Page:Czecho-Slovak Student Life, Volume 18.djvu/99

who stood so well among the people he served. He was appointed Secretary to V. E. Cerveny, West Town Collector in Chicago. Just across the Drainage Canal, from where Anton Cermak lived, was a young Irish boy whose historic background paralleled that of the young Bohemian boy. His name was Patrick J. Carr, and he too began life at the zero mark. These two boys met when both were nearing the age of manhood—21 years, and there began a friendship between the two that lasted for more than a quarter of a century. Each year saw both of the boys further up the ladder of success.

Shortly after Anton J. Cermak was of age, he became a leader in local politics and thus began his public service to the people he represented. We find him as court clerk, appointed by Mayor Harrison is 1900. He also held other appointive positions, and then in 1902 his people called him to serve as their representative in the State Legislature.

From 1902 to 1910, Anton J. Cermak rendered an important account of himself in the Illinois Legislature. While he was winning his spurs as a leader in the State body of Law-makers, his people appreciating his services to them, decided to make him also their representative in the City Council of Chicago, and in 1909 he was elected as their representative on the Board of Aldermen. Here he served with honor, instituting various innovations and progressive measures until 1912, when he was further elevated. In November, 1912, he was elected Chief Bailiff of the Municipal Court, and after having served his term with honor in this section of the civil government, he was drafted as the Democratic candidate for Sheriff of Cook County. This proved to be one of his few unsuccessful political efforts, although he was defeated by only 1700 votes, less than one half vote per precinct. But his people returned him to the City Council as their representative and he remained a member of the City Council until he was called upon to represent his party as candidate for president of the County Board. He was elected by a plurality of 25,000 votes in 1922.

The people of Cook County had begun to feel the same confidence as his people had expressed when they first sent him to the Legislature, and he was elected to the most important office in Cook County, namely President of the Board. When the end of his first administration came, there was a demand that he succeed himself and carry on the wonderful work of efficiency, saving, and the extension of charity throughout the Cook County, and he was re-elected by the people of Cook County by a 65,000 plurality.

While Anton J. Cermak was serving his people as their public representative, he was also serving them privately. Through his efforts and real estate operations linked with the Building & Loan Association in which he was an officer, thousands upon thousands of Czech families in his district were given the opportunity and