The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1914-11-14

"A passionate lover of liberty, the Unit
ed States appeared to offer to him all
prospects of a free and prosperous life.
In all the wars which the Union has
fought since the eighteenth century,
including that of independence, there
were always Polish officers and SOL
oilers among her troops. They fought
against the Indians on several occa-
s1ons, and as far back as 1885, there
was Polish National Committee" in
this country. In later times the Kul.
turkampf and the Prussianization of
Poland drove many Catholics away
from the Prussion portion of Poland,
and dating from about 1854, it may be
said that a constant flow of yearly i'm.
migration began to declare itself.
Upper Silesia, in that year, sent
some hundreds of families to America,
most of the members of these families
migrating to Texas. By 1870 there
were (says Polish writer, Seroczyn-
ski, dealing with the subject), twenty
Polish settlements in ten parishes in
the states of Texas, Michigan, Wiscon-
sin, Indiana, Missouri and Pennsyl-
vanfa. Their migration was mainly to
the coal fields of Pennsylvania and
Illinois. In 1870 there were Is Polish
priests in the country; by 1877 there
were 70 ministering to a population of
140 thousand, Of whom one-eighth were
In Chicago alone. The stream of i'm
migrants became a mighty one after
the Franco-Prussian war, when trium-
plant Bismarck threatened Prussian
Poland with heavier hand than ever.
BY 1876 the Poles in the Union had
reached $50 thousand, of which num-
Der nearly 20 thousand were in Chi
cago. In 1889 they had already 1872
churches, 126 priests and 122 schools,
nearly all conducted by the Felician
Sisters and the School Sisters of Notre
Dame. Buffalo, Detroit, Cleveland,
Pittsburg and Milwaukee had become
important Polish centers by 1880, while
Chicago with it's large Polish popula-
tion, was known among Poles them
selves as "the fourth division of Po-
land" The Prussian Poles and their
children constitute much the greater
part Of the rural Polish population in
the Middle West and North West and
in the industrial centers the steady
flow Of immigrants from Russian Po-
land accounts mainly for the bulk of
the Polaks. The very low death-rate
among the Poles, in spite of abnormal
conditions, is, says this authority, a
striking 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 per-
centage Of church-going men.
AS showing something of the spirit
which characterizes the Poles-and
the 1rish-the author declares that
racially and religiously their sympa-
thies are coincident. So fused and
intensified are these sentiments, he
declares, that it has been we'll said
that the soul Of Poland is naturally
Christian. Altogether, there are in
this country nearly one million and a
half church-going Poles distributed
over about $50 parishes with $50
priests, 400 schools, $50 lay teachers
and pupils to the number of about 12O
thousand. The Polish population in
Chicago amounts today to about 24O
thousand, while other towns with large
populations are: Buffalo, with over 80
thousand Poles; Newark, with over so
thousand; Pittsburg, with 80 thou
sand; New York, 80 thousand; Scran.
ton, SIS thousand; Trenton, IS thou
sand; Detroit, over so thousand;
Cleveland, So thousand; Milwaukee,
over 60 thousand, and Philadelphia,
so thousand. Intermarriage has, of
course, taken away many Of the Polish
population from the faith of their fore
fathers, but If these were included the
total population of persons of direct
Polish descent would not be under
three millions.
The press must always afford valu-
able index to the advancement of any
community, and judged by this stand
ard alone, the Poles are certainly pro-
gressive. Since 1868, some 40 papers
for Poles have been started in the
United States. OF these not more than
seventy have survived and the number
is constantly fluctuating, although
there is steady average increase from
year to year. The Catholic Gazette,
appealing to Catholic Conservatives,
and the Polish Gazette are the princi-
pal sheets now published.
MINISTER QUITS.
Because he refused to afiiliate with