Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 12.djvu/252

 POLES

210

POLES

orders: — Holy Ghost Fathers, 10; Benedictines, 2; Augustinian, 1; Jesuits, 5; Fathers of the Holy Cross, 10; Redemptorists, 2; Carmelite, 1; Servites, 2; Pas- eionist, 1; Capuchin, 1; Society of the Divine Sa- viour, 1.

Communities of Women. — (a) Bernardine Sisters of St. Francis, Reading, Pennsylvania: sisters, 70. (b) Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis, under the Patronage of St. Cunegunde, Chicago: professed sisters, 98; novices, 6; candidates, 26. (c) Polish Franciscan School Sisters, St. Louis, Missouri: professed sisters, 29; novices, 18; postulants, 4; aspirants, 2. (d) Felician Sisters, O.S.F. The Com- munity is di\'ided into three provinces, with mother- houses at Detroit, Buffalo, and Milwaukee. (1) Western Province of Presentation of the B. V. M., mother-house at Detroit, established 1882: professed sisters, 273; novices, 30; postulants, 55; in preparatory course, 65. (2) North-western Province of the Pres- entation of the B. V. M., Milwaukee: professed sis- ters, 170; novices, 17; postulants, 27. (3) Eastern Province, Buffalo: professed choir sisters, 278; nov- ices, 32; postulants, 93; lay sisters, professed, 66; novices, 6; postulants, 21; candidates in pre- paratory course, 73. These were the statistics of the province just prior to the establishment of the new province, with mother-house in Milwaukee, to which 203 professed sisters and novices were trans- ferred (August, 1910). Eastern Province, Buffalo, New York: professed sisters, 240; novices, 50; postu- lants, 87; professed lay sisters, 61; novices, 3; postu- lants, 14; candidates, 52. (e) Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth, Desplaines, Illinois: professed sisters, 350; novices, 90; postulants, 45. (f) Polish Sisters of St. Joseph, Stevens Point, Wisconsin: professed sisters, 191; novices, 60; candidates, 40. (g) Sisters of the Resurrection, Chicago: professed sisters, 50; novices, 13; candidates, 19. Total num- ber in communities distinctively Polish, 2180. There are upwards of eight hundred Polish sisters in the various non-Polish communities. Of this number 412 are members of the Community of the School Sisters of Notre Dame (Milwaukee) ; 30 belong to the Holy Cross community (Notre Dame, Indiana); 73 to the Sisters of St. Francis (La Fayette, Indiana), 20 to the Sisters of St. Francis (St. Francis, Wiscon- sin).

Since 1900 the efficiency of the various census and immigration biu-eaux has been greatly improved, and statistics of Polish immigration are thoroughly re- liable. Government Census Reports have hitherto been inadequate, partly because of the indifference of the Poles themselves, who frequently were satisfied to be enumerated as Germans, Russians, and Aus- trians; the classification "nativ-es of Poland" em- bracing a large non-Polish element, and the migratory character of a large part of the Polish population all added to the confusion. The following tables from the "Report of the Twelfth Census", 1900, are not without interest:

Ye.^r

Polish Born

Foreign Population

Percentage of

Total Foreign

Population

I860

7,298

14,436

48,557

147,440

383,510

0.2

1870

0.3

1880

0.7

1890 : ..

1900

16 3.7

Persons in the United States having both parents born in Poland, 668,536. Native white persons having one parent born in Poland, 290,912. Total white persons having fathers born in Poland, 704,405; having mothers born in Poland, 683,572. The

"natives of Poland" Census, 1900, are classified as follows:

From German Poland 150,237

From Russian Poland 154,424

From Austrian Poland 58,503

Poland, unknown 20,436

Years Ending 30 June

Immigrants

Emigrants

Net Gain

1899

1900

1901

28,446 46,938 43,617 69,620 82,343 67,757

102,437 95,835

138,033 68,105 77,565

128,348 45,448

46,727 19,290

16,884

1902

1903

1904

1905

1906

1907

1908

2l',378

58,275

111,464

1909

1910

1910 (Julv-Dec.)

Since July, 1907, the Bureau of Immigration has recorded the number of departing aliens. The period embraces the financial depression of 1907-08, which sent so many of other nationalities to Europe as to cause a marked decrease in their American numbers. Basing an estimate upon the record of the year end- ing 30 June, 1910, during which year the United States had resumed an almost normal condition, we may safely assume that the net increase in the number of Poles in the United States was, for the period 1899 to 1 Jan., 1911, not less than 750,000. In the period 1900-07 the outward movement was very slight. The birth-rate in many of our parishes in which the Galician element predominates is almost 50 per cent of the number of families. Statistics given in the accompanying table are based upon the following sources, viz: — the "Official Catholic Direc- tory" (1911); manuscript information received from Polish clergy and non-Polish priests labouring among the Poles; information received from officials of various Polish organizations; reports (several based upon special census taken for this article) sent by 46 archbishops and bishops, in whose diocese are more than 90 per cent of the Polish clergy; recent reports of the Bureau of Immigration, which give the intended destination of the immigrants. Where dis- crepancies occur in the various reports, averages have not been struck, but an effort was made to learn the method used in making an estimate in typical dis- tricts. Allowance should be made for the recent natural increase and enormous immigration, the vast floating population, the 800 small settlements neither constituting Polish parishes nor having Polish pas- tors, the "Independents", those indifferent to the Faith, the single men. A number of the reports were based upon a census taken in 1907. Taking all these factors into consideration it may be safely assumed that there are no fewer than 2,800,000 Poles in the United States.

Archdiocese

O

0.

2 to

1 >• <

z

o o


 * 5

2 e

Baltimore

9 S

81 2

44

11 1

28 7 9

5 8

36 2

18 9 I

19 6 9

3 3

28 2 17

4

25

7

362

148

"2

"2

I

1,616

414

23,283

95

9,232

553

16.700

Boston

13.747 223,304

981

Milwaukee

59,182

New York

30,000

1,600

11 6 5

51

6

3,470

849

1.275

56,000

St. Louis

12.700

St. Paul

23

2

11,500