Show A RESURRECTED O Op b 6 p I POLAND e 0 a a I sr i I t x rr tl F J. J v MI F I Peasant Types of Poland Prepared b br tb the National Geographic 8 Be- Be cloty ton D. D t C. C Polands Poland's recent vehement protest against any move toward a readjustment readjustment readjustment readjust readjust- ment of the Polish German frontier Is easily explained by the old adage A burnt child dreads the fire The last time Polands Poland's boundaries were tampered tampered tam tam- with they were readjusted so radically that the country long country long one of or the most powerful kingdoms In Europe was was wiped out of ot existence for nearly nearly near near- ly Jy a century and a quarter But Polands Poland's spirit did not die while Its Us territory and Its Us people were divided dl- dl vided among Russia Austria and Ger Ger- many Generations of ot the sternest repression ever practiced upon n any y people still left the Pole with his heart set on the one desire of his life Ute life Po Poland land restored In spite of the efforts of ot three of ot the worlds world's most powerful governments to assimilate them and to Incorporate them Into their own bodies bodIe politic Poles hoped and longed for tor and dreamed of ot the day when their country should resurrect Itself and make Itself elt a vital force In iq Inthe Inthe the civilization cl of ot the future That great day came for Poland after the World w war r when the greater part of ot Its old territory was gathered together to to- together gether and the republic of Poland was created becoming the sixth nation of ot Europe both bOUl In area and population In size the old Poland before the partition outranked nearly every nation nation nation na na- na- na tion of the continent B Before ore the k Russia r alone of ot the European European Euro Euro- penn nations was larger Jarger th than h. h Poland Idland was at her greatest In population she stood at the forefront of or Europe Un- Un partitioned Poland had nn area of or square miles and t the e lands that once lay within her boundaries now support a n population of ot approximately In area she was larger than Great Britain Italy and Greece combined Poland was three times partitioned and these were readJusted readjusted read read- between the by the congress of ot Vienna In 1815 Where the original partitions had given gh-en Hussla Ilus- Ilus sla square miles Prussia 51 54 square miles and Austria square miles the reapportionment of ot the he Vienna congress gave Russia 00 Prussia and Austria square miles Poland in the days of ot her greatest area extended from a point within 50 GO miles of Berlin on the west to the meridian of the Sea of ot on the east on the north It readied reached nearly to the tile Gulf of Finland and on the south southdown southdown southdown down to the of ot Crimea In those days Warsaw next to Paris was the most brilliant city In Europe Suffered Repression The Poles who came under the government government government gov gov- of ot the three partitioning powers powers powers pow pow- ers suffered repression In Inar ar varying ln de de- grees For a long time the Poles Ioles In Russia were forbidden even to use their native tongue Even the railway employees could not answer questions asked In Polish The rhe word Polish Itself could not be used In the news news- papers For a while no letter could be addressed In Polish The national dress was tor forbidden e- e even een en as a carnival costume or In historical historical his his- dramas in th the theater The coat of ot arms of ot Poland had to be be I erased from every ery old house bouse and from the frame of ot every old picture The singing of ot the national songs was strictly taboo Germany tried In every possible way to transform her Poles Into Germans It used the Russian tactics In quenchIng quenchIng quenching quench quench- ing the fire of ot their nationalism but with no better success than Russia had There were laws forbidding the Ule use of ot Polish In public meetings and Polish children ren who who refused to answer the tho catechism In German were pun pun- Austria never treated her Poles as the Russians and the Prussians treated theirs Where those countries sought to destro destroy the spirit of ot Polish nationalism national national- ism holding It to be beJa a Ja perpetual menace to Russian and Prussian Institutions Institutions institutions Austria proceeded upon the theory that this spirit carefully directed di dl- bec became me more a source of oJ strength to the government than a n source of ot weakness So the Poles of ol Austria were were as free to sing their national national national na na- na- na songs as the people of ot our own South are free to sing Dixie They were as much at liberty to glorify their past and to speak their native nath-e tongue as though they were free tree and Inde Inde- pendent Except that they must pay payi I their taxes to Austria and serve In Austria's army anny they tiley were practically self governing In Galicia a port of or former Austrian Poland oland are many of ot the worlds world's most famous salt mines Those at have been worked for tor nearly seven centuries at one time being a principal prin prin- cipal source of revenue for the Polish kings Railroads are not permitted to torun torun torun run near them lest their vibrations result result result re re- sult In cave Within these mines are arc labyrinths of ot salt-hewn salt streets and alleys lined with pillared churches staircases restaurants shrines and monuments There are little lakes in the Ule mines sometimes 30 feet deep which are navigated navIgated nav- nav gated by ferryboats Their Lot Not Easy The lot of ot the Polish peasant evenIn evenin even evenn In n the New Poland Is not an easy one His food Is simple If It not poor Ills His whole family must toll toil from the hour that the Ule sun peeps over the eastern hori to t the e hour when whim twilight falls Into nto dusk dusl There Is much drudgery for the women Before the war It was not uncommon uncommon uncommon mon to see them working as section hands lands on many of ot the railroads and they are reputed to have made good ones It was not exceptional to see see them carrying mortar for tor bricklayers and plasterers or to find them painting or hanging paper Imper In the cities Old Poland was sort of ot Royal republic republic republic re re- public of ot landowners In which the I serf erf did not count The man ho owned land land or r r. whose ancestors owned land and was Vas a noble He He might match poverty for tor poorness he might not have a single sole between his feet and the ground he might have ha only a n rusty old sword to tie to his girdle and only a piebald blind horse to drive and that a hired one but he still was a anoble anoble noble Doble If It ownership of ot land had ever er set Its approving stamp upon him With him the peasants were as but worms of the dust The Russian noble was proud of ot his peasants the German noble was proud of ot hs his and the Austrian Austrian Austrian Aus Aus- trian noble had nought but words of or praise for his but the Polish noble was not proud of ot his In the New Poland the tile machinery has been created for a much more popular government Poland Is isnow now a constitutional republic with universal suffrage and proportional tion There Is a two-chamber two parliament parliament parliament parlia parlia- ment consisting of ot a senate and a n house The president Is elected by the parliament for a year seven term and appoints a cabinet responsible to par liar Many Great Men Poland has contributed a n Ion long list of at great and near great to civilization It was Copernicus a Pole who first taught that the sun Is the center of ot th the solar system and laid ald the foundations foundations of modern astronomy It was John SobIeski who saved Europe from the Turks as Charles Martel hammered It out of or the grasp of the Saracens Kosciuszko and Pulaski served the cause of ot tre freedom dorn both In Europe and America The rhe Quo of will never be forgotten as long as literature and history are appreciated by man The music of ot entitles entitles en en- I titles him to a place among the tile Immortals immortals Im im- mortals and nd the histrionic art of Mod Mod- Jeska gave her a foremost place In the history of the stage The compositions of ot Chopin a Pole Iole by birth though a Frenchman by education will float down through the corridors of ot time along with those of ot Wagner Beethoven en Handel Verdi and the other masters i From Irom the days of at down downto I to the present Poles have been no mean contributors to American civil civil- I Leopold Julian Boeck Is credited credited cred credo with having led the movement for tor the establishment of ot the first polytechnic polytechnic poly poly- Institution In the he United States Four million Poles have e come to the shores of ot America and our Polish Immigrant Im im- migrant pop population living today ranges around It is said that If It the people of Polish ancestry In the United States were massed together they could practically duplicate the population of ot New Kew England In Pennsylvania Penn Penn- sylvania one Inhabitant out of ot every twelve twel has Polish blood In his veins In New York one oue out of ot fourteen and andIn andIn andin In Massachusetts one out of ot ten Chicago Is said to have more Poles In It than any other city In the world except Warsaw and possibly Cleveland has more than Polish residents yet New York Pittsburgh Philadelphia Buffalo Milwaukee and Detroit all have Polish colonies larger than elands Cle |