Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1891-01-15
THE CREDULITY OF TODAY.
Tales that Have Turned the Heads OF the
Russian Poles.
From the Ncw York sun.

possession recently OF the lower classes
in Russian Poland, is probably the
most remarkable outbreak Of the kind
ia modern times. Men are selling
their property right and left ut any
price. packing no their lew remaining
clothes in mad haste and leaving, with
hardly Il good by, homes from which
they have never before been ten miles
distant to try their fortunes in Brazil.
Children are deserving their parents
and husbands are cutting loose from
their wives to be swept into the current
Of emigration that has set toward the
southern half of the New World.
Workingmcn in factories drop their
tasks at an hours notice to follow the
swelling movement. Laborcrs in the
fields let the plough8 lie idle in the fur
rows while they hurry off over the bor
der to begin the voyage to the young
South American republic. Farms are
going to waste. Machinery is standing
still. Hamlcts are depopulGted.
The cause of this mania among the
ignOrantly conservative masses Of Rus
san Poland is not any commensurate
misfortune at home or any certainty Of
better things abroad. 1t is not q long
ing for political liberty nor an assurance
Of material Independence such as the
Old World cannot afford them. 1t is
simply a fairy tale, told them by immi-
grafton agents, Of Il land flowing with
milk and honey, where all the people
are humane and generous, where work
and clothes and food and shelter may
he had for the asking, and where Il gra-
ciOus government is awaiting an OppOr-
tunity to shower the best it has on
adopted Polish subjects.
The aim Of the managers OF the move
ment is the same az the aim OF the orig
inatorS of the migratory movement
some time ago among the Galician peas
ants who were cudgeled;4 bullyragged,
and beaten into going to America in or
der that Austrian steamship agents
might pocket the profits from selling
the necessary steamship tickets. The
Austrian steamship agents We're ar
rested, tried, convicted, and lmprls-
oned. The steamship agents OF the
same stripe in Poland took warning
from this experience Of their colleagues
and cunningly conceived the idea Of
starting u great migratory movement by
spreading right and left among their
prospective victims the most extrava-
CANT promises Of Utopian delights in Il
land across the ocean. The stories
they set atlOat among the Polish peas
ants were fancliul even to the verge OF
the most ignorant Europeans crednlity.
All the Kings and the Queens Of the
earth, says one story, were assembled q
short time ago in counsel with the Pope.
The purpose of the council was to help
the poor. The Queen of England, after
ann0i,iri,,,,,-z that she had just discovered
a new, fruitful, unpor nla!ed land called
Brazil, continued .iitlb "N0W !! need
men :0y my new country. Give me q
people and | will make them rich and
happy. Only | must make this con-
ditiOn, that you send me no criminals,
for then it would be everlasting war
and rapine" So the other Kings and
Queens and the Pope gave her the Pol
ish people.
Another story concerns the great eX
Chancellor of Germany. Old Bismarck,
so it goes, is wicked man. His son,
however, is good and merCtu!, and has
been converted to the Church Of Rome.
He purposes now 10 found q new Roman
Catholic Poland in Brazil. There he
has built many beautiful churches. and
has installed in them priests who love
the Polish people. He calls the Polish
people. who, after this New Years Will
be punished Tor their residence IN their
present home by fines of SO for the
baptism of every child, and Sl3 for
every marriage, and by being compelled
to accept new religious belief.
Another story has it that not the
Younger Bismarck, but the Pope him
self will found new Poland. Four
teen wears ago, according to this story,
many persons emigrated to Brazil and
were there overcome and eaten by
the natives. The Pope then tasted
and prayed three days and three nights.
God heard his prayer The natives
were eNterminated. The land is now
unoccupied, and the Pope will send his
Catholics to live on it.
The most rOsy-hued picture, however,
reveals an Empress of Brazil who
wishes l3,0O0OOO Polish subjects. She
is mercitul, generous, and accessible to
all her subjects. She allows no one in
her empire to work for small wages, and
she keeps even the poorest OF her sub
iects III comfort. A rich man who
meets Il poor man in the street of n
Brazilian city always gives him Il 81
gold piece. The country is so rich that
Il man need only dig &c ge. gold any
where Every immigrant will receive a
large piece of ground and will be in
financial condition that will allow him to
drink coffee and eat melons, ralsinS,
rice, and oranges. The only disadyan-
tage of this modern Canaan Is that no
one there understands Polish, and that
when Pole asks for salt he receives
sugar.
a Warsaw paper records this dia-
logue to show the perfect confidence
of the peasants in all these and similar
tales:
''Jasin," said peasant near Rawa to
his neighbor, ''art thou not going to
Brazil? They tell me the figs and or
anges grow SO low there that Il man can
pluck them with his hands"