The evening leader., 1918-11-21

educate themselves. Some idea of
their zeal for self-improvement can
De gathered from the. statistics re-
Gently obtained by the Ukrainian fed
Grafton, regarding their consumption
OF print paper. Only eight newspa-
pers are published for the 100000
Ukralnians in the United States, and
yet they consume more print paper
than all Of the newspapers published
for their 100000 brothers living in
Galicia.
The first Ukrainian immigration to
America began about thirty years
ago. The immigrants who came then
were from the Carpathian mountains
in western, Galicia. Their home con-
dltlons had been forlorn. They were
farm laborers and owned practically
no land themselves. More than half
of the arabic land in Galicia belongs
to landlords, many of whom are for
eign noblemen. The peasants work
for a pittance and have practically no
chance of buying any land for their
own occupation. In fact, their status
has not been very far above serfdom.
Hungary Restricted Emigration.
In the last ten years, the Ukrainian
lmml grafton to the new world has as
sumed large proportions. 1t worried
the Hungarian authorities so much
that, in 1912, emigration from Galicia
to the United States was forbidden.
Nevertheless, it kept on, for the pea
SAINTS went over into Germany and
took ship from Hamburg or Bremen.
Usually the men came alone and left
the women in the old country until
they could make some suitable pro-
vision for them in the new home.
News about America and it's oportuni-
les became widespread in Galicia and
aany of the peasants undertook to
earn the English language.
An amusing fact came to light dur
Ing one of the last Hungarian electo-
raj campaigns. Count Apponyi, in the
course of a speaking tour, was sched-
fuled to address the townspeople in one
of the villages in the Carpathians.
But when he reached the town, he was
irritated to find that very few of the
people could speak or understand
hungarian. After inquiry from some
6 his party leaders in the district,
he found that most of them could
soak and understand English very
WI So he made the best of bad
buiness and delivered his political
speech to the crowd in English instead
of Is native tongue.
engage in Many Businesses.
Thefrst Ukrainians to arrive in
Ameria took up their homes in the
mining districts of Pennsylvania.
, They yare not only uneducated, but
they nd never had a chance to learn
any skled trade. Naturally, the un-
skilledoccupations offered them their
only ,eans of livelihood. They be-
came ay laborers, miners and facto-
ry hads. In the bigger cities they
foun variety of odd jobs to do.
Thre is one business in which the
U,rainians are almsot as densely rep
esented as the Greeks are in the con-
Ifectionery trade: window-washing.
The Window-washers' union in New
York is made up almost entirely of
Ukrainians. In Boston many of them
work in restaurants. In Detroit they
have become skilled mechanics.
A distinctive feature of Ukrainian
| life in the various settlements is the
"Narodny Dim," or "People's House."
This unique institution is real COM
munity center; club, cooperative So
ciety, school, and forum combined.
! Tho oldest and most prosperous 'peo-
plc's house" was established in Mon
essen, Pa, a foundry town, about six
years ago. There are now twelve of
these centers, located in different
cities. A description of the one in
Newark, N. j., gives an adequate idea
of all of them, for they are much
alike.
A Ukrainian Community Center.
In Newark, the Ukrainians bought
two small houses, formerly dwelling
houses, in the heart of the foreign dis
tricts, at Beacon street and Spring
field avenue. In these they installed
grocery, a butcher shop, and res
taurant. Over the door they hung a
sign which read "The Ukrainian
Workers cooperative Society,"" On an
upper floor they took out partitions
and made a large hall, where they
hold meetings three or four times a
week. Some of their gatherings are
for business purposes, some are politi-
cal, and some are literary. AS often
as possible, once or twice a week, they
have lectures. 1t is hard to find
, enough lecturers to supply the de-
.ouI Tbax, uyopt lanturoc nm oyapy