· ,., " 801m ASJ.>ECTS 01' ro·LIsnn,lH! ORATWn TO 1:!m Ulr.t'tED ,ST...t;,TES \11m srec!J~ t , ;lE~ro7;nCIt'ro TIm PEnrOD lSfJO-19US lV Sl s t e'l' f1. Valont:1.a., Ph.n. A'.eluslll $:tibml tte.d 'to tl'..a Ft1"Oul ty of tho (:I'&.~~"~"~ Scl.. o o. 1", ~.". '">qUl~ , tt6' Ur.t1'''G.. · ~.S l tl"I: 1n PfU't1al b'Ulfl..llmant of the Require­ fi:1GntG t o:-1?' the :DGg0~ 0:£ lttl,ster aT ArtS' mlDl~AUKEE J: wlSOOnS;m GRADUATE SCHOOL .y. 1~ LIBRARY MARQUETTE UNIVf::.HSiH i 9065 7 8 OO,1'J'1'E11 'i'S .1/ Page In t~yoduoti()n., .. •. ... .. • .• ". • ... ., .. if . ' " ,. .. ..... 1 Cha.p te-~ I~ Tilc'6 hl'es n:;,:;r der Three:rl$$ tel'$' Oi • .. ., .. :5 The PArt! t1.ons of: Po·land .. -. -. ... 3 .., ." '" '. pls"Content .:1.n Giernlcan 1i>o!and • .... .. .. .- . 7 ~ss, 1:fiea:tl,()u 'and trl~Po.l:Lsb. P13a:sant $ .. • • .oil' 1'7 Austrian P()lic1es i n Qal:!.:eia • -j > '. • .. • III • _lit l 2 Oha:p'ter It. P011.h Imn:ig :Nitt1€Hl to the tfu.3.ted States 20 · ~m_ ...... P o ~ " ",,, ;1;."""" ~1 . 1 .", .. t ~, " . ... .. :i.~w "' . ,m.... n g ",oJ. ''''';'1"", l ...~r ·· Y <!"li\: .. i·.LO: v,tI .. • • • • • • 20 Migra tiono.t ,lfolish Pc 11 t-lcn.l P.e.f-llgee a • • ~ 22 Eat>l ylol1.sh S.ettlernants in W1se,onsin and Tex.a:fl . ... .. ~ . '..- .. 1ti ,_" . '. '•• '. =-". !II .. ... 23 '!:'h<e Etailro,&ds rold. Polish It<1m1gration • • " • '" 27 nl8 Work '(:)1: :.tmm.1 g~ tio:n J.!.genta .. Oi .. .... • '" 51 The Motives tOT F~lish Il:mn.lgrat:i.on .. .. .. .. 32 Cha:pt<ltI" Ill. 'Ph~ Po1es in /u.'1OJ?tca .. ' . ., e' • .... -. -. 36 De's.1£'e fo'I" Ro.:me Own:e'Psh1p .. .. .. • .. .. ... ... 36 In1'l'UJt into !ndust ria:l Oities. .- .. ,., .. .. '" 39 Follsh (}olo.ni'Os ill Vari~u.. '} . State-s .. -- .. ..- ." .. 41 11 i Pag-o ~ POl-eG In th$' llino$ .... _' ...... '... fro '!be. Pol-o-s on tl'l& ,l'ta.-l"tll. ..... ~ .. --., -- . 46 DIs t:r-lbut1cll in 'fYpleal OeeuIHlt1ona .. '. '.. ' 53 ''1''be' Pol~:s l1nd Elhteg tion . ~ .. .. .. .. */ . ' . ' ,. 55 Pol!'sh Alllaneo.$ and Orge;n.1za:t1ons '... it, .. .. 5'1 ~ Polish l?l"eSS .. • • .. .. ;0 .. .. .. _. .. '.. .. 61 l!.pp<mdU., StatIstical Tttbl.eo£ Polish Immisvntion tX"O"til Prun's!a" nwtsu, tmd Austria ... .. ..., ...... .. -tit __ :. .. .. :- 64 Blbllograp-hl' .. .. it .. .. • .. .. .. • it .. • .. • • ..... 67 -1 I NTRODUCTION / Wh&n the dissat1sfied people" of Europe decided to emigrate, the United states was naturally the first choice of the immense major1ty because of its cheap landa, cb.eap ocean pas sage, political and religious equality and its limitless opportunities. The Poles of Russia, Prussia, and Austria were til pert of that dIssatisfied group whlch made a,n exodus to the Unlted states in large Dumbers. The lot of the Polish peasant was always an unhappy one. When Poland, at the zenith ot her power, ruled 'over White llussians, Ruthenians, and Lithuanians, when her dominion extended from the OdeI' to the Don River and from the Baltic to the Black Sea, the positIon of the Polieh serf was as unenviable as it 1s today. Poland was an ol1garchy 1n wh1ch the ruling nobles and their m1eerable serfs had no bond of sympathy. There W8B no Polish middle class suffic1ent to carryon trade and commerce, to serve ae a connecting l1nk bet­ ween the two w1dely separated classes. And that is perhaps one rea,son why Polish serfs who mlgrated to the United States entered the mining and manufacturing 1ndustries of the eastern and middle western states , and became for the most part unskilled laborers rather -2 than farmers. There is no basic industry in which they i are not represented in large numbers, in fact, it can be said that they have almost completely monopolized unskilled labor activities in many important industries. It is the intention of the writer to discuss at length Polish immigration to the United States with special reference to the period from 1870 to 1905. -3 CHAPTER I i Poland had been a large Bnd important national sta.te since the sixteenth century. It represented not only a geographic unit but also a union and partial fusion of' three nationalities--Poles, Lithuanians, and Letts (Latvians.) During the seventeenth century, the unified Polish state played a conspiCUOUS military role~ It then con­ tested Baltic ports with Sweden, interfered in Russla, helped the AUstrian Hapsburgs to defend Vienna agaInst the Turks (1683), Bud exte.nded its own frot:ltlers soutb.., eastward at the expense of the Ottoman E'mpira. ,,11 th the expansion of' the Polish ata te, the -jeal­ ousy of its neighbors was aroused, and by the eighteenth century certain internal weaknesse.s manlfested them­ selves. Relative to its geographical extent, its population was sparse and its public wealth slight. It encountered increasing difficulty 1n r a ls1.ngand maintaining a.rmies of sufficient ·size and effectiveneS8 to cope with the military establishments of Prussia, Russia, and Aus tria. It lacked adequate fOl't1tlcatlons, natural as we ll 88 artificial. Her land .as unprotected by moun talns-. -4 There were troublesome minorities within Poland. i The largemajorlty of the population was PolIsh 1n language and natl0.oal1 ty and Catholic in religion. Part of the country, however, was peopled by LIthua­ nians, who, though roainlyCathollc llke the Po les , constltu.ted a national mInority. In many of t he towns, moreover, were consider able settlements 01' Jews, ..ho were treated and wished to be trested, 8S a separate nation. Besides, Inthe southeastern dlstr·icts were numerous Ruthenians (Ukrainians) and. Rus8ianCo-ssacka, who were non-Polish in speech and ortbodox in rellgion, while In the western towns and Baltic provinces were an appreciable number of' Protestant Germans . In the eIghteenth century the Orthodox and Protestant dis­ senters demanded from the CathollcUlajorlty an equality whlchat the t1me existed in no other country of Europe, and wben It was not forthcoming they appealed for asslstance to foreign powers--the Protestants to the King of Prussia, the Orthodox to the Tsar of Russia. The aocial and political conditions in Poland were particularly bad. By the end of the seventeenth century, Swedish eOm:l!lerciol control of the Baltic bad inflicted hardsh1ps on Pollilnd' 8 eoonomio 11te. lIer cities were not Rrowing and bel' middle cl088 waa -5 i declining in wealth and numbers. The nobilIty was the one class which r e tained Q,n eminent social poai tion. The Polish noblea, as a class, were too mu.ch given to f euds to present a un1ted front to any foreign enemy. Yet the nobles owned t he l and , lived prodigally, looked out selfishly for their own economic advantage, end depressed the peasantry into an ever more ml eerable condition. W1th a selfish nob il1ty on the one hand, and en oppressed peas,antry on the other, the best gusra,nty of pol1tical I ndependence, was notably lacklng. 1 1 O~lton J. H. Hayes, A PolItical ~ Cultural History of Modern Europe, I : 3"74-377 I n 1772, Catherine the Greater Russia joined with Frederick the Great of Prussia and w1th Maria Theresa of Austria in makIng the f irst par tition of POl~ld. Russia took overall the country whlch lay east ·01' the Duna and Dnieper rivers. Prussia took West Prussia, except t he town of DanZig . Au str1a took Gal1cla, ~ except the city of CPacow. In all, Poland was depr1ved of about a .fourth of her terri tory, a fif th of her popula tion, and almost a half of her wealth. :2 :2 Ibid., I, 344-345, 382 -6 i In 1793, Po land was subjected to Q seoond parti­ tion by Russia Bnd Prussia, and 1.n 1795, frussla, Pruss1a, and Aus t ria completed t heir partltionin"" work and erased Poland irOIli thepol1tlcal map of Europe. L~ the part1tions of 1793 and 1795 , Austria obta.lned the upper valley of the Vlstula, end Prussia the lower. including the c1tyof Warsaw, whil e tbe rest of Poland, --the major share--went to Russia. Rut-hanla {or Ukralnla} and almost all of L1thuania passed Into the hands of Catherine the Great • .3 :3 Ibi,d., I, 382-383, 700-70.3 '----'- Lord Phl111more once remarked that the part1tIon of Po land in the eigbteenthcentul"Y wa2 an internatIonal crime. The empires whicb carried out the partItion accepted a heavy responsl'bll1ty. For thIs they pald, and they no longer exist. But the real su11t was on the Poles who lost their independence through their lack of national unIty. Among the social classes, the heaviest guilt reat,fj on the nobilIty, wno by their selfishness brought disunity and ruin to the Polish national state. I t 1s needless to day that the socIal, economic, -7 and political causes of Polish emigration to America .' had their roots in the dismemberment of Poland. The Kulturkampf was perhaps the greatest factor in Poll$n emigration from G'tU!'lllany. Bislllarck inaugurated the policy in 1871 by suppres.sing the Catholic Department in the r.E1nlstry of Public Worship and Instruction on the pretext of ita Polonizlng tendencies. 'Jlhe Bo-called It M,S.y Laws !! were enacted which restricted the pzolvilegea of the clergy, even those guaranteed by the constitution. Numerous penalties were inflicted on refractory ecclesi­ astics. Msgr. Ledochowski, Archbishop of Posen, wsa imprisoned in 1874 and later condemned to ban18hment~ i\~any parishes remained without priests. Posen WS8 given a Gel"'tllan bishop_ 4 4 Ladislas Konopczynskl, A Brief Outline of Polish Hi .s tory, 79 - The struggle of the Gorman imperial government against the Catholic Church, though a painful epieodel! was not without ita fortunate Co.fissquenccs for the Polish popu~ation which was whole-hcartedly C a thollc~ It woke up the masses of' the people, associated the idess of patriotism and religion, united the Catholic clergy wIth the opposition, and created a bond of -8 union between all classes end hastened the revival i in Uppe r Silce1s .