PREFACE - No critic, perhaps, will be so alive to the defects of this study as is the author, yet it is hoped that the book may have a value of its own. It is at least based upon first hand inquiry both in Europe and in America and both are necessary. Acquaintance with any immigrant people in America only is not enough. The naturalist might as well study the habits of a lion in a menagerie or of a wild bird in a cage. To understand the immigrant we should know him in the conditions which have shaped him, and which he has shaped, in his own village and among his own people we should study the culture of which he is a living part, but which he is for the most part powerless to transport with him to his new home. He must, however, be known also as he develops in America in an environment curiously and intricately blended of old and new elements. Convinced of this, I spent the greater part of the year 1905 in Austria-Hungary, studying emigration on the spot, and over a year in visiting Slavic colonies in the United States, ranging from New York to Colorado, and from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to Galveston. California was unfortunately not reached. One autumn was spent as a boarder in the family of a Bohemian workingman in New York City. Everywhere in Europe and this country, whether or not furnished with letters of introduction, I found Slavs of all classes and kinds ready to show me kindness and lend me intelligent and cordial assistance. 1 While this work has been in progress two most interesting books by Dr. Edward A. Steiner have appeared which deal with the same subject with an insiders v viii PREFACE Their names are literally too many to include, but I must at least make special mention of my obligations to the unselfish traveling comrade who accompanied me through Austria-Hungary. EMILY G REENE B ALCH WELLESLE C Y O LLEGE March, 1910 TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE LIST OF ILLUSTRATIO . N . S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii LIST OF MAPS A ND CHARTS . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiv LIST OF TABLES . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv PART I SLAVIC EMIGRATION AT ITS SOURCE CHAPTER I Introductory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 CHAPTER I1 The Slavic Nationalities in Europe.. .................... 10 CHAPTER I11 Conditions in Austria-Hungary.. ........................ 28 CHAPTER IV General Character of Slavic Emigration from hustria-Hungary ......................................... 3 7 CHAPTER V Bohemian Emigration.. ............................... 63 CHAPTER V1 Slovak Emigration.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 5 CHAPTER V11 Emigration from Galicia Austrian Poles and Ruthenians. .. 120 CHAPTER V111 TheSlovenians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148 CHAPTER IX Emigration from Croatia.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I S J ix X TABLE OF CONTENTS PACE CHAPTER X The Adriatic Coast of Austria-Hungary.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191 PART I1 SLGVIC IMMIGRANTS IN THE UNITED STATES CHAPTER XI The History of Slavic Immigration Previous to 1850.. . . . . . . 305 CHAPTER XI1 The Newer Slavic Immigration Since 1880. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236 CHAPTER XI11 The Present Distribution of Slavs in the United States. ..... 253 CHAPTER XIV The Economic Situation of the Slav in America.. . . . . . . . . . 232 CHAPTER XV Slavs as Farmers.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317 CHAPTER XVI Household Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...