Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1925-04-29

Austria's army, they were practically
lf-governing.
In Galicia, a port Of former Austrian
Poland, are many of the worlds most
famous salt mines. Those at Wieliczka
have been worked for nearly seven
centuries, at one time being a prin-
cipal source of revenue for the Polish
kings. Railroads are not permitted to
run near them lest their vibrations re-
suit in cave-ins. Within these mines
are labyriDths of salt-hewn streets
and alleys, lined with pillared
churches, staircases, restaurants,
shrines, and monuments.
There are little lakes in the mines,
sometimes 30 feet deep, which are nav
igated by ferryboats
Their Lot Not Easy.
The lot of the Polish peasant even
In the New Poland is not an easy one.
His food is simple, If not poor. His
whole family must toll from the hour
that the sun peeps over the eastern
horizon to the hour when twilight falls
into dusk. There is much drudgery
for the women.
Before the war it was not uncom-
mon to see them working as section
hands on many of the railroads, and
they are reputed to have made good
ones. 1t was not exceptional to see
them carrying mortar for bricklayers
and plasterers or to find them painting
or hanging paper in the cities.
Old Poland was sort of Royal re-
public" of landowners, in which the
serf did not count. The man who
owned land, or whose ancestors owned
land, was a noble. He might match
poverty for poOrness, he might not
have a single sole between his feet
and the ground, he might have only a
rusty old sword to tie to his girdle, and
only piebald blind horse to drive. and
that a hired one, but he still was
noble if ownership OF land had ever
set its approving stamp upon him.
With him the peasants were as but
worms of the dust. The Russian noble
was proud of his peasants, the German
noble was proud Of his, and the Aus
trian noble had nought but words Of
praise for his; but the Polish noble
was not proud of his.
In the New Poland the machinery
has been created for a much more
popular government. Poland is now
constitutional republic with universal
suffrage and proportional representa-
ton. There is a two-chamber parlia-
ment consisting of a senate and a
house. The president is elected by the
parliament for a seven-year term, and
appoints a cabinet responsible to par
lament.
Many Great Men.
Poland has contributed long list of
great and near great TO civilization. 1t
was Copernicus, a Pole, who first
taught that the sun is the center of
the solar system and laid the founda-
tions of modern astronomy. 1t was
John Sobieski who saved Europe from
the Turks as Charles Martel hammered
1t out of the grasp Of the Saracens.
KosciuszkO and Pulaski served the
cause of freedom both in Europe and
America. The QUO Yadis" of Sienkie-
wicz will never be forgotten as long as
literature and history are appreciated
by man. The music of Paderew4ski en-
titles him TO place among the i'm
mortalS, and the histrionic art of Mod
jeska gave her a foremost place in the
history of the stage. The compositions
of Chopin, Pole by birth, though a
Frenchman by education, will float
down through the corridors OF time
along with those of Wagner, Beethoven,
Handel, Verdi, and the other masters.
From the days of Kosciuszko down
to the present, Poles have been no
mean contributors to American civili-
zation. Leopold Julian Boeck is cred
tied with having led the movement
for the establishment OF the first poly
technic institution in the United States.
-Four million Poles have come to the
shores of America, and our Polish i'm
migrant population living today ranges
around 100000. 1t is said that If
the people Of Polish ancestry in the
United States were massed together
they could practically duplicate the
population of New England. In Penn
sylvania one inhabitant out Of every
twelve has Polish blood in his veins
in New York one out of fourteen, and
In Massachusetts one out of ten.
Chicago is said to have more Poles
in ii than any other city in the world
except Warsaw and possibly LODI.
Cleveland has more than 10000 Polish
residents, yet New York, Pittsburgh,
Philadelphia. Buffalo, Milwaukee, and
Detroit all have Polish colonies larger
:han ClevelandA