The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-11-21
Poles IN AMERICA
MARKED IMMIGRATION SINCE 1880
present POLISH POPULA-
TIoN-PRINcIPLE CENTRES.

Like the Dutch under Spanish rule,
and the Irish under British, the Poles
may be said to have looked towards
the United States ever since Russia,
Prussia and Austria began to conspire
towards making the tripartite division
of their country. That Poles were
firmly settled in America as early as
1913 is certain, and the famous fam
lily of Zborowski was prominent
owner of land in Hackensack as early
as 1862. 1t was, however, during the
attempt of European autocrats in 1880
to bring about return to the feudal-
istic conditions which had prevailed
before the French Revolution and
Napoleon's day, that the first great
movement of the Poles towards the
United States became most marked.
United States appeared to offer to the
Pole prospects of a free and prosper
GUS life. In all the wars which the
Union has fought since the eighteenth
century, including that of independ-
ence, there were always Polish officers
and soldiers among her troops. They
fought against the Indians on several
occasions, and as far back as 1885,
there was a polish National Commit
tee" in this country. In later times
the kulturkampf and the Prussianiza-
ton of Poland drove many Catholics
q from thn DrIIccinT, nc
Poland, and dating from about 1854,
it may be said that constant flow
of yearly immigration began to declare
itself.
Upper Silesia, in that year, sent
some hundreds of families to Ameri-
families immigrating to Texas. BY
1870 there were (says a Polish writer,
Seroczynski, dealing with the sub
ject), twenty Polish settlements in
ten parishes in the States of Texas,
Michigan, Wisconsin,, Indiana, Mis-
souri, and Pennsylvania. Their migra-
ton was mainly to the coal fields IF
Pennsylvania and Illinois. I'm 1870
| there were 25 Polish priests in the
country; by 1877 there were 70 min
istering to population of 100000, of
whom one-eighth were in Chicago
alone. The stream of immigrants be-
came mighty one after the Franco
Prussian war, when triumphant Bis
marck threatened Prussian Poland
with heavier hand than ever. By
| 1876 the Poles in the Union had
reached 10000, of which number
nearly 10000 were in Chicago. In
1889 they had already 1872 churches,
| 1875 priests and 122 schools, nearly all
| conducted by the Felician Sisters and
| the School Sisters of Notre Dame.
Buffalo, Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh
and Milwaukee had become important
Polish centers by 1880, while Chicago
with it's large Polish population, was
known among Poles themselves as
''the fourth division of Poland" The
| Prussian Poles and their children con.
stitute much the greater part of the
rural Polish population in the Middle
West and North West and in the in.
dustrial centers the steady flow OF
immigrants from Prussian Poland &C.
counts mainly for the bulk of the Pc.
laks. The very low death-rate among
| the Poles, in spite of abnormal con.
ditions, is, says this authority, a strik.
ing proof of their morality. 1t is not
an unusual sight to see Polish
churches in the United States filled
| with congregations in which the men
| far outnumber the women. And it is
credibly asserted (says this Polish au.
thority), that no class of American
Catholics can claim a greater percent.
| age of church-going men.
AS showing something of the spirit
which characterizes the PoIes-and
the Irisll-the author declares that
racially and religiously their sympa.
thies are coincident. SO fused and in
tensified are these sentiments, he de-
clares, that it has been well said that
the soul of Poland is naturally Chris
tian. Altogether, there are in this
country nearly one million and hall
church-going Poles distributed over
| about $50 parishes with $50 priests
400 schools, $50 lay teachers and pu
| pills to the number of about 100000
The Polish population in Chicago
amounts to-day to about 100000, while
other towns with large populations
are: Buffalo, with over 10000 Poles
Newark, with over $4,000; Pittsburgh
with $4,000; New York, 10000; Scran
ton, $4,000; Trenton, $4,000; Detroit
over $4,000; Cleveland, $4,000; Mil
waukee, over 10000, and Philadelphia
10000. Intermarriage has, of course
taken away many of the Polish popu
lation from the faith of their fore
fathers, but if these were included
the total population of persons of di
rect Polish descent would not be under
three millions.
| The press must always afford a
any community, and judged by this
| standard alone, the Poles are certain
ly progressive. Since 1863, some lac
papers for Poles have been started in
the United States. OF these not more
than seventy have survived and the
number is constantly fluctuating, al
though there is steady average in.
crease from year to year. The Catho.
lie Gazette, appealing to Catholic Con.
servatives, and the Polish Gazette are
the principal sheets now published.