THE WORKINGMEN'S LEAGUE 219
to sell out to the Bund at the very begining of his contacts with
the colony. He admitted sorrowfully having learned too late that
men whom he trusted had betrayed him, but he insisted that he had
never been a dictator nor ever desired to be one.
The Arbeiterbund really had no official end. Its funds had been
dissipated in several directions; and when the last shreds of control
by a central body were torn away, the organization broke up into
local groups, of which some endured for a time, others were dis
solved at once, and others lived on in another form as purely social
organizations. The Bund simply evaporated into thin air, but many
local Gemeinde survived as active social and fraternal centers for
the German-American element. The New York Gemeinde staged
its most successful social occasions when the Bund was virtually
bankrupt. Its Christmas and New Year's festivities in 1854 were
unusually joyful, well-attended affairs, which featured the distri
bution of gifts, singing, dancing, and amateur theatricals. The
society sponsored a huge picnic on Staten Island in the summer of
1854, with athletic games and plenty of beer, and it continued to
operate its hall at a cost of $2,200 a year, one half of this amount
coming from Americans who paid to use its bowling alleys. The
Baltimore Gemeinde dedicated a new hall in August, 1854, which
it rented for $500 a year; with beer selling at four cents a glass,
this obligation was defrayed by the sale of drinks in one month.
At Philadelphia, the Arbeiter Halle was so profitable that the
Gemeinde was able to reduce the monthly dues of its members and
to pay six dollars a week in sick benefits. The Bundeshallen in New
Orleans and St. Louis were equally successful.
barré
(Barré)
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