Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 11.djvu/211

 ITALIAN IMMIGRATION INTO THE UNITED STATES IQ5

ful to note that the illiteracy existing among the immigrants is reduced only in small proportion among their children. The cen- sus of 1900 establishes this fact. On the other hand, the same census shows that the children of new immigrants manifest greater diligence in study, and greater profit from it, than do the children of parents born in America. Seventy-five per cent, of the first-mentioned class, and 65 per cent, of the second, frequented the schools. Of 30,404,762 persons of ten years and over, born of American parents, 1,737,803, or 5.7 per cent., were illiterates; while of 10,958,803 persons born of foreign parents, only 179,- 384, or i : 67 per cent., were in the same condition. It is necessary only to cite, in regard to Italian immigration, the deductions made by Mr. R. P. Falkner with respect to all immigration from southern Italy : " From the foregoing analysis it should, I think, be clear that the evidence of a declining average of intelligence and capacity, which has been alleged to characterize recent immi- gration, is just as inconclusive as that brought forward to show an increasing volume."

The usefulness of a body of immigration, as has been pointed out before, can be judged only by the mass of capacities it brings into countries, and the relation of the same to the work demanded by the country's needs. As an immigration of learned people into an undeveloped country could be a detriment rather than an advantage to its interests, so an immigration of laborers into a country already well provided in that respect might be held to be perilous for its economic and social order.

Taking up this part of the subject, it is necessary to ascertain what kind of work the Italians know how to do, and what produc- tive capacities they possess; and from this can be seen in what numbers they may be utilized in the United States.

The following table shows the three larger categories of Italian immigration constituted of farmers, farm laborers, and laborers :