i8o ANDREW J. SHIPMAN MEMORIAL 



with the Croatians. There are now (1911) in the United 

 States a Httle over 120,000 Slovenes; practically all of them 

 are Catholics, and with no great differences or factions among 

 them. There is a leaning towards Socialism in the large min- 

 ing and manufacturing centres. In Pennsylvania there are 

 about 30,000; in Ohio, 15,000; in Illinois, 12,000; in Michigan, 

 8,000; in Minnesota, 12,000; in Colorado, 10,000; in Wash- 

 ington, 10,000; in Montana, 5,000; in California, 5,000; and in 

 fact there are Slovenes reported in almost every state and 

 territory except Georgia. Their immigration was caused by 

 the poverty of the people at home, especially as Carniola is a 

 rocky and mountainous district without much fertility, and 

 neglected even from the times of the Turkish wars. Latterly 

 the institution of Raffeisen banks, debt-paying and mutual aid 

 associations, introduced among the people by the Catholic 

 party (Slovenska Ljudska Stranka), has diminished immi- 

 gration and enabled them to live more comfortably at home. 

 The Slovenes are noted for their adaptability, and have given 

 many prominent missionary leaders to the Church in the United 

 States. Among them are Bishops Baraga, Mrak and Vertin 

 (of Marquette), Stariha (of Lead), and Trobec (of St. 

 Cloud); Monsignori Stibil, Buh and Plut; Abbot Bernard 

 Locnika, O.S.B. ; and many others. There are some ninety- 

 two Slovenian priests in the United States, and twenty-five 

 Slovenian churches. Many of their churches are quite fine, 

 especially St. Joseph's, Joliet, Illinois; St. Joseph's, Calumet, 

 Michigan ; and Sts. Cyril and Methodius, Sheboygan, Wiscon- 

 sin. There are also mixed parishes where the Slovenes are 

 united with other nationalities, usually with Bohemians, Slo- 

 vaks, or Germans. There are no exclusively Slovenian reli- 

 gious communities. At St. John's, Minnesota, there are six 

 Slovenian Benedictines, and at Rockland Lake, New York, 

 three Slovenian Franciscans, who are undertaking to establish 

 a Slovenian and Croatian community. From them much of the 

 information herein has been obtained. The Franciscan nuns 

 at Joliet, Illinois, have many Slovenian sisters ; at Kansas City, 

 Kansas, there are several Slovenian sisters engaged in school 

 work ; and there are some Slovenians among the Notre Dame 

 Sisters of Cleveland, Ohio. Archbishop Ireland, of St. Paul, 

 Minnesota, sent to Austria for Slovenian seminarians to finish 

 their education here, and also appointed three Slovenian priests 



