CHAPTER I IMMIGRATION INTO THE UNITED STATES A CENTURY has slipped into the past since our country began to record with any degree of accuracy the immigrants who have come to us. For three generations they have been moving into our midst, and are now found in every state in the Union from New York with her three millions of these newcomers to South Carolina with only six thousand. They are numerically prominent in all our large cities, even showing a majority in fifteen of these, and are the chief cause of our most pressing urban problems. Since 1820, over thirty-three millions have come, and there are now in the country about seventeen million persons of foreign birth. These with the children of the foreign born swell the number to thirty-five millions, a goodly portion,—indeed a third, of our entire population. If all descendants were counted, the so-called native American would feel overshadowed by the mighty host, and begin to wonder whose country it really is, and, if he is much of a speculator, what an American really is. EARLY DEMAND FOR WORKERS The United States has always proved an attractive refuge for Old World people who for any reason wished to better their estate. Famine and persecution have sent many to our shores where, in the earlier days especially, they were sure of a welcome. Free land was here for the asking and cultivating, and men were needed in our industries. With the opening up and further expansion of factories in New England, came an unprecedented demand for human hands. The local supply was eagerly sought and soon exhausted. The virtues of labor were lustily preached on all sides, and were heard and heeded by rural dwellers who flocked to the mill towns with their seeming advantages. Native born women and children worked everywhere, since little skill was required by machine tenders. The first large foreign accessions came from Germany and Ireland; the former for political, the latter for economic reasons.1 These people naturally enough sought the work which was nearest their port of arrival. This was in textile mills where they were soon absorbed by the least desirable jobs, the native workers being pushed up and later out into better positions. It was not long before the native-born practically disappeared from the factories, and such work has since been in the hands of foreigners. Each alien race in turn has taken the worst work; as skill is acquired, better positions are filled. Thus has our industrial development been able to go on apace. Immigration has until recently given us a plentiful supply of cheap, unskilled labor. NUMBERS PAST AND PRESENT From the time of the founding of the Republic in 1776 until 1820, it is estimated that about 250,000 people migrated here from Europe. Since the latter date, actual figures have been recorded each year. The immigration statistics for 1820 are as follows: 'The political upheavals of 1848 caused many middle-class German liberalists to seek homes in the United States, while the complete failure of the crop of 1845 drove the Irish in the same direction. The potato had become the main subsistence of the people since its introduction in 1610. |