On June 23, 1888, Michael Kruszka, an immigrant journalist from Slabomierz in Prussian-held
Poland, published the first edition of the Kuryer Polski.
Despite having a mere three employees and assets of only $125, Kruszka's inaugural headline
boldly announced that the Kuryer Polski was the "Only Polish
daily in America representing Polish interests in the United States, Canada, Mexico and
Central and South America." For seventy-four years the newspaper lived up to its initial
proclamation by promoting the welfare of Polonia communities scattered throughout the
Americas. The Kuryer Polski succeeded Kruszka's weeklies
Dziennik Polski and Krytyka
(1885-1888). In 1899, Kruszka incorporated the Kuryer Publishing Company. By 1915 the Kuryer Polski boasted a readership of more than 40,000. The
Kuryer's position on many divisive issues facing Polish American communities throughout
North America gained the newspaper national prominence.
Promoting Polish priests to high offices in the American Catholic hierarchy was among the
most volatile issues the Kuryer Polski pressed. Milwaukee's
Archbishop Sebastian Messmer opposed "the dangerous experiment...to give the Polish people a
bishop." Messmer propounded that "Whenever a bishop would have any difficulty with a Polish
parish their bishop would be appealed to. The Polish are not yet American enough and keep
aloof too much from the rest of us." Michael Kruszka's brother, Father Wacaw Kruszka, was
arguably the most assertive advocate for Polish representation in the Church's upper
echelons. Contrary to the behest of Milwaukee's Archbishop, Wacaw traveled to Rome in 1903
to present his grievances against the German and Irish dominated American Church. Only in
1908 did the Holy See name a Pole, Paul Rhode, as auxiliary bishop of Chicago.
The Kuryer Polski also criticized clerical meddling in the
political arena. Kruszka attacked the construction of St. Joseph's Church by alleging it
burdened the working-class parishioners with a debt of at least $250,000. Kruszka's fervent
support to place Polish language instruction in the Milwaukee Public school's curriculum
further alienated the clergy. Many in the church judged Kruszka's efforts as an overt
attempt to subvert parish schools.
To combat the Kuryer Polski, Archbishop Messmer persuaded
members of the Polish clergy to establish rival Polish language newspapers. The first two,
Sowo (the Word) and Dziennik
Milwaucki (Milwaukee's Daily) failed within months of publication. In 1906
opponents of the Kuryer Polski published the Nowiny Polski
under the editorship of Reverend Bolesaw Goral. Soon the rivalry between the Kuryer Polski and Nowiny Polski
split Milwaukee's Polonia into two antagonistic factions. On 11 February 1912, Milwaukee's
Archbishop Messmer issued an edict enjoining the faithful not to read the Kuryer Polski. Disobedience of the decree could result in
excommunication.
On 12 June 1912, the Kuryer Publishing Company responded by organizing a demonstration of
more than 25,000 opponents of Messmer's edict. Kruszka also established the fraternal
insurance society, Federation of Poles in America, to counter both clerical sponsored
associations and the Polish National Alliance. The PNA earned Kruszka's wrath by its refusal
to side with the Kuryer Polski during the dispute with the church. The Federation of Poles
in America continues to provide insurance coverage as Federation Life Insurance with its
headquarters in Milwaukee. In 1918, a scant few months before Poland's rebirth, Kruszka
died. Kruszka's son-in-law, Professor Stanisaw Zwierzchowski (Zowski), became President of
the Kuryer Publishing Company. In 1922, after Professor Zwierzchowski moved to Poland to
teach at the University of Warsaw, Chester Dziadulewicz assumed management of the company.
Colonel Peter F. Piasecki, veteran of the Spanish-American War and former Postmaster General
for Milwaukee, succeeded Dziadulewicz in 1938. The Kuryer
Polski suspended publication on 23 September 1962 after the Internal Revenue
Service declared the company delinquent on its taxes.
The Kuryer Polski's readers greeted the reestablishment of
an independent Poland after World War I with a barrage of requests for information regarding
citizenship status, currency transactions, travel arrangements and immigration visas. The
Kuryer Publishing Company established the Kuryer Agency on 17 September 1919, to meet the
demand for such assistance. The Agency handled these tasks until the German invasion of
Poland on 1 September 1939, rendered the services of such an agency superfluous.
