THE PEOPLE, RACES, AND RACIAL PROBLEMS OF
THE UNITED STATES
_The purpose of this chapter is to explain how the population of the
United States has grown, how it is distributed, the varied races of
which it is composed, and the racial problems which immigration has
created._
[Sidenote: How the national population has grown.]
=We, the People of the United States.=—The national constitution begins
with the words: “We, the People of the United States”. But who are the
people? No one cares to carry a lot of figures in his head and most
people think that statistics are uninteresting; but there are some
figures which everyone ought to know and, moreover, there are some
statistics which are far from being dry or tedious. The figures relating
to the population of the United States, its growth and distribution, are
interesting because they portray something that the world has never seen
before and probably will never see again,—a country doubling its
population four times in just about a single century. That is what the
United States did in the hundred years from 1790 to 1890. In 1790 the
entire population was less than four millions. (There are more people in
the single city of New York today, and almost as many in Chicago.) The
population had doubled in 1813, and had doubled again in 1838, when it
passed sixteen million. In 1864, only twenty-four years later, it had
doubled once more (32,000,000). It passed the sixty-four million mark in
1891, and in all probability will double for the fifth time about the
year 1940. In 1920, when the last national census was taken the
population had passed 105,000,000.
[Sidenote: Will this increase continue? If so, with what results?]
Now if you will take the data at the foot of the page and work the
calculation to the year 2000 (allowing for the gradual slackening of the
increase) what will the population of the United States be then?[7] It
will be around three hundred millions, which is more than the white
population of the entire world today. Even so the country would not be
nearly so thickly populated as some European countries now are. Today
there are in the United States about thirty-five persons to the square
mile. But there are 700 to the square mile in England and 658 per square
mile in Belgium, which are two of the most thickly-populated of all
countries at the present time.[8] Three hundred million people in the
United States, if the figure should reach that total at the end of the
twentieth century, would be less than one hundred per square mile. There
would still be six acres of ground for every man, woman and child in the
country. Whether there would be a sufficient food supply to support so
large a population is another question and one which is not so easily
answered.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE CENTER OF POPULATION
The way in which the center of population has been
steadily moving westward is indicated by this map.
It will be noted that in its journey to the west it
has held closely to the 39th parallel of latitude.
The median point, on the other hand, has remained
practically fixed during the last thirty years.
The location of the median point is determined as
follows: Take the parallel of latitude which divides
the country in such manner that half the population
is north of that parallel and half is south of it;
similarly, take the meridian of longitude which
divides the country in such manner that half the
population is east of it and half is west of it; the
intersection of this parallel and this meridian is
called the median point.
[Illustration:
CENTRE OF POPULATION
AT EACH CENSUS: 1790 TO 1920
MEDIAN POINT
1880 TO 1920
☆ CENTER OF POPULATION Δ MEDIAN POINT
]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Sidenote: Some areas are more densely populated than others.]
=How the National Population is Distributed.=—The people of the United
States are very unevenly distributed over the face of the country. Great
areas, particularly in the West, have only a few persons to the square
mile, while the crowded sections of the largest cities have many
hundreds to the acre. Even the rural areas of some states are thickly
settled while in others the people are few and far between. Rhode Island
is nearly as densely populated as Belgium, having about 566 people to
the square mile while many states of the Western mountain region have
only seven or eight inhabitants per square mile of territory. The
reasons for this uneven distribution are chiefly geographical. The
states which have grown most rapidly in population are not necessarily
the oldest states but the ones which have the greatest natural
advantages in the way of fertile soil, or mineral resources, or harbors
and waterways, or favorable climate. People make their homes in those
regions where they can best make a living.
[Sidenote: Climate affects the density of population.]
Favorable climatic conditions exert a strong influence in attracting
population. It is an interesting fact, often noted by students of
history, that whereas civilization developed earliest in the tropical
and semi-tropical zones it has everywhere made its greatest advance in
the regions of moderate temperatures and rainfall. Taking the broad
strip of country which lies between the thirty-seventh and the
forty-fifth parallels of latitude, it will be found that nearly
four-fifths of the entire population is concentrated within this
mid-latitude area of the United States. And this is the area which, in
all probability, will continue to be the most thickly settled.
[Sidenote: The center of population in 1920.]
The center of population in 1920 was at Whitehall, Owen County, Indiana,
a little town of forty-three inhabitants which burst into prominence
overnight when the census bureau announced it as the pivot of the
nation. By the center of population is meant the point which the
greatest number of people could reach with the least amount of travel.
This point, at each successive census, has been steadily moving westward
following very closely the thirty-ninth parallel of latitude. In 1790 it
was at Baltimore, in 1840 in West Virginia, in 1880 in Ohio, and since
1890 it has been moving westward across Indiana.[9] The center of
population is a long way from the center of area, the latter being in
Northern Kansas not far from the Nebraska border.
=The Drift of Population to the Cities.=—The distribution of the people
has also been influenced by the growth of large cities. In 1790 there
were only five communities with populations exceeding 8000, namely New
York, Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore, and Charleston. Taken altogether
they had only 130,000 inhabitants, that is to say only one person in
every thirty lived in these towns. But so rapidly did the various towns
and cities spring up all over the country that by the time of the Civil
War there were nearly 150 with populations above 8000, and today there
are nearly a thousand. Not a single American city had 70,000 population
in 1790; today there are more than a hundred such cities.
[Sidenote: The chief causes of city growth.]
This remarkable drift of population into the towns and cities, which
began early in the nineteenth century and has continued ever since,
shows no signs of slackening. It is due to many causes, including the
great demand for industrial labor in the cities, the attractiveness of
city life to the young men and women of the country districts (see p.
351), and the tendency of the immigrants to locate in the crowded
centers. Wherever industry and commerce thrive, there cities will be
built and will grow. Half the population of the United States is now
living in towns and cities of over 2500 population. If the drift to the
cities continues at its present rate of progress, ninety per cent of the
people will be living in the cities and towns by 1980 and only ten per
cent in the country districts. That is already the case in England.[10]
One Englishman in every seven lives in London. That seems to be a very
striking fact until we remember that one American in every ten lives in
New York, Chicago, or Philadelphia. New York City has nearly six
millions now; in fifty years, at its present rate of growth, it will be
an urban giant of fifteen millions or more.
[Sidenote: Why most immigrants go to the cities.]
Why do the immigrants go to the cities rather than to the country
districts? The chief reason is that most immigrants come to the United
States to find work, and work is most easily found in the large cities.
The great majority of immigrants have learned no trade before they come
to America, hence they must seek jobs which require no great amount of
skill or training. Another reason is that the immigrants want to be near
others who speak their own language. In every large city these foreign
colonies or settlements are created—Italian, Polish, Jewish, and so on.
The newcomer naturally prefers to live in one of these colonies until he
learns the English language, but having become accustomed to the city he
rarely leaves it. Among the many millions of immigrants who have come to
America during the past fifty years the great majority have gone to the
cities, particularly to the large cities. New York City, for example,
contains today more than two million people who were not born in this
country. Nevertheless, the cities have not been built up by the
immigrant alone. Large numbers of native Americans have left the rural
districts and have helped to swell the population of the urban centers.
=The Ebb and Flow of Immigration.=—The United States has been the
melting-pot of the nations. No other country has ever welcomed to its
shores so many millions of people from all parts of the earth. One
hundred years ago there were relatively few foreign-born persons in the
country. But waves of immigration soon began to come and the number of
incoming aliens, which was less than ten thousand in 1790, rose to more
than four hundred thousand in some of the years preceding the Civil War.
The immigrants during this period were for the most part from England,
Ireland, and Germany. During the Civil War the influx subsided, but when
the war was over it quickly began to swell once more and it continued,
with various ups and downs, to the outbreak of the World War in 1914.
[Sidenote: Where the immigrants have come from.]
In some years, during this period since 1865 the number of immigrants
has been as low as 200,000; in other years it has run above a million.
Nearly every European race has been represented in this influx, although
some have come in much larger numbers than others. Down to about 1880
most of the newcomers were from Ireland, England, Scotland, Germany, the
Scandinavian countries, and the other regions of Northern Europe. But
since that date the source of immigration has been steadily shifting.
During the past forty years a much larger proportion has been coming
from Italy, Austria, Hungary, Poland, Greece, and some of the smaller
countries.[11] This has brought in many millions of people who are not
of Celtic or Teutonic stock.
[Sidenote: Effects of the war on immigration.]
Upon the outbreak of the great European conflict in 1914 the flow of
immigration subsided quickly and while the war lasted it practically
ceased altogether. This was due in part to the reluctance of European
countries to let their people leave, and in part due to the lack of
shipping, since all available vessels were engaged in carrying troops,
munitions, and supplies. Immediately after the close of hostilities,
however, the exodus from Europe recommenced, and in the year 1920 the
figures of immigration once more rose into the hundreds of thousands. In
spite of the strict regulations imposed by the United States government,
enormous numbers of people in Poland, Italy, Hungary, and various other
countries began applying for permission to migrate. The American
consular offices in Europe were besieged by long lines of people waiting
all day for passports to the Promised Land. In the face of this
threatened flood Congress felt impelled to place all immigration under
strict limitation, as will be explained a few paragraphs later.
During the hundred years from 1820 to 1920 it is estimated that more
than thirty million immigrants reached the United States, which is the
largest migration in history.[12] It is true that considerable numbers
of these immigrants eventually drifted back to their native lands but
the larger portion of them remained permanently here.
[Sidenote: The various factors which have caused Europeans to leave
their own countries.]
=Causes of Immigration.=—The causes of immigration to this country are
manifold. First in importance among them is the economic attractiveness
of the United States. Cheap land, equal opportunities, the ease with
which any industrious man or woman can make a living—these are the
magnets which drew millions of people across the Atlantic during the
nineteenth century. But there were other causes, namely, the existence
in various parts of Europe of conditions which encouraged the people to
emigrate. Religious persecution was one of the first things that drove
men or women to America. It brought the Pilgrims to Massachusetts in the
early days, the Quakers to Pennsylvania, and the English Catholics to
Maryland. Political oppression in the middle years of the nineteenth
century sent several million Germans to the United States, particularly
to the Middle West. Oppression, both religious and political, has been
instrumental in driving the Jews across the seas. Overcrowding in both
the cities and the rural regions of Europe and the consequent inability
of the people to obtain lands of their own, has been responsible for
much of the drift to America. The exhaustion of the soil in Ireland, the
crop failures and consequent famines there, have led to the migrations
of the Irish, although dissatisfaction with political conditions has
also been a factor in this case. To a considerable extent, moreover,
immigration has been assisted by those aliens who were already settled
in this country. Immigrants arrived in this country and by hard work
soon became prosperous. Then they sent passage-money to their friends
and relatives until whole groups of families were enabled to come to
America in this way. The steamship companies, too, have advertised the
attractions of America in all parts of Europe; they have kept agents at
work in many countries, and have been an important factor in promoting
immigration.
[Sidenote: The economic factors have been the most important.]
Nevertheless the underlying causes of immigration are economic.
Immigrants come in greater numbers when prosperity reigns in America
than in periods of business depression. This indicates that high wages
and plenty of employment are the things which have the greatest
influence in bringing them here. The democratic institutions of America
have played their part, no doubt, and the relative social equality which
exists among the people of the United States has been an attraction to
those who are denied such equality in their own homelands. But the
equality of economic opportunity, the open career, the chance of making
a good living and even a fortune—these, after all, have been and still
are the impelling forces.
[Sidenote: How the immigrant has affected American life.]
=The Effects of Immigration.=—A large immigration is certain to have
far-reaching effects, particularly if the newcomers be of a widely
different race. It has assuredly had far-reaching effects in the United
States. Take the importation of the negroes as the most conspicuous
example. The coming of several hundred thousand persons of African
blood, during the years preceding 1808, has resulted in placing a
colored population of more than ten millions in the heart of a white
man’s country, with all the social, economic, and political problems
that this situation implies. It influenced the agricultural system of
the Southern states, provided the underlying causes of the Civil War,
and has profoundly affected the politics of the United States down to
the present day. The problem presented by the immigration of the various
European races has been altogether different because these races can be
assimilated whereas the negroes can not. Even so, the European
immigration has presented its own problems and the coming of these many
millions has had profound effects upon every branch of American life.
[Sidenote: The making of a composite race.]
=Social Effects.=—The social effects are chiefly in the way of
introducing natural traits or qualities which were not in the American
people during the early period. Immigration has resulted in making a
cosmopolitan population which is not uniform in temperament or tastes,
and can be made uniform only by the long-continued process of
assimilation. This lack of uniformity is in some ways an advantage, not
a defect. It may give us, in the long run, a more vigorous population
than could ever be had from the development of a single strain. Whether
the new composite race which ultimately emerges from the melting-pot
will be superior or inferior to the original stock is something which
only the future can tell. One disappointing feature is to be found in
the fact that many of these immigrants are inferior to the average
native-born American in physique, in mentality, and in moral fibre. It
is sometimes asserted that the immigrant population is responsible for
more than its due proportion of crime but no satisfactory evidence has
yet been brought forward to prove this statement. It is a fact, however,
that poverty and illiteracy are more common among the foreign-born than
among the native white population. It is quite likely that the new
environment will do much to remedy this condition and that the second
generation, through the work of the public schools, may measure up to
the native-born. These public schools are the most potent of all forces
in the work of Americanization. It is upon them that we must depend to
make the ultimate social effects of assimilation beneficial to the
country.
[Sidenote: Immigration in its relation to industry and labor.]
=Economic Effects.=—Immigration has had important economic results. It
has kept the labor market well supplied and throughout the last
three-quarters of a century has aided the great industrial expansion of
the country. American industry and commerce could not have grown to such
proportions without the man-power which has been obtained in such
enormous quantities from Europe. We have used great numbers of aliens in
building the railroads of the country, in mines and steel mills, in
workshops and factories. On the other hand the flood of immigration has
at times proved too strong. It has on occasions served to produce an
over-supply of labor and this, in turn, has caused wages to fall. Labor
leaders claim that the steady stream of immigrants has prevented the
rise in the American workman’s standard of living which otherwise would
have taken place. Organized labor would like to place a protective duty
upon immigrants. If the newcomers could be scattered evenly over the
whole country instead of being concentrated in the urban areas, this
danger of glutting the labor supply would be very small. In any case, as
has already been pointed out, the situation tends to adjust itself,
because immigration always falls off when business depression causes a
slackening in the demand for labor.
[Sidenote: Ways in which the immigrant has influenced American
politics.]
=Political Effects.=—The exact political effects of immigration are hard
to determine. It is to be remembered that most of our immigrants have
come from countries where they were given no political opportunities, or
almost none. Prior to their arrival in the United States they have had
no experience with democratic institutions. Yet we have freely offered
them, after five years of residence, the privilege of becoming citizens
and voters. The rest of the world has always looked upon this as a very
dangerous experiment in democratic government; nevertheless its results
have not been at all disastrous. True enough, the newcomers have often
been exploited by unscrupulous politicians and they have sometimes
allowed themselves to be misled into supporting incompetent or corrupt
candidates, especially in the large cities. But the alien immigrant is
not wholly or even chiefly responsible for the bad government that we
have had from time to time in various parts of the country. Some of the
worst political abuses have flourished in states and cities where the
proportion of foreign-born citizens is relatively small. Political
reformers rail at the iniquities of “foreign-born bosses”, but the fact
is that most of our notorious political bosses have been native-born.
Notwithstanding the admission of many million aliens to all the rights
of American citizenship it can be fairly claimed that American
government in its various branches, national, state, and local, is just
as honest and efficient as that of any other country.
[Sidenote: The gradual stiffening of the regulations.]
=The Restriction of Immigration.=—Until about forty years ago there were
practically no restrictions upon the coming of aliens to the United
States, but in 1882 laws were passed by Congress to exclude paupers,
criminals, and the insane. All laborers of the Mongolian race were also
debarred. Three years later, in 1885, it was provided that no immigrant
of any race should be admitted to the United States if under contract to
perform labor in this country. And from this date to the present the
restrictions have gradually been tightened. In 1917 Congress established
a literacy test for all immigrants over sixteen years of age, and in
1921 it made further provision that the number of immigrants admitted
each year from any European country should not exceed three per cent of
the natives of that country already in the United States, as shown by
the census figures of 1910. A tax of eight dollars per person is now
imposed upon every immigrant.
[Sidenote: Should immigration be altogether forbidden?]
There are some who believe that it would be wise to prohibit immigration
altogether, at any rate until conditions in both Europe and America
become more settled. They argue that we already have as many aliens as
we can Americanize for some time; that immigration at the present time
increases unemployment, and that the quality of immigrants is now
considerably below what it used to be. On the other hand it is urged
that the industrial growth of the United States requires a larger supply
of labor than can be provided without immigration and that by providing
proper facilities for selection we can make sure of getting only the
right type of immigrant.
=Our Racial Problems.=—We have several serious racial problems in this
country including the problem of the European immigrants in the East
(particularly in the cities), the negroes in the South, and the Japanese
on the Pacific slope. The large percentage of European immigrants in the
Eastern cities has already been mentioned, and the problems which their
presence in these cities creates have been alluded to. The European
immigrant can be assimilated, but the process takes time because a large
part of it must be accomplished through education. If the immigrants
could be persuaded to scatter over the country instead of congregating
in the cities with their fellow-immigrants, the problem of making real
Americans out of them in a short time would be simplified.
[Sidenote: Extent of the negro population.]
=The Negroes.=—The problem of the negro is older and more difficult
still. They are of a race so far removed from the white population of
the United States that there is no hope of their ever being assimilated.
They were brought here by the tens of thousands without any adequate
appreciation of the problem which their presence would eventually
create, and they form an unmeltable mass in the melting-pot of American
society. At the outbreak of the Civil War the colored population of the
United States, most of whom were then slaves, numbered less than five
millions, or about one-tenth of the total population of the entire
country. Now they number about ten millions. In other words the negroes
have a little more than doubled in sixty years. This is a much slower
rate of natural increase than has been made during the same sixty years
by the white population. A high death rate, especially in the cities, is
mainly responsible for this.
[Sidenote: Economic status of the negro.]
The chief home of the negro is still, as it has been from the beginning,
in the South. Nearly nine-tenths of the colored population of the United
States lives below the Mason and Dixon line, particularly in the great
agricultural plain which stretches from Virginia southwestward to Texas.
In two states, Mississippi and South Carolina, the blacks outnumber the
whites; in three others, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida, they almost
equal them. Most of the Southern negroes live in the rural districts and
are engaged in the cultivation of the soil; those who have made their
way to the Northern states, more than a million in all, live chiefly in
the cities. During the past few years the negroes have been coming
northward in greater numbers.
[Sidenote: Can the negro problem be solved?]
The problem of the negro has many phases, political, social, and
economic. The political problem arises from the fact that although the
negroes are guaranteed by the constitution the right to vote they are by
one means or another debarred from voting in practically all the
Southern states. The economic problems have been due, in the main, to
the lack of educational facilities for the negro, and particularly to
the absence of opportunities for vocational education. This defect is
now being remedied to some extent by the spread of vocational schools,
of which Tuskegee and Hampton Institute are the best-known examples. The
social separation between the white and colored races, especially in the
Southern states, is as absolute as ever it was and there is no reason to
think that this separation will ever be broken down. When two races in
the same community must live their lives entirely apart there is bound
to be some mutual suspicion and distrust. In any case the negro problem,
in its various phases, must be solved by the white population of the
Southern states if it is to be solved at all.
[Sidenote: The “gentlemen’s agreement”.]
=The Japanese on the Pacific Slope.=—Some years ago the influx of
Japanese into the states of the Pacific slope gave rise to the fear that
the Far West would soon have a great racial problem on its hands if this
immigration were allowed to go on unchecked. One of these states,
California, enacted laws designed to prevent the owning or leasing of
land by Japanese and pressure was brought upon Congress with a view to
having the Japanese shut out of the country altogether. In the end,
through diplomatic negotiations, a “gentlemen’s agreement” was concluded
between the American and Japanese governments by which the latter
promised to grant no more passports enabling its citizens to emigrate to
the United States, except in the case of merchants, students and others
whose residence in this country would be temporary. The Japanese
government has lived up to the letter of this agreement, but this has
not prevented a good many Japanese coming into the United States under
one subterfuge or another. The Western states are determined that their
territory shall remain a “white man’s country”; on the other hand the
Japanese government is not willing to agree by formal treaty to the
exclusion of its own people from any other country. As a great and
powerful nation, civilized and progressive, Japan feels that such a
treaty would be a humiliation. So there the matter rests at present.
Japanese are not forbidden to enter the United States; we are merely
depending upon the informal promise of the Japanese government to keep
them from coming here.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE MELTING POT
By Vesper L. George
From a mural painting in the McClain High School,
Greenfield, Ohio.
From the giant steamship at the left comes a
procession which includes men, women, and children
of many races. Each immigrant, whether Greek or
Russian, Jew or Gentile, brings some gift of art or
skill to lay at the feet of America, his new
motherland. The Melting Pot is not a huge cauldron
into which all individuality is to be poured so that
it may become a homogeneous and commonplace mass,
but a crucible in which the gold of character and
personality is to be discovered and refined for the
enrichment of all.
To the right are the sons and daughters of these
immigrants. They have become successful in the
trades and professions; they and their children have
gained education; they are contributing their share
to the wealth, government, defence, and prosperity
of the nation. The picture embodies a spirit of true
Americanism.
[Illustration:
THE MELTING POT. By Vesper L. George
_Copyright by Vesper L. George. From a Copley Print, copyright by
Curtis & Cameron, Boston. Reproduced by permission._
_On the Pillar to the left the words Equality and Liberty indicate
what the immigrants seek in America. On the Pillar to the right the
words Opportunity and Prosperity indicate what they find. On the
pedestal are graven the stirring words which Paul addressed to the
men of Athens nearly nineteen hundred years ago._
]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
=Americanization.=—Among the European immigrants now in the United
States there are many thousands who cannot speak the English language,
who have never become citizens, know nothing about the way in which
American government is carried on, and have no comprehension of American
political or social ideals. This situation was not fully appreciated
until the outbreak of the World War. During the past few years an
earnest attempt has been made both by the public educational authorities
and by private organizations to Americanize these people by helping them
to learn the language, to obtain a knowledge of American history, to
become naturalized, and to acquire a proper conception of what American
democracy implies. This does not mean, of course, that we desire all
people, of whatever race, to possess the same temperamental traits, or
hold the same opinions, or have the same point of view. Diversity in
individual qualities, physical, mental, and moral, is not undesirable
provided the differences are not so great as to prevent the various
elements from adequately understanding one another. By Americanization
we do not mean, therefore, that every newcomer to this country should
submerge his individuality in the general mass, discard his own
inherited traits, and put on a veneer of Americanism. Rather it implies
that those who are the children of the soil, the native-born, should
exemplify the Golden Rule towards the stranger who comes within our
gates and should endeavor to show him, by actions as well as words, the
meaning of good citizenship in a democracy.
General References
T. N. CARVER, _Principles of National Economy_, pp. 123-140;
J. R. COMMONS, _Races and Immigrants in America_, pp. 1-38; 63-106;
J. W. JENKS and W. JETT LAUCK, _The Immigration Problem_, pp. 1-39;
40-66;
MARY ANTIN, _The Promised Land_, pp. 180-240;
EDWARD A. STEINER, _On the Trail of the Immigrant_, pp. 292-333;
PETER ROBERTS, _The New Immigration_, pp. 124-172; 173-199;
E. A. ROSS, _The Old World in the New_, pp. 228-281, and passim;
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON, _Up From Slavery_, pp. 1-62;
L. H. GULICK, _The American-Japanese Problem_, pp. 3-27; 118-183.
Group Problems
=1. Should immigration be further restricted?= The history of
immigration. What the immigrants have done for the United States.
Economic, social, and political disadvantages of immigration. The
present restrictions. Figures showing the probable influx of immigrants
under the percentage system during the next ten years. What further
restrictions would improve the quality of immigration? How might these
restrictions be enforced? Could the selection be made at the port of
sailing? Conclusions. References: P. F. HALL, _Immigration_, pp.
121-138; J. W. JENKS and W. J. LAUCK, _The Immigration Problem_, pp.
135-197; E. A. ROSS, _The Old World in the New_, pp. 282-304; PETER
ROBERTS, _The New Immigration_, pp. 341-359; Debaters’ Handbook Series,
_Immigration_, pp. 69-81; 148-163 (arguments on both sides); F. J.
WARNE, _The Tide of Immigration_, pp. 313-361.
=2. The foreign-born population of your own community.= Take some such
book as F. A. BUSHEE’S _Ethnic Factors in the Population of Boston_, or
H. B. WOOLSTON’S _Study of the Population of Manhattanville_, or ROBERT
A. WOODS’ _Americans in Process_, and note the plan followed in studying
the characteristics of foreign-born groups. Some excellent suggestions
can be had from CAROL ARONOVICI’S booklet _Knowing One’s Own Community_.
Apply this plan to a survey of your own town or city. Some data can be
had from the national and state census reports in the case of larger
cities; in smaller communities the material must be gathered by field
work.
=3. An effective program of Americanization.= References: F. S.
BOGARDUS, _Americanization_, pp. 186-225; PETER ROBERTS, _The Problem of
Americanization_, especially pp. 45-108.
Short Studies
1. =The economic effects of immigration.= E. A. ROSS, _The Old World in
the New_, pp. 195-227.
2. =The immigrant in American politics.= M. K. SIMKHOVITCH, _The City
Worker’s World_, pp. 181-209; P. F. HALL, _Immigration_, pp. 183-198; R.
A. WOODS, _Americans in Process_, pp. 147-189.
3. =The German immigrant.= A. B. FAUST, _The German Element in the
United States_, pp. 357-390.
4. =The Italian immigrant.= R. F. FOERSTER, _The Italian Immigration of
Our Times_, pp. 374-411.
5. =The Slavic immigrant.= E. G. BALCH, _Our Slavic Fellow Citizens_,
pp. 349-377.
6. =Our treatment of the immigrant.= JACOB A. RIIS, _The Making of an
American_, pp. 58-100; E. A. STEINER, _From Alien to Citizen_, pp.
53-71; 122-168.
7. =Immigrant life in the large cities.= R. A. WOODS, _The City
Wilderness_, pp. 33-57; _Ibid., Americans in Process_, pp. 104-146.
8. =The economic problems of the negro.= BOOKER T. WASHINGTON, _The
Future of the Negro_, pp. 42-66; CARL KELSEY, _The Negro Farmer_, pp.
22-28, and _passim_.
9. =The problem of the Japanese on the Pacific coast.= L. H. GULICK,
_The American-Japanese Problem_, pp. 3-27; H. A. MILLIS, _The Japanese
Problem in the United States_, pp. 152-196.
10. =As others see us.= HUGO MUENSTERBERG, _The Americans_, pp. 229-254.
Questions
1. What has been the relative rate of increase of population in your own
state during the last two decades? Has the rate been more or less rapid
than that of the nation as a whole? To what features is the difference
due? What racial elements are strong in the population of your state and
in what industries are each of these elements chiefly engaged?
2. What have been the impelling causes of immigration from (_a_)
Germany; (_b_) Ireland; (_c_) Italy; (_d_) Russia?
3. Give four reasons why most immigrants settle in the cities.
4. Explain the principal effects of immigration upon (_a_) the growth of
industry; (_b_) the scale of wages; (_c_) municipal politics; (_d_) the
public school system (including evening schools, etc.).
5. Which races are the most difficult to assimilate and why?
6. Make some definite suggestions as to how the conditions of the negro
race can be made more tolerable in this country.
7. Should Japanese as well as Chinese be excluded by law from
immigrating to the United States? Give your reasons.
8. What mistakes are we most likely to make in our zeal for the
Americanization of non-English speaking immigrants?
Topics for Debate
1. The period of residence required for the naturalization of aliens
should be extended to more than five years.
2. Aliens ought to be debarred from employment on national, state, and
municipal work.
3. The national government should take jurisdiction over and prevent all
racial discrimination by the state.
-----
Footnote 7:
The following table shows the increase, by decades, in round figures:
1790— 3,900,000 1840— 17,000,000 1890— 62,900,000
1800— 5,300,000 1850— 23,100,000 1900— 75,900,000
1810— 7,200,000 1860— 31,400,000 1910— 91,900,000
1820— 9,600,000 1870— 38,500,000 1920—105,000,000
1830— 12,800,000 1880— 50,000,000
From this it will be seen that the ratio of increase is declining. The
population increased about one-third in each decade from 1790 to 1860;
by about one-fourth in each decade from 1860 to 1890; by about
one-fifth in the two decades from 1890 to 1910; and by less than
one-sixth in the decade from 1910 to 1920.
Footnote 8:
It is customary to think of India and China as very densely populated;
but both have fewer than 225 inhabitants to the square mile.
Footnote 9:
A map showing the progress of the center from East to West will be
found facing this page.
Footnote 10:
Mr. H. G. Wells, in his interesting book entitled _When the Sleeper
Wakes_, gives a picture of what the world will be like if all its
inhabitants live in cities, and the country workers are carried back
and forth by rapid transit.
Footnote 11:
In 1880, for example, only about four per cent of the immigrants were
Italians while about thirty per cent were Germans; in 1910 the
Italians had risen to more than twenty per cent while the German
immigrants had declined to less than five per cent.
Footnote 12:
From 1783 to 1820 it is estimated that not more than 250,000
immigrants came to the United States. P. F. Hall, _Immigration_, p. 4.
The total population in 1820 was ten millions.