In the last issue of Zgoda, [Organ of the Polish National Alliance in America], we read a reprint of an article which had appeared originally in Kuryer Lwowski (Lemberg Courier), and to which was attached the signature of a Lemberg attorney, Mr. Joseph Maczewski.

The article was answered by a Polish priest from Chicago, whose communication we are publishing below. We are publishing their answer verbatim, although on a few minor points we do not exactly agree with our esteemed correspondent. These are, however, unimportant details which, in view of the importance and courage of the answer as a whole, we see no reason to discuss.

From the nature of the letter which was attached to the answer, we sense a certain doubt as to whether the Lemberg attorney could actually have written 2such an article. We, however, have no doubts. That a journal like Kuryer Lwowski was pleased to publish such an article can be easily comprehended by every one who has read the Kuryer lately. That a Lembergian should write such an article is nothing unusual, if we take a certain circumstance probably connected with it into consideration. The entire article indicates very clearly that its author obtained his knowledge of our conditions from only one journal--Zgoda--to which he has probably subscribed for a number of years. All statements made in his article had previously appeared in Zgoda and have been refuted and disproven hundreds of times, in spite of which, however, they have never been withdrawn. The reader of this one journal must have formed a one-sided opinion, which he himself probably believes to be true.

If, before writing the article in question, "Mr. Attorney" had been guided by the principle "audiatur et altera pars," if his attitude, in other words, had been that of a judge rather than that of a lawyer, and if he had read 3other journals besides Zgoda--especially Wiara I Ojczyzna, which explains these very matters--he certainly would have been more careful in writing articles on overseas conditions. As an attorney, Mr. Maczewski defends only one side and has gathered material necessary only for that side. In a short time a wise judge will undoubtedly be found among our countrymen in Poland who will give an impartial judgment on this matter.

The answer sent by a Chicago priest reads as follows:

"Our Quarrels: An Answer to Mr. J. Maczewski

"According to Zgoda, No. 32, Mr. J. Maczewski, an attorney of Lemberg, Poland, has published in Kuryer Lwowski a lengthy article describing conditions in 'American Polonia,' as the Polish element in the United States is called. We will present the article as it is written.

"I. In the first place, Mr. Maczewski praises the emigrations which took place after the Polish insurrections in Russia in 1831 and 1863, and maintains that 'these insurrectional emigrations constitute a noble and very patriotic foundation for further Polish emigrations.' Our esteemed attorney even states that large Polish settlements are being established in Virginia, etc.

"The foregoing statement is not true. No evidence of such settlements, large or small, or of any existing foundation of Polish insurrectional emigration, can be found in the United States. If there is such evidence, we would like to be informed as to the state, the county, the post office, the number of settlers, and the fruits of the ardent patriotism.

"2. The esteemed attorney further maintains that Polish immigration in America, amounting to at least a million and a half souls, consists of common 5people, and that they emigrated for economic reasons and on account of religious and linguistic persecution in their native land.

"If we look at the facts we will discover that there is some truth and much falsehood in this assertion. I know from experience that a very small number of common people crossed the ocean on account of religious persecution. This also applies to linguistic persecution. Polish emigrants, with the exception of Uniats (United Greeks), never suffered religious persecution, and if there was any linguistic persecution they never felt it.

"The principal, and indeed the only factors stimulating emigration are poverty, a desire for material gain, a dislike of military service, and a fear of imprisonment for a political crime, this last being confined chiefly to the so-called intelligentsia. Visit the sections inhabited by the Poles in Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, and Cleveland; visit Polish farm settlements; contact every person, and make a statistical record of the causes of emigratiom. Then 6you can estimate the part played by religious or linguistic persecution.

"Our esteemed attorney is also misinformed as to the number of Poles in America. I have at home Hoffman's Directory, which, among other things, gives the exact number of Polish parishes and priests in the United States. Finally, I know personally almost all the Polish priests in Chicago. I know more or less exactly the size of Polish settlements, and I maintain, leaving the exact figures to future investigation, that there are only half a million Poles in the United States. These half-million Poles will assimilate; they will remain in the United States forever. These half-million Poles do not live here for any sentimental reasons, but because they can gain a better livelihood. To this Mr. Attorney may say, 'They are lost in materialism.' I answer, 'No!'

3. Although Polish-Americans are perhaps a little too much concerned with 7money, they have no lack of loyalty either to their religious faith or to their nationality. Though they have no desire to return to their fatherland, they decorate Polish settlements in America with Catholic churches and Polish schools, in order that these settlements may resemble their native land. This emphasis on religion and education, coupled with the fact that a proportionately small number of priests emigrated, accounts for the great shortage of Polish priests in America.

"4. And now, a few words about priests. No one can expect that out of the Polish population in America, which amounts to half a million people and is made up of various and distinct elements, united only by language, there could arise an exemplary and perfectly disciplined clergy, especially when the clergy came from many parts of the world and was under the jurisdiction of many different bishops. Such a demand is beyond the power of human strength to fulfill. That there were intrigues among the Polish clergy, sometimes for good and sometimes for evil, is quite natural. Mr. Maczewski surely knows that a priest 8does not sin by trying to get a better parish. Finally, everyone, clergyman or layman, who is acquainted with our conditions, knows very well along what thorny road a priest must pass during the organization of a parish.

Any assertions about the stunned peasant, frightened by fire and brimstone and horned devils, are fiction. Our peasant may properly be said to be afraid of the devil, in the sense that he fears God and believes in eternal reward and eternal damnation. The 'educated' people, however, ridicule the devil while they live, and only when their last hour comes do they call for the priest that he may save them from the devil's grasp by prayers, sacraments, and an aspergillum. I earnestly beg our attorney friend to prove by statistical records a single case in which a Polish parish priest in America has dishonestly squeezed money from a peasant, by threatening him with fire and brimstone, whether he wanted the money for the Church, for a school, or for himself. Our attorney friend should know that our people make contributions 9because they are convinced of the truthfulness of their faith and the necessity of their schools.

"5. 'Woe!' said Jesus to those who set a bad example, but bad examples have always existed and always will exist; they will of necessity be found even among the Polish clergy in America. Where Mr. Attorney gets his information about the excesses which he describes, such as broken ribs, etc., is a mystery to me. It is possible, but I would rather be a Doubting Thomas and say: 'I will not believe till I put my finger on the broken ribs!'

"The principal accusation of Mr. Maczewski is his allegation that an extreme greediness characterizes the Polish priests in America. To this I reply: (1) Many Polish priests in America live in great poverty, and all of them experience hardships when they are organizing a new parish. (2) Polish priests in America receive less for religious services then other priests, and also less than is prescribed by the Baltimore Council. If this statement is 10not true, please refute it statistically. All our priests receive a rigidly prescribed salary, and as far as other income is concerned, most of them carry unselfishness to an almost sinful extreme. Exceptions to this are very few.

"6. Concerning the freethinkers, I wish to state that experts acquainted with our conditions confirm the fact that there are many freethinkers among the members of the Polish National Alliance, not defined as such by the fancy of a naughty priest but by the regulations of the Roman Catholic Church. If necessary, I can supply the name and the address of a lodge of the Polish National Alliance in which freethinkers are particularly prominent. To demand the silence of the priests on the activities of the Polish freethinkers among the faithful Catholic people would be equivalent to demanding a denial of the value of the Catholic faith.

"The statement that a Catholic priest and the Catholic faith are one is true.

Faith cannot exist on earth without priests, and, although a priest is not an embodiment of faith, he is always its best defender and propagator. In the circles favorable to the Polish National Alliance it is permissible to treat the Catholic faith with great respect and at the same time blaspheme against the priests abominably.

"7. I will not discuss the assertions made by our esteemed attorney regarding the good will of the Polish National Alliance towards Polish schools, etc., because these institutions are under the exclusive protection of the clergy. The priests organized Polish people into societies, religious, fraternal, educational, etc., before any lodge of the Polish National Alliance existed. The Polish Roman Catholic Union, under the protection of the [order of the] Sacred Heart of Jesus, is the outcome of these societies, and has, not four thousand, but seven thousand members. No one can say anything definite about the number of members of the Polish National Alliance,because a few weeks ago Zgoda itself, apparently for the purpose of covering up a theft committed 12by a certain Mr. Morgenstern, who was formerly in charge of the organization's funds, admitted that its previous statements as to the number of members had been fictitious.

"Therefore, all nonsense about poor, ignorant people being oppressed by the priests, or about the ideal, angelic love for the fatherland and the Roman Catholic Church attributed to the members of the Polish National Alliance, is an insult to human intelligence. Has any one in Poland ever heard about the results produced by the work and sacrifice of the members of the Polish National Alliance for our fatherland? I beg the esteemed attorney to point out to me any beneficial effects, in the old country, of the activities of the Polish National Alliance.

"The Polish National Alliance must base its claims to prestige on two facts: first, that some widows and widowers, most of whom had left the Church, have received a few hundred dollars toward their support; and second, that, when 13disorders have occurred in various parishes, the members of the Polish National Alliance and their journals have distinguished themselves by their hatred of the Roman Catholic Church."