Page:Immigration and the Commissioners of Emigration of the state of New York.djvu/29

Rh United Kingdom, which in 1857 had reached the number of 213,415, in 1858 fell off to 113,972, and in 1859 to 120,431. In 1858 and 1859 only 78,589 and 79,322 emigrants, respectively, arrived in New York, while in 1856 their number amounted to 142,342, and in 1857 to 186,733. In 1860 it rose to 105,162, but, in consequence of the breaking out of the civil war, it fell again in 1861 to 65,539, and in 1862 to 76,306. In 1867 the German immigration in New York increased over that of 1866 by more than 10,000, in which last-mentioned year it had already reached the large number of 106,716 souls. Its ranks were swelled in 1867 in consequence of the emigration of men liable to military service from the new provinces annexed to Prussia in 1866, and of families dissatisfied with the new order of things. Hanover contributed the largest share to this kind of emigration. In 1868 and 1869 the tide subsided again as people began to become reconciled to the sudden change.

In short, bad times in Europe regularly increase, and bad times in America invariably diminish, immigration.

There are many countries which, by the fertility of their soil, the geniality of their climate, and other natural advantages, are among the brightest spots on earth, but yet never have attracted immigration to any considerable extent. Thus, the Crimea, the lower parts of European Russia, and the Danubian principalities in Europe, Algiers in Africa, and, on our continent, parts of Mexico, as well as hundred thousands of square miles in South America, are, in regard to natural resources, equal, if not superior, to any part of the United States; and yet the latter attracts the masses of European immigration, and it is preeminently the country of the immigrant. Canada lies at the door of the Union; it offers about the same advantages as the North-western States, and yet the majority of European immigrants pass through this English colony to become citizens of the Republic.

Why is this, and how can we explain this apparent anomaly? However equal such inducements to emigrants as fertility of soil, salubrity of climate, security of property, and facility of communication may be in different countries, the emigrant prefers the country where labor is best remunerated, where land is cheap,