]
[Sidenote: Religious Tolerance]
"The higher classes of Poland were touched by the pre-Reformation
movement of Huss at Prague, where they were generally educated.
Reformation ideas did not gain as great currency as in Bohemia, but both
Calvin and Luther were interested in their progress in Poland. A Jesuit
authority complained that two thousand Romanist churches had become
Protestant. A Union Synod was formed and consensus of doctrine adopted.
Poland is described as the most tolerant country of Europe in the
sixteenth century. It became an asylum for the persecuted Protestants of
other lands, notably the Bohemian brethren. Later on, under the
influence of Protestantism, literature and education were stimulated.
But under succeeding Swedish and Saxon dynasties, and through Jesuit
instrumentality, religious liberty and national independence were lost,
and Poland disappeared from the map of Europe. As a race the Poles boast
such names as Copernicus the astronomer, Kosciusko the patriot warrior,
and Chopin the composer."[66]
[Sidenote: Distribution]
The distribution in America in 1904 was as follows: Illinois, 123,887,
of whom 107,669 were in the vicinity of the Chicago stockyards;
Pennsylvania, 118,203, mainly in the anthracite coal regions and about
Pittsburg, with 11,000 in Philadelphia; New York, 115,046, 50,000 of
them in New York City and 35,000 in Buffalo; Wisconsin, 70,000, 36,000
in Milwaukee; Michigan, 59,075, 26,869 in Detroit; Ohio, 31,136, 15,000
in Cleveland and 9,000 in Toledo; in Massachusetts, Minnesota, and New
Jersey, between 20,000 and 30,000 each; in Connecticut and Indiana, over
10,000 each; and in smaller numbers widely distributed.
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