation. — The Magyar Protestant congrega
tions and ministers deserve much credit for the
faithful and effective instruction they give the chil
dren before they are admitted into all the privileges
and burdened with all the responsibilities of church
membership. Classes for this purpose are con
ducted every year and frequently twice a year for a
period of from two to three months, during which
they are taught the doctrines of the church, the
psalms and hymns, the occasional prayers for the
home and for the personal use of the individual on
entering or leaving the church, etc., and also a num
ber of Bible stories and Bible history.
Vacation Bible Schools. — In addition to the in
struction by the pastor there are Vacation Bible
Schools conducted each summer during the time of
public-school vacation for the religious instruction
of the young. These are in session for two months
for five hours a day. The instruction is given by
young students. Magyar Deaconesses give special
attention to the welfare of the second generation.
Magyar families, like all immigrant families, live
in surroundings where this is especially necessary.
The only playground in most Magyar communities
is the village or city street. In mining communities
these are mostly muddy lanes during the greater
part of the year, so that under the most favorable
weather condition, it is difficult to keep the children
reasonably clean. The homes from which they come
are often so crowded with boarders and the mother
so busy caring for them that the children do not
RELIGIOUS CONDITIONS IN AMERICA 95
receive due attention. A first duty of the deaconess
is to encourage the mother and in many instances
help her take proper care of her children. Nat
urally she tries to persuade the mother to have less
boarders and give more time to the children. The
result is the opposition of the father to the efforts of
the deaconess.
The alternative is to have either classes for the
little ones who do not go to school or to have school
for all children on Saturday in which sanitation,
cleanliness and order are taught together with sing
ing and needlework to the girls, the result is again
that parents object to the suggestions of their own
children. The vacation schools are therefore the
most effective method of teaching them, for this the
parents want for the sake of the relief it gives the
mother for the time being of the care of the children.
Deaconesses. — Magyar ministers, unless they have
been taught in an American Seminary, know little
of family visitation, except when called to the fam
ily in time of sickness, and this is seldom done.
They even say such visitation on their part is not
desirable and not effective, because the men are
away from home during the day and the women too
busy to receive a call from the pastor. Here the
deaconess is most effective if she works under the
instruction of the pastor and reports to him daily.
The women welcome her for two reasons; because
she is willing to lend a helping hand as may be
needed and because she lightens the monotony of
their lives with her Christian encouragement. The
result of such work is noticeable on the adults, but
more especially on the children, who are encouraged
to love thp deaconess and to attend church and Sun-
dav school.
Deaconess work is not yet accepted by many of
the Magyar congregations, for the reason that a
deaconess trained according to the old-world custom
96 THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
cannot well adapt herself to American conditions
and a deaconess trained in America is not likely to
be in full accord with the minister and his methods
for her work. Indications are, however, that dea
coness work among the Magyar people can be made
very effective for the welfare of the women and for
the safety of the second generation.
Unfortunately the deaconess is exposed to several
hindrances and difficulties in her work. She is not
only hindered by the opposition of the head of the
family, but being a sort of intermediary between
the family and the pastor, she is too often made the
bearer of complaints about the pastor and his treat
ment of the people. The pastor, of course, resents
this to such an extent that recently in a meeting of
pastors action was taken against the employment
of deaconesses, of course, forgetting that it is easier
to legislate in America than to pacify a discontented
people.
The difficulties involved can be illustrated by a
deaconess employed by one of the Reformed Magyar
missions. She is the daughter of an efficient Mag
yar minister in Hungary and therefore understands
the European conditions. When stationed in an
American manufacturing city she visited the fami
lies and sought to help the women and children to
more cleanly and sanitary living. The women
claimed they were too busy to do as requested
because of the numerous boarders they had to care
for. Of course, the deaconess advised the keeping
of less boarders. The consequence was that the
man requested the pastor and his "presbyterium"
to dismiss the deaconess.
" Curators." — The ministers are not the only re
ligious leaders among the Magyar churches. The
curators are to be reckoned with both by the minis
ter and by the members of the congregation. In
civil life the curator is usually the community
REFORMED WOMEN S SOCIETY AT THEIR BUSINESS MEETING
NIGHT SCHOOL MAINTAINED FOR ADUI/TS (STUDYING ENGLISH)
PRESENT BUILDING OF ODDEST MAGYAR CHURCH IN AMERICA, ORGANIZED
MAY 1890, EAST SIDE, CLEVELAND, OHIO.
RELIGIOUS CONDITIONS IN AMERICA 97
leader. He may be a merchant, or a foreign ex
change banker. He has been in several exceptional
cases a saloon-keeper. There are many excellent
men serving as curators, for they are usually the
more intelligent men who are looked up to by their
fellow-members of the church, but they, too, are the
victims of their surroundings. Either their prom
inence and influence becomes a thorn in the flesh of
the minister, or in some cases the minister and cu
rator join their efforts in limiting the freedom of
the people. The curator is practically the head of
the congregation for the time being. It is the
opinion of the writer that it were much better if
the Magyar churches would adopt the custom of
the American churches and have an equality of eld
ers, all serving as advisers to the pastor rather than
one man to hold the office.
(c) THE VALLEY OF DECISION
It was but natural that during the war the Mag
yars in America should be feverishly sensitive to
influences from the homeland, and that they should
also chafe under restraints in America. Their
temperament, their nationalistic attachment, their
patriotism, their anxiety for friends, brothers, aged
parents, all contributed to make them so. Compar
atively few of them had become American citizens
and even in those who had been naturalized the old
flame of Magyar patriotism was rekindled.
During the earlier part of the war, like their fel
low Magyars at home, they considered the war a
defensive conflict against the Balkan Slavs on the
south and the Russian Slavs on the north of them
between whom they were in danger of being
crushed. Well might they look to Austria and to
Germany for deliverance. Later in the conflict,
when it was clearly seen that Germany's world am-
98 THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
bition was her motive for entering the war, the
Magyars found that the course of this ambition lay
right across their fertile plains and along their
beautiful rivers. Toward the close of the war the
Magyars felt that their would-be friends, Austria
and Germany, were sacrificing them for their own
ambitions. Finally came the Versailles Treaty and
with it the loss of 22 counties of Hungary to the
Roumanians and of several counties in the north
and several counties in the south to the hated Slavs ;
and with these went about two-thirds of the Hun
garian population.
All these sad events reacted promptly on the feel
ings of Magyars in America. Their sensitiveness
to them was intensified when we entered the war,
by the consciousness that they were alien enemies
and were under suspicion, — and there was suspi
cion. There had been so much propaganda by the
nationals of Germany that naturally the Magyars
were also suspected. The result was an extensive
propaganda on their part to disprove any disloyalty
to the United States.
The Magyar leaders both in civil and in church
relations sent representatives to our government
for this purpose and on one occasion at least, they
gathered about 2,000 of their people from all parts
of the country to hold a conference in Washington
and to demonstrate with a great parade their loy
alty. The addresses at the conference by men of
their own nationality and by American friends who
had known them long and well, no doubt served a
good purpose, but there had been so many parades
in Washington during the preceding months that
2,000 men made a slight impression, if any, on the
general population of the city.
Another disturbing experience by the Magyars
in America during this time was the knowledge that
all their public assemblies were attended by repre-
RELIGIOUS CONDITIONS IN AMERICA 99
sentatives of our national Secret Service. One of
these men, in answer to the question, "Do the Mag
yar leaders and ministers still compare Magyar
religion and Magyar life and customs with Ameri
can religion, life and customs!" said, "No, not in
these times." "Did you find the leaders and min
isters loyal to the country of their residence?"
"Oh, yes, all except one or two, whom I did feel
like reporting, but simply admonished them."
Not only were the Magyars distressed by condi
tions in the homeland and by suspicions here, but
they were much annoyed by seeing and coming in
contact with the nationals of other countries fight
ing against their friends at home. Some illustra
tions may be interesting:
The writer was standing one evening in the Penn
sylvania station, Pittsburgh, when 500 Czecho
slovak soldiers in their neat uniforms were tearing
away from friends to enter service for their coun
try on the other side. The scene was most impres
sive. It, however, made little impression on a
group of Magyars present, one of whom commented :
"They make too much noise. They don't own this
station." On another occasion a Magyar objected
to his Magyar church paper because it was being
printed and issued from a Czecho-Slovak publish
ing house. Again, a Magyar minister who was re
quested to preach to a group of his own countrymen
who came from a Slovak community and therefore
were more familiar with the Slovak than the Mag
yar language, refused, saying, "they are Magyars
and should be satisfied with the preaching of their
ancestors."
Then came the news that many of their friends and
relatives had been slain or were taken prisoner in
the war, and they were asked to bring relief to sur
viving, mourning, poor relatives. We may well
imagine what a heart-searching time this was. Dis-
100 THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
appointed, distressed and saddened by news from
home; suspected by people about them here; and
everywhere men of other and to them enemy nation
alities crossing their path; longing in many in
stances to go home and yet they could not; willing
in other instances to become American citizens and
they could not. This was not only a time of dis
tress but also a time for decision.
When the United States entered the war and
mobilized our young men for army service and all
our workers for our industries, there was another
test of loyalty applied to the Magyars in America.
They stood it well. Very few of them lost their
jobs and many of them decided for American citi
zenship because of the experience. Quite a number
of Magyar young men entered the army and saw
service in Europe.
Said a young mechanic in Detroit, pointing to a
Liberty Motor on which he had worked: "When it
comes to Liberty Motors, they are the best turned
put. They will work for liberty. I came to Amer
ica as a boy; learned my trade here; married a
Hungarian girl and have two children. I am Amer
ican and love America and will work for her."
Another illustration of loyalty comes from the
home of a Magyar minister in Connecticut. Father
and mother came to America with two sons 25 years
ago. Two more sons and two daughters were born
in America. When the war came the oldest son
was a minister in Ohio; the second son was city
clerk in the city of his residence; another son was
in a commercial office ; the fourth was a student for
the ministry. The city clerk went to Plattsburg
for training and entered the army and served in
France as a volunteer; the third son went with the
first draft and served in France ; the two other sons
were exempted.
Helping the unfortunate. — This time of testing
RELIGIOUS CONDITIONS Jtf . AMEEjCA 101
was not without its blessings. It (teyeto-jsed. the
benevolent spirit and resulted in liberal offerings
for the suffering and sorrowing in the home land.
Times here were good. The men worked full time
at high wages. In their prosperity they did not
forget the necessities of their suffering relatives.
The calls for such help came soon and continued
throughout the war and are coming still. They did
not fall on deaf ears. Liberal gifts were sent home
by individuals, but it was soon found that they did
not always reach their destination. The remedy
seemed to be united effort and the transmission of
funds in larger sums and by more responsible
agencies. So the Magyar churches, — Eoman Cath
olic, Eastern Orthodox and Protestant, held united
meetings to secure funds and then sent them home
through the Swedish consulate or the Bed Cross.
The sums secured in this way were astonishingly
large. The sum total for the country cannot be
given, but the Magyar churches of Toledo held meet
ings and together secured $10,000 in equal parts
from the three churches represented. This was
done on two successive occasions. No doubt other
churches in other places did equally as well.
To that time the beneficiaries of this benevolence
were the people in Hungary bereft of their natural
supporters by the hazards of the war. After the
Versailles Treaty, however, appeals came from the
Eeformed and Lutheran churches in the dissevered
provinces in Transylvania and in Czecho-Slovakia.
Those from Transylvania, now a part of Koumania,
were especially distressing. Churches had been
confiscated, schools and universities had been taken
from the Magyar church authorities, and ministers
and professors had been deposed or banished and
in many instances left to wander about as mendi
cants. The climax of sympathy and benevolence
was reached when representatives from the suffer-
102 THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
ing movinees and members of commissions from
other lands who had gone to investigate and con
firm reports, came to this country and appealed to
the Protestant churches. This appeal not only
brought relief offerings from the Magyars but sev
eral of the large Protestant churches sent special
gifts for relief and the Federal Council of Churches
sent a commission to investigate and to help and
has since then appealed to the liberality of Ameri
can Christians in behalf of their suffering co-relig
ionists.
Return to the homeland. — The irresistible pres
sure of longing became so great that as soon as
possible the stream of emigration began. Husbands
with families, sons with parents, or brothers and
sisters in the homeland were the first to go, — and
go they did, notwithstanding the warnings of
friends and the hardships and dangers awaiting
them. Most of those in the first contingent ex
pected to return to America with their relatives.
A second contingent went when they learned that
the large estates were being divided and sold in
small portions and on easy terms, so they took their
hard-earned savings and invested them in the land
of their birth. The dull times here added largely
to this stream; rather than eat up their savings they
would share them with their poor and needy rela
tives at home.
Their experiences have not justified their expec
tations. If they had come to America without
having served their time in the army they were at
once pressed into service; even their American cit
izenship did not release them from their earlier ob
ligation. Those who purchased land found that
though the land was cheap the taxes were outra
geously high. Those who expected to return to
America found that they could not get passports
and even if they arrived at the port of entrance
RELIGIOUS CONDITIONS IN AMERICA 103
they often found the quota permitted to enter, ac
cording to our present law, had been filled, so that
their relatives, even if they themselves were eligible
for admission, were held up for weeks and some
times for months before being permitted to leave
Ellis Island.
Effect of emigration on Magyar organizations in
America. — This great exodus and the very small
stream of those returning or bringing others very
seriously affected all organizations of Magyars in
America, but the churches suffered most. The
lodges lost members and the dues which they paid.
But the dues were comparatively small sums. Then,
too, the reduced membership also reduced the liabil
ities of the lodges proportionately. With the
churches it was worse. They lost largely in mem
bers; some of them more than a majority. An ex
treme example is shown by the churches in the coke
region of Pennsylvania. A Eeformed congregation
in Uniontown, Pa., reported in 1920 a membership
of 261. It had dwindled to 87 in the next annual
report. The members had been liberal contributors
both to current expenses and to the buying of a fine
church. Some of them had loaned to the congre
gation their savings without interest for a period
of five years. When work in the region ceased the
exodus began. The few members who remained
had little or no work and could not pay their church
dues. Those who had loaned money to the
church and then emigrated called their loans and
left the fewer and poorer members to bear the heavy
burdens. Only the liberal help of the various
Boards of Home Missions made it possible for these
congregations to survive.
But not all the Magyar churches in America could
expect such help. A few of them under the care of
American Protestant Boards had become self-sup
porting and only dire necessity drove them to ac-
104 THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
cept help. More distressing still was the lot Oi
about 29 congregations which had been for about
15 years under the care and support of the Ke-
formed Church of Hungary. When the war came
their financial support was withheld and for more
than two years no help came from the home church.
They suffered the same or larger loss of members
than the congregations connected with the Ameri
can churches. The members remaining were sub
ject to the same adverse circumstances. They
could endure no longer, so in the spring of 1919 they
sought refuge in some American Protestant church.
The time of decision had come.
Growing democracy. — The Magyars like all other
immigrants felt their old nationalistic and ecclesi
astical foundations yielding under their feet. A
new spirit manifested itself. The conservatives and
reactionaries had gone home; the progressives saw
democracy in the ascendant. Monarchies in Eu
rope were toppling; democracies succeeded them.
Everybody in America spoke or wrote about free
dom, liberty, self-determination, self-government
and Americanization. Great Magyar papers like
the Szabadsag (Liberty] joined in the common cry.
The homeland itself had become a republic. Many
young men had been in training camps or had served
in the army in Europe "to make the world safe for
democracy. ' '
The result was a desire to become Americanized
and secure citizenship. Everywhere young men
and even men of middle age joined Americanization
classes. The best illustration of this process was
probably the Americanization work carried on in
Akron, Ohio. The great rubber factories had spe
cial classes. Magyar teachers and one Magyar
Protestant minister were employed and rendered
excellent service. A Commencement was held at
the close of the term in the auditorium of one of
RELIGIOUS CONDITIONS IN AMERICA 105
the High Schools, where the students came and sat
in groups representing different nationalities.
Each group carried an American flag and their own
nationalistic banner. Each nationality took part in
the program, which consisted of recitations by the
several nationalities. The Magyar class was one of
the largest. All the classes acquitted themselves
very well. No doubt equally good work was done
by similar classes elsewhere.
* The second generation. — Growing democracy was
not only manifest in civil relations but also in the
churches. Magyar congregations, Eoman Catholic,
Eastern Orthodox and Protestant alike felt its in
fluence. These churches had existed in America for
a generation. For about two decades they were
served acceptably by priests and pastors from Hun
gary. The relation of these men to their flocks
was the same as that in the homeland. As the peo
ple knew only the Magyar language, they never
went to American churches and seldom associated
with Americans. During the war, either by com
pulsion or by choice they came in touch with re
ligious workers of other churches and of all
denominations. For a decade before that their
children had been in the American schools and some
of them went to American Sunday schools and were
attracted by the people they met and the services
they attended. They were especially pleased with
the singing of our Gospel Hymns. Thus they were
more and more attracted to the American churches
and to the same degree became dissatisfied with the
churches of their parents. Their growing Ameri
can ideas, their association with the American Sun
day school work are now increasingly a disturbing
factor in Magyar church life.
Wise pastors see this and judiciously adapt their
work to the situation. All the Protestant Magyar
congregations now have Sunday schools; most of
106 THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
them have Young People's Societies; many of them
have introduced in the Sunday services some
Gospel songs or some standard hymns. These are
translated into Magyar but are sung to the original
music. The parents enjoy them as much as the
children.
Unfortunately not all ministers and priests see
the coming storm and persist in working as they
ever have done, even though the children are lost
to their churches. Sadder still is the fact that an
unusually large number of these discontented young
people do not enter the English churches and are
lost to the Kingdom of Christ.
"When, however, the war came, the congregations
of the Hungarian Reformed Church in America
were shut off from their source of support and were
at the same time under suspicion of being anti-
American. As all of the congregations had stoutly
insisted on being Reformed in the homeland, and as
a number of them had been organized by the Re
formed and Presbyterian churches, it was but nat
ural that they should apply to these two churches
for admission when the time of separation from
home had come. Requests to that effect were made
by their representatives here of both the Presby
terian and Reformed churches in the spring of
1919, which, however, did not reach them.
During this long interval of negotiation with the
Reformed Church of Hungary, to which they be
longed, and with the congregations here, several
divisive influences in the congregations arose and
several divisive movements were started.
First there was a movement of the larger and self-
supporting congregations to establish an indepen
dent denomination. This failed because only a
minority of the congregations were strong enough
to support themselves; much less could they give
the necessary financial help to the smaller congre-
RELIGIOUS CONDITIONS IN AMERICA 107
gallons who constituted the majority. The project
was abandoned.
A movement then started to affiliate with the
Protestant Episcopal Church. The result of this
movement so far is that of the congregations who
did not enter the Keformed or the Presbyterian
Church, 6 declared themselves independent and 6
have entered the Protestant Episcopal Church.
The result of the transfer of the Hungarian Re-
formed Church in America is therefore that in the
Western Classis, 14 congregations have with two
exceptions united as a body with the Reformed
Church in the United States. The two exceptions
being now independent congregations. Seven con
gregations of the Eastern Classis have united with
the same church. The remaining congregations
have either become Episcopalian or are still inde
pendent. The total membership of the congrega
tions going into the several churches are: to the
Reformed Church in the United States, 19 congre
gations, 6,500 communicants, and 25,600 adherents,
and to the Episcopal Church, 6 congregations and
1,141 communicants.
One cannot but regret the long drawn-out nego
tiations and the various movements which promise
only long-continued contentions in the congregations
and between the ministers and people of one congre
gation with those of another.
(D) FORMS OF RELIGIOUS APPROACH
In considering the forms of religious approach to
the Magyars in America it must be recognized that
they all belonged to some church at home, and that
in the homeland there was little or no transition
from one form of Christian religion to the other.
Furthermore, it must be borne in mind that here
in America the Magyars who were Roman Catholic
108 THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
or Eastern Orthodox (Greek) soon sought and in
many instances secured the organization of congre
gations, and that those belonging to Protestant
Christianity also soon sought help and secured it
from several Home Mission Boards and so from the
beginning were able to organize congregations.
The method of approach must be modified accord
ingly. It must aim at acquaintance with the group,
the congregation. It must recognize the excel
lencies in the congregation before it can correct
whatever failings there may be found in the work
of the Magyar churches. It must give due credit
to the organic character and strength of these con
gregations and then gradually introduce the
changes needed to adapt their work to American
social and religious conditions. The process may
be slow, but its success is assured.
Another method of approach is what may be called
the individual method, that is, an approach to indi
viduals and families irrespective of their former
or present professed church affiliations. This has
not been found very successful among Magyars in
America for the one reason above intimated, aver
sion against proselyting, and the other because it
arouses the opposition of the Magyar community
and especially of the Magyar congregations of any
religion recognized in the homeland, most especially
of the ministers who may fear the disintegration of
their congregations.
Social settlement. — This form of approach to the
Magyar people is usually welcomed as a means of
community betterment and especially as a means of
protection to the morals of childhood. Magyar
parents as a rule will send their children to the set
tlement to learn English; to receive moral instruc
tion; or to become familiar with American customs.
They are not, however, satisfied with social settle
ment work as a means of religious approach either
RELIGIOUS CONDITIONS IN AMERICA 109
to children or adults. They say, "It is good, but
why is it named after this or that church. If these
American churches have these settlement houses
under their own name and by the support of their
denomination, why should not we have such settle
ment houses of our own?"
There are several places where they have actually
undertaken such work. The Presbyterian Magyar
Mission in New York has such a settlement house
of its own on East 116th St. It is supported by
the New York Presbytery, but to all intents and pur
poses it is a Magyar settlement house run under the
direction of the Magyar minister.
The Magyar Reformed Church in Bridgeport has
several times undertaken such work but thus far
could not carry it forward to their satisfaction for
lack of a building. They are now planning to pur
chase a building for the purpose.
The Magyar Reformed Church in Toledo has had
a congregational house in which they have been do
ing such work for a number of years, and they were
probably the first to do Social Settlement work in
the foreign community in that city. They have
done reasonably well, too, but have failed to do what
they desire, for lack of trained workers, and pos
sibly, too, because inter-racial and inter-denomina
tional prejudices have hindered the work.
As a means of showing and exercising the spirit
of American Christianity for the good of alien peo
ple and their community the social settlement is
most commendable. We cannot, however, but re
gret that it is sometimes done under denominational
banners when it would be much more acceptable to
the people and more effective for their good if this
tag were not attached. We fully appreciate what
Peter Roberts says in "The New Immigration,"
speaking of the work of the churches, pp. 318-319:
"If only it could divest itself of the trammels of
110 THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
ecclesiastical bigotry and denominational exclusive-
ness. . . . Every man who believes in the eternal
verities, mourns the loss of faith in spiritual reali
ties incident to the coming of the immigrant to
America, but is it not largely due to the divisions
among men who profess in this enlightened country
to follow the same Lord?"
In a small town in western Pennsylvania with a
population of about 8,000 including the vicinity
where many foreign-born people live, one of the
denominations was so successful that they have
$12,000 or $15,000 left for use in the community.
First impulse dictated the erection of a community
house for social settlement work. More recent
sentiment has caused a pause with the probable re
sult that other denominations will be challenged to
join in the erection of a building more adequate for
the requirements and not limited by any denomina
tional designation. May the project be realized!
Street evangelism. — Evangelism of any sort awak
ens the suspicion and sometimes the reproof or even
the ridicule of Magyars in general. At home it
meant antagonism to the established church, an ef
fort either to discount the sincerity and efficiency of
the minister and church dignitaries or an attempt
to live a life presumably superior without the help
of the church.
The fact as told by the Magyar ministers in
America fe that the Eef ormed Church of Hungary,
while it is evangelical, is not evangelistic, and op
poses any evangelistic effort. The chief and only
aim of the church, they seem to think, is to see to it
that all the children born into Protestant homes shall
be brought up "in the nurture and admonition of
the Lord" according to the promises given by the
parents or sponsors at the time of baptism. Of
course, in a state where every one is required to
register in some church, this attitude is very nat-
RELIGIOUS CONDITIONS IN AMERICA 111
ural. Unfortunately, when these people come to
America, where people can do as they please con
cerning church affiliation, this is not enough, for
many wander away from the church or become
coldly indifferent. Magyar missionaries therefore
speak more favorably of church evangelism.
Church evangelism. — These missionaries welcome
such evangelists, but say it largely devolves on the
pastor to carry it forward. They hope to have it
as soon as efficient leaders can be trained. There
are, however, at present a number of hindrances.
Members of the churches say there is no need for it
because all the Magyars in America do belong to
the church. Other ministers themselves say there
is no need for it because they conduct each year a
series of special penitential services during the sea
son of Lent and preach special sermons to win back
the indifferent. Another question is, "Who shall be
the evangelist?" He must be an ordained minister
and he must be able to speak the Magyar language.
Institutional church. — What was said about street
evangelism among the Magyars applies also to the
institutional church. It is to them not only a new
method of approach but an unsatisfactory com
mingling of religion and play ; of the sacred and the
secular. They welcome the efforts of the institu
tional church to teach all forms of family, commu
nity and civic betterment; are pleased to have their
boys taught manual training and their girls needle
work, but these things to them are not reli^on.
They should not be taught in church but in school.
Having reminded a Magyar minister of the suc
cess of the Labor Temple in New York, he remarked
that while it was acceptable to many foreign-born
people, it does not appeal to the Magyars and does
not reach them effectively.
Chapter VI
SPECIAL PROBLEMS
(A) LEADEKSHIP OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE CHURCHES
The first Protestant missionaries to work among
the Magyars in America were young men from the
Theological Seminary at Debreczin. They were
called by the Home Mission Boards of the Reformed
and Presbyterian Churches upon the recommenda
tion of Rev. Dr. Balogh, Professor of Church His
tory. His recommendations were very reliable.
The young men came with excellent training, fine
culture and the fervor and enthusiasm of youth.
When, however, they were thrust into the new con
ditions, into the congested industrial centers where
the people lived, they were for some time hardly
equal to the task. Their work was largely an effort
to conduct church work after the plans prevailing
in Hungary. The result was that the people suf
fered for lack of pastoral attention and in many
instances lost their interest in religion. It was,
however, remarkable how soon most of these trained
men adapted themselves to conditions in which they
found themselves. They became the advisers of
their people in all sorts of needs. Did a newcomer
want a job? He went to the minister and received
help in getting it. Did he get into any sort of
trouble with the civil authorities? The pastor
helped him out. Was he about to buy a property!
The pastor saw to it that he was not cheated. Was
he hurt in the mill or the mine? The pastor at once
went to the hospital to protect him from the wiles
of the claim agent or the representative of the cor-
112
SPECIAL PROBLEMS 113
poration, who might wish him to sign a release. In
addition to all this the pastor assumed the duty of
teaching the Vacation Bible School lor die children
of the Magyar community irrespective ui' religious
affiliation. Unfortunately there was not enough
time, and possibly not enough knowledge of social
and industrial conditions among his people, to se
cure for them conditions of recreation and social
betterment so much needed in every foreign-born
community.
Ministers of kin: trained abroad. — The unanimous
opinion of Magyar ministers and Magyar people
alike is that the minister of their own kin is best
qualified for the work. They give a number of rea
sons for this opinion. First, only a minister of kin
has the educational qualifications. He knows not
only the language but also the peculiarities of the
people. He has been trained for this as a life work
and therefore uses good literary style and accept
able Magyar delivery of the sermon. He knows the
doctrines and customs of the church. He is there
fore recognized as worthy to lead the people. Again
the minister is not only their spiritual guide but also
their adviser in business affairs. They can confer
with a man of their own kin much more satisfac
torily than with a man of American birth and train
ing. He will enjoy their confidence to a much larger
degree than an American-born man.
Ministers of kin: trained in America. — There are
now a number of trained men of kin in America
who have entered the ministry among the Magyar
people. Are not these better fitted for the above-
mentioned services than the foreign-trained min
ister? The opinions of the Magyar people differ
on the question. It depends largely upon the man
himself. Can he use the Magyar language to the
satisfaction of the people or is he perhaps able to
use only the colloquial which he learned on the farm
114 THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
or in the shop! Possibly even this common lan
guage has been forgotten or corrupted since coming
to America. Besides this he is known by the people
as a peasant or a shop man even after he has be
come educated for the ministry. The prejudice is
unjust but it is very real.
Ministers of kin: trained both here and abroad. —
Again there are ministers in the Magyar work who
got their literary training in the home land and their
theological training in America. These are, all
things considered, the best qualified men. They
know the European backgrounds well; they know
the peculiar temperament of their parishioners;
they are familiar with church customs and cere
monies ; they enter into the social life of the congre
gation and yet live above the average of their people
and so secure the respect a minister needs.
Their American theological training enables them
to adapt their teaching and work to the new
surroundings ; it gives them a new idea of pastoral
relation to the people; it encourages more friendly
relations between the Magyar and the American
community; and it encourages them to adapt their
church life and work more harmoniously with that
of the nearby American congregations and so has
a tendency to keep the young people in the same
congregation with their parents, for the benefit of
both. Wherever such men of kin have been working
there is found the adoption of the excellencies of
American church life without the loss of the excel
lencies brought from the home land. There will be
Sunday school work; Y.P.S.C.E.; Mission Societies;
vacation Bible school work after the American plan,
without the loss of earnest work on the part of par
ents and children in its behalf; and even in the mat
ter of church music there will be the use of some of
our American Gospel Hymns in addition to the
SPECIAL PROBLEMS 115
stately choral music so much loved by the adults.
The result is acceptable to both youth and adult.
The supply of ministers in any church or any
language is limited, and is very much so as concerns
Magyar ministers. There was a time when well-
trained ministers could be secured from Europe.
So, too, in the earlier history of Magyar mission
work there were more young Magyar men entering
our seminaries. But the same tendency which keeps
young men of American birth from studying for the
ministry affects the Magyar young men. The result
is that of late years it has been necessary to train
and ordain young men without having had full lit
erary training. Some of these have become excel
lent workers because of their earnestness and devo
tion. Their work has been made doubly difficult
because of the prejudices of the people above re
ferred to. In addition to the attitude of the people
is the prejudice of the European-trained ministers,
who quote their long years of preparation in com
parison to the short time given to preparation in
America. As one of them said to the writer, con
cerning a young man who was thus preparing and
who was at the time teaching in the vacation Bible
school, "He will never make a minister. He is only
a peasant, and what can you make of a peasant !"
The answer for which the speaker evidently waited
was : "I don't know what you can make of a peas
ant in Hungary, but in America we have made sen
ators, presidents, judges, and prominent ministers
out of many of them. This young man is in Amer
ica, and if he will do his part we will make an ef
fective minister for the Magyar people out of him."
American men trained abroad. — One more method
of securing qualified ministers for Magyar work
needs to be considered: that of American men
trained in foreign lands. This has been done in a
116 THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
few instances with good results, and yet it is noc
satisfactory to the Magyar people. They speak
highly of the fine spirit and warm hearts of these
young men, but still think they cannot make them
selves understood like a man of their own national
ity. The Magyar language, they say, is so difficult
that the young men do not remain in Hungary long
enough to learn it. The talents of such young men
can, however, find a field for good service in their
association with Magyar ministers whom they can
influence to modify their work according to the
American requirements. Would not such young
men make excellent teachers in our seminaries, ex
cellent teachers and organizers for American Sun
day School work and for Y.P.S.C.E. work?
An American minister whom we have known for
a number of years and who was located in a town
in western Pennsylvania, where there were many
Magyars, had committed to memory the marriage,
the baptism, and the funeral services of the Magyar
Reformed Church. He rehearsed them to an intel
ligent Magyar till he had ability to use them accept
ably, and then officiated whenever asked by Magyar
people, but he never ventured to preach in Magyar.
Another American minister went a step farther, and
undertook to preach in Magyar, but discontinued
when he was told of a ludicrous mistake he had
made. He was speaking about angels, and thought
he had said, "All the angels are in heaven," when
he really had said, "All the Englishmen are in
heaven. ' '
There is another American minister who has,
however, preached for some years to Magyar con
gregations. He gives this as his method of prepar
ing the sermon: After preparing it in English he
takes the concordance and finds a scripture passage
for each thought of the sermon. He then looks up
the passage in the Magyar Bible and transcribes it
SPECIAL PROBLEMS 117
for the Magyar sermon. The method commends
itself for the faithful efforts of the preacher and no
doubt impressed the people with its scriptural form.
These considerations raise the question as to
whether it were not better to expect the Magyar
people to affiliate themselves at once with the Eng
lish congregation in the community whose services
are nearest to those in the homeland in devotional
character; where they might find the order of the
church year and might come prepared by having
read the scripture lessons designated for the day;
where they might hear the choral music to which
they are accustomed in their own churches and
where the people assume a devotional attitude in
prayer with which they are familiar. They would
for a time miss the effect of the sermon but their
very thirst for it might be an incentive for the
learning of English. Besides this, their children
would more promptly come into fellowship with
American church life and would not have the ten
dency to wander away from the church of the
parents because they, — the children, — did not appre
ciate the more solemn character of the service.
(B) FORMS OF RELIGIOUS BKEAK-UP
There is in fact very little formal religious break
up among the Magyar people. It is rare to find a
man or woman among them who declares himself a
freethinker1 or atheist. There are, however, two
pronounced tendencies almost as bad as these. The
first is a formal religion in connection with the
Church. Many Magyar men think and speak of
themselves as "good churchmen " when they go to
church occasionally, contribute for the support of
the church and take the Lord's supper once or twice
a year. Too many of them think of the Church
rather as a national institution whereby Magyarism
118 THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
may be perpetuated even in America. They even
speak at times of Magyar Protestant religion as if
it were a distinct form of religion with a peculiarly
strong Magyar flavor.
The other tendency is that of indifference to the
claims of the Church and of the formalities of re
ligion entirely. They have been away from the in
fluence of the Church as it was in Hungary for a
long time. They live now in some small out-of-the-
way mining town where there may be no church
buildings of any kind; where the familiar sound of
the church bell is never heard ; or if this is not liter
ally the situation, the churches in the community are
small buildings, often in bad repair, and the Ameri
can pastors come only occasionally, preach a sermon,
and are not seen again during the week. Most
serious of all, the church of their own choice, and
preaching in a language which they can understand,
is not within ten or twenty miles of the place.
Sunday is therefore spent in a social gathering
with their fellow-countrymen, in games and sport
and drinking and, too often, fighting. Eeligion is
the last thing to claim attention, and before long it
has died out of remembrance and practice.
Churches wishing to help these people should em
ploy a sufficient number of traveling missionaries to
visit the community twice a month at least. He
should remain with the people for several days at a
time so as to come into close touch with them socially
as well as religiously.
Here, too, is an open and important field for the
work of the deaconess. She can help keep the home
clean, moral and religious. She will have freer and
fuller contact with the home life than is possible to
the minister himself.
Religious realignment. — As a matter of fact there
is very little realignment either in Europe or Amer
ica. It is not thought right in Europe to change
SPECIAL PROBLEMS 119
from one religion to another. Jew remains Jew,
and is respected for his adherence to the faith ; Cath
olic remains Catholic, and seldom becomes Protes
tant; and Protestant remains loyal to his church
though he may be greatly displeased with its man
agement, its doctrines, or its ministers. People who
do change are suspected of ulterior motives.
Much the same feeling exists in America among
the first generation of Magyars, though there are
more frequent changes than at home just because
there is more change among members of the Amer
ican churches. Changes from one type of Protes
tantism to another are somewhat more frequent but
are hardly more than the exception to the rule of
loyalty to the denomination, a change from which
is sometimes designated as violation of the faith.
When, however, the Magyar family is too far
away from a church of its own denomination or
language they go to an American church for wor
ship, even though they may not understand the lan
guage in which the services are conducted. Their
children are then sent to the American Sunday
School, and parents seem well pleased to have them
bring home and read the English literature given
them.
When the time comes for catechetical instruction
and confirmation, at about the age of 12, the children
are sent to relatives or friends living in reach of a
Magyar church for instruction during a period of
from six to eight weeks, so that children and parents
may belong to the same church.
(c) EXTRA-CHURCH MOVEMENT
t From what has been said on the relation of re
ligions and denominations toward each other, we
may infer that the Magyar is not much impressed
by the extra-church religious movements. They
120 THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
believe in the benefits of Social Settlement work;
they appreciate the endeavors of the Y.M.C.A. and
the Y.W.C.A, but they say these are not as distinct
ively religious as they should be and cannot take
the place of the church.
We hope they will see things in better light, but
at present the Magyar churches seek to have these
activities carried on by themselves, though they are
not at all adequately equipped for the purpose.
Many of the young men join the Y.M.C.A. for its
social and educational advantages, ^ but still hold
their parental notions about its religious efficacy.
Wherever possible Magyar Protestant congrega
tions encourage Y.P.S.C.E. societies in connection
with the congregation, but these are not affiliated
with the Y.P.S.C.E. itself. The work done is in
some respects the same. The devotional meetings
are led by the young people, though the pastor is
usually present to direct and encourage them. Sev
eral examples will illustrate.
The Magyar Reformed Church, of Toledo, 0., is
fortunate in having a well-adapted school building,
which has a special room for the young people's
work. An evening spent with these people is not
only interesting, but edifying, because of its earnest
ness and devotion. The pastor is organist and ad
dresses the young people only when invited to do so.
The Sunday evening service consists of singing,
Bible reading, and prayer, all conducted by the
young people. After the devotional hour there is
a period for business, and planning work among
young people during the week, etc. On the evening
the writer was present, plans were made for the
organization of an orchestra. Eight young people
volunteered and asked the pastor to be the teacher
and leader. The purpose was to furnish better
music for the Sunday evening service and also to
afford weekly evening recreation and pleasure.
SPECIAL PROBLEMS 121
A similar society exists in connection with the
Magyar Keformed Church in Bridgeport, Conn.,
with this modification : the pastor is not present,
though he keeps informed about the conuuet and
business of the society. This society has more of
the entertainment features of the Y.M.C.A. and is
gathering funds to purchase a building separate
from the church property for their weekly evening
work. A Magyar Young People's Society, in con
nection with the Magyar congregation in Dayton,
0., has such a building, but the result is not alto
gether desirable, as the management is more diffi
cult. The entertainment idea threatens to assume
undue proportions. An effort is being made to se
cure the aid of the Y.M.C.A. secretary of the city
to instruct and guide these young people. Some of
the Presbyterian Magyar congregations have sim
ilar organizations of which the pastors speak very
well. The great Hungarian Magyar Church of De
troit, one of the largest in America, is said to have
an excellent Young- People's Society, in connection
with the congregation, occupying for its work the
Congregational House. The entire movement is
very promising and needs encouragement. This en
couragement is not given by the American congre
gations as larsrelv as it should be, but in some in
stances, as at Homestead, Pa., the Y.P.S. of the
Magyar congregation frequently secures free of
charge the use of the Carnegie Library auditorium
for some public entertainment. The American
churches can render effective service in this work
by attending the meetings whenever possible and
especially by showing appreciation of the entertain
ments which these societies occasionally give. At
tendance is increasing and it is encouraging to the
societies.
Extra-church religious movements. — A glance at
religious conditions in the homeland during the last
122 THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
thirty years will explain why Magyars in America
are backward in extra-church organizations. Dur
ing the time of the early revival services of Dwight
L. Moody and men of his type in England and Scot
land, there were a number of Magyar students in
the Protestant seminaries there. They were pious
young men who were deeply impressed with the de-
voutness as well as the zeal of these evangelists and
imbibed their spirit and their methods of work.
When these young men returned home to the stereo
typed forms and activities of the churches, they en
deavored to awaken the people to a more effective
religious life, and by their efforts they came into
conflict with the authorities of the church, who dis
couraged, hindered and in some instances persecuted
them. The consequence was that they were looked
upon by the common people as fanatics who wished
to introduce a new religion. The Church of Hun
gary remained practically the same till quite re
cently, when these same young men grown older,
and reenf orced by other men who studied abroad, are
now looked upon as the leaders of a new era in the
religious life of Hungary.
Wide-awake Magyar ministers in America say the
time has come when the Y.M.C.A. and the Y.W.
C.A. and the Salvation Army will receive a welcome
in Hungary.
Here in America the older members of the
churches look with disfavor on all such movements
and look to the churches to hold and guide the young
people. The young people, however, are taking an
increasing interest in all the above-named organi
zations, but they value them more for their educa
tional and recreational features than for their
religious work. Even the younger people say:
"The church for religion; these institutions for
other purposes.'*
SPECIAL PROBLEMS 123
(D) PRESSING NEED FOE MAGYAR MISSION LITERATURE
Literature needed. — A great and pressing need is
a constructive church literature, both periodical and
occasional. So far as the writer knows, there is
only one church paper published in this country
under the supervision and financial support of any
church. Other papers publish church news, but
they are owned and edited by individuals and serve
without sanction from the churches whose news they
print. They are sometimes the official organs of
some Federation of Magyar Benevolent Associa
tions but not subject to any suggestions from any
church authority. They are usually well edited, but
like all the Hungarian papers in America without
exception, they are somewhat given to controversies
not advisable to appear in church papers. The only
church paper, above referred to, is the Reforma-
tusok Lapja, published jointly by the Presbyterian
and Reformed Church Sunday school and Publica
tion Boards. Even this has not been free frpnji|
harmful controversies. The ideal Hungarian1
church paper should be worthy of the patronage and
support of Protestant Magyars of any American
Protestant denomination. With all churches con
tributing to its support, it could be made to serve
the real religious interests of all the Magyar people.
There is also a need for Magyar Sunday school
literature. There should be prepared lesson stories
for the little folks who cannot speak English nor
yet read Magyar, but who are dependent on their
mothers and Sunday school teachers for their in
struction. The parent also needs helps and com
ments on the Sunday school lessons in their mother
tongue to encourage them to come to Sunday school
and profit by its instruction.
There have been published in English within re-
124 THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
cent years so many good books for devotional and
inspirational use that some of them should be trans
lated into Magyar for the benefit of the older people
who either cannot or will not learn our language.
Parochial papers. — Parochial papers are not to be
encouraged. Not every pastor has the talent of an
editor; not every pastor can be disinterested and
fair in the articles he publishes. Too often he pub
lishes such news and such opinions as he would not
treat either in public discourse or in personal con
ference. It is sometimes said by complaining par
ishioners that the minister "uses his paper as a
club over them." The club may be necessary, but
its use in the paper usually works harm to the min
ister and his work, as well as wrong to the parish
ioners.
Tracts. — There has been great need for more
tracts adapted to the Magyar people. The several
Mission Boards are making commendable progress
in providing tracts of this kind, but they have some
times acted without conference with the Magyar
ministers who know best what is needed. These
ministers say that emotional appeals in tracts are
not effective; that it were better to make an intel
lectual appeal. They urge that the tracts be of a
more concrete character, e.g., instead of a tract
warning the reader against some specified sin, let
the tract set forth the working out of the sin in the
life of some person. Let the Christian virtues also
be taught by tracts setting forth the fruits of their
adoption and nurture in life.
The ministers who are familiar with our newer
religious literature, enjoy it very much and wish
that much of it might be translated into Magyar
for the use of their people either in whole or in part.
They have mentioned some of Henry Drummond's
addresses; Dr. Fosdick's books on Faith and
Prayer, etc., etc.
SPECIAL PROBLEMS l-2:>
(E) PARISH EVANGELISM
Turning now to the brighter side of our subject,
we see many signs of progress and of hope for the
work of the Lord among the Magyar people in
America. We mention first parish evangelism.
We use the adjective advisedly, because for a long
time the ministers and people, too, looked askance
upon the great evangelistic campaigns that have for
years swept our country. In the homeland all chil
dren were baptized in infancy and the parents were
instructed and expected to bring up their children
"in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." To
their credit, they did it, and have been doing it as
circumstances permitted in this country. At home
all persons were by the law of the land required to
be members of some church, and so there were sup
posed to be no unevangelized people. Now, what
ever may be said of the homeland, conditions here
were sadly unsatisfactory. Something must be
done to bring up children which was not being done
and to keep alive the spirit of the Lord in the mem
bers of the church as well as to bring back from the
world those who had lapsed from the faith. The
questions were what is to be done after Confirma
tion? What of the conditions which draw young
men and women away from the church and from the
Lord? If the lapses and losses of our American
churches are large and distressing, the losses in
Magyar churches are alarming. This is quite ap
parent to the Magyar ministers. The people must
be awakened, the young must be made to work for
the Lord, the lapsed must be won back. How can it
be done?
The plan adopted by the Protestant ministers, ir
respective of denominational affiliation, is as fol
lows: The entire country has been districted and
formed into groups of congregations in which the
126 THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
pastors will join in holding evangelistic campaigns.
The season selected is from New Year to Easter.
The ministers meet in conference to arrange the
program.
The pastor describes conditions in his parish re
quiring evangelistic endeavor. He designates spe
cial needs in his own congregation. The brethren
together map out a series of subjects to be treated
and designate the speakers best suited to the sub
jects. The time of the campaign is arranged at the
suggestion of the pastor and the meetings will con
tinue for several days. They begin with an evening
service with two short sermons or addresses, and
an explanation of the purpose. The next morning
will be spent by the ministers in conference with
each other and possibly in getting from the pastor
a list of names of persons who should be visited.
The afternoon will be given to two more addresses
and the privilege of persons present to ask questions
or make profession of faith or of repentance. The
ministers who are not needed for the afternoon
meeting will go two and two to visit persons need
ing personal appeal. The evening again will in
clude two sermons and the answering of questions.
Such meetings proved very effective and helpful
during 1921, and indications are for more effective
work this year.
A promising indirect result has been the effect
on the ministers themselves. The brother who was
weak in any part of his work is strengthened. The
minister who did not reach his people with his ser
mons follows the example of his more successful
brother. The sermons of all of them are having a
more distinctly evangelistic note since the meetings,
and every man feels that he does not stand alone
but has the backing of brethren of like talents and
confronting the same problems.
Wherever such meetings have been held the peo-
SPECIAL PROBLEMS 127
pie have been awakened and attend more faithfully
to their religious duties. As a plain workman said :
"I have learned to speak for the Lord to the man
who works next to me."
(F) RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
Magyar ministers and people alike have always
emphasized religious education. Pastors always
give thorough and faithful instruction in the doc
trines and duties of their religion to the children
being prepared for profession of faith and confirm
ation. In this the parents have cooperated with
heart and soul. It is not uncommon for parents
living at a distance from the church to send their
children to board with relatives or friends for a
period of from six to eight weeks while under the
minister's instruction. On confirmation day the
children are examined before the assembled congre
gation. By the way, it happens in recent years that
some of them must be examined in English because
they no longer know the Magyar language.
Good and necessary as this is, it has been found
that it is not enough. It was disproportionately in
tellectual and formal. Since the evangelistic note is
being sounded, the educational work, too, is widen
ing out. More emphasis is being placed on per
sonal consecration and on life service for the Mas
ter. Sunday schools feel the impulse. The subject-
matter of instruction is enlarged and the young are
encouraged to take part in the activities of the
church.
Young People's Societies are now organized in
most of the Magyar churches in America, and in
some instances they are given either a room in the
church as their own or they are provided with a
building of their own and are encouraged to hold
there not only their Sunday devotional meetings
128 THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
but to meet there during the week for social and
educational purposes.
Young Magyars have more than the average love
for music and theatricals. They will have them
either in the club or theater or in their own rooms
or buildings. The pastors who are awake to their
opportunity select the plays and help make the pro
grams, and encourage the giving of their "plays"
in the school-room of the church.
Daily Vacation Bible Schools. — Such schools are
not an innovation among the Magyar churches. All
the congregations in America have had them for
years. When the representatives of the Church of
Hungary entered into negotiations for the transfer
of their congregations to American churches, an in
sistent condition was that they might be continued.
Now whilst the primary motive may have been the
perpetuation of the Hungarian language, these
schools afford excellent opportunity for religious in
struction and are so much appreciated by the par
ents that they willingly help to support them finan
cially. One of these schools in Toledo, Ohio, is
federated with twelve or more such schools in the
city. It is the testimony of the superintendent of
the Federation that a year ago it was not only the
largest in the city but also the best. It is only an
example of others that are or can be made as good.
Training workers. — Magyar ministers and people
alike have always insisted that preachers and teach
ers and religious workers must be thoroughly
trained. They have now found that the best work
ers are those who got their general literary training
in the homeland but who got their special training
for their work in America in our American schools.
There is therefore a growing demand for such
American- trained ministers and teachers. In an
swer to their appeals, the Presbyterian Church has
placed a Magyar professor in the Seminary in
"'*«!•-'• "'yi irTrtSi' % * t£\* afc * 2*
CONGREGATION AT SERVICE
First Magyar Presbyterian Church, llbth St. New York City
CONFIRMATION CL,.<VSS, REFORMED CHURCH, WEST SIDE,
SPECIAL PROBLEMS 129
Bloomfield and another in their college in Dubuque,
Iowa. The Reformed Church, upon the urgent re
quest of both the Church at home and the congrega
tions here, will do the same as early as arrange
ments to that effect can be made. Quite a number
of Magyar young men are now in these schools and
in other institutions of higher education. Quite re
cently requests have come to the Reformed and
Presbyterian Churches to receive into their Theo
logical Seminaries a number of theological students
from the Seminaries of Hungary to spend the last
two years of their course in America and then
return to Hungary for service in the Reformed
Church there.
Curriculum for Bible School. — Reference has been
made to the prominence of the Magyar spirit in
Vacation Bible school work. This cannot be pre
vented, because it is entirely voluntary to parents
whether they shall send their children or not. What
is therefore needed is a carefully prepared course
of study for such schools, so that religious education
shall be the first and dominant purpose. Consid
erable attention is being given to this matter by
the educational secretaries of our Sunday school
Boards, but the danger is that the advice and help
of successful Magyar ministers and teachers has not
been sought. A suggestion suffices.
Teacher training classes. — There should be in
every Magyar church or Sunday school a class in
teacher training. No special Magyar literature is
needed for this work, but consecrated and efficient
young American men and women should be encour
aged to do this work voluntarily and without com
pensation. This is an entirely new line of work to
the Magyar people and their pastors have their
hands too full of other work to do this also. What
applies to teacher training classes applies equally
to mission study classes.
130 THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
Y. P. S. C. E. — Young people's societies need the
sympathy and encouragement of their American
friends of similar societies. Frequent visits to their
meetings by individuals or committees of American
societies would be welcome and appreciated, and
the visit would not be lacking in interest.
Closer fellowship. — Another need to mention is of
a similar character : closer fellowship with the Mag
yar people and especially with their churches by the
people of American churches. A fine beginning of
this has been made in Lorain, Ohio, and Bridgeport,
Conn., where there are occasional union services,
such as anniversaries, national holidays, etc.
At each of those places successful and mutually
helpful meetings have been held. At Lorain, on the
occasion of the tenth anniversary, the Presbyterian
minister and his people attended the Magyar serv
ice in the afternoon, and the Magyar people and a
minister went to the Presbyterian church in the
evening and afterward joined in an anniversary
banquet in the school-room of the Magyar church.
The occasion at Bridgeport, Conn., was the
twenty-fifth anniversary, in the services of which
the Presbyterian minister and the choir of his church
took part in the afternoon, and the Congregational
minister and the choir of his church took part in
the evening.
Summer mission conferences. — It would not be ad
visable nor possible to hold such conferences for the
Magyar young people. These should, however, be
urged to attend the conferences being held within
reach of them. They should be encouraged to do so
by taking some part on the program. Nothing
would please them more, little would be so helpful
to immigrant mission work in America as to have
them give a pageant of some phase of life in Hun
gary.
The outlook for the future. — Finally, what of the
SPECIAL PROBLEMS 131
outlook? It is hopeful and encouraging. We need
only remember that the Magyars are an intelligent,
high-strung people and expect to meet us on the
level and have us meet them in the same way. The
indications are that from now on the Magyar mis
sion work of all churches in America will be more
effective because we all understand the Magyar peo
ple better and they trust us more fully.
APPENDICES
AND
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Appendix I
AMERICANIZATION AS THE FOREIGNER
THINKS OF IT
(By Rev. Arpad Bakay, Akron, Ohio)
The average foreigner is struck with alarming
surprise by the nation-wide Americanization move
ment urged upon him. He does not understand its
intent. He regards with distrust its pressure from
all quarters hitherto unfelt and unheard of by him.
In the past very little if anything was said to
him concerning Americanization or about acquiring
the language of the nation, or of changing his for
eign customs and life ideals. Consequently he has
been satisfied to work here for wages he could never
hope to earn in his own country, and has been con
tent to continue living in his old European ways.
Now, that a new interest is brought to bear upon
him, he is naturally disinclined and indifferent to it.
In most instances it is only his desire to hold down
his job and to retain the favor of his employers
that he is obliged to "take in" some Americaniza
tion.
While such, in general, is the attitude of the for
eigner toward the great Americanization campaign,
there are wide differences in their feelings and
opinions. In conversation with many of them you
will find this expression: "I wish I had had such
an opportunity to learn the English language eight
or ten years ago; I would be in better position to
day; but now I am too old to learn it." Others will
say: "It is too late, I am going home." You will
135
136 THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
find these the strongest excuses of the objectors for
their lack of interest.
Perhaps about 46 per cent of the foreign popula
tion are drawn back to Europe by family ties ; they
have been severed from their loved ones during the
fearful world war so that not even communication
could be had with them. These conditions have
created in them an intense longing to see their loved
ones again. So deep is their anxiety to know the
fate of those they left behind that their minds are
fixed on one thing — to go home and see for them
selves. However, as to whether all these will re
turn to their country or will try to have their fami
lies join them here is yet a question that will be
determined by the opportunities offered them in
their own country to make a living and a fortune
for themselves and their children. Thus the place
of their settlement is largely influenced by the eco
nomic advantages rather than by national feelings.
With many of them the study required for Amer
icanization is a case in which the spirit is willing
but the flesh is weak. After a day of hard physical
labor it is indeed an expression of strong effort and
ambition for a man to devote an hour or two to ac
quiring the English language, for when the body is
worn out and the longing for food and rest is upper
most the mind is least receptive. It is one of the
most impressive scenes to watch a class of men and
women anywhere from the age of twenty to fifty
and over, some totally illiterate, others totally ig
norant of the language, and yet patiently trying to
learn to read, write and talk English. To be a
teacher of such a class is worthy one's best efforts.
The appreciation and development shown by those
who respond to the appeal of Americanization
richly pay any effort and sacrifice we may put forth
in their behalf. Now that the very air is charged
with Americanism, Americanization is the task of
APPENDIX I 137
the hour. Let us go at it in the spirit of kindness
and Christian fellowship. When the foreigners are
given to understand that while in America they
must live as Americans, it will become evident who
are friendly aliens and who are alien enemies and
as such undesirables. Their favorable response to
our friendly appeal or their resentment of it will be
positive proof of their willingness to become one
with us or one against us. By our sympathetic ap
proach we can persuade them even at this late hour
that Americanization is for their good as well as
for the good of this nation.
Appendix II
LIST OF MAGYAR PUBLICATIONS IN THE
UNITED STATES
MAGYAR PERIODICALS — SECULAR
Akroni Hirlap, Weekly, non-political, A. TARNOCY,
Editor, Akron, Ohio.
A Het, Weekly, Evans St., Bethlehem, Pa.
Amerikai Magyar Nepszava, Daily, Ind., GEZA D.
BERKO, Editor, 178 2nd Ave., New York City,
N. Y.
Amerikai Magyar Hirlap, Weekly, Nationalist,
EARNEST N. NEMENYI, Editor, 239 E. Front St.,
Youngstown, 0.
A Het, Weekly, Louis TARCAI, Editor, 8802 Buckeye
Road, Cleveland, 0.
Amerikai Magyarsag (American Hungarian), Semi-
weekly, LORAND SIMAY, Editor, 1285 2nd Ave.,
New York City, N. Y.
America, Weekly, L. POLYA, Editor, Buffalo, N. Y.
A Munka (Day's Work), Monthly, GEORGE KEMENY,
Editor, 202 Empire Bldg., Detroit, Mich.
Amerikai Magyar Kerteszlap, N. ERDIJHELYI, Edi
tor, Hammond, La.
A Felszabadwlas, Weekly, I.W.W., Chicago, 111.
American Magyar and Hungarian Daily, 8926 Buck
eye Road, Cleveland, 0.
A Bermun'kas (The Wage Worker), Semi-monthly,
I.W.W., NEWMAN ANDER, Editor, 350 East 81st
St., New York City, N. Y.
Berko Kepes Ujsa&ga (Illustrated News), BERKO D.
GEZA, Editor, 178 2nd Ave., New York City,
N. Y.
138
APPENDIX II 139
Buffalo Hirlap, Weekly, MICHAEL KOSZTIN, Editor,
1978 Niagara St., Buffalo, N. Y.
Bukfenc (Topsy Turvy), Semi-monthly, ARPAD TAR-
NOCY, Editor, Hippodrome Annex, Cleveland,
O. (Humor.)
California Magyar (Agriculture), IGALY S. ZNETO-
GAR, Editor, 2719 Magnolia St., Oakland, Cal.
Dongo, Semi-monthly (Humor), GEORGE KEMENY,
Editor, 276 25th St., Detroit, Mich.
Deutsche Ungarischer Bote, Weekly, Ind., 117 Find-
ley St., Cincinnati, 0.
Ebreszto, Semi-monthly, Wallingford Conn.
Elore Kapes Folyoirat (Socialist), Daily, Sunday
and Semi-monthly, CH. VARGA, Editor, 5 E. 3rd
St., New York City, N. Y.
Fuggettenseq, Ind., J. H. MOSNI, Editor, Martins
Ferry, O.
Hirado, Weekly, M. KOSTIN, Editor, 1978 Niagara
St., Buffalo, N. Y.
Hirado, Weekly (Rep.), ERNEST PORSOLT, Editor,
Johnstown, Pa.
Kepis Tudosito, PAUL V. NESSI, Editor, 111 Howard
St., Newark, N. J.
Kepis Vilaglap, (Lit. and Comment) New York
City, N. Y.
Magyar Banyaszlap (Hungarian Miners' Journal),
Weekly, MARTIN HIMLER, Editor, 75 E. 10th St.,
New York City, N. Y.
Magyar Hirado, Semi-weekly, Ind., B. T. TARKANYI,
Editor, 4805 7th Ave., Pittsburgh, Pa.
Magyar Hirado , ALEX. BERKOVITZ, Editor, Philadel
phia, Pa.
Magyar Hirlap, Semi- weekly, Ind., ALADAR FONGO,
Editor, 2227 W. Jefferson Ave., Detroit, Mich.
Magyar Hirnok, Weekly, Ind., ADALBERT NIKELSZKY,
Editor, 62 Dennis St., New Brunswick, N. J.
Magyar Kertesz (Agriculture), STEPHEN BERCZIK,
140 THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
Editor, 508 Stock Exchange Bldg., Los Angeles,
Cal.
Magyar Munkaslap, Weekly, Labor, ERNEST I. MAN-
DEL, Editor, 621 Tribune Bldg., New York City,
N. Y.
Magyar Tribune, Weekly, M. BENEDEK, Editor, 2207
Clybourn Ave., Chicago, 111.
Magyar Tudosito, Weekly, Ind., REV. B. BEETOK, Ed
itor, Tudosito Publishing Co., South Bend, Tnd.
Magyar Ujsag (Magyar News), JULIUS SIPAS, Edi
tor, 15 West End Ave., Detroit, Mich.
Magyar Ujsag (Magyar News), LAD MATHE, Editor,
116 French St., New Brunswick, N. J.
Magyarok Vasarnapja, Weekly, 8302 Buckeye Road,
Cleveland, 0.
Magyar Vilag (Magyar World), Weekly, Rep.,
STEPHEN GYONGYOSY, Editor, 431 Fourth Ave.,
Pittsburgh, Pa.
Newark Hirado, Weekly, Ind., J. SCHREINER, Edi
tor, 111 Howard St., Newark, N. J.
OttJion (Sun), Weekly, ALEX D. DESSEWFFY, Editor,
139 N. Clark St., People's Gas Bldg., Chicago,
Szabadsag, Daily, Ind., 1803 2nd Ave., Pittsburgh,
Pa.
Sportvilag (Sports), New York City, N. Y.
St. Louis es Videke, Weekly, Rep., C. KALDOR, Edi
tor, 2023 S. Broadway, St. Louis, Mo.
Szabadsag (Liberty), Daily, New York City, N. Y.
Szabadsag (Liberty), Daily, Ind. Rep., ANDREW
CHERNA, Editor, 700 Huron Road, Cleveland, 0.
Szabad Sajto (Free Press), Weekly, Rep., COR
NELIUS CSONGRADI, Editor, 188 Passaic St., Pas-
saic, N. J.
Szovetseg, Monthly (Religious and Sick Benefit),
1418 State St., Bridgeport, Conn.
Takarekos Haziasszony Ujsagja (Home Manage-
APPENDIX II 141
ment), Monthly, 2227 W. Jefferson St., Detroit,
Mich.
Testverizseg, Weekly, DR. FOETAN HARRASSTI, Editor,
579 Howard Ave., Bridgeport, Conn.
Uj Magyarorszag, G. BOGDAMY, Editor, 239 Front
St., Youngstown, O.
Varosi Elet, Ind., South Bend, Ind.
Verliovayak Lapja, Weekly, Ind., G. GARAY, Editor,
612 Merkle Bldg., Hazleton, Pa.
Videke (Vicinity), Weekly, Ind., MICHAEL M. BARTA,
Editor, Lorain, 0.
MAGYAR PUBLICATIONS — RELIGIOUS
Amerikai-Magyar-Reformatusok Lapja (Sentinel),
Weekly, Presbyterian and Reformed Church in
U. S., EEV. ALEX. HARSANYI, Editor, 1008 10th
Ave., Pittsburgh, Pa.
Az Idok Jelei, Quarterly, Seventh Day Adventist,
Brookfield, 111.
Ebreszto, Semi-monthly, BELA KOVACS, Editor, Wal-
lingford, Conn.
Evangelium Hirnoke (The Gospel Messenger),
Semi-monthly, Hungarian Baptist Ass'n., OROSZ
ISTVAN, Editor, 8005 Holton Ave., Cleveland, 0.
Fuggettenseg (Independence), Weekly Hungarian
Church of Trenton, ALEX. ZAMBORY, Editor, 719
Hudson St., Trenton, N. J.
Harangszo, Lutheran, Bethlehem, Pa.
Magyar EgyJiaz, Weekly, Hungarian Eeformed
Church in U. S., EEV. J. MELEGH, Editor, 138
Eidit St., McKeesport, Pa.
Magyar Katholikus Zaszlo, Weekly, St. Stephen's
Eoman Catholic Church, EEV. KALMAN KOVATS,
Editor, Evans Ave. and 7th St., McKeesport,
Pa.
142 THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
Magyarok Vasarnapja, Weekly, 8302 Buckeye Road,
Cleveland, 0.
Reformatus Hirnok, Monthly, Hungarian Reformed
Church in America, REV. B. KOVACS, Editor,
Wallingford, Conn.
Vallasos Lap, Weekly, Baptist, REV. ANDREW HAND
LER, Editor, 882 Hatch St., St. Paul, Minn.
Vedd es Olvasd (Take and Read), Semi-monthly,
Northern Baptist, REV. A. TOTH, Editor, 2343
Williams St., Trenton, N. J.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Hungary of the Hungarians, L. KELLNEE, ARNOLD &
DELISLE, Scribners, 1914.
Hungary of To-day, P. ALDEN, Nash, London, 1909.
The Magyars of Cleveland, H. F. COOK, Americani
zation Committee, 1919.
Hungarians in the American Civil War, E. PIVANY,
Dongo Year Book, 1903.
Modern Austria — Races and Social Problems, V.
GAYDA, London, 1915.
Racial Problems in Hungary, B. W. SETON-WATSON,
London, 1909.
The Commentator, A Monthly, Knights of Columbus
Bldg., Youngstown, 0.
Hungarian Immigration, E. A. STEINER, " Outlook"
LXXIV, 1903.
History of Hungarian Literature, EIEDL, London,
1906.
Political Evolution of the Hungarian Nation, C. M.
K. HUGESSON, London.
Palmerston and the Hungarian Revolution, C.
SPROXTON, Cambridge University Press, 1919.
Against the Current, E. A. STEINER, New York,
1912.
St. Peter's Umbrella, K. MIKSZATH, New York.
Hungarian Catholics in America, Vol. 7 of Catholic
Encyclopedia.
The Story of Hungary, A. VAMBERY.
Hungary — DE VARGHA, DR. JULIUS.
Our Slavic Fellow Citizens, BALCH, E. G-., Charities
Publishing Co., New York City, 1910.
Old Homes of New Americans, CLARK, F. E. (Chaps.
IX and X), Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1913.
143
THE MAGYARS IN AMERICA
Races and Immigrants in America, J. R. COMMONS,
1915.
History of the Hungarian Revolution, A. VAMBEEY.
Tales and Traditions of Hungary (Folk lore), PREL-
SZKY, THERESA.
Hungary, YOLLAND, A. B., Jack, London, 1917.
Peasant Art in Austria and Hungary, HOLMES,
CHAS., "The Studio, " London, 1911.
Memories of My Exile, KOSSUTH, Louis, French,
New York City.
Hungary a Land of Shepherd Kings, Nat. Geog.
Mag., Oct. 1914.
The People of Hungary; Their Work on the Land,
WALLIS, B. C., Geog. Rev., Dec. 1917.
INDEX
INDEX
Achievements, notable, 23, 24. Emigration from U. S., 26, 27.
Agriculture, 28; farm housing, Evangelism, church, 45, 111 ; par-
33; farm laborers, 32; farms,
size of, 81.
Alfold, 14.
Americanization, 68-70, 93, 104,
135-137.
Arpad, 13, 14, 17.
Ausgleich, 28, 37.
Bibliography, 143-44.
Catechisation, 94.
Children, moral training of, 72.
Christianization of Hungary, 14.
Church business meetings, 90.
Church entertainments, 91.
Church, institutional, 111.
Coloman, King, 15.
Crusades, The, 16.
Curators, 42, 43, 96.
ish, 125-127; street, 110.
Extra church movements, 119;
Y. M. C. A., 44, 120, 121, 122;
Y. P. S. C. E., 44, 114, 116,
120, 130; Y. W. C. A., 44, 120,
122.
Farm laborers, 32.
Golden bull, 16.
Great names, 15.
Hapsburgs, The, 18, 19, 23, 38,
67.
Honesty, 71.
Housing (in Hungary) ; Farm
Act, 33.
Housing (in U. S.), 61.
Hungarian National Hymn, 46.
Daily Vacation Bible Schools, Hungary : buffer state, 46 ; Chris-
128; curriculum for, 129.
Deaconesses, 95, 118.
Drinking, 71.
tianization of, 14.
Hunyadi, John, 15.
Illiteracy, 35.
Eastern Orthodox Church, 19, 20, ^migrants : distribution of, 50-
34, 35, 36, 37, 40, 62, 89.
Economic conditions in Hungary,
28, 29; social effects of, 60;
government aid, 28; industrial
insurance, 29 ; industrial
schools, 28; postal savings
banks, 29; economic data of
immigrants, 29, 64, 65.
Edict of Toleration, 19.
Education, 34-36.
Emigration, cause of, economic.
56; migrations in U. S., 56;
return, 56, 58.
Industry: government aid, 28;
industrial insurance, 29; in
dustrial schools, 28.
11.
31, 32, 33, 64; political, 58;
social conditions in Hungarv,
30.
Jews; literacy, 34, 35, 36; Mag
yars in U. S., 78; schools, 34;
toleration to, 38; trades peo
ple, 31.
147
Kossuth, 20, 21, 23.
148
INDEX
Libraries, 34.
Literature, 36, 123: Magyar, 36;
newspapers, 36, 76, 77; list of
in U. S., 138-142; parochial,
124; pressing need for, 123;
tracts, 124.
Louis I, 15.
Magnates, 30.
Magyars: original, 13; assimi
lating power, 22; characteris
tics, 21; government, 16;
notable achievements, 23; mi
grations in U. S., 56, 109, 116;
virile race, 22.
Magyar Reformed Churches in
U. S., 89: church business
meetings, 90; church services,
93; deaconesses, 94; entertain
ments, 91; pastors' salaries,
92.
Ministers of kin : trained abroad,
113; trained in U. S., 113;
trained both here and abroad,
114; American men trained
abroad, 116.
Museums, 34.
Morals, 70; regard for law, 72.
Neighborhood life, 65; spirit, 66.
Newspapers: parochial, 124; re
ligious, 77, 141-142; secular,
77, 138-141.
Nobles, 30.
Old country church methods re
tained here, 91.
Orphans, care of, 74.
Organizations, 75; effects of emi
gration, 103.
Pan Qermanism, 19; Pan Slav
ism, 20; Pan Magyarism, 20.
Pastors: home visitations, 95;
salaries, 92.
Peasants, 30 ; Beres, 30 ; Betyars,
30; tenant farmers, 31.
Petofi, Alex., 36, 47.
Political situation, 25; effect on
emigration, 26.
Protestantism in Hungary, 81.
Protestant Magyar Churches in
U. S.: Baptist, 78, 79, 80, 85-
87; Hungarian Reformed, 79,
106, 107, 110; Lutheran, 80,
81, 101; Presbyterian in U. S.,
80; Presbyterian in U. S. A.,
79, 112, 124, 129, 130; Protest
ant Episcopal, 80, 107; Re
formed in U. S., 78, 109, 112,
124, 129; Reformed in Amer
ica, 88.
Racial agitation, 19; Pan Ger
manism, 19; Pan Slavism, 20;
Pan Magyarism, 20.
Reformation, The, 18.
Reformed Church in Hungary,
40-45, 80, 110; its organiza
tion, 40.
Religious approach, forms of:
church evangelism, 111; indi
vidual methods, 108; institu
tional church, 111; social set
tlement, 108; street evangel
ism, 110.
Religious education, 127.
Religious conditions in Hungary,
37, 40.
Religious conditions in America,
78, 117, 118.
Revolution of 1848, 20.
Roman Catholic Church, 14, 19,
20, 38, 40, 41, 45, 62, 89.
Salvation Army, 122.
Savings, 63; postal savings
banks, 29.
Schools in Hungary, 34; indus
trial, 28.
Social conditions in Hungary, 29.
Society in Hungary, 30: mag
nates, 30; nobles, 30; peas
ants, 30; trades people, 31;
tenant farmers, 34.
Stephan, first King, 15.
"Stola" system, 90, 93.
Street evangelism, 110.
Student volunteers, 44.
Teacher training classes, 129.
Tenant farmers, 31.
INDEX 149
Thrift, 63. Wages: in Hungary, 31; in U.
Traofq 124 S., 62.
Trades people, 31. World War, 22, 26, 67, 97, 98,
Turks, The, 17, 18, 46. 104.
Worship, customs in, 93.
1: ^^iViii'k
130.
Vacation Bible schools, 94, 113. Y. W. C. A., 44, 120, 122.
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