" The recent Polish
immigrant is very circumscribed in his mental horizon, clings
tenaciously to his language, which he hears exclusively in his home
and his church, his lodge, and his saloon, and is unresponsive to his
American environment. Not until the second and third generation is
reached does the spirit of American democracy make headway against his
lethal stolidity. Now that Poland has been made free as a result of
the Great War, it may be that the Pole's inherited indifference will
give way to national aspirations and that, in the resurrection of his
historic hope of freedom, he will find an animating stimulant.
The Pole, however, is more independent and progressive than the
Slovak, his brother from the northeastern corner of Hungary. For many
generations this segment of the Slav race has been pitifully crushed.
Turks, Magyars, and Huns have taken delight in oppressing him. An
early, sporadic migration of Slovaks to America received a sudden
impulse in 1882. About 200,000 have come since then, and perhaps twice
that number of persons of Slovak blood now dwell in the mining and
industrial centers of the United States. Many of them, however, return
to their native villages. They keep aloof from things American and
only too often prefer to live in squalor and ignorance.
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