Reproduced by special permission of "The World's Work." Copyright 1909.
Religious Tolerance
"The higher classes of Poland were touched by the pre-Reformation movement of Huss at Prague, where they were generally educated. Reformation ideas did not gain as great currency as in Bohemia, but both Calvin and Luther were interested in their progress in Poland. A Jesuit authority complained that two thousand Romanist churches had become Protestant. A Union Synod was formed and consensus of doctrine adopted. Poland is described as the most tolerant country of Europe in the sixteenth century. It became an asylum for the persecuted Protestants of other lands, notably the Bohemian brethren. Later on, under the influence of Protestantism, literature and education were stimulated. But under succeeding Swedish and Saxon dynasties, and through Jesuit instrumentality, religious liberty and national independence were lost, and Poland disappeared from the map of Europe. As a race the Poles boast such names as Copernicus the astronomer, Kosciusko the patriot warrior, and Chopin the composer."[66]
Distribution
The distribution in America in 1904 was as follows: Illinois, 123,887, of whom 107,669 were in the vicinity of the Chicago stockyards; Pennsylvania, 118,203, mainly in the anthracite coal regions and about Pittsburg, with 11,000 in Philadelphia; New York, 115,046, 50,000 of them in New York City and 35,000 in Buffalo; Wisconsin, 70,000, 36,000 in Milwaukee; Michigan, 59,075, 26,869 in Detroit; Ohio, 31,136, 15,000 in Cleveland and 9,000 in Toledo; in Massachusetts, Minnesota, and New Jersey, between 20,000 and 30,000 each; in Connecticut and Indiana, over 10,000 each; and in smaller numbers widely distributed. Their preference for the larger cities is shown by these figures. Recent immigrants are going more into the New England States. Already there is a second generation of them in the cities and the farming country of the Middle West, and they have their own teachers and doctors. In New England they are spreading in the factory towns, and Chicopee, Massachusetts, has six thousand of them; while in the tobacco belt of Connecticut they furnish a majority of the farm hands. Ten years ago Hartford had only three or four hundred Polish families; to-day there is a parish of a thousand people, and they have built a Catholic church and given $20,000 toward a school.
Independent in Spirit; Open to the Gospel
Like most of the Slavs, the Poles who come here are commonly poor, and of the peasant class; about one third of them are illiterate. They are clannish, and clash with the Lithuanians and other races. Lovers of liberty, they clash also with the Catholic authorities, going so far even as organized rebellion to obtain control of their church properties and freedom in the choice of priests. They have a superstitious dread of Protestantism, which has been misrepresented to them as extremely difficult. "Polish priests about Pittsburg are said to boast of the number of Bibles, distributed by Protestants, which they gather from the people and burn." If once Protestantism gets a grip upon them, rapid defection from ecclesiastical tyranny will follow. Dr. H. K. Carroll figures that the Polish Catholics as distinct from Roman Catholics, have forty-three churches and 42,859 communicants, with thirty-three priests—this representing the extent of revolt against the Romish Church. It must be granted that comparatively little has been done to reach this people, and it is not strange that as yet the number of Protestant Poles is small. It takes a larger and more imposing movement to make a definite impression upon those accustomed to the size and strength of the Catholic organizations.
III. The Slovaks
A Farming People
The Slovaks of northern Hungary number about two millions, and are closely akin to the Bohemians and Moravians. According to Mr. Rovinanek, editor of the Pittsburg Slovak Daily, they constitute the trunk of the great Slavonic national tree, from which have branched so many of the Slav people, at the head of whom now stands the powerful Russian empire. From prehistoric time they were celebrated as a peaceful, industrious people, fond of agricultural and pastoral life. The immigration has been from the agricultural class, and at first settlement was made in the mining regions of Pennsylvania. Farming had its inherited attractions, however, and there are hundreds of Slovak farmers in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Ohio; while in Minnesota, Arkansas, Virginia, and Wisconsin there are colonies of them, where for many miles on every side the land is entirely in their possession. Kossuth was a Slovak, to their lasting pride. Over 100,000 of them have come to America since 1900, one fourth of them illiterates. They had little opportunity to be otherwise at home, but since coming here their advancement educationally has been marked.