cwisz prratb Official Organ Of the Slavonic Benevolent Order Of The State Of Texas, Founded 1897. HUMANITY
BENEVOLENCE
VOLUME 57 — NO. 17
BROTHERHOOD
Postmaster: Please Send Form 3579 with Undeliverable Copies to: SUPREME LODGE MST, POB 100, TEMPLE, TEX 76501
FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK (The following is an editorial from the Temple Daily Telegram sent to your editor by President Nick A. Morris and also by Treasurer Leonard Mikeska. It appeared on April 18, 1969, and we value such comments very highly. —Editor). PRESERVING A DERITAGE It is worthy of note that the new ;,:r.j8T building oh North M ai n Street will contain an archives, library and museum designed to preserve the heritage of Czech descendants in Texas. For Czech heritage is a part of Texas heritage and no more fitting place could be found for the preservation of such a culture. As any student of Texas history knows, this state was made b y people of several cultures. Far from the least among them were the Czech people who came to America in the last half of the 1800's and on into this century. Thousands debarked at Galveston and pushed on into the Texas interior, following the Blacklands belt as they brought their love of the land and exceptional ability at farming to what was then raw land. In time, Temple became a center of Czech descendants and no area, no country could boast better citizens. Czech immigrants brought, and their descendants maintain, a love of freedom, strong family unity and concern for an orderly society. Such attributes
SOME TRUISMS Very few people are prepared to admit they are wrong. Even when you have cornered them with the facts, they will seek some way to justify themselves. Only about one-half of the telephone calls would he answered if the person being called knew who was doing the calling, • • Most, women wOuld make their husbands much happier if they dressed to suit them — in one-half the time it takes them to do so. A quip overheard the other day: "If you see a woman's hand out of a car window there is ONE thing you can be sure of, 'The car window is rolled down'." have always been and remain the keystones of a free society. The CzeCh people learned their lessons the hard way. For hundreds of years they stood at the crossroads of Europe, caught in the ebb and flow as medieval tribes fought back and forth. Even in modern times what is today Czechoslovakia has been mangled by the power plays of major European nations. Yet, it is in Czechoslovakia that the fires of freedom still burns brightest behind the Iron Curtain. The SPJST's action in setting aside
space for preservation of such a heritage is in the highest spirit of public service. It could go fax in making Temple a principal center of Czech culture in Texas. And considering what the Czech people have contributed to this area, nothing could be more fittin,g. • Ileneficiarle .s of Life Snran es policies received a record .$6.2 billiOn during 1968. The Institute of Life Insurance reports it was the first year that death payments throughout the nation exceeded $6 billion. The 1968 total was 9.6 per cent or $544 million higher than the 1967 total. Ahnual death payments have more than doubled during the past decade, mainly as a result of the broad expansion of life insurance coverage. The average life insurance per American family at the end of 1968 was an estimated $18,600, compared with $8,800 in 1958. Mortality rates showed little change during this period. Individual life insurance under "ordinary" policies again accounted for more than half of the 1968 payments. A total of $3.2 billion was paid under ordinary policies, or $249 million more in 1967, an 8.4 per cent increase. But payments under group policies showed the largest increase. These payments totaled nearly $2.6 billion and were up