Page:Immigration and the Commissioners of Emigration of the state of New York.djvu/137

Rh 11,975 female, Irish, Scotch, or English; and, in 1869, 11,703 males and 11,340 females, of the same nationalities. We find in the Germans and Swiss there were, in 1868, 8,034 males and 921 females, and, in 1869, 10,021 and 659 respectively; of Scandinavians, 414 and 78 and 477 and 75 respectively; Dutch, 6 males in 1868 and 62 males and 11 females in 1869. France, Italy, and Belgium sent 274 males and 35 females in 1868 and 39 and 7 respectively in 1869. As a curiosity, it may be stated that, in 1868, 6, and, in 1869, 8 Moors were engaged; they entered their names in Arabic letters.

Of the emigrants employed by the instrumentality of the Labor Exchange in 1868, 7,397 could not read or write, namely, 3,096 males and 4,301 females; and, in 1869, 7,139, namely, 3,498 males and 3,641 females. Among the 9,269 Irish, Scotch, and English engaged in 1868, there were 2,714 who could neither read nor write; and among the 11,703 individuals of the same nationalities in 1869, there were 3,058 unable to read or write. Among the 8,034 and 10,020 Germans and Swiss in the two corresponding periods, we find 279 and 321 respectively who could not read or write. Of the 23,315 Irish, Scotch, and English female servants engaged in 1868 and 1869, 7,682 could neither read nor write, and of the 1,825 females of other nationalities 260 were equally ignorant.

The States of New York and New Jersey in both years furnished employment to more emigrants than the rest of the United States together. As long as no means will be found to neutralize or avoid the difficulty and risks attending the transportation of laborers to more distant regions, this state of affairs will remain unchanged. In both years, the demand was much greater than the supply. Not the tenth part of the large orders for railroad laborers could be filled; and only a small part of the orders for farmers (Germans) and common laborers (Irishmen) could be responded to. Of the immigrant farm-laborers, only a small number remained in New York, the majority, and especially the well-to-do class, proceeding spontaneously to the Western and North-western States. Only a few German servant-girls asked for employment through the Labor Exchange.

It is very difficult, and at present almost impossible, to direct