Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 41.djvu/779

Rh or the children of people so born. It is impossible to go further back than one generation in this calculation; but in all probability, when the facts are known, we shall find that at least one half of the inhabitants of this country at the present time were either born abroad or are the children or grandchildren of persons born abroad, while one third, instead of one fifth, have for their mother-tongue some other language than the English. Future bulletins will enable us to understand this feature of the nativity of the population more clearly.

The first of the preceding tables has been constructed from those given in the bulletin named; which, however, did not give the percentages stated. It shows the total population in the United States, June 1, 1890, separated as to native and foreign-born, and the percentage of each of the total population; the second table gives like facts for 1880. (In the first table I have followed the form now in use at the Census Office, giving the States by divisions; while in the second table, for 1880, the States are alphabetically arranged.)

The State having the greatest proportion of foreign-born is North Dakota, where that element constitutes 44·0 per cent of the total population. In 1880 the State having the highest percentage of foreign-born was Nevada, it being then 41·2. Nevada now has 32·1 per cent. The State having the lowest percentage in 1880 was North Carolina, it then being ·27 per cent, and North Carolina still has the lowest percentage of foreign-born, it being but ·2 of 1 per cent in 1890. Of the population of the whole country 14·8 per cent are foreign-born. The facts are given for the different census years in the adjoining table.