USA > Michigan > Michigan as a province, territory and state, the twenty-sixth member of the federal Union > Part 15
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the common interest to bring in desirable new settlers to build homes and strengthen the resources of the state. Other and newer western states were encouraging immi- gration. So Michigan created an immigration bureau, printed in German a pamphlet setting forth the desira- ble features and attractive advantages of Michigan. An agent was sent to Castle Garden to steer immigrants in this direction. Another agent was sent to Germany, while the pamphlet above mentioned was freely dis- tributed on the continent. The results were highly sat- isfactory.
According to the census of 1900 there are one hun- dred and thirty-one thousand, one hundred and twenty- three persons in this state of German birth. This does not represent by any means the actual percentage of the German element in the state. We must add to these figures the children born in this country of German parentage. Although actually American by birth, they are still of immediate German descent and consequently possess characteristics and traits inherently German. It is this mingling of the foreign and native elements which has produced excellent results in the growth and development of the state. Germans are to be found in every walk of life. They are prominent in business and mercantile affairs and in various professions. In recent years German emigration has steadily fallen off. According to statistics, from two hundred and twenty thousand nine hundred in 1881, it has decreased to thirty-two thousand in 1901. There is no question that improved conditions at home and the attitude of the imperial government on the subject are responsible for this.
Dutch immigration began in 1846. Religious intol- erance in Holland coupled with exceedingly hard times were the principal causes of the movement. These
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Dutchmen loved exile with liberty better than father- land without it. The laboring and poorer classes saw no prospect of better times and the only solution of the problem for them seemed to lie in emigration. Java, Cape of Good Hope and the United States were con- sidered in respect to their best destination. Finally the United States was decided upon. It is quite probable that the visit of Rev. Thomas DeWitt of New York, who was sent by the general synod of the Reformed Dutch church of America on an official mission to Hol- land had much to do with influencing the decision. In the spring of 1846 Messrs. A. Hartgerink and J. Arnold came to this country to look more closely into the matter of the feasibility of a new colony. The quiet, peace loving Hollanders were much agitated about the exact location of their prospective new home. The vague "west" was selected, and Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Texas were regarded favorably, but Michigan was finally decided upon. It is a noteworthy circum- stance that the Dutch immigrants came under the lead- ership of a pastor. Dr. Albertus C. Van Raalte, a seceder from the state church, was in charge of the first party which came over. He was a man of magnetic personality and high intellectual attainments, a born leader of men. On September 14, 1846, the "South- erner" of Boston, with Captain Crosby in command, sailed from Rotterdam, arriving in New York in November with the first Dutch immigrants for Michi- gan. They went to Albany on a steamer and thence to Buffalo and Detroit. Here the party remained while Dr. Van Raalte went on to select the location for a set- tlement. He arrived in the forest near Black lake in the latter days of December, 1846, and after a careful survey of the lands and noting the manifold advantages of the locality he decided to settle between the Kalama-
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zoo and Grand rivers, and here the town of Holland was founded. In his oration delivered in 1872, on the occasion of the quarter-centennial celebration of the set- tlement of the town, he said, "Although Americans recommended localities near the rivers, and the Hol- landers avoided the forests, nevertheless the combination of so many advantages left me no doubt as to what my duty was."
Having decided upon the site of the village, Dr. Van Raalte returned in January, 1847, to Detroit to gather his flock. The same month they started for Allegan via. Kalamazoo. The women and children remained at Allegan while the men proceeded to the place upon which is now located Holland. It was the first instance and probably the only one in the history of Michigan where the immigrants came in a body and under a leader and founded a colony peculiarly their own. Roads were opened, log houses were built and shortly the women and children were sent for. During the following win- ter another small party of immigrants arrived at Hol- land and within a month thereafter more came from St. Louis, having been induced to join their compatriots in Michigan. These came across Lake Michigan in a sail- ing vessel and by wagon from the mouth of Grand river. The following spring brought several hundred immigrants from Holland and it became a serious prob- lem how to provide even the most meager necessities of life for the new comers and how to shelter them. Arrangements were made to put up log houses immedi- ately. Supplies were scanty; almost everything had to be brought from Allegan. After all the hardships of pioneer life and exposures of the first winter there were much distress and illness. Before they had become accli- mated the death rate was very high. In many instances children were deprived of both father and mother. A
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committee was appointed to look after them and to select homes wherein they could be brought up. Some of our contemporary citizens of Dutch descent are among those who had foster parents selected for them by this committee.
These early Dutch immigrants were a superior body of men, sturdy, ready to work, and deeply religious. They possessed the necessary qualities to success. True the success was not immediate, but their tenacity of pur- pose, as a rule, brought to them the ultimate realiza- tion of their hopes. A good illustration of their quali- ties is the fact that when the government proposed to build a bridge across the Black river no contractor could be found to undertake the work on account of its diffi- cult character. The colonists were not easily daunted, and as a body agreed to build the bridge. The work was more serious and dragged longer than they had anticipated, still it was satisfactorily finished. Such per- severance is a dominant trait of the Dutch immigrant in this country. When in 1871 during the forest fires the town of Holland was entirely destroyed, Dr. Van Raalte said the following morning, "With our Dutch tenacity and our American experience, Holland will be rebuilt."
After sixty years of residence in the state they can be found engaged in various pursuits, and as a rule success- ful in their undertakings. They are most numerous in Ottawa, Allegan and Kent counties. According to cen- sus of 1900 Kent county alone has thirteen thousand three hundred and sixty-six persons born in Holland; Ottawa, six thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven; Kalamazoo, three thousand one hundred and twenty- three; Allegan, one thousand one hundred and twenty- three; Muskegon, two thousand four hundred and twenty-five. Grand Rapids has a large percentage of
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Dutch population. The total number of Dutch foreign born in Michigan in 1900 was thirty thousand four hundred and six. If the descendants of those who came sixty years before were included, the number would be greatly increased. Of the eleven Dutch newspapers in the United States six are published in Michigan. In 1886 there were twenty-four Holland churches in the state. Hope College was founded under the auspices of the Dutch Reformed church. Holland immigrants and their descendants are active in religious, educational, commercial and political life in Michigan. Though not signally prominent in anything specific, they can be found in almost every walk of life near the top rung of the ladder.
The upper peninsula, particularly the mining region, has quite a large Finnish population. They are mostly living at Hancock, Atlanta, Dollar Bay, Boston and Quincy Hill. Finnish immigration to this state is quite recent. According to the census of 1900 there are eighteen thousand nine hundred and ten Finns in the state. There were at that time seven thousand two hundred and forty-one in Houghton county; three thousand eight hundred and seventy-one in Marquette; two thousand six hundred and eighteen in Gogebic, etc. The Finnish immigrant can, as a rule, read and write and is usually a quiet and hard working man. The oppression of the Russian government and the repeated failure of crops drove these people to emigrate in search of better conditions. A majority of the Finns in this state are laborers. On coming here they usually work as miners, hence the large number of them in the mining regions. Although mostly common laborers, their characteristic desire to surround themselves with better conditions is shown in the fact that they have been successful in establishing
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at Hancock the Suomi College and Theological Sem- inary. Its aim is to give christian education to Finnish young men. Private quarters were secured in 1896, and in 1900 a fine new building costing thirty-six thousand dollars was dedicated. It is the first college of its kind in the United States. It is under the auspices of the Finnish American Evangelical Lutheran church. Mr. J. H. Jasberg, a prominent man among the Finns, is the manager, and Rev. J. K. Nikander is the presi- dent.
Paimen Sanomia, a church paper, is published at Hancock. Besides this an extensive publishing house carries on the business of issuing Finnish books. They have a Finnish mutual life insurance company and a Finnish temperance brotherhood. There are five Fin- nish churches in Michigan, the one at Hancock hav- ing a membership of two thousand, three hundred, the largest Finnish congregation in the United States. With very few exceptions these people are members of the Lutheran church. These facts tend to show that they are an active and progressive people, ready to avail themselves of the improved conditions here and to develop the latent tendencies that the Russian gov- ernment strives to suppress.
Italian immigration to this country has been enor- mous in recent years. The statistics show two hundred and thirty thousand coming in 1903. Though Michi- gan has not a very large Italian population, it is unques- tionably increasing very rapidly. The over population of Italy causes the poverty of the laboring class and is mainly responsible for the exodus. The area of Italy is in round numbers upwards of one hundred and ten thousand square miles, and the population thirty-two million, seven hundred and forty-five thousand. Michi- gan has an area less than half that of Italy and a popula-
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tion of only two million, four hundred and twenty-one thousand. With these figures before us it is easy to realize what the result of the enormous population of Italy must mean. Public sentiment and the press of that country favor emigration as the best solution of the problem which they are facing.
Italian immigrants to this country consist mainly of laborers from the rural districts who are poor and illiterate. It is a peculiar feature of the Italian migra- tion that the better classes rarely come over. Their pas- sionate love of country keeps them at home unless absolutely driven away by poverty. The Italian immi- grant is, as a rule, ready to work and takes the first opportunity that offers. His wants are few and con- sequently the lowest wages paid here are to him large compared with the wages paid in Italy. Very few of them ever become a burden upon the community. They send quite large sums of money every year to their rela- tiuns at home, with the result that the latter likewise come to this country where the earnings seem princely. Although ignorant, the Italian immigrant in Michigan is on the whole orderly, law abiding, abstemious. The anarchist and socialist that one hears about are the product of the large Italian cities and are not specially illustrative of Italian temperament and character. In Michigan there is little, if any, lawlessness due to the Italian element. With rare exceptions they are mem- bers of the Roman Catholic church. They have a fine church of St. Francis in Detroit, the largest Italian col- ony in Michigan, and a movement is on foot to estab- lish a new parish for Sicilians in the lower part of the city. Calumet and Iron Mountain each has an Italian church. The Italians generally work at railroad build- ing, sewer digging and other common labor, and fruit vending, in cities. Those in the upper peninsula are
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miners. The children of Italian immigrants are thor- oughly Americanized. Many of them do not even speak Italian. What little of it they learned at their homes is speedily forgotten in the street, in the public schools and at their work.
The younger generation is following the immutable order of things and slowly rising to better conditions, socially, financially and intellectually. Among them can be found skilled artisans. Some boys are sent to higher educational institutions, and some enter the learned pro- fessions. In the early days of the immigration movement many of the first-comers returned to Italy after acquir- ing a little competence, but this tendency has almost entirely disappeared; those who come now stay per- manently in the land of their adoption. Politically they are like children, easily swayed by any leader who speaks their language and knows slightly more than they do. They are in this respect easy victims of unscrupulous men. The census of 1900 gives the Italian population of Michigan as six thousand, one hundred and seventy-eight, but a few years later, according to the estimate of Father Becherini, the pastor of St. Fran- cis, who is competent to judge, the population of Detroit alone exceeded ten thousand. Dickinson county is reported to have an Italian population of one thousand two hundred, Houghton county about nineteen hundred. In both instances these numbers have been since largely increased.
The official figures for the number of Poles in Michi- gan in 1900 are twenty-eight thousand two hundred and eighty-six. If these figures were multiplied by five the result would be much nearer the truth. In answer- ing the questions of the census taker the Pole is quite likely to give the country of his birth as Germany, Austria or Russia. As a matter of fact he hails from
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the part of Poland belonging to one of these countries. He does not stop to think that he will appear in the census, not as a Pole, but as a German, Austrian or Russian. Basing estimates upon church records and other sources of information, it is believed that the actual number of people of this nationality in Michigan is about one hundred and forty-two thousand. The second generation speaks English and differs very little from the average American, except that they retain the Polish speech, belong to a Polish church and various fraternal organizations of their race.
Polish' immigration to the United States began early, in fact, before the American revolution. These instances, however, were sporadic. After the Polish revolution of 1830 it increased to some extent, but the earliest Polish immigrants we hear of in Michigan came about 1855. A handful of them arrived in Detroit in that year, some five or six families. They were ninety days crossing the Atlantic in a sailing vessel. Two years later the oldest Polish farming settlement was founded at Parisville in Huron county. The farmers in that vicinity are largely Poles. They are prosperous and their fine farms, orchards, cattle and horses are proof of the ability of Polish farmers to make that occupa- tion profitable. There is a large Polish church at Parisville, where one attending the Sunday services might well imagine himself in Poland. These colonists take an active interest in public affairs holding county and township offices. Polish farmers are scattered throughout Michigan, and considerable numbers can be found in the northern portion of the lower peninsula. The cities have their quota of Polish population, Detroit leading with fifty thousand in 1903, according to good authority. Grand Rapids, Bay City, Saginaw, besides numerous smaller towns have many people of that
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nationality. They are, with rare exceptions, devout Roman Catholics and faithful members of that church in which they were reared in their home country. There is a small Polish Congregational church in Detroit. There are seven Polish Catholic churches in Detroit, some of them really magnificent churches. The num- ber of parishioners of these, according to church rec- ords, is forty-four thousand. Grand Rapids has three churches with a membership of twelve thousand; Bay City one church with ten thousand; Saginaw one church with two thousand; Alpena one with two thousand five hundred; Manistee one with six thousand.
There are forty-eight Roman Catholic churches in Michigan sustained by these people, many of which conduct also a parish school, supporting it in addi- tion to the regular public schools. In the parish schools attention is given to religious instruction, but beside the Polish language, in which the studies are conducted, the children must also learn the English language. In 1900 there were five thousand six hundred and seven- teen children attending the Polish parish schools in Detroit. In the annals of the educational movement among the Poles of Michigan the name of Rev. Joseph Dabrowski stands high. To his untiring efforts, his energy and his perseverance is due the erection of a Polish seminary in Detroit. He came to this country in December, 1869, and in a very short time realized the necesssity for improved educational conditions. There was lack of Polish leaders and absolute lack of priests to fill the urgent calls of newly organized par- ishes. He communicated with Rome, urging the found- ing of a Polish seminary to fill these wants, and finally received the sanction of his plans. A suitable tract of ground was bought in Detroit, and in 1885 the corner stone of a building was laid. Two years later the insti-
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tution was opened to students, six of whom were at once enrolled. In 1900 there were one hundred and fifty students, and then it became necessary to enlarge the building. In 1903 there were two hundred and sixty students. The funds for the building and its enlargement were furnished by the Poles out of their meager earnings.
The seminary has two courses-the classical which is somewhat higher than the usual high school course, special attention being paid to Latin and Greek, and the theological course. The latter is entered upon the com- pletion of the former by those who wish to become priests. About eighty priests have been graduated from the seminary, beside those who chose other professions. This is the only Polish seminary in America. Father Dabrowski was instrumental also in founding the Feli- cian order of sisterhood in Michigan. These sisters are employed as teachers in forty parochial schools throughout the country; beside, they founded in Detroit an asylum for Polish girl orphans, and in connection with a convent, one in Buffalo for orphans and old peo- ple, and in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, an orphanage for boys. They also have a home for emigrants in New York, specially looking after women and girls coming to this country from Poland and sending them on to their destination.
Father Dabrowski was born in Russian Poland in 1842, graduated at the University of Warsaw and took active part in the Polish insurrection in 1863. He escaped to Switzerland and shortly after went to Rome where he entered a theological seminary. He died in Detroit February, 1903. He has rendered incalculable service to the cause of Polish education in Michigan. Through the results of his labors here his influence is extending in ever widening circles wherever
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Poles are to be found throughout the country. He has helped to lift his countrymen from the plane of mere peasants to a higher civilization and a more thorough appreciation of the value and dignity of American citizenship. The Poles as a class are industrious, fru- gal and thrifty. Most of them own their own homes after they have been here long enough to get the means to acquire them. They are natural homebuilders and so have added materially to the growth and prosperity of the state.
There are several Polish newspapers published in Michigan, three of them printed in Detroit-one of them a daily. There are also various fraternal organi- zations and clubs. Many of the latter are devoted to stimulating the interest of Poles in the literature and drama of Poland; others are charitable, looking after the poor and helping them. Much of that work is done quietly by members whose duty it is to find those in need of help.
Sweden and Norway have contributed generously to the foreign population of Michigan. There were in 1900 twenty-six thousand nine hundred and fifty-six from the former country and seven thousand five hun- dred and eighty-two from the latter. The Scandinavian immigrants generally possess a fair common school edu- cation and many of them are skilled mechanics. There is also a large percentage of farmers who are attracted by the prospect of acquiring cheap lands. Of late years there has been a notable increase among these immi- grants of people of the middle and upper classes. Some of our Scandinavian population can be found in the upper portion of the lower peninsula, but the majority of them are in the northern peninsula. Marquette county has three thousand nine hundred and forty- seven; Houghton, two thousand seven hundred and
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thirty-four. Delta, Dickinson and Gogebic counties have a considerable contingent. Many of these people are working in the mines, though others go quite exten- sively into farming. Few ever return to the old coun- try, though they do not forget their old homes and are very generous in helping their friends there, with the result that they in turn are convinced that this country has its financial advantages, and so migrate hither. They are as a rule members of the Lutheran church, although there are quite a number of Mormons among them. Mormon missionaries have been among them in the old country and have succeeded in converting many to that faith. They do not practice polygamy.
The Cornishman in Michigan is represented quite largely in the mining districts. He is a miner above everything else. It is his calling and he looks upon it with pride. There is no prominent mining field without him. He works hard and being as a rule steady and skilful, he finds ready employment. His English is peculiarly his own dialect. There are no statistics of the number of these people available.
According to the census of 1900 the total foreign population in Michigan was five hundred and forty- one thousand six hundred and fifty-three, or a fraction over twenty-two per cent. The percentage of them in Detroit was about thirty-four; Bay City, thirty-one; The Grand Rapids and Saginaw, each twenty-seven. different nativities are reported as follows: English Canadians, one hundred and fifty-two thousand; French Canadians, thirty-two thousand five hundred; English, forty-three thousand eight hundred; Irish, twenty-nine thousand one hundred; Scotch, ten thousand three hun- dred; Russian, four thousand one hundred, etc.
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CHAPTER XVII INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL MICHIGAN
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T HE backbone of industry in Michigan has always been agriculture. The soil of the state for the most part is productive and bears abundant crops with but small out- lay for fertilizers. The climate also is favorable for the growing of all crops profitable in any part of the United States, except cot- ton, sugar cane, and rice. The state census of 1894 shows two hundred and ninety-three thousand five hun- dred and twenty-three persons engaged in agriculture, against one hundred and ninety-one thousand two hun- dred and fifty-one engaged in manufactures and mechan- ical industries, and one hundred and two thousand one hundred and fifty-four engaged in trade and transpor- tation. So it appears that the number engaged in agri- culture is equal to the others combined. The whole number of farms by the state census of 1884 was one hundred and fifty-seven thousand three hundred and eighty-nine, by the census of 1894 it was one hundred and seventy-seven thousand nine hundred and fifty-two, and by the United States census of 1900 it was two hundred and three thousand two hundred and sixty- nine. This was an increase between 1884 and 1894 of thirteen per cent., and between 1894 and 1900 of upwards of fourteen per cent. The value of these
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