In Galicia the Jews are competitors of the Poles. Full advantage has been taken by Austrian statesmen of the existence of a powerful clique of Jewish financiers in Vienna in order to obtain Jewish support against Slavic aspirations. Jewish capitalists were allowed to take part in the development of natural resources as well as to purchase large estates. At present fully 20 per cent of the larger private domains in Galicia are owned by Jews.[114] In the cities also the Jewish element has acquired considerable influence. This is especially observable in Lemberg and Cracow. The bulk of Galician Jews, however, are poor and uneducated. They have little sympathy with the ideals of the Christian element, from whom they hold aloof. In the social relations of the three main elements of the Galician population, Poles and Jews generally unite to exploit Ruthenians. The Jews apparently are unable to thrive on the Poles. In the Polish sections of Galicia they constitute only 7 per cent of the population, whereas in Ruthenian Galicia this proportion rises to 13 per cent.
German Poland, from Upper Silesia to the Gulf of Danzig, contains about 4,000,000 Poles. In Upper Silesia, they constitute 61 per cent of the population and number about 1,300,000. This majority has been maintained, in the face of aggressive Germanization, since the first half of the fourteenth century. The city of Posen contains 170,000 inhabitants, of whom 58 per cent are Poles. The farming districts of the province contain only about 10 per cent of Germans. Over 900,000 Poles live in East and West Prussia. In this section of Germany, they form a sufficiently compact body to be able to send representatives chosen from their own people to the Landstag and Reichstag. The western coast of the Gulf of Danzig and the banks of the lower Vistula are almost exclusively Polish. A solid wedge of Polish humanity is here interposed between the Germans of Pomerania and of East Prussia. This thorough isolation of an important body of Germans may become a thorny problem in any eventual settlement of Polish boundaries.
Upper Silesia is the best endowed section of Polish territory. The grayish soil which forms the surface of the Oder valley is eminently fitted for cereal and beet cultivation and the farmers of this soil are generally Poles. They often represent 90 per cent of the rural population.[115] In the cities and generally speaking in the industrial field they are laborers. Capital and the management of factories and of mines are in German hands.
The most interesting feature of the clash between Germans and Poles in Upper Silesia is found in the failure of the Germans in their efforts to force their language upon an alien people. Forty years ago, Polish noblemen were apt to blush at the thought of their Slavic origin in the presence of the German rulers of their land. But the vexations inflicted on them by Prussian administration, since the formation of the German Empire, have bred a spirit of defiance and revolt. As a result Silesian Poles were never so conscious of nationality as they are today. They band together in order to resist Germanization more effectively. Small tradesmen, petty farmers and professional men organize themselves into bodies to which individual interests are intrusted whenever German methods become intolerable. But the greatest asset of Polish nationality in this fight against annihilation is its high birth rate. This has also led to the emigration of Poles to the industrial districts of Westphalia, the coal districts of the Lens basin in France and to America. This flow of Poles comes mainly from the provinces of Posen and West Prussia, where sandy inert soils cannot accommodate rapidly increasing numbers.
In addition to drastic educational measures, compelling study of their language, the Germans have resorted to wholesale buying of Polish estates in the section of the kingdom of Poland which fell to the lot of Prussia when the country was partitioned. A colonization law (Ansiedelunggesetz), decreed on April 26, 1886, placed large funds at the disposal of the German government for the purchase of land owned by Poles and the establishment of colonies of German settlers.[116] The measure was artificial and proved valueless against economic conditions prevailing in the regions affected. A decrease in the percentage of the Polish population of the estates acquired by purchase was rarely brought about. The new settlers could rarely compete with natives. The most tangible result consisted in mere substitution of German for Polish ownership. On most of the large estates the mass of laborers and dependents remained Poles as they had been before. The breach between Poles and Germans was widened by the change of masters. Nevertheless, although results corresponding to the efforts and money expended were not obtained, the measure has contributed to the advance of Teutonism in northeastern Europe.[117]
The purpose of this colonization is to redeem Prussian soil from Polish ownership. The “Mittelstandskasse” of Breslau, and the Peasant’s Bank of Danzig, are financial institutions directly interested in this work of Germanization. These banks work hand in hand with the state. Results of this activity can be observed in East Prussia where the German element has acquired preponderance in 32 communes, through the intervention of German capital. A common practice of the German loan societies is to assume the liabilities of German farmers. In many cases the peasants have been provided with funds to carry on their agricultural operations. In Western Prussia 39 estates with about 14,000 inhabitants have passed into German hands.[118] Often it has been impossible to induce peasants from other parts of Germany to settle in the Polish provinces, and the state has resorted to the importation of German peasants from the old German settlements in Russia, Galicia and Bosnia.
German colonization in Polish provinces has been accompanied by increase and expansion of urban centers. The province of Posen, which now claims 151 cities,[119] is a typical instance. The colonists’ cities founded by Germans are readily recognized by their peculiar configuration. Almost all have been built on the same plan. A four-sided market-place generally constitutes the nucleus of the urban tract. Main avenues diverge from the angles of the central quadrilateral. Lateral streets extend parallel to the market sides and at right angles to the main arteries.
Against the tightening hold of the Germans on their land, the Poles can offer only limited resistance. But their counteracting efforts are not devoid of value. They have taken advantage of the high prices, consequent upon the sales of the land which the government has forced on them, to buy new estates. Thanks to the high rate of birth among Poles, the proportion of Poles living in German Poland to the rest of the population remains stationary, in spite of German immigration or Polish emigration. Coöperative associations of farmers, of traders or industrial operators, present a united front in all dealings of their members with Germans. In the field of education, children are taught Polish in spite of German opposition.[120] The patriotism and courage of the Polish press are maintained in face of German persecution. The return of Polish emigrants with a little capital, accumulated by toil in foreign lands, is likewise one of the factors which contribute to the preservation of the people in their homeland. Both from the western industrial districts of Germany and from overseas, many patriotic Poles return to the land of their fathers and settle upon small farms purchased with their savings.
From the east pressure corresponding to Teutonic battering, although exerted with less intensity, is applied by Russian endeavor to create national homogeneity. Of all the different members of the wide-spread Slavic race Poles and Russians are the most closely related by speech. But the affinity ends here, for the formidable barrier of religious differences hampers fusion of the two nationalities. Caught between the hammer of Teutonic reformation and the Slavic anvil of Russian orthodoxy, the Poles have remained stanch Catholics. Creed, in this case, has played a considerable part in the preservation of national spirit.