INSPECTION. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS OF ARRIVING IMMIGRANTS
The immigrant first comes under the official control of the United
States government when he arrives at the port of destination. There are
a number of seaports on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts designated by
the Bureau as ports of entry for immigrants. Entry at any other ports is
illegal. The facilities for the inspection and care of immigrants differ
in extent in the different ports with the demands placed upon them, but
the general line of procedure is the same in all. As New York has the
most elaborate and complete immigrant station in the country and
receives three quarters or more of all the immigrants, it may be taken
as typical of the fullest development of our inspection system.
A ship arriving in New York is first subject to examination by the
quarantine officials. Then the immigrants are turned over to the
officers of the Immigration Bureau. All aliens entering a port of the
United States are subject to the immigration law, and have to submit to
inspection. First or second class passage does not, contrary to a common
impression, secure immunity. Cabin passengers are given a preliminary
inspection by the officials on board the vessel, and if they are plainly
admissible, they are allowed to land without further formality. If there
is any question as to their eligibility, they are taken to Ellis Island,
and subjected to a closer examination. While there, they have to put up
with the same accommodations as are accorded to steerage passengers.
During three months of the spring of 1910 twenty-five hundred cabin
passengers were thus taken over to Ellis Island, and the commissioner in
charge at that port was led to recommend that better facilities be
provided for this class of immigrants.[144] This recommendation was
repeated in 1912.
The steerage passengers are loaded on to barges, rented by the steamship
companies, and transferred to the immigrant station. This is located on
Ellis Island, a group of small islands in the harbor, not far from the
Statue of Liberty. It consists of two main parts, on one of which is
located the main building, containing offices, sleeping rooms,
restaurant, inspection rooms, ticket offices, etc.; on the other are the
hospitals, etc. This temporary disembarkment does not constitute a legal
landing; the immigrants are still nominally on shipboard, and the
transportation companies are responsible for their support until they
are legally landed.
After landing on the Island, the immigrants pass through a detailed
process of examination, during which all the facts required by the
statutes are ascertained and recorded, as far as possible. This
examination consists of three main parts. The first is the medical
examination made by officers of the United States Public Health and
Marine Hospital Service. These inspect the immigrants for all physical
weaknesses or diseases which make them liable to exclusion. The next
stage is the examination by an inspector who asks the long list of
questions required by the law, in order to determine whether the alien
is, for any nonphysical reason, inadmissible. If the immigrant appears
to be “clearly and beyond a doubt” entitled to admission, he passes on
to the discharging quarters, where he is turned over to the agents of
the appropriate transportation company, or to a “missionary,” or is set
free to take his way to the city by the ferry.
If any alien is not clearly entitled to admission, he must appear before
a board of special inquiry, which goes into his case more deliberately
and thoroughly, in order to determine whether he is legally admissible.
Appeal from the decision of these boards, in cases provided for by the
statutes, may be made either by the alien or by a dissenting member of
the board. Such appeal goes through the Commissioner and the
Commissioner General of Immigration to the Secretary of Commerce and
Labor, whose decision is final.
Many aliens must of necessity be detained on the Island, either during
investigation, or, in case they are excluded, while awaiting their
return to the country from which they came. The feeding of these aliens,
along with certain other services, is intrusted to “privilege holders,”
selected carefully by government authority.
The volume of business transacted on Ellis Island each year is immense.
There are in all about six hundred and ten officials, including
ninety-five medical officers and hospital attendants, engaged in
administering the law at this station. The force of interpreters is
probably the largest in the world, gathered under a single roof. At
other immigrant stations the course of procedure follows the same
general lines, though the amount of business is very much less.[145]
This is obviously one of the most difficult and delicate of all the
branches of government service. Questions involving the breaking up of
families, the annihilation of long-cherished plans, and a host of other
intimate human relations, even of life and death itself, present
themselves in a steady stream before the inspectors. Every instinct of
humanity argues on the side of leniency to the ignorant, stolid, abused,
and deceived immigrant. On the other hand, the inspector knows that he
is placed as a guardian of the safety and welfare of his country. He is
charged with the execution of an intricate and iron-bound set of laws
and regulations, into which his personal feelings and inclinations must
not be allowed to enter. Any lapse into too great leniency is a betrayal
of his trust. One who has not actually reviewed the cases can have no
conception of the intricacy of the problems which are constantly brought
up for decision.
Is it surprising that the casual and tender-hearted visitor who leans
over the balcony railing or strolls through the passages, blissfully
ignorant of the laws and of the meaning of the whole procedure, should
think that he detects instances of brutality and hard-heartedness? To
him, the immigrants are a crowd of poor but ambitious foreigners, who
have left all for the sake of sharing in the glories of American life,
and are now being ruthlessly and inconsiderately turned back at the very
door by a lot of cruel and indifferent officials. He writes a letter to
his home paper, telling of the “Brutality at Ellis Island.” Even worse
than these ignorant and sentimental critics are those clever and
malicious writers who, inspired by the transportation companies or other
selfish interests, paint distorted, misleading, and exaggerated pictures
of affairs on Ellis Island, and to serve their own ends strive to bring
into disrepute government officials who are conscientiously doing their
best to perform a most difficult public duty.[146]
It would not be safe to say that there never has been any brutality on
Ellis Island, or that there is none now. Investigators of some
reputation have given specific instances.[147] It would be almost beyond
the realm of possibility that in so large a number of officials, coming
in daily contact with thousands of immigrants, there should be none who
were careless, irritable, impatient, or vicious. How much of
maltreatment there may be depends very largely upon the character and
competency of the commissioner in charge. The point is, that no one is
qualified to pass an opinion upon the treatment of immigrants, except a
thoroughly trained investigator, equipped with a full knowledge of the
laws and regulations, and an unbiased mind.
One thing in particular which impresses the dilettante observer is the
haste with which proceedings are conducted, and the physical force which
is frequently employed to push an immigrant in one direction, or hold
him back from another. It must be admitted that both of these exist—and
they are necessary. During the year 1907 five thousand was fixed as the
maximum number of immigrants who could be examined at Ellis Island in
one day;[148] yet during the spring of that year more than fifteen
thousand immigrants arrived at the port of New York in a single day. It
is evident that under such conditions haste becomes a necessity.
The work has to be done with the equipment provided, and greater
hardship may sometimes be caused by delay than by haste. As to the
physical handling of immigrants, this is necessitated by the need for
haste, combined with the condition of the immigrants. We have seen that
the conditions of the voyage are not calculated to land the immigrant in
an alert and clear-headed state. The bustle, confusion, rush, and size
of Ellis Island complete the work, and leave the average alien in a
state of stupor and bewilderment. He is in no condition to understand or
appreciate a carefully worded explanation of what he must do, or why he
must do it, even if the inspector had time to give it. The one
suggestion which is immediately comprehensible to him is a pull or a
push; if this is not administered with actual violence, there is no
unkindness in it. An amusing illustration of the dazed state in which
the average immigrant goes through the inspection is furnished by a
story told by one of the officials on the Island. It is related that
President Roosevelt once visited the Island, in company with other
distinguished citizens. He wished to observe the effect of a gift of
money on an immigrant woman, and fearing to be recognized, handed a
five-dollar gold piece to another member of the party, requesting him to
hand it to the first woman with a child in her arms who passed along the
line. It was done. The woman took the coin, slipped it into her dress,
and passed on, without even raising her eyes or giving the slightest
indication that the incident had made any different impression on her
than any of the regular steps in the inspection. It would be a
remarkable man, indeed, who could deal with a steady stream of
foreigners, stolid and unresponsive to begin with and reduced to such a
pitch of stupor, day after day, without occasionally losing his
patience.
The information collected at the port of entry is sufficient, when
compiled and tabulated, to give a very complete and detailed picture of
the character of the arriving immigrants, in so far as that can be
statistically portrayed. The reports of the Commissioner General contain
an elaborate set of tables, which are the principal source of accurate
information on the subject. In the following pages these tables will be
summarized, with the intent of bringing out the most important facts
which condition the immigration problem in this country. Data from other
reliable sources will be added as occasion requires.
During the period 1820 to 1912 a total of 29,611,052 immigrants have
entered the United States. Of these, the Germans have made up a larger
proportion than any other single race, amounting in all to 5,400,899
persons from the German Empire. Until very recently the Irish have stood
second; but as far as can be determined from the figures the Italians
and natives of Austria-Hungary have now passed them. There have been, in
the period mentioned, 3,511,730 immigrants from Austria-Hungary,
3,426,070 immigrants from Italy, including Sicily and Sardinia, and
3,069,625 from Ireland. But if the 1,945,812 immigrants from the United
Kingdom not specified could be properly assigned, it would probably
appear that Ireland could still lay claim to second place. The other
most important sources, with their respective contributions, are as
follows: Russian Empire, 2,680,525; England, 2,264,284; British North
American possessions, 1,322,085; Sweden, 1,095,940.[149] When it is
considered how recent is the origin of the immigration from Italy,
Russia, and Austria-Hungary, the significance of these figures becomes
apparent. The figures for a single recent year show very different
proportions. Thus in the year 1907, 28.2 per cent of the total European
immigration came from Austria-Hungary, 23.8 per cent from Italy,[150]
and 21.6 per cent from the Russian Empire, while only 3.2 per cent came
from the German Empire, 1.7 per cent from Sweden, 2.9 per cent from
Ireland, and 4.7 per cent from England.[151] What the ultimate effect of
this sweeping change in nationality will be it is impossible to predict
with any certainty; it is one of the greatest of all the problems
connected with immigration, and can better be discussed in another
connection. Suffice it to say for the present, that it has put an
entirely new face on the question of the assimilation of the immigrant
in this country.
In regard to the sex of the immigrants, the males have always had the
predominance. During the period from 1820 to 1910, 63.8 per cent of the
immigrants were males, and 36.2 per cent females.[152] This is what
might naturally be expected. The first emigration from a region is
almost always an emigration of men. They have the necessary hardihood
and daring to a greater extent than women, and are better fitted by
nature for the work of pioneering. After the current of emigration
becomes well established, women are found joining in. Early emigrants
send for their families, young men send for their sweethearts, and even
some single women venture to go to a country where there are friends and
relatives. But in the majority of cases the number of males continues to
exceed that of females. In the long run, there will be a greater
proportion of men than of women, because of the natural differences of
the sexes. In this respect, however, there has also been a change in
recent years. The proportion of males is considerably larger among the
new immigrants than among the old. In the decade 1820–1830, when
immigration was still in its beginning, there was a large proportion of
males, amounting to 70 per cent of the total. In the decades of the
forties and fifties, however, the proportion of males fell to 59.5 per
cent and 58 per cent, respectively. But in the decade ending 1910, 69.8
per cent of all the immigrants were males. There is a general tendency
for the proportion of males to rise in a year of large immigration, and
fall as immigration diminishes. This can be traced with a remarkable
degree of regularity throughout the modern period. It is well
exemplified in the last six years. In the year 1907, when the total
immigration reached its highest record, the proportion of males also
reached the highest point since 1830, 72.4 per cent. After the crisis of
that year the total immigration fell off decidedly, and in 1908 the
proportion of males was only 64.8 per cent. In the next year the
percentage of males rose to 69.2, while the total immigration decreased
slightly; but since the net gain by immigration increased in that
year,[153] this is not a serious exception to the rule. In 1910 the
total immigration again showed a marked increase, and the percentage of
males rose to 70.7.[154] In 1911 there was another marked decline in
immigration and the percentage of males fell to 64.9, while a further
slight decline in 1912 was accompanied by a fall in the percentage of
males to 63.2.[155] This phenomenon is undoubtedly accounted for by the
fact that the men come in more direct response to the economic demands
of this country than the women, and hence respond to economic
fluctuations more readily. Many of the female immigrants come to join
men who have established themselves on a footing of fair prosperity in
this country, and are able to have them come even in a year of hard
times.
An examination of the sex distribution of some of the leading races
shows how thoroughly characteristic of the new immigration this excess
of males is. The following table shows the percentages of the two sexes
of certain chosen races for the eleven-year period 1899 to 1909:
SEX DISTRIBUTION OF IMMIGRANTS OF SPECIFIED
RACES, BY PER CENTS, 1899 TO 1909
═══════════════════════════════╤═════════════
RACE OR PEOPLE │ PER CENT
───────────────────────────────┼──────┬──────
„ │ Male │Female
───────────────────────────────┼──────┼──────
Bulgarian, Servian, Montenegrin│ 96.0│ 4.0
Croatian and Slovenian │ 85.1│ 14.9
English │ 61.7│ 38.3
German │ 59.4│ 40.6
Greek │ 95.4│ 4.6
Hebrew │ 56.7│ 43.3
Irish │ 47.2│ 52.8
Italian, north │ 78.4│ 21.6
Italian, south │ 78.6│ 21.4
Lithuanian │ 71.1│ 28.9
Magyar │ 72.7│ 27.3
Polish │ 69.2│ 30.8
Ruthenian │ 74.0│ 26.0
Scandinavian │ 61.3│ 38.7
Slovak │ 70.3│ 29.7
═══════════════════════════════╧══════╧══════
Comparing the entire old immigration for the period specified with the
entire new immigration (European only), we find that of the former 58.5
per cent were male and 41.5 per cent female; of the latter 73 per cent
were male, and 27 per cent female.[156] It is evident that the new
immigration is in no sense an immigration of families, but of men,
either single men, or married men who have left their wives on the other
side. This is due in part to the very fact that it is a new immigration,
partly to the fact that it is, to such a large degree, temporary or
provisional. An immigrant who expects to return to his native land after
a few years in America is more likely to leave his wife behind him than
one who bids farewell to his old home forever. The typical old
immigrant, when he has secured his competency, sends for his wife to
come and join him; the typical new immigrant, under the same
circumstances, in many cases returns to his native land to spend the
remainder of his days in the enjoyment of his accumulated wealth. The
only exception to this rule is that furnished by the Hebrews, among whom
the sexes are nearly equally distributed. This is one of the many
respects in which they stand apart from the rest of the new immigration.
The only race in which the female immigrants exceed the males is the
Irish, and this has been the case only within recent years. During the
years of the great Irish immigration the males predominated.
The matter of sex is one of the greatest importance to the United
States. It is one thing to have foreign families coming here to cast in
their lots with this nation permanently; it is quite another to have
large groups of males coming over, either with the expectation of
returning ultimately to their native land, or of living in this country
without family connections, for an indefinite number of years. Such
groups form an unnatural element in our population, and alter the
problem of assimilation very considerably. They are willing to work for
a lower wage than if they were trying to support families in this
country, and are not nearly so likely to be brought into touch with the
molding forces of American life as are foreign family groups. Their
habits of life, as will appear later,[157] are abnormal, and tend to
result in depreciated morals and physique. Many of the most unfortunate
conditions surrounding the present immigration situation may be traced
to this great preponderance of males.
The one thing that can be said in favor of this state of affairs is that
such a group of immigrants furnishes a larger number of workers than one
more evenly distributed between the sexes. This is an argument which
will appeal to many; but to many others, who have the best welfare of
the country at heart, it will appear wholly inadequate to offset the
serious disadvantages which result from the situation. The Immigration
Commission expresses its opinion that, in the effort to reduce the
oversupply of unskilled labor in this country by restricting
immigration, special discrimination should be made against men
unaccompanied by wives or children.[158]
In regard to the age of immigrants the most striking fact is that the
great bulk of them are in the middle age groups. In the year 1912 the
distribution of the total immigration among the different age groups was
as follows: under fourteen years, 13.6 per cent; fourteen to forty-four
years, 80.9 per cent; forty-five years and over, 5.5 per cent. In the
total population of the United States the respective percentages in
these groups are about 30, 51, and 19. There is only a slight difference
in this respect between the new and the old immigration. Of the total
European immigration for the years 1899 to 1909, the old immigration had
12.8 per cent in the first age group, 80.4 per cent in the second, and
6.8 per cent in the third; the new immigration had 12.2 per cent in the
first, 83.5 per cent in the second, and 4.3 per cent in the third.[159]
There is, however, a very marked difference between the races. This will
be brought out by the following table, which shows the age distribution
of certain selected races, for the year 1910:
DISTRIBUTION OF IMMIGRANTS OF SPECIFIED RACES AMONG THE AGE GROUPS, BY
PER CENTS, 1910
══════════════════════╤═══════════════════════════════════════════════
RACE OR PEOPLE │ AGE, PER CENT
──────────────────────┼───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────
„ │Under 14 Years │14 to 44 Years │ 45 Years and
│ │ │ Over
──────────────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────
Croatian and Slovenian│ 4.7│ 91.0│ 3.3
German │ 17.0│ 75.9│ 7.1
Greek │ 2.6│ 96.0│ 1.4
Hebrew │ 25.9│ 67.9│ 6.2
Irish │ 7.4│ 88.3│ 4.3
Italian, south │ 10.4│ 83.5│ 6.1
Polish │ 7.6│ 89.7│ 2.7
══════════════════════╧═══════════════╧═══════════════╧═══════════════
Here, again, the Hebrews appear as an exception to the general rule as
regards the new immigration and, in this case, as regards the total
immigration.
The showing in regard to age substantiates the observation already made
that our modern immigration is in no sense an immigration of families.
This, too, affects the chances for assimilation very considerably. As
regards the economic efficiency of the immigrants, the age distribution,
added to the sex distribution, marks them as a selected group. When it
is further considered that the physically and mentally feeble, and those
who are unlikely to be able to earn their own living are weeded out in
the process of inspection, it appears that those who look upon the
immigrant as nothing more than a source of cheap labor have much reason
to be pleased with the quality of our immigration. The productive power
of a group of immigrants averages very much higher than a corresponding
number of persons taken from the general population of the race from
which they come.
Herein lies perhaps the greatest and most popular argument for
immigration. It is claimed that without our foreign laboring force it
would have been impossible to develop the resources of the country so
rapidly and completely as they have been developed, and that if the
supply were cut off now, it would seriously cripple the entire industry
of the country. It is certainly true that under the present organization
of industry in this country, production in many lines depends to a very
important degree upon foreign labor. How much of truth there is in the
deduction that without the immigrants this country would be much farther
back in the industrial race than it is to-day, will be considered in
another connection.[160]
There are many citizens of the United States, however, who look upon the
immigrant as something more than a mere productive machine. To them the
proof of his economic efficiency is not sufficient. They wish to know
something of his adaptability to assimilation into the American life,
and of his probable contribution to the ethnic type of the United
States. To such as these, there are a number of further conditions which
must be considered, and which are of at least equal significance in
determining the final effects of immigration upon this country.
Prominent among these is the intellectual quality of the immigrant. This
is naturally a very difficult thing to measure. Beyond actual
feeble-mindedness, the only test of intellectual capacity which has
received wide application is the literacy—or, as it is more frequently
expressed, the illiteracy—test. This concerns the ability to read and
write, and is given a great deal of weight by many students of the
subject. It is not, however, necessarily an indication of intellectual
capacity, but rather of education. The inability to read or write may be
due to lack of early opportunity, rather than to inferior mental
caliber. Nevertheless, the matter of literacy has received sufficient
attention, and is in fact of sufficient importance, so that it is
desirable to have the facts in this respect before us.
Two forms of illiteracy are recognized by the immigration authorities,
inability to either read or write, and inability to write coupled with
ability to read. The latter class is a very small one, and for all
practical purposes those who are spoken of as illiterates are those who
can neither read nor write. For the period of 1899–1909 the average
illiteracy of all European immigrants fourteen years of age or over was
26.6 per cent. There is a marked difference between the old and new
immigrants in this respect. Of the former class, during the period
mentioned, only 2.7 per cent of the immigrants fourteen years of age or
over was illiterate; of the latter class, 35.6 per cent. The same
difference is brought out by the following table, showing the illiteracy
of certain specified races:
PERCENTAGE OF ILLITERACY[161]
OF IMMIGRANTS OF THE SPECIFIED
RACES, 14 YEARS OF AGE OR OVER,
FOR THE YEARS 1899 TO 1909[162]
RACE OR PEOPLE PER CENT
Scandinavian 0.4
English 1.1
Irish 2.7
German 5.1
Italian, north 11.8
Magyar 11.4
Hebrew 25.7
Greek 27.0
Roumanian 34.7
Polish 35.4
Croatian and Slovenian 36.4
Italian, south 54.2
Portuguese 68.2
Footnote 161:
Those who can neither read nor write.
Footnote 162:
Rept. Imm. Com., Emig. Cond. in Eur., Abs., p. 17.
Where there is such a marked difference between races as is exhibited in
the foregoing table, it seems fair to assume that there is a
corresponding difference in the intellectual condition of the respective
peoples—if not in their potential capacity, at least in the actual
mental equipment of the immigrants themselves.[163] In fact, it is quite
customary to take the degree of illiteracy as a reasonable index of the
desirability of a given stream of immigration. There seems to be
considerable basis for this idea, for it appears probable that an
immigrant who has had the ability and the opportunity to secure, in his
home land, such a degree of education as is indicated by the ability to
read and write, is better equipped for adapting himself to life in a new
country than one who has not. On the other hand, there is considerable
testimony to the effect that the immigrants who have the hardest time to
get along in this country are those who have a moderate degree of
education, bookkeepers, mediocre musicians, clerks, etc. They are either
unable or unwilling to do the menial work which their less educated
countrymen perform, and are not able to compete with persons trained in
this country in the occupations which they followed at home. There are
relatively few of the occupations into which the typical immigrant of
to-day goes, and for which he is encouraged to come to this country, in
which the ability to read and write adds to the efficiency of the worker
to any considerable degree. It is possible that the ability to read and
write may hasten the process of assimilation somewhat; it is
questionable whether it adds appreciably to the economic fitness of the
immigrant for life in this country.
The question of literacy as a test of immigrants has received a large
amount of attention recently through its inclusion in the proposed
immigration bill which barely failed of becoming a law early in the year
1913. This bill was the result of the investigations of the Immigration
Commission, and embodied several of the recommendations of that body.
The one upon which most of the opposition was centered was a clause
providing a reading test for adult aliens. There were certain exceptions
to the rule, however, so that in its actual application the exclusion
would have been limited almost wholly to adult males. The bill passed
both houses of Congress, but was vetoed by the President, after a
careful and judicial consideration. The Senate promptly passed the bill
over the veto, but a similar action in the House failed by the narrow
margin of half a dozen votes.
The agitation for a literacy test rests upon two main groups of
arguments. The first class includes the efforts to show that literacy,
in itself, is a desirable qualification for citizenship, economically,
socially, and politically. The second group rests on the belief that the
total number of immigrants ought to be cut down, and that a literacy
test is a good way to accomplish the result. It is not unlikely that
this latter set of opinions predominated over the former in the minds of
the adherents of the proposed measure, though it was not necessarily
expressed openly. And there is much to be said in favor of the literacy
test from this point of view. In the first place, it is a perfectly
definite and comprehensible test, which could be applied by the
immigrant to himself before he left his native village. In the second
place, it is a test which any normal alien could prepare himself to meet
if he were willing to make the effort. It does not seem too much to
require of one who wishes to become a member of the American body
politic, that he take the pains to equip himself with the rudiments of
an education before presenting himself. Finally, as Miss Claghorn has
pointed out,[164] it is a test which would react favorably upon the
immigrant himself. It is impossible to tell, as noted above, just how
much value attaches to literacy in the effort of the alien to maintain
himself in this country. Yet without doubt there is some advantage. And
perhaps there would be even more in the strengthening of character and
purpose which would result from the effort to attain it. A glance at the
preceding table will show which of the immigrant races, as the
immigration stream is now constituted, would be most affected by such a
test. But it is not at all impossible that the passage of a literacy
test by this government would have the effect of materially stimulating
the progress of education in some of the more backward countries of
Europe.
This tendency to illiteracy on the part of immigrants is apparently well
overcome in the second generation, for among the employees in
manufacturing studied by the Immigration Commission the percentage of
illiteracy was lower among the native-born descendants of foreign
fathers than among the native-born of native fathers.[165]
In the year 1910 information was collected for the first time in regard
to the conjugal condition of immigrants. The figures on this point are
summarized in the following table, which gives the percentages of each
sex, in the different age groups, who are in the different
classifications as to conjugal condition.
CONJUGAL CONDITION OF IMMIGRANTS, 1910
══════╤═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
SEX │ PERCENTAGES
──────┼───────────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────
„ │ 14 TO 44 YEARS[166] │ 45 YEARS AND OVER
──────┼──────┬───────┬───────┬────────┼──────┬───────┬───────┬────────
„ │Single│Married│Widowed│Divorced│Single│Married│Widowed│Divorced
──────┼──────┼───────┼───────┼────────┼──────┼───────┼───────┼────────
Male │ 55.3│ 44.2│ 0.5│ [167] │ 5.2│ 86.8│ 7.9│ [167]
Female│ 57.7│ 39.9│ 2.3│ [167] │ 6.6│ 52.8│ 40.5│ 0.1
══════╧══════╧═══════╧═══════╧════════╧══════╧═══════╧═══════╧════════
Footnote 166:
All the immigrants under 14 were single, with the exception of one
female.
Footnote 167:
Less than one tenth of 1 per cent.
This table furnishes further verification of the fact that our present
immigration is in no sense an immigration of families. More than half of
all the immigrants fourteen years of age or over, of both sexes, are
single. This affects the problem of assimilation very deeply. One of the
greatest forces for Americanization in immigrant families is the growing
children. Where these are absent, the adults have much less contact with
assimilating influences. If there was a large degree of intermarriage
between these single immigrants and native Americans, the aspect of the
case would be very different; but thus far, this is not the case.
Much has been said and written about the absolute economic gain to this
country through immigration. It is pointed out that each year an army of
able-bodied laborers, in the prime of life, is added to our working
force. To the expense of their rearing we have contributed nothing; they
come to us as a free gift from the nations of Europe. Various efforts
have been made to estimate the actual cash value of these alien
laborers. Professor Mayo-Smith enumerates three different ways of
attacking the problem. The first is by estimating the cost of bringing
up the immigrant, up to the time of his arrival in the United States.
The second is by estimating his value as if he were a slave. The third
is by estimating the amount of wealth he will contribute to the
community before he dies, minus the cost of his maintenance—in other
words, his net earnings.[168]
The lack of uniformity in the results obtained by different methods and
by different investigators gives weight to the opinion that it is, after
all, a rather fruitless undertaking. To estimate the monetary value of a
man seems to be, as yet, too much for economic science.
There is one economic contribution, however, which the immigrants make
to this country which is capable of fairly accurate measurement. This is
the amount of money which they bring with them when they come. For many
years immigrants have been compelled to show the amount of money in
their possession, and this information has been recorded, and
incorporated in the annual reports. Up to 1904, immigrants were divided
into those showing less than $30 and those showing that amount or more.
In that year this dividing line was raised to $50. The total amount of
money shown is also given. Thus it is possible to estimate the average
amount of money shown by the immigrants of different races, and also to
ascertain what proportion of them showed above or below the specified
amount. Unfortunately for the conclusiveness of the statistics,
immigrants very commonly do not show all the money in their possession,
but only so much as they think is necessary to secure their admission.
So the total amount of money shown does not represent the total amount
brought in; all that can be positively stated is that at least so much
was brought in.
In 1909 the total amount of money shown was $17,331,828; in 1910,
$28,197,745; in 1911, $29,411,488; and in 1912, $30,353,721. The average
per capita showings of the European immigrants for the period 1905 to
1909 was as follows:[169]
═══════════════╤═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════
CLASS │ AVERAGE PER CAPITA
───────────────┼───────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────
„ │ Based on Total Coming │ Based on Total Showing
───────────────┼───────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────
Old immigration│ $39.90│ $55.20
New immigration│ 15.83│ 20.99
│ ——————│ ——————
Total │ $22.47│ $30.14
═══════════════╧═══════════════════════════╧═══════════════════════════
Those not showing money were for the most part children and other
dependents. This shows how baseless is the impression, quite prevalent
among Americans and aliens alike, that a certain specified amount of
money is necessary to secure admission to this country. Thirty dollars
or fifty dollars are the amounts commonly mentioned. But since the
average based on the total number showing money is barely over thirty
dollars, it is plain that there must be a large number showing less than
thirty dollars. In fact, some races, as, for instance, the Polish,
Lithuanians, and south Italians, have an average of from twenty to
twenty-five dollars for all showing money. There is no monetary
requirement for admission to the United States. While the possession of
a certain amount of money is considered to add to the probability of an
immigrant being able to support himself without becoming a public
charge, a sturdy laborer with ten dollars in his pocket is more likely
to secure admission than a decrepit old man with a good-sized bank
account.
Against these large amounts of money brought in by immigrants, which
represent a net gain to the total wealth of the country, must be set off
the enormous amounts of money annually sent abroad by alien residents of
the United States. Various efforts have been made to estimate these
sums. The best is probably that of the Immigration Commission which sets
the figure at a total of $275,000,000 for the year 1907, which was a
prosperous year.[170]
The following table gives the distribution of immigrants among the
different classes of occupations.
OCCUPATION OF EUROPEAN
IMMIGRANTS FOR THE YEARS
1898 TO 1909,
PERCENTAGES[171]
OCCUPATION PER CENT
Professional 1.0
Skilled laborers 15.2
Farm laborers 15.7
Farmers 1.0
Common laborers 27.8
Servants 10.8
Miscellaneous 2.1
No occupation[172] 26.4
Footnote 171:
_Ibid._, Emig. Cond. in Eur., Abs., p. 15.
Footnote 172:
Including women and children.
These figures are taken from the statements of the immigrants
themselves, and represent, in so far as they are correct, the economic
position of the immigrant in the country from which he came. They are
not a reliable indication of the occupation into which he goes in this
country.
It is evident that the great majority of the immigrants belong in
general to the unskilled labor class. This is the class of labor for
which there is a special demand in this country, and for which the
immigrants are desired. At the same time, as Professor Commons has
pointed out,[173] there is also a considerable demand for skilled
artisans in this country, as the peculiar conditions of American
industry prevent the training of a sufficient number of all-round
mechanics at home. This demand is also met from European sources. There
is a great difference in this respect between the different races.[174]
For instance, 29.8 per cent of the English immigrants were skilled
laborers, 37.9 per cent of the Scotch, and 35.2 per cent of the Welsh,
while only 4.7 per cent of the Croatians and Slovenians, 2.7 per cent of
the Roumanians, 1.8 per cent of the Ruthenians, and 3.5 per cent of the
Slovaks belonged to that class, during the period mentioned. The highest
proportion of professional is shown by the French, with 6.2 per cent. In
general, the old immigration has a larger proportion in the professional
and skilled groups than the new, and this difference would be much more
marked if the Hebrews were excepted, as they again furnish a marked
exception to the general rule of the new immigration, with 36.7 per cent
in the skilled labor group.
Thus far, the facts which have been brought out all have to do with the
condition of the immigrants upon their arrival. They furnish a sort of a
composite picture of the raw material. This is about as far as the
regular statistics go. After the immigrants have left the port of
arrival, the Bureau furnishes practically no information about them
until they leave the country again, except an occasional special report,
and, in recent years, figures concerning naturalization. This is typical
of the general attitude which characterizes the entire immigration
system and legislation, and rests on the assumption that if sufficient
care is exercised in the selection of immigrants, all will thenceforth
be well, and no attention need be paid to them after they are in the
country. The final piece of information furnished in the reports is the
alleged destination of the immigrants. This is of course somewhat
uncertain, but in so far as it is conclusive it furnishes a preliminary
clew to the distribution of our alien residents throughout the country.
The significance of the figures regarding destination, or intended
future residence, may best be brought out by showing the percentages
destined to the different territorial divisions of the United States. In
1910 these were as follows:
PER CENT OF TOTAL
IMMIGRATION DESTINED TO
EACH OF THE SPECIFIED
DIVISIONS, 1910
DIVISION PER CENT
North Atlantic 62.3
South Atlantic 2.5
North Central 26.1
South Central 2.3
Western 6.1
————
Total 99.3[175]
Footnote 175:
Balance to Alaska, Hawaii, Philippine Islands, and Porto Rico.
The fact that in a typical year 88.4 per cent of the total immigration
gave their intended future residence as the North Atlantic or North
Central divisions, introduces us to some of the peculiarities of the
distribution of immigrants in the United States, which will be further
considered later.
Before closing our consideration of arriving immigrants it will be well
to glance briefly at those who arrive, but are not admitted—in other
words, the debarred. We have seen that the law has grown more and more
stringent in its conditions for admission, and each new statute has
tended to raise the standard. These laws have had a powerful influence
in improving the character of the applicants for admission, and with the
coöperation of the transportation companies have operated to check the
emigration of the manifestly undesirable to an ever greater extent. Yet
there are every year considerable numbers of would-be immigrants who
have to be turned back at the portals of the United States. The lot of
these unfortunates is undeniably a hard one, and they are the objects of
much well-deserved sympathy. Everything possible ought to be done to
limit the number of inadmissible aliens who are allowed to present
themselves at the immigrant stations of this country. The farther back
on the road they can be stopped, the better will the interests of
humanity be served. At the same time, pity for the rejected alien ought
not to be allowed to express itself in unreasonable and unwarranted
attacks upon our system of admission, and the officials who administer
it, as is sometimes done.[176]
The statistics of debarments may be indicative of the character of the
applicants, of the stringency of the laws and the faithfulness of their
enforcement, or of the care of the transportation companies in
prosecuting their examination on the other side. It is impossible to
tell from the figures themselves which of these factors account for the
different fluctuations. It is undoubtedly true that there has been, in
general, a steady improvement in the care with which immigrants are
selected. If, next year, a million immigrants of the same general
character as prevailed sixty years ago should present themselves at our
gates, the proportion of refusals would soar tremendously. The following
table gives the proportion of debarments to admissions since 1892.
PROPORTION OF ALIENS DEBARRED, EXPRESSED IN PERCENTAGES
OF IMMIGRANTS ADMITTED, 1892–1912
════════╤══════╤══════╤══════╤══════╤══════╤══════╤══════
YEAR │=1892=│=1893=│=1894=│=1895=│=1896=│=1897=│=1898=
────────┼──────┼──────┼──────┼──────┼──────┼──────┼──────
Per cent│ .37│ .24│ .49│ .94│ .62│ .70│ 1.32
────────┼──────┼──────┼──────┼──────┼──────┼──────┼──────
YEAR │=1899=│=1900=│=1901=│=1902=│=1903=│=1904=│=1905=
────────┼──────┼──────┼──────┼──────┼──────┼──────┼──────
Per cent│ 1.22│ .95│ .72│ .76│ 1.02│ .98│ 1.15
────────┼──────┼──────┼──────┼──────┼──────┼──────┼──────
YEAR │=1906=│=1907=│=1908=│=1909=│=1910=│=1911=│=1912=
────────┼──────┼──────┼──────┼──────┼──────┼──────┼──────
Per cent│ 1.12│ 1.02│ 1.18│ 1.09│ 2.33│ 2.54│ 1.92
════════╧══════╧══════╧══════╧══════╧══════╧══════╧══════
In the years 1892 to 1912, 169,132 aliens were refused admission to the
United States. Of these, 58.2 per cent were debarred on the grounds of
pauperism or likelihood of becoming a public charge, 15.8 per cent were
afflicted with loathsome or dangerous contagious diseases, and 12.7 per
cent were contract laborers. These three leading causes account for 86.7
per cent of all the debarments. The other classes of debarred aliens
specified in the reports are as follows: idiots, imbeciles,
feeble-minded, epileptics, insane, tuberculosis (non-contagious),
professional beggars, mental or physical defects likely to affect
ability to earn a living, accompanying aliens, under sixteen years of
age unaccompanied by parent, assisted aliens, criminals, polygamists,
anarchists, prostitutes, etc., aliens who procure prostitutes, etc.,
under passport provision, Section 1, under provisions Chinese exclusion
act, supported by proceeds of prostitution.
There has been a change in the relative importance of the three leading
causes of debarment since 1892. In that year almost all the debarred
aliens were paupers or likely to become a public charge or contract
laborers. The first of these classes has held its own down to the
present, and still stands far in advance of any other cause as regards
the number refused. The contract labor class has declined in relative
importance. Loathsome and dangerous contagious diseases were
comparatively unimportant until 1898, when they sprang into prominence,
and have since outstripped contract laborers. This was due to the
classification, in 1897, of trachoma as a dangerous contagious disease.
It has since led the list of diseases by a large margin. In 1910 there
were 2618 cases of trachoma out of a total of 3123 loathsome or
dangerous contagious diseases. Favus comes next with 111 cases,
tuberculosis next with 90, and others 304. The proportions were about
the same in 1908 and 1909. In 1912 the proportion of trachoma was even
greater.
Trachoma is the disease popularly known as granular lids. It attacks the
conjunctiva, or mucous lining of the lids, setting up inflammation. It
affects the cornea, forming ulcers, and may result in partial or total
opacity, which may be permanent or temporary. The determination of cases
of true trachoma appears to be a matter of some difficulty; the
examiners on Ellis Island are “instructed to regard as trachoma any case
wherein the conjunctiva presents firm, well-marked granulations which do
not have a tendency to disappear when the case is placed in hygienic
surroundings a few days, or does not yield rapidly to ordinary
treatment, even though there be no evidence of active inflammation at
the time of the examination, nor appreciable discharge, nor as yet any
signs of degenerative or destructive processes.”[177] The necessity for
great caution in this matter is increased by the fact that it is
possible by medical treatment to remove the outward symptoms of trachoma
so as to make it very difficult of detection, though there is no real
cure, and the disease will return later. Many immigrants who are
suffering from this malady take treatment of this sort before
emigrating. It is stated that in London there are institutions which
make a business of preparing immigrants for admission.[178] Statements
emanating from medical sources have recently appeared in the newspapers
to the effect that trachoma is not so contagious or dangerous as has
been supposed, but they appear to lack substantiation.
Favus is another name for the disease known as ring worm. It is a
vegetable parasite which attacks the hair, causing it to become dry,
brittle, dull, and easily pulled out. Favus is also susceptible to
temporary “cures.”
On the whole, the new immigration is more subject to debarment than the
old, particularly for the cause of trachoma. This is a disease to which
the races of southeastern Europe and Asia Minor are especially liable. A
large part of the Syrians have it. In 1910 more than 3 per cent of all
the Syrians who presented themselves for admission were refused for this
cause alone. Inability for self-support is also much more common among
the new than the old.
Reviewing this survey of the arriving immigrants, we find that as
respects age and sex they are a body of persons remarkably well
qualified for productive labor. The predominating races are now those of
southern and eastern Europe, which are of a decidedly different stock
from the original settlers of this country. There is a large percentage
of illiteracy. The statistics of conjugal condition, combined with those
of sex and age, show that our present immigration is in no sense an
immigration of families. The great majority of the immigrants belong to
the unskilled or common labor class, or else have no occupation. The
bulk of the immigrants are destined to the North Atlantic and North
Central divisions of the United States. The immigrants are a selected
body, as far as this can be accomplished by a strict examination under
the law. In spite of the care exercised by transportation companies on
the other side, a considerable number of aliens are debarred each year,
mainly for the causes of disease, inability for self-support, or labor
contracts. In almost all of these respects the old immigration differs
to a greater or less extent from the new, with the exception of the
Hebrews, who stand apart from the rest of the new immigration in a
number of important particulars.