SLAVS IN AMERICA 167 



IV.— Poles 



The Poles came to the United States quite early in its his- 

 tory. Aside from some few early settlers, the American Revo- 

 lution attracted such noted men as Kosciusko and Pulaski, to- 

 gether with many of their fellow-countrymen. The Polish 

 Revolution of 1830 brought numbers of Poles to the United 

 States. In 185 1 a Polish colony settled in Texas, and called 

 their settlement Panna Marya (Our Lady Mary). In i860 

 they settled at Parisville, Michigan, and Polonia, Wisconsin. 

 Many distinguished Poles served in the Civil War (1861-65) 

 upon both sides. After 1873 the Polish immigration began to 

 grow apace, chiefly from Prussian Poland. Then the tide 

 turned and came from Austria, and later from Russian Poland. 

 In 1890 they began to come in the greatest numbers from 

 Austrian and Russian Poland, until the flow from German 

 Poland has largely diminished. The immigration within the 

 past ten years has been as follows : from Russia, 53 per cent ; 

 from Austria about 43 per cent; and only a fraction over 4 

 per cent from the Prussian or German portion. It is esti- 

 mated that there are at present about 3,000,000 Poles in the 

 United States, counting the native-born. It may be said that 

 they are almost solidly Catholic; the dissident and disturbing 

 elements among them being but comparatively small, while 

 there is no purely Protestant element at all. They have one 

 Polish bishop, about 750 priests, and some 520 churches and 

 chapels, besides 335 schools. There are large numbers, both 

 men and women, who are members of the various religious 

 communities. The Poles publish some 70 newspapers, 

 amongst them nine dailies, 20 of which are purely Catholic 

 publications. Their religious and national societies are large 

 and flourishing; and altogether the Polish element is active 

 and progressive. 



V, — Russians 



The Russian Empire is the largest nation in Europe, and 

 its Slavic inhabitants (exclusive of Poles) are composed of 

 Great Russians or Northern Russians, White Russians or 

 Western Russians, and the Little Russians (Ruthenians) or 



