New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1902-09-14

called Croats there are at the present ihoileHt
in the United States. In Pennsylvania alone
they number considerably over 100000, most OF
them being affiliated with the labor union at
Pfttsburg above mentioned which has branches
and agents throughout the mining and oil field
districts. In Illinois Iowa and Michigan there
are at least a couple of hundred thousand more
1t is difficult obtain definite statistics ABOUT
the matter except through the Immigration au-
thorities at Ellis Island. For the Austro- nun
garian Government discountenances 10 such an
extent the emigration of it's citizens and puts
so many obstacles in the way of their leaving
the land of their birth that when they reacn
this country they are as a general RUE carsIul
TO avoid their consular officials, feeHng that
they have acted III coming to America contrary
10 the wishes Of their monarch and have CON
seQuently lutte to expect from his representa-
tives. True the latter ready TO support the
emigrants from Austria Hungary 10 the pest
of their power; but they are seldom appeared w.
just because the immigrants feel themselves
remiss and there are no foreign consulates In
the United States that are so seldom called upon
to pay for the repatriation OF their fellow couh-
trymen who have fallen by the wayside over
here as those OF Austria Hungary.
Then, too, the major portion or the lnihi-
grants who enter the United States under the
generic denomination of Croats. ana VINO sonl-
prise Dalmatians, Istrians, CaTnolans' Serps
and Slavonians, are illiterate, ana IN cohse-
quence thereof experience considerable di1lculty
In acquiring American citizenship. lnueea,
there are whole communities OF them III ,ne
mining districts of Pennsylvania who not only
never learn to read or write. but actually nVe
English language. So that the only means or
keeping track of them in any way is throuSn
the labor unions TO which they peong anu
through their clergy. The latter are dispatched
to this country by the primate and rellglous Or
ders of Croatia, independently or the Austro-
Hungarian Government, and they. too, as d
rule, by reason OF the remoteness OF their neios
OF labor from the cities in which are located the
Austro- Hungarian consulates, rarely come INTO
contact with the latter. In this they differ from
the priests of the so-called Greek rite. For the
latter. who are supposed to look after the spr-
ttual welfare of the Serbian element OF the
Croatian immigration, are suspected, not with
out good reason, of pursuing pan-SlaVlst prop
uganda on behalf of Russia among the flock,
under the direction of the agents of the Musco-
Vite government here. and of endeavoring not
only 30 convert the Croatian Catholics to the
Greek Church, but likewise to induce them to
look upon the Car both their spiritual and
temporal protector and sovereign.
With regard to Croatia itself, it is autono-
III nous province, not or AUSTRIA but OF Hun cary.
II has its separate Diet, is represented In both
houses CT the Hungarian Legislature. and has at
IT'S mead Governor. or Banus VINO. although
the representative of the Emperor. is nominated
by the Hungarian Government and subject to
the latter This subsection to Hungary is a
source Of bitter discomfort on the part of the
Croatians, who like the CZechs of Bohemia
are anxious for a far greater degree of home
rule than that which they enjoy, and yearn
for the restoration of the old kingdom of Croa-
tia. with Emperor Francis Joseph their King.
and bound only to the remaining portions of his
empire by dynastic ties This feeling is not al
together unnatural, when the fact is recalled
that at the time of the Hungarian insurrection
in 1S49 the Croatans. under their ban JeIialich
marched against the rebels and contributed so
largely 10 the suppression of the revolutionary
that for their services Austria de-
clared Croatia independent of Hungary. When,
however, twelve years later, the policy of Aus
trla toward Hungary was changed, and the
Magyars. thanks TO Deak. Tlsza Andrassy and
other patriots, recovered not only their auton-
omy, but likewise national constitution dis
tinct from that OF Austria, Croatia was. in spite
Of the protests OF its population, once more in
in the reconstructed Kingdom of Hun
N of At1ctr 81,
conciliate in every manner possible the Magyar
ma ton.
The Hungarian Government is keenly alive
10 this nationalist spirit which prevails through
out Croatia, and seeks by every means in its
power to suppress it. Indeed, its rule Of Croa-
tia is, to say the least, strict There is only
little endeavor TO conciliate the Croa tians and
on the least pretext. such any conflict be-
tween rival factions OF Croatians. or between
the Croatlans and Serbs. military law with all
the seventies which that expression implies is
at once proclaimed, by order from Budapest
in the district where the trouble has taken
place 1t is har dly necessary to say that the
Croatians have plenty of differences among
themselves There are, for instance the Croats
proper who divided into at least four polti-