POLES
208
POLES
the city of Chicago in various and very important
positions.
The name of Father Joseph Dabrowski will long be held in grateful remembrance. Besides found- ing the Polish Seminary at Detroit he brought the first group of Felician Sisters to the United States, and later established them in Detroit, where in 1882 they established their first American mother-house. Of Polish American women one of the most prominent was Dr. Mary Zakrzewska, who came to America in 1853 and founded the New York Infirmary for Indigent Women and Children, and the New Eng- land Hospital for women and children. Poland's contribution to the development of musical, dramatic, and plastic art has been a notable one. In 1876 a Uttle band of Polish intellectuals, among whom was Henry Sienkiewicz, attempted to found a sort of Brook -Farm community in California. The at- tempt failed but gave to America Helena Modjeska (Modrzejewska), who from the night of her American debut in San Francisco in 1877 until her retirement thirty years later was among the foremost artists on the American stage. Others who became more or less identified with American national life were the sculptors Henry Dmochowski, whose busts of Kos- ciuszko and Pulaski adorn the national capitol, and Casimir Chodzinski, creator of the Kosciuszko monument in Chicago and the Pulaski monument in Washington. Prominent in the Polish community of to-day are: Ralph Modjeski, one of the foremost engineers in the United States; John Smulski, ex- state treasurer of Illinois; Dr. F. Fronczak, health commissioner of Buffalo; Bishop Paul Peter Rhode, the first Pole to be raised to the episcopate in the United States; Felix Borowski, composer and critic.
Every Polish parish has its mutual aid societies, affiliated in nearly every instance with one of the major national organizations, all of which are con- ducted on a basis of fraternal insurance. These societies do a great amount of good among the poor, caring for such of their members as are visited by misfortune, giving the Poles desirable solidarity, and making for the social, religious, and economic advance of the Polish community. Most frequently they are parish organizations, and partake of the character of confraternities, whose public appearance at Divine services on national and religious festivals lends solemnity to the occasions and constitutes an open profession of the Faith of the Polish masses. In the larger Polish communities there are associations of physicians, dentists, druggists, journalists, merchants, and military, dramatic, and singing societies, nearly all of which are affiliated with the major organiza- tions. The many building, loan, and savings as- sociations among the Poles have received high praise from state officials.
From 1866 to 1870 various local organizations were forming in Philadelphia, Pittsburg, Chicago, New York, Milwaukee, and in San Francisco, where there had existed a Polish colony since the Civil War. The most important Polish Catholic organization, Zjed- noczenie Polsko-Rzymsko Katolickie pod Opiek^ Boskiego Serca Jezusa (The Polish Roman Catholic Union under the Protection of the Sacred Heart of Jesus), was organized in 1873, but it was not until 1886 that it assumed its present character, although the spirit of the Union has always been staunchly Catholic. Its first organ was the "Gazeta Kato- licka"; the present official organ is the "Nar6d Polski " (The Polish Nation) . The Union has a mem- bership of 52,000, in 550 councils, all of which are parish organizations; its assets are $066,708. In 1910 the increase in membership was 13,000, and the increase in its assets $175,815. In the same year it assisted fifty-six students, children of its members, by distributing among them $4268. It has assisted
crippled members by voluntary gifts amounting
to $1455 in the same period. Its educational fund,
the interest of which supports indigent students, is
S31,051.
The Zwi^zek Narodowy Polski (Pohsh National Alliance) was founded in Philadelphia in 1880, and in the same year the head-quarters of the organization were established in Chicago, where thej' have since remained. In its first constitution the Alliance pro- fessed "obedience to the Roman Catholic faith, since that is the faith of the vast majority of the Pofish nation", but further committed itself to a programme of "toleration of all creeds in the spirit of Poland's ancient constitution". Socialists were barred. All official religious services were to be conducted accord- ing to Catholic rites. Succeeding conventions grad- ually eliminated all reference to religion, and the bar to admission of Socialists was removed. "Anar- chists and criminals" are still excluded. Recently the Alliance is waging open war with the Socialistic element, with whose doctrine of internationalism the exaggerated nationalism of the Alliance is at variance. At first many of the clergy belonged to the Alliance, but with the development of the anti- clerical programme of the organization the number has become insignificant. The Alliance has a mem- bership of 71,000 men and women, in 1118 councils. The Zwiqzek Spiewak6w (Alliance of Singers), the Zwi^^zek Wojsk Polskich (Alliance of Pohsh Military Societies), and the Zwiijzek Sokol6w (Athletic Al- liance), while maintaining autonomy, are federated with the Alliance, and their membership is included in the number given for the National Alliance, with slight excejjtions. There is likewise an independent Turners' Alliance with a membership of 3000. The assets of the National Alliance are placed at $1,150,- 000, but including as it does the Alliance Home, etc., are probably in excess of the actual assets. The organ of the Affiance is the "Zgoda" (Harmony). Except in its attitude towards the Church the Alliance closely resembles the Polish Roman Catholic Union. The Catholic Order of Foresters has 62 Polish courts, with a membership of 8166, and the number of Polish members in other courts exceeds 1000. The order furnishes the Polish courts with constitutions and rituals printed in Polish, and all business of these courts is transacted in Polish. Zwi^zek Polek (Al- liance for Polish Women) has a membership of 8000. It closely resembles the Polish National Alliance, but since a societj* of Polish women cannot thrive except as a parish organization, much of the offi- cial indifferentism of the national body is counter- acted by the priests who act as chaplains of the local branches.
Of Catholic organizations besides the Polish Roman Catholic Union the following are important: Stowar- zyszenie Polak6w w Amerj'ce (Association of Poles in America), Milwaukee, membership, 7332; Macierz Polska, Chicago, membership, 4500; more than any other Catholic organization it is concerned with the social welfare of the young. It is confined almost entirely to the parishes in charge of the Resurrec- tionist Fathers: Unia Polska (The Polish Union), Wilkes -Barre, Pennsj-lvania, membership, 9000. A schism occurred in the organization in 1908, and one faction, with head-quarters in Buffalo, has a membership slightly smaller than the first. A Catho- lic Union in ^^'inona, Minnesota, has a membership of 1400.
Excepting the numerically insignificant Socialistic group none of the nationalistic organizations have dared to attack the Church as such, however much their organs may attack individual members of the clergy and certain religious congregations. The younger element docs not take kindly to these at- tacks, and the indications are that the crisis has passed. The spread pf the spirit of independence
