The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1912-05-02
GREAT ADVANCE FOR PEOPLE
Hundreds Of Polish People in Kenosha
Will Observe the Day Under the Aus
pieces of White Eagle Society, Com
posed of Leading Polish Residents.

Gear or Kaiser or under the shadow
of the Stars and Stripes. On this day
the Poles throughout the world cele-
brate the memory of their famous and
successful effort to save the honor if
not the existence of their country by
adopting new. progressive constitu-
tion. There were in 1871 only four
nations which knew the meaning of
the word constitution and enjoyed the
blessings Of popular form Of gov
eminent. England was followed in
this line by the young republic of the
United States. Revolutionary France
came after them as the third member
of the family. And besides them and
above all there was the venerable old
Switzerland, which can be styled
rightly as the mother of all popular
governments in modern history.
Poland WAS laboring at that time
under peculiar kind of despotism.
Hers was not a despotic rule of one
man, as was the case with most Of the
nations. It was the despotsm of a
whole class, the despotism Of the no
bility, which was running Poland and
threatening to deliver her, body and
SOUL into the hands of her enemies.
The power of the king was only nomi-
nal; the peasants were in condition
bordering on servitude; the inhabi-
tants of the cities, the merchants, ar
tisans, laborers, did not possess any
political rights at all. There was no
army to speak of; the finances of the
republic were in a poor condition, and
the rich were exempt from taxation.
A diet composed entirely Of members
of the nobility was the only power in
the country, ruling the whole in the
interests of one class.
After the first partition in 1872
everybody in Poland saw that some
radical reforms must be adopted to
save what was left of the once power
full republic. Almost everybody knew
what these reforms had to be. The
only difficulty which presented itself
to the patriots was that it was a coun-
asI ofsar ~ oa 49,; h boJ ~ h. - d,ood
to put an end to the privileged posi-
ton of the nobility, to break the pow
er of it's own class, 10 endoW with
political rights the other classes, to
increase the powers Of the crown, to
impose taxes on the clergy and the
large land owners, in q word to mod
ernie thoroughly the Anticipated poll
teal structure of the country. The
diet alone had to do all that, as there
was no other way to produce such a
sweeping change, short Of bloody
revolution, as was the case with
France in 1889.
And the Polish diet did it all. It's
action stands unique in the history of
mankind an all powerful class
voluntarily renowned most of it's pri-
vileges under no other pressure than
that kind Of the feeling of pure patri-
otism and under the command Of sound
craftsmanship.
On May 3, 1871, the Polish parlia-
ment in Warsaw passed, after a short
discussion, almost unanimously (the
few members of the opposition remain
ing silent) an act which is known in
history under the name of the consti-
tuition Of May 8. There were only
eleven articles in it, but they removed
almost all the 1niquities of the old sys-
tenn and gave Poland regular, mod
ern, constitutional government. The
election Of the kings by the mobility
was abolished and the crown became.
hereditary. The legislative power was
to be vested in the diet, with the right
of the senate to postpone bills to
which it did not agree to the next
session Of the parliament. The So
called sEliberum veto, which gave
every member of the diet the right to
stop any measure adopted by the ma
iority, was annuIled
The king became the only executive
and was given cabinet of six minis
tiers, who we've to be responsible to the
people The so-calied third state
that is, merchants, artisans and la
borers in the cities obtained the
right to elect their own representa-
tives. The peasants were put under
the protection of the laws of the
country, instead Of being dependent on
the good viii of the landlords.
A section Of article " read: We do
proclaim complete freedom to all.
Whoever shall cross the border Of Po-
land will become free ipso facto the
moment he puts his foot on Polish
soil.
The clergy and the nobility were
taxed TO the amount Of 10 per cent of
the net revenue from their lands. The