The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1921-10-13

BUFFALO, N. Y, Oct 13.-The fact
that Poland has become at last unit
ed and independent kingdom will not
rob the United States of any consider
able percentage of the Polish-born pop
ulation, which has come TO play such
an important part in its business and
industrial life. Many Polish-Ameri-
cans are going back for visits to their
fatherland, often to seek for friends
and relatives, but very few are going
to stay. They have become wholly
and permanently American.
This is the opinion of a prominent
citizen of Polish birth here in Buffalo,
(which contains perhaps a greater per-
centage of Poles than any other Amer
lean city
During the war, 100000 Poles in the
United States volunteered to fight for
their country's liberty at 10 cents 9
day. But when they obtained that lib
erty for Poland most of them returned
to the United States.
America, it seems, has a powerful
effect on the Polish immigrant. He
comes here meek from centuries OF
oppression. When he realizes that the
air is free, he blossoms out. He even
develops traits that the Poles are not
noted for Thus, the Polish citizen
tells us that his people in this city
are great savers, that they came here
poor, but they live frugally. AS a
consequence, 80 per cent of them own
their own homes, and the bank de-
posits of the Buffalo Poles total about
S35. zoo. 900. This is surprising to many
people who know the Poles as better
spenders than savers.
These people have so long been dis
couraged by conditions in Europe that
their ambition has been said by some
critics to be dormant. George Bran
des pronounced the Russian Poles
dilettantes. playing with dozen ca
reers in lifetime, and caring very
little whether success came with any
of them. In America, they manage to
focus their ambitions. They regard
this country as land of great oppor-
tunitieS, and most of them settle down
to make money
How Colonies Are Formed.
Like othe immigrants, they gather
in colonies in the big cities. Chicago
has the largest colony, then Detroit,
and then Buffalo. A few Poles came
to these cities because work was Of
fered there, and from these nuclei the
colonies grew. Oppression at home
trained them to cling to each other
for advice and support, and too, they
eagerly sought out neighborhoods
where their beloved Polish tongue
could be heard
They formed their communities
around the churches, and when the
churches became too crowded they
built new ones. At home, the church
was the center of the community life,
and in this country they wished it to
be the same. So the value of a piece
of property to a Pole is still meas
ured partly by its closeness to the
church of the neighborhood.
A market also is demanded by the
Polish mother wherever she may be
Early in the morning on Buffalo's
Broadway in the Polish quarter a
procession of housewives can be seen
passing. With all the shops and their
shortcuts to Housekeeping, the Polish
mother makes her own bread and
noodles. And when she returns from
market her loaded basket is very apt
to hold a squawking goose or hen
which she will kill and pluck herself
The Polish language which these
mothers, many of them, taught to
their children in Europe, is on every
tongue in the market parade. The
children and the fathers generally