Polanders in Wisconsin

              14^ Wisconsin historical society
POLANDERS IN WISCONSIN'
BY JOHN W. S. TOMKIEWIOZ.
Tlie principal reasons for Polisk immigration to the United States have heen the gTOSslv inadequate wages paid in Europe; the inability to proeiire farming' lands; the unjust restraint and oppression of Poland by the three powers, Russia, Austria, and Germauy—^those natiouis havinig so restricted and limited the rights und privileges of the Poles that, in some instances, it became impossible for them to remain longer in their native country; religious oppression at home; and the economic advan¬ tages possessed in. America by the ordinary working classes. To these may be added the stringent military requirements of res|)ective g'overnments, under which every Pole was obliged to serve in the 'army from three to five years. During the Franco- Prussiaui wiar in 18T0,there was among the noi^'thernPolish proA- inces in Europe a wddespread desire for migTation to America; and mia.ny of the Poles oame to this oountryj the cost of transpor¬ tation being advanced to them in not a few dases. At the pres¬ ent time there are two million .Polish-Americans in the United States, of wdiich number sixty per cent were bom in Europe, The city of Chicago has 150,000 inhabitants of Polish parentage, and it has a larger popidation of Polish-Americans than has any other city in our country. There are three hundred Polish clnirches in the United States—forty-five in Wisconsin; fifty-two Polish newspapers in the United States—five in Wisconsin; a Polish seminary, in the city of Detroit; a Polish college, in Chicago; a Polish high school, in Milwaukee; a Polish Cath¬ olic Union, wdth 12,000 members; the Polish j^ational Alliance,
* Address delivered before tlie Wisconsin state historical convention at Milwaukee, October 11, 1901.