10 per cent of the population; in Wisconsin, 12 per cent; in Minnesota, 6 per cent; and in North Dakota, 6 per cent. There are already two small Polish parishes in Montana, one in Idaho and two in Washington on the Pacific Coast.

All attempts to direct Polish immigration to the states south of the Mason and Dixon Line have been unsuccessful. The number of Poles in Texas, although they began to immigrate there long before the Civil War, never reached 30,000, while in Wisconsin, where they started to settle about the same time, their number crossed the 300,000 mark. Moreover, the Poles in the Northwest produced many professional men with university training, while the Polish settlers in the "Rice and Cotton Belt" during the seventy years of residence in that uncongenial climate have produced not one prominent representative either in science or in politics.

Polish peasantry, constituting the bulk of Polish immigration to this country, has always been agricultural. A Polish immigrant, considered as a type, is a highly skilled, professional farmer and home maker, but an unskilled factory worker. He belongs to the soil, and ought to be put on land instead of being lured by labor-agents into cities, factories and mines. By

helping to distribute Polish immigration on farm land the government would increase food production and decrease high cost of living as well as poverty and misery in congested city districts. One heroic attempt of our federal government at the solution of this problem resulted in the creation of a Bureau of Distribution and Information in the United States Department of Labor in 1907. It still exists, and distributes printed information in many languages among illiterate immigrants.

It is perfectly clear to everybody that the descendants of the permanent Polish residents in the United States will become as thoroughly assimilated and an integral part of this nation, as do descendants of other immigrants. But, as all others are conscious of their foreign origin and deep in their hearts harbor a sincere sympathy for the land of their ancestors, so it will be with the Americans of Polish descent. Before its resurrection, Poland used to call the Polish group in the United States its "Fourth Part," the three others being those under Russia, Germany and Austria. This group of over three million Poles is a sufficiently strong link to bind the two sister republics forever. The people of Tadeusz Kosciuszko will remain true to the great tradition of loyalty to the United States.

THE

English, their assimilation is taken for granted. Closer observation and analysis, however, reveal the fact that this is not altogether true. There are several more or less distinct groups among these people, depending on the

different attitudes and reactions they may have to the highly organized life of the foreign communities which has in some way influenced the lives of nearly all of them.

These foreign colonies, which are to be found in every industrial center in the United States, are an outgrowth of the attempt made by the immigrants to adjust themselves to the strange conditions in a new land. A common language and in nearly every case a common faith are the foundations on which these communities are built. As they exist today they furnish the elements for satisfying all the social, economic and spiritual needs of their members. With many of the racial groups the parish is the center of all the community activities. In it are centered the religious and social activities, the dramatic clubs, the singing societies and the mutual benefit associations. Besides the parish halls there are other common meeting places, such as lodge halls erected and used almost exclusively by the immigrants of one nationality. Amusement places where the people can enjoy vaudeville and dialogue in their own language are found in every foreign colony. Whether published there or not, some foreign language newspaper circulates in the community. Through it is sifted all the news of the outside world. Practically all business is transacted in the common language, and the community has its own doctors and law

yers.

If the colonies are large enough, they are sure to be represented by politicians who are members of the dominant race. Since these men are usually interested in delivering the votes, they encourage their fellow countrymen to become citizens, often to the extent of organizing classes in English and citizenship. Consequently, whatever ideals of American citizenship the

members of the community hold are acquired largely through these men. In many of the parochial schools the foreign language is given equal prominence with the English. Thus, in addition to hearing the foreign language spoken at home, the children learn it in school and come to use it even on the playground. It is more necessary to know the foreign language than to know English in order to make one's way about in some of these neighborhoods. Moreover, in most instances, these more or less isolated foreign colonies are more closely in touch with one another than with the city of which they form a geographical part. The contact with the larger community is maintained through a few leaders, usually politicians, who are in touch with American institutions. Many of these are already of the second generation. It is no doubt necessary for the immigrants who are ignorant of American ways of life to work out community problems along racial lines. There is no other way in which they can do it. In many of the older communities where large numbers of the people speak and read English this practice is no longer necessary. Nevertheless it is perpetuated to the advantage of a few and carried on even by the second and third generations.

There is much of art and beauty among our foreign folk that should be preserved for future generations. Their music and folk songs have a rhythm and a beauty all their own. We have nothing in America quite like the dances which they all danced together at the village festivals in Europe. There is an appreciation of opera and good music among the common people found only among Americans of education and training. More of their books deserve to be translated into English for the profit and enjoyment of all. There is a hospitality

this group no doubt exercise an Americanizing influence, but their tendency is to follow the line of least resistance and conform to the accepted standards of the community. They form a group that, though born in America, is not entirely of America.

THOSE

SEPARATED FROM FOREIGN
COLONY

In the second group may be placed those young people born in America of foreign parentage who either lose their contact with the foreign colony or perhaps have never had any. They may have the same educational and economic handicaps as the first group. Some of them are born outside the foreign colony, never learn to speak the foreign language and never come in contact with any people of like parentage. Others become separated from friends and relatives through permanent employment and residence in a place where there is no community of their particular nationality. Since there is no opportunity to speak or read the foreign language, it is often forgotten. Many of these young people, seeing the difference between their social life in the colony and the less limited one of their American friends, come to despise everything connected with the foreign colony. They often deliberately leave home, change their names and by so doing renounce their nationality. Association with people who look down upon foreigners brings about similar results. Some of the members of this group lose everything of their foreign heritage and acquire only that which is cheapest in American life. On the other hand, others are thoroughly American and hold their own in American society.

THOSE CLAIMED BY THE FOREIGN COLONIES

The third group, doubtless the small

est of all, includes those who have no social or economic interests in an immigrant community. They are the artists, writers and musicians to whom the members of their own nationality point with pride as being of the same race with themselves. They belong entirely to the larger community. Nevertheless, they do not deny their nationality or change their names, but are proud of their heritage, and interpret for the rest of the world the music, art and philosophy of their own race. They are not only keeping alive the best of their own traditions, but they are also making a great contribution to America.

LEADERS OF BOTH FOREIGN BORN AND AMERICANS

The fourth group includes those who because of unusual opportunity or ability have succeeded in winning a place in the larger community as well as in the immigrant colony. They usually acquire a good education, and by dint of hard work and persistent effort gain positions of leadership among both foreign born and Americans. They often do not live in the foreign colony, but at the same time they keep in touch with it because of financial or political interests there. They speak the foreign language fluently and are more or less acquainted with the culture and traditions of their own nationality. At the same time, they know the best in American life. Among them are bankers, business men, lawyers and doctors. They serve not only the members of their own racial group but the larger community as well. Many of them are public-spirited citizens who are entrusted with high public offices by the larger community. In this capacity they render valuable service and gain the respect and recognition of all. They are becoming the real lead

ers in our immigrant communities and are in a position to serve as the interpreters of their people to America and of America to their people. Unfortunately, instead of bringing the foreign colony closer to America, many of them capitalize its racial solidarity for their own private interests. As American citizens, with interests and experiences reaching far beyond the limits of the foreign colony, they do not approve of the standards set by the foreign-born leaders. There is no doubt that they exercise an Americanizing influence, but they are prone to feel out the sentiments of the majority before taking a stand on any issue involving the colony.

THOSE ACTIVE IN ASSIMILATION The distinguishing characteristics of the last group are exemplified in a few social workers who speak foreign languages. Most of these young people are born in a foreign colony and few have had the advantages of a liberal education. Many of them have not even finished the high school. Because of their knowledge of foreign languages, social agencies have taken them out of their jobs in factories, department stores and offices to serve as clerks and stenographers as well as interpreters. Many of them continue to occupy these minor positions, others become efficient social workers, and a few succeed to executive positions. They are familiar not only with the language but also with the traditions, customs and peculiarities of their immigrant fathers. Most of them take an active part in the social and religious life of the foreign colonies, and at the same time they participate in the activities of the larger community. They thus have points of contact which the American social workers can never hope to gain.

Because these young people are

working through the community agencies they have an opportunity to view the problems of their own people from the standpoint of the needs of the community as a whole. They are specializing in the solution of problems arising from maladjustments, and so they see more clearly than those in any of the other groups just what are the narrowing influences in our immigrant communities that should be removed. Moreover, they feel that it is their duty to remain in these communities and by working from within them to remove these influences. They appreciate that there is much that should be preserved and passed on as the heritage of future generations, that many activities must be continued along racial lines, and that the use of the foreign language is still necessary. But because they have gained a vision of the ultimate social goal, they see the next steps that are to be taken to bring the foreign colonies into closer relationship with the larger communities of which they are parts.

Inevitably, they clash with the present leaders. This clash of ideas as to methods and policies in working out the problems of our immigrant communities can be illustrated by an account of what took place in a club formed by the social workers who spoke the language of the most important racial group in one of our large cities. This club included, in addition to about twenty workers employed by American social agencies, a number of leaders interested in social work in the colony. These foreign leaders usually considered the problems of the colony from the standpoint of their people alone. The social workers considered them from the standpoint of the community as a whole. The foreign leaders were inclined to work out a solution separately, by action taken through