detail, and no longer class these peoples indiscriminately as "barbarian
Huns."
_I. The Bohemians_
[Sidenote: The Czechs and their History]
We may well begin with the Bohemians, who are among the most skilled,
least illiterate, and, to Protestants, most interesting of the Slavs. In
studying any group of "strangers within our gates," it is necessary to
know its preëmigration history. These people, who call themselves
Czechs, are a principal branch of the Slav family and one of the large
constituents of the Austria-Hungarian empire, numbering 6,318,697 in
1901. At home they are chiefly agriculturists. In 1900 there were in
this country 325,400 persons of Bohemian parentage, of whom 156,991 were
born in Bohemia. Since 1900 above 50,000 more have come. Three fourths
of them all are in the north central states of the Mississippi Valley,
with Chicago as their great center. Cleveland has about 15,000, New York
about the same number; while in agriculture there are in round numbers
16,000 in Nebraska, 14,000 in Wisconsin, 11,000 in Iowa, and 9,000 in
Texas.
[Sidenote: Stormy National Struggle]
As to their history in the old world, the Bohemians have had such a
stormy national struggle, and the bitterness of it has so entered into
their lives, that it is impossible rightly to judge them apart from it.
It has some instructive lessons for us. These are the conditions, as Mr.
Nan Mashek, himself a Bohemian, states them:[65]
[Sidenote: John Huss and Jerome of Prague]
"For two hundred and fifty years they have been oppressed by a
pitilessly despotic rule. In the day of their independence, before 1620,
they were Protestants, and the most glorious and memorable events of
their history are connected with their struggle for the faith. The
history of their Church is the history of their nation, for on the one
hand was Protestantism and independence, on the other, Catholicism and
political subjection. For two centuries Bohemia was a bloody
battleground of Protestant reform. Under the spiritual and military
leadership of such men as Jerome of Prague, John Huss, and Ziska, the
Bohemians fought their good fight and lost. After the battle of White
Mountains, in 1620, national independence was completely lost, and
Catholicism was forcibly imposed upon the country. All Protestant
Bibles, books, and songs were burned, thus depriving the nation of a
large and rich literature. Those who still clung to their faith publicly
were banished, their property becoming forfeited to the state. After 150
years, when Emperor Joseph II. of Austria gave back to the Protestants
some measure of their former freedom, many of the churches were
reëstablished; but Protestantism had lost much of its strength. The
political revolution of 1848 led to new subjugation, and emigration was
the result. Large numbers left the country in quest of freedom, and some
of these found their way to America."
[Sidenote: Farmer Settlers in the West]
The first Bohemian settlers were of the most intelligent and more
prosperous classes. They went West, chiefly to Wisconsin, where their
farms are among the finest in the state. In Kewaunee County they
constitute over one third of the population, or 6,000 out of 17,000.
They have developed into an excellent type of American citizenship, have
looked well after the education of their children, many of whom have
gone to college, and are in every way progressive. Read thoughtfully
what Mr. Mashek says:
[Sidenote: Easy Assimilation Through Religion]
"In the country the assimilation of Bohemians is not a problem which
offers difficulties. The public school is everywhere so potent an
Americanizer that it alone is adequate. There is, however, one other
influence which if brought to bear, especially in the large communities,
would be helpful. _I refer to the Protestant faith._ For the most part
Bohemians conversant with their history as a people are naturally
hostile to the Catholic Church, and when the restraints which held them
in their own country are removed by emigration, many of the more
enlightened quietly drop their allegiance, and, through lack of desire
or opportunity, fail to ally themselves with any other. So strong is
this non-religious tendency among the Bohemians--especially in the
cities--that it has resulted in active unbelief, and hostility to Church
influence. _This spiritual isolation_, with its resultant social
separation, _is doing great harm in retarding assimilation_. Aside from
this matter of religion, the Bohemian falls into American customs with
surprising readiness."
[Sidenote: Protestant Opportunity]
Thus a member of this race points out to Protestants their opportunity.
Here is a people with inherited Protestant tendencies. They have been
driven in Bohemia by an enforced Roman Catholicism into antagonism to
the Church as they know it.
[Sidenote: Freethinkers' Society]
In Chicago, where over 100,000 of them make of that city the third
largest Bohemian center in the world, they have a strongly organized
Freethinkers' Society, with three hundred branches, which issues an
atheistic catechism, and has it taught in its numerous Sunday-schools,
as they are called. But there are thousands who do not belong to this
cult, and who are open to the gospel. The same is true of the Bohemians
in New York, Cleveland, and elsewhere who have not advanced to the
Chicago infidel standpoint. Their character has not been well
understood. They possess excellent qualities for the making of good
Americans. Christianity in pure and true form is all they need.
[Sidenote: A Home-loving and Musical People]
The Bohemians are a home people, social, and fond of organizations of
every kind. Music is their passion, and their clubs, mutual benefit
societies, and loan associations, successfully run, show large capacity
for management. They have forty-two papers, seven of them religious, two
Protestant. Their freethinking is not all of it by any means of the
dogmatic sort which has its catechism of atheism. There is another
class, represented by an old woman with a broad brow over which the
silvery hair is smoothly parted, who says to the missionary, "I have my
God in my heart, I shall deal with him. I do not want any priest to step
between us." That is the class which the gospel can reach and ought to
reach speedily.
[Sidenote: Where Located]
About seventy-five per cent, of the Bohemians live in the northwest. In
Cleveland they have entered into various industries. In New York they
are largely employed in cigar-making, at which the women and girls work
under conditions not calculated to inspire them with regard for God or
man. The home life cannot be what it should when the mothers are
compelled to work in the factories, besides having all the home cares
and work. The testimony of the tenement inspectors is that the Bohemians
are perhaps the cleanest of the poor people in the city, and are
struggling heroically against the pitiful conditions of the
tenement-houses in which they are compelled to exist.
_II. The Poles_
[Sidenote: A Large Element]
The Poles form one of the oldest and largest elements of the Slav
immigration. In 1900 the census gave 668,536 persons whose parents were
born in Poland, and of these 383,510 were themselves born there. Nearly
a quarter of a million of the latter came to this country between 1890
and 1900, and in the five years following, 1900-5, about 350,000 more
arrived. A third of a million Poles now in America do not understand
English. The Polish strength is indicated by the Polish National
Alliance, with 50,000 members, and by a list of fifty newspapers
published in the Polish tongue, four of them dailies, printed in
Chicago, Buffalo, and Milwaukee, the largest centers.
[Illustration: Born in Russia, Poland, Bohemia, Hungary--Resident
in the United States 1900
Reproduced by special permission from "The World's Work"
Copyright, 1903.]
[Sidenote: 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]
[Sidenote: 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.
[Sidenote: 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_
[Sidenote: 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.
[Sidenote: Religious in Spirit]
"This is due," says Mr. Rovinanek, "largely to the intensely religious
spirit which prevails among the Slavic peoples, and to the fact that
here they have been able to combine schools with their churches." The
total number now in the country is estimated at 250,000, of whom 150,000
are in Pennsylvania. Two thirds of the immigrants are men.
[Sidenote: Industrial Enterprise]
They live usually in very poor and crowded quarters, one family having
sometimes from fifteen to twenty boarders, and under conditions far from
cleanly or sanitary. There are nearly as many newspapers in the United
States in the Slovak language as in Hungary, with a much larger total
circulation. This press has stimulated industrial and business
enterprises in the Slovak communities. There are numerous small
mercantile establishments. In Philadelphia, New York, and Chicago, wire
and tinware factories established with Slovak capital and conducted with
Slovak labor are securing the cream of this trade in the country. For
centuries the tinware of Europe was made largely by the Slovaks. They
have a high position also for electrical designs and other skilled work.
[Sidenote: Organizations]
They are a great people for organization. The National Slavonic Society
was organized in Pittsburg in 1890, with 250 members; it now has 20,000
active members and 512 lodges. It is primarily a beneficial
organization, but has done a valuable work in educating its members and
inducing them to become American citizens. The society requires its
members, after a reasonable time, to obtain naturalization papers and
thus promotes Americanization. It has paid out nearly a million dollars
in death benefits, and much more in sick benefits; has aided students in
this country and Hungary, and national literary and patriotic workers as
well, besides coming to the rescue of Slavs in Hungary persecuted by the
government. Many other societies have sprung from this parent
organization, including a Presbyterian Slavistic Union, and hundreds of
literary, benevolent, and political clubs, so that there are between
100,000 and 125,000 organized Slovaks in the United States.
_IV. The Magyars or Hungarians_
[Sidenote: Conquerors of Hungary]
The Magyars belong properly in a division by themselves. These people,
who are Hungarians proper, do not class strictly with the Germans and
Slavs of Hungary. They drove out their Slavic predecessors or subjugated
them in the ninth century, and became masters of the Danubian plains.
Roman Catholicism became the state religion about the year 1000, but
during the Reformation period the Lutheran and Reformed types of
Protestantism gained a large following and were granted liberty. This
was afterward denied them, and bloody struggles followed, as in Bohemia.
Protestants were again placed on equal footing with Roman Catholics in
1791. The Magyars number over eight millions and comprise a little more
than one half the population of Hungary.
[Sidenote: Good and Bad Qualities]
There are at present between 250,000 and 300,000 Hungarians in America.
They have a fair degree of education, are generally reputed to be
honest, and as compared with the Slavs (with whom they are commonly
confused) are more intelligent and less industrious, "more agile in limb
and temper." Many are addicted to drink and quarreling. It is noticeable
that the Protestants are morally and intellectually superior to the
Catholics. The bulk of the Magyars (eighty-six per cent.) are in the
Pennsylvania mining regions, in New York, New Jersey, and Ohio. At home
chiefly agriculturists, here they work mostly in mines, mills, and
factories. The Roman Catholic Hungarians are said to lapse easily from
the Church, going into indifferentism and nothingism. This gives opening
for Protestant mission work.
[Sidenote: The City Colony]
A writer who has made special investigations, in the line of social
settlement studies,[67] says that eighty per cent. of the Magyars
arriving in New York go at once to the farms and mines. The New York
colony numbers 50,000 to 60,000, including the Hungarian Jews, who are
scarcely distinguishable from the Gentiles. The life of their quarter is
one continuous whirl of excitement. Pleasure seems the chief end. The
café is their club room. Intensely social, fond of conviviality and
gaiety, bright, polished, graceful, the Magyar soon learns English, and
adapts himself to his new surroundings. The newspaper, literary society,
and charitable organization are the only institutions he cares to
support. Pride, independence, fertility of resource, lack of
perseverance, love of ease rather than of a strenuous life--these are
his qualities. Tailoring is the chief occupation in New York, though
Hungarians are also furriers, workers in hotels and restaurants and
various kinds of light factories, and some are shopkeepers and
merchants. Those who speak from close knowledge call them excellent
"citizen-material." In one of these typical East Side Hungarian cafés,
as a guest of the Hungarian Republican Club, President Roosevelt spent
the evening and made a noteworthy address on February 14, 1905. Among
other things, he told them that "Americanism is not a matter of
birthplace or race, but of the spirit that is in the man."
_V. The Lithuanians and Letts_
[Sidenote: Mine and Mill Workers]
The Lithuanians in Russia number about two millions. They began to come
in 1868, driven out by famine at home, and the first comers went to the
northern Pennsylvania mines. At present there are about 200,000 in
America; 50,000 of them in the anthracite coal fields of Pennsylvania,
25,000 in the soft coal mines of western Pennsylvania and West Virginia;
10,000 in Philadelphia and Baltimore; 15,000 in New York; 25,000 in New
England; mainly in Boston, Worcester, Brockton, Hartford, and
Bridgeport; 10,000 in Ohio and Michigan; 50,000 in Illinois and
Wisconsin; while several thousand are scattered over the western states.
Though nearly all raised on farms, they do not take to farming here, nor
do they like open air work, preferring the mines, factories, foundries,
and closed shops. In the cities many of them are tailors, and many are
found in packing-houses, steel plants, hat and shoe factories, and
mills. Their chief curse is intemperance, and they are not of strong
character, having little of the quality of leadership. Generally they
are devout Roman Catholics; when not they are apt to become
freethinkers, and a freethinkers' alliance has been formed among them.
They are described as commonly peaceable, well dressed, and
good-natured. Their children are mostly in public schools. Little
Protestant work has been done among them.
[Sidenote: Less Favorable Repute]
The Lettish people, like the Lithuanians, their neighbors and kinsmen,
are among the oldest races of Europe. They are clearly distinguished
from the southern Slavs, being tall and fair, like the Swede, in
complexion. The Letts at home number about a million and a half. Since
1900 nearly 35,000 of them have come to America, settling mostly in the
anthracite coal regions. They are also found in New York, Massachusetts,
Illinois, Connecticut, and New Jersey. About one half are illiterate,
and in the coal fields both Lithuanians and Letts have a poor
reputation. In Boston, however, there is an encouraging mission work
among the Lettish people.
_VI. The Ruthenians_
[Sidenote: From a Poor Environment]
The Ruthenians, or Ukrainians, called also the Little Russians, at home
occupy the southern part of Russia, eastern and southwestern Galicia,
and part of Bukovina in Austria-Hungary. Their number in Europe is
computed at over 30,000,000. They are darker and smaller than the
typical Slav. Roman Catholic in religion, they are generally poor,
illiterate, backward in civilization, and oppressed. Immigration began
perhaps thirty years ago, but not in appreciable numbers until recent
years. In the four years ending in June, 1903, there were 26,496
arrivals, two thirds men, nearly all unskilled laborers, and one half
unable to read or write. The number in 1905 was 14,473. Pennsylvania is
their common destination. Estimates as to their present numbers in the
country vary from 160,000 to 350,000, the latter figures given by Ivan
Ardan, editor of their paper, _Svoboda_, at Scranton. He says there are
60,000 more in Canada, and as many in Brazil and other South American
republics, or about half a million altogether in the new world. Probably
there are 90,000 of them in Pennsylvania. They are said to be accessible
to missionary influences, but their ignorance and crowded conditions of
living make work difficult.
[Sidenote: Mostly Laborers]
About eight tenths of the Ruthenians here are laborers, chiefly in the
mines; and about one tenth are farmers. The young women work in shops
and factories, but prefer domestic service, and are efficient. The
people are very saving, and scarcely one but has from $50 to $200 at
least saved and put away in some hidden corner or in a bank. They buy
lots and build houses, or take up farming. They have beneficial
societies for sickness, injury, and death, including wife and mother as
well as husband and father. Mr. Ardan says Ruthenian men and women
drink, "_farmers and Protestants being exceptions_." What a notable
exception and testimony that is.
[Sidenote: Greek Catholics]
Superstitious, devout, attached to their churches, the majority are
Greek Catholics, with a few Protestants from Russian Ukraine, where
Protestants are bitterly persecuted. There are 108 Ruthenian churches,
composed of eighty Greek Catholic, twenty-six Greek Orthodox (Russian
State Church), and two Protestant, besides several Protestant missions.
[Sidenote: Hopeful Features]
The people are as a rule very eager to learn both their native and the
English language. They have their adult schools for this purpose. Their
children go to the public schools. There are four Ruthenian weeklies and
one monthly published in this country, and some books. Education is
prompted by reading circles, lectures, and societies for
self-improvement. The race has a fine physique, with great physical
endurance. Individuality is more marked in it than in many Slavonic
races, and assimilation is comparatively rapid. In this country they
rapidly wake up to a new life and promise to make a worthy addition to
citizenship. Such missionary opportunities should move our Christian
churches to active efforts.
_VII. Other Nationalities_
[Sidenote: Croatians and Dalmatians]
We can only mention the remaining nationalities of the Slavic group. The
Croatians and Dalmatians, unable to make a living at home, are fleeing
from starvation and mismanagement, and seeking work in America. Croatia
is a kingdom of Austria-Hungary. Dalmatia is the seacoast province of
Austria.
[Sidenote: Slovenians]