Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 10.djvu/562

* IMMIGRATION. 488 IMMIGBATION. The elTfct of this iiiiiiii}.'ration on the popula- tu)n can be trnced since 1850 in the number of fiirii;;ii born onunicniteil by the census, and is sliown in the followin" table: the.sc arrivals were doubtless enumerated in 1800. and do not therefore lij;ure in the loreij;n born enumerated in 1900 who had arrived in the previous decade. Others had arrived twice be- TEAH Population Foreign bom Per cent, foreign bom Increase of foreign born over previ- ous census Immigration previous decado 1S.50 isoo 1H70 23,191,876 31.443,321 38,558,371 50,155,783 63,069,756 76,303.387 2,244,002 4,138.097 5,507.229 0.079.943 9,308,104 10.460.OS5 9.7 13.2 14.4 13.3 14.8 13.7 1.894,095 1,428.532 1,112.714 2.028.101 1.151,981 2,598,214 2,314.824 1H80 2.Kr.'.l'.ii 5.240,013 1900 3,087.604 While the total number of the foreign born has increased at each census, the proportion to the total population has not materially changed since 1800. The increase in the foieifru born for each decade falls far short of the total number of immigrants by reason of the followiiifr factors: ( 1 ( Deaths amonj; the foreign born present at the beginning of the decade, and (2) emigration from among the same: (3) deaths among the im- migrants during the decade, and (4) return of some of these latter to their native lands. The census of 1900 permits us to estimate some of these factors. There were present in the United States in 1900. 2,009.173 persons who had arrived since 1890, or 7.8 per cent, of the immigration in the period. These had not only made U|i the loss by emigration in the foreign-born population enumerated in 1890, but had. as shown in the table, increased the total inimbtr. There remained 1.078,;J91 pers(ms who arrived in the period 1891- 1900 not accounted for by the census of 1900. A certain proportion had died. Were the annual contingent 3fi8.7i)fi. or one-tenth of the total, and the death-rate 15 per thousand, the deaths for each contingent would >e 5531 annualh'. Dis- regarding the year of arrival, the first contin- gent was here nine years, and the ninth one year, or forty-five years for the first nine contingents, the tenth being disregarded. At this rate the deaths for the period would be 248,895, leaving a remainder of 829.490 immigrants not accounteil for. who seemingly contributed nothing to our population. This remainder consists of two classes of persons: first, those who left the United States only to return again; and, second, those tween 1891 and 1900, but were, of course, enu- merated only once, at the census of 1900. There remain of the immigrants of 1891-1900, 243,273 to be accounted for. and these woulil seem to rcjircscnt tlic immigrants who, after a brief sojourn in the United States, returned to their own lands to stay. I'uller information on the whole subject could be obtained hail we at our disposal figures for the passengers departing from our shores as well as those who arrive. Knough has been said to show that immigra- tion does not make the additions to our popula- tion which a cursory examination of the figures indicates. It is probable that the duplications, Avith the greater ease and cheapness of ocean travel, are more numerous of late years than formerly. These duplications do not rob the prolilem of its seriousness, but give it simply another aspect. There has been of late years a change in the character of immigration which has been the cause of much concern, and much has licen written of the 'undesirable' quality of recent immigration. The most desirable immigrant is doubtless he who promises most rapidly to be absorbed into the great mass of our population and lose his identity as .a newcomer. Kinship in language and race is the prime mark of this de- sirability. Otlicr things l)cing equal. English- S|)eaking immigrants arc preferable to all others, tiiose of allied race and language more to be desired than those allied by neither race nor language to the mass of the people. The developments of recent years are shown in the following figures: INHABITANTS United Kingdom Germany Sweden. Denmark, and Norway Italy, Russia, Polanil. and Austria-Hungao*. , AU others Percent, of total immigration 1821-30 1851-60 1871-80 1881-90 1891-1900 1901 1902 76.5 54.5 43.5 29.9 19.4 9.2 7.1 6.8 38.2 34.3 30.7 14.1 4.4 4.4 0.2 1.0 11.2 16.0 9.9 8.0 8.3 0.3 0.4 8.1 19.4 49.3 68.6 70.5 16.0 6.9 2.9 4.0 7.3 9.8 9.7 who arrived after the enumeration of 1890 and left before that of 1900. We have some data to estimate the relative magnitude of these elements, as we know from figures for the port of Xew York in 1890. and in the years 1897-1900 for the entire country, that 2i55,908 arriving immigrants had been in the country before. As. this is 15.9 per cent, of the total arrivals, we may estimate that for the entire decade. 1891- 1900, 580.223 persons arrived in the United States who had been here before, and so far as any addition to our population is concerned, represented simply a double counting. Some of The last decade shows marked contrasts with the first. Then more than three-quarters of our immigrants spoke English, but now this element represents less than one-fifth of the total. This relative decline was at first made up by an influx of Germans and Scandinavians, peoples of a certain racial kinship, who as late as the decade 1881-00 comi)rised nearly one-half of the immigrants, while in the latter jxTiods the nations of Southern and Eastern Europe have assumed the leadership. Equally instructive is the .separation of the immigrants by race, which for the fiscal years 1901 and 1002 was as fol- lows :