providing for poor children in his native area, sponsoring Romanian-language magazines in Transylvania (Federațiunea, Lupta, Gazeta de Transilvania) and founding credit unions to help the ethnic Romanians. By 1909, Pop de Băsești led 6 credit unions: "Aurora" (Naybánya/Baia Mare), "Chiorana" (Nagysomkút/Șomcuta Mare), "Codreana" (Szilágyillésfalva/Băseşti), "Sătmăreana" (Szinérváralja/Seini), "Sălăgeana" and "Silvania" (Szilágysomlyó/Șimleu Silvaniei). He also served in the board of directors of the and wrote a book about agriculture. When the World War I started, Pop de Băsești decided to write his testament and leave his whole wealth (estimated at around 4 million Kronen) to the Greek Catholic Metropolitan in Balázsfalva/Blaj. The will provided that the donated wealth was to be used to establish agricultural schools and Romanian cultural institutes, to award scholarships and to help preserve the local church and school in his native village of Băsești. President of the Great National Assembly of Alba Iulia Towards the end of World War I, the Austrio-Hungarian monarchy began to disintegrate. On 18 October 1918, inspired by Wilson's Fourteen Points and mandated by the executive committee of the PNR, deputy Alexandru Vaida-Voevod demanded in the Hungarian Diet the right of self-determination of the Romanians in Hungary, and afterwards the executive committee established the Romanian National Council, which proceeded to organize elections for a National Assembly of all Romanians in Hungary. On 30 November 1918 Pop de Băsești, elected as a representative and accompanied by lieutenant Alexandru Kiș of the Romanian National Guard, set off by train to Alba Iulia, despite his old age. The trip was not without incident: in the Războieni railway station their railcar was fired upon by the Hungarian National Guard, killing . However, according to other sources, Ioan Arion, the 24-year old representative of Agriș, was killed in the Teiuș railway station. After he had arrived in Alba Iulia, on a blistering cold day, the monk Leon Manu asked him: "For the love of God, Brother George, how could you venture to make such a long and exhausting journey on such weather?", to which Pop de Băsești replied: "How could I have missed it since I've been waiting for this day for 80 years? I came even if I should pay with my life for this, because now nothing else remains for me to say but the following, like the righteous Simeon of the Gospels: 'Lord, now let your servant depart in peace'". The event in Alba Iulia attracted