The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-03-20
DREAM OF FREEDOM
UNDYING HOPE OF INDEPENDENCE
 AND REVIVAL OF POLAND.
PeOule's Aspirations Worry St. Pet ersburg, Berlin and Vienna-Rus- sia's Present Dire Straits Make Poland Dangerous storm
 Center.
New York World.

New York World.
 At the present moment three great empires are narrowly watching that storm corner of Europe once known by the name of Poland. The chancel- lories of Germany, Russia and Austria have excellent reason for the close at tention they are bestowing on the in trigues and conspiracies which center in Posen, Warsaw and Cracow. They are fully convinced that the Polish na- tion as a whole has never forgotten its independence and the glories of its monarchy and that its leaders are waiting only for favorable European conjuncture to assert the right of their people to nationality and autonomous government
 This IS. however, wide difference in the conditions of the three great divisions of Poland, corresponding to the difference in the methods employed by German. Russia and Austria in gov erning them. In German Poland the Polish population is thickest in the provinces of Posen and Silesia, sparser in east and west Prussia. In numer- ous important areas 1t outnumbers the German in the proportion of ten to one, and its tendency is to spread out its bounds and to increase relatively faster than the Germans Ten years ago In one particular district of the province of Posen there were roughly 9O.OOO Poles and 17,00O Germans; to- day there are 95.0OO Poles and 11.OOO Germans.
 SuppressinE Polish Language.
 The policy of Germany toward the Poles Is not a maEnanimous one. It Is the policy of pin bricks of police regulations capriciously ordered and arbitrarily carried out. The Polish provinces of Germany have become the Ireland of the empire. A few examples will make this clear. Angry at the increasing hold of the Poles on the land. Prussian diet has passed a series of laws providing for the settlement of Germans on land sold by Poles and for the purchase of Polish estates. making 1t more difficult for Poles to purchase land. They have established land banks" where German settlers can obtain loans on easy terms. but similar loans are refused to Poles
 The Poles are passionately attached to their language. A noble literature has sprung up in Polish and the ser vices of their beloved church are con- ducted largely In their language. The German ministry of education orders the abolition of Polish as a school lan- guage. permitting 1t only as a means of instruction in the lower classes. and that only during the lessons on relig- ion. No regulation has created so much bad blood. The Poles identify their religion and their language, con- sidering that any attack on their lam guage is an attack on their faith. Countless Polish children have been punished for refusing to speak German at religious instruction. This was the cause of the famous Wrechin school disturbance. which resulted in the l prosecution of several parents for alleged melting of their children to resist the school authorities.
 Students are RevOlutlOnistA.
 German Poles are simmering with indignation at the petty restrictions put on them and nothing has done more to weld them into a political whole than the fact that the govern ment discriminates between Pole and Herman. invariably in favor of the