IFthe man who said, “Give me neither poverty nor riches” had been a modern globe trotter he might have added: “And when I cross the ocean let me travel neither in the first cabin nor in the steerage but in the second cabin.” That is if he cared more for the companionship of human beings than for the luxuries of modern life, and if he had not objected to the fact that the second cabin is located directly over the powerful driving gear of the ship.
Because of the latter fact one may experience a “continuous performance” of an earthquake without its disastrous results, and yet not without consequences which at the moment seem very serious. The second cabin does not lapse into the silence of the steerage nor into the dignity of the first cabin, but begins its noisy comradery immediately; being interrupted only, when the earthquake plays havoc with good nature, and resumed as soon as the appetite for food and drink returns.
The second cabin usually holds only one class; the class which has succeeded. It contains a sprinkling of native Americans, teachers andpreachers, whose modest savings are to be spread thinly over Europe; its usual occupants are foreigners, who after a longer or shorter sojourn, return for a visit to the cradle home. The Hoboken saloon-keeper who was escorted by the band to the dock, and in whose honour it played “Lieb Vaterland magst ruhig sein,” is a typical second class passenger on a German ship; and his like in large numbers come from Cincinnati, St. Louis, Milwaukee and other cities made famous by their output of sparkling lager.
I discovered on this journey more than thirty dispensers of drink who were at the bar from morning until midnight, and doing exactly as they like their customers to do by them; drinking and getting drunk. The Hoboken saloon-keeper bore the typical name of August, and every one of the ship’s crew down to the smallest scullion, knew this famous August and delighted to bask in the uncertainty of his sunshine and to be the beneficiary of his spasmodic generosity. He was drunk from the moment he came on board the steamer until he left it, and in his melancholy moments confided in me, telling me the story of his life and the magnitude of his fortune. He was born in Bremerhaven, the terminus of that great ferry which begins at Hoboken. He boasted the friendship of the Commodore of the German Lloyd fleet, with whom he had gone to school, and the smoking roomsteward was called to assert this fact. “Steward, you k-know me?” “Yes, you’re August.” “D-do you know about C-Captain Schmidt?” “Yes, you sailed under him to South Africa.” “N-no, you f-fool; I went to school with him,” and obediently the steward repeated: “Yes, you went to school with him.” He told me the secrets of the liquor business, the misfortunes which had overtaken his boy who is following in his father’s footsteps, and is travelling towards delirium tremens at even a faster rate than this robust, convivial sailor. I tried my arts on August, painting in wonderful colours the glories of the Mecca of his pilgrimage, that I might keep him from drinking himself to death with beer before he saw his Fatherland. And I succeeded; for when I saw August of Hoboken again, he was drinking whiskey.
Poles, Bohemians and Slovaks all travelled in the second cabin; but invariably they were saloon-keepers and displayed the demoralizing tendencies of their business to their full extent.
The first days of this journey were made memorable by the noisy behaviour of two Polish priests who were constantly mixing whiskey with beer, and who rose to a spiritual ecstasy which was both unpriestly and ungentlemanly. Among the many priests who were on board, but few were priests in the true sense of the word, the others bringing disgrace upon their calling andupon their Church. In spite of the fact that the steerage was full of their kindred and people of their faith, not a priest found his way to that neglected quarter. As a rule they were busier at the bar than at their prayers, a fact which of course must not be charged to priests as a class; but the sooner the Church in America gets rid of most of its foreign born priests, especially those from Italy and the Slavic countries, and replaces them by Irish or Americans, the better for the Church and for our country.
Dividing the passengers according to their race, most of them were Jews from Hungary and Russia; and while still unmistakable Jews, they all bore marks of the new birth which had taken place. The Russian Jews in many cases were slovenly, obtrusively dressed and noisy; their Yiddish was tainted by bad English, but they were frugal, sober, and minded their own business.
One of the group which I had gathered around me was on his way to Palestine where his parents now live. His home is in a little Illinois town not far from Chicago. He began his career like many of his kind, by peddling. Now he owns a department store and allows himself the luxury of this long and expensive journey. He is leniently orthodox in his faith, has come close enough to his Gentile neighbours to have a glimpse of Christianity at its best, and has beencompletely permeated by the American spirit. His daughter is a high school graduate, plays the piano, gives receptions, dabbles in art, takes part in the Methodist Church fairs and on occasions sings in the church choir.
Such a close touch with American life was not vouchsafed to another Russian Jew in that group. He had lived in New York and had also gone through the long tutelage of hard bargaining and hard times. He too was going to Europe; but he went to buy diamonds, not to visit his relatives, and neither his past experience nor his vision was tinged by any idealism. He was money from the toes up, and in each pocket he carried some trinket, from fountain pens to diamond pins, which could be bought at a bargain.
The Hungarian Jews from “Little Hungary” had progressed most rapidly in becoming Americanized. They played poker from morning until night, could bluff with the true American “sang froid,” and swear at their ill luck; but that they had kept their Jewish shrewdness was shown by their leaving the game when the tide of luck was at its height. When they did not play poker they talked about the game of politics as played in New York, and they knew its ins and outs thoroughly. The higher and better note struck by Roosevelt and Jerome they had grasped in but a vague way; and that a mancould be honest in politics was strange news to them, nor did they believe that President Roosevelt’s activities were without regard to his own profit in the game.
“Little Hungary” has been a bad political school and one need not be over apprehensive if he regards this poor political tutelage as one of the greatest problems connected with the influx of foreigners into our large cities. In speech and names these Hungarian Jews were almost completely metamorphosed, and their patriotism knew no bounds. On a certain day one of them dug out of the depths of his trunk a dozen or more American flags, with which he wanted us to parade up and down the ship to the notes of a patriotic air. Upon our refusal to do so he grew angry, saying: “Nice Americans you fas.”
In contrast to the steerage, the women in the second cabin appeared to have changed most, and among the younger women, the transformation seemed complete. I doubt that their clothing lacked the latest fashionable wrinkle; their physique had lost its robustness and they had gained in self-possession. I have noticed a very important difference in the behaviour of the second class coming from America and going there. The young women who go to America are more or less molested by the men, their language and behaviour one to the other is not always correct, and even the American girls havelost something of their dignity and reserve; but going to Europe the greatest propriety is observed, and although the young people have a good time together, the young women know how to take care of themselves, the men know better than to be obtrusively attentive, and if they try, they receive a rebuff from which they do not lightly recover.
The second cabin goes back richer not only in worldly goods but in conscious manhood and womanhood, in loftiness of ideals and above all else, pathetically grateful to the country which gave these gifts.
“I owe everything to America,” “I would give everything I own to America,” “It is God’s country,” are phrases from which I could not disentangle myself, so fervent and frequent were they. Some of these people have still a richer inheritance in the consciousness of having had a share in building up the country in which they have lived. Among these was a Jewish gentleman, Mr. K., who had in his possession letters from Christian people in his county, commending him to their friends abroad, praising his public spirit, his generosity towards the people of all faiths, and his uprightness in business. He was proud of the fact that he had voted for William McKinley when he ran for prosecuting attorney of his county, and that he had voted for him every time he ran for office. It is true thatMr. K. belonged to that class of Jews which came from Southern Germany and which is the best Jewish product that Europe has sent us; but his is not an isolated case, and nearly every county in America has produced such specimens coming from widely different portions of Europe.
But few Italians travel in the cabin; there were half a dozen who had reached that degree of prosperity, and they came from the South, had been engaged in the cotton business and were indulging in an European trip, while the product of their plantations was daily increasing in price. They were genteel, and quiet, and so well dressed and well groomed, that it came as a surprise to most of the passengers to find that they were Italians, and that they had risen from the “Dago” class. On them America has performed the miracle of transformation, in spite of its sordid instincts and its materialistic atmosphere; a miracle which art-filled Italy could not perform, a task before which both sculptor and painter are powerless.
The Slavs of the first generation who were in the second cabin, were nearly all saloon-keepers with their families; and although the change wrought upon them was great, their business obtruded, and they were not pleasant companions. They had retained the reticence of their race, spoke only when spoken to, were suspicious of one’s approach, but warmed to one after a whileTheir horizon had remained bounded by the mining camps in which their saloons were located; even those from Pittsburg, and they were not a few, had not looked deep into our American life.
That the Pole and Slovak will be hard to change, and that they present somewhat tough material, not easily assimilated, often forces itself upon me; yet when I see their children, that second generation, born in America, I can see no difference between the Slav and the German. One of the most beautiful girls on board of ship, one of the most refined in her attire and behaviour, was a Bohemian girl born in Chicago. Although she spoke the language of her people, she spoke English better, associated with the American girls on board of ship, and it would have taken a keen student of racial stock to discover her Bohemian origin. She is not an isolated figure nor an exception. On nearly every journey I have taken I have found her type, and I recall with especial pleasure and satisfaction the companionship of two Bohemian school teachers from Cleveland, Ohio, both of them born in Bohemia, but having grown to womanhood on the shores of Lake Erie. While they showed in their faces the Slavic strain, they were thoroughly Americanized and must have been a blessing to the children whom they taught.
So one’s apprehension is quieted by such facts,which are by no means rare. Certain crude elements may survive, even in the second generation, and may perhaps enter into our racial existence, but other such elements have come to us from other races, and have not spoiled us nor yet undone us. If we were to pick out on board of ship the most disagreeable people, we would not seek them among the Slavs nor among the Italians, but among a certain class of German and Jewish Americans, who are all flesh; blasphemous in language, intemperate in habits and who are intensely disliked on the other side of the Atlantic among their own kinsmen. This is not intended to reflect upon that large class of sober and intelligent naturalized Americans one meets; but to emphasize the fact, that the classes of immigrants most desired by us, compare very well with the best element in our polyglot population. Looking back over all my experiences, I am justified in saying that the Slav, the Italian and the Russian Jew, will finally compare well with the earlier output of foreign born Americans.
The last night before the landing, an enterprising and pleasure loving Jew arranged a concert; and although the participants were Jews, Bohemians, Poles, Germans and Russians, it was a typical American affair, was as decorous as a church social, and nearly as dull. These children of the foreigners sang American parlour songs, recited “Over the hills to the poorhouse,” andother poems which are intended to make one happy by making one sad, and they concluded by singing together “My Country ’tis of Thee,” but could not remember the words beyond the second verse, which is so typical of our own young people.
The day we were to land there were more American flags in evidence in the second cabin than in any other quarter of the ship. The over-patriotic Jew had his dozen flags out, swinging them all in the face of the German policemen who lined the dock at Bremerhaven. Every button-hole bore the Stars and Stripes. When one of the thriftier Jews suggested that the wearing of the flag would cost them money, because the hotel keepers would charge them American rates, another replied: “It is worth all they will make me pay,” while another still more emphatically said: “They will see it in mine face that I am from America; let it cost me money.”
Swinging the Stars and Stripes they descended the gang plank; Slavs, Italians and Jews, all of them vociferous, patriotic Americans. Wherever they went they proclaimed their love for this country, and the superiority of America over the whole world.
“I will talk nothing but American; let them learn American, the best language in the world,” said one; and much to the chagrin of the sensitive Europeans, these second class passengerswent blatantly and noisily through the streets of the cities of Europe, criticising everything they saw, from barber shops to statuary. One of them who had travelled far, who had seen on that journey the galleries of Paris, Munich and Dresden, and who had some little art sense, said: “I tell you the finest piece of statuary in the whole world is the Goddess of Liberty in New York Harbour;” and all those who heard said: “Amen.”
How deep the American ideals have taken root among them, one cannot yet discern; how completely the second generation will come under their sway, how much of the old world spirit will disappear or remain, is difficult to determine. This is no time to be blindly optimistic nor hopelessly pessimistic; it is a time for facing the dangers and not fearing them; for this is the noontide of our day of grace. This is the time to bring into action the best there is in American ideals; for as we present ourselves to this mass of men, so it will become. At present the mass is still a lump of clay in the hands of the potter; a huge lump it is true, but America is gigantic and this is not the least of the gigantic tasks left for her mighty sons and daughters to perform.
My Dear Lady of the First Cabin:
I have followed your good advice, have told my story as I told it to you; and yours be the praise and the blame. You interrupted me in the telling, by saying that I did not know the first cabin, and that my story would not be complete until I knew that part of the ship and that portion of the world also.
I have as you see taken passage in the first cabin. They sold me the ticket as readily as if it were for the steerage and did not ask for my pedigree, only for my check. Fifty dollars more gave me the privilege of sitting where you sat (which was at one time the “seat of the scornful”), of looking proudly upon the second cabin, and pityingly upon the steerage below.
It is a delightful sensation this; of being summoned to your meals by the notes of a bugle rather than by the jangle of a shrill bell; of looking over half a yard of menu, and ordering what you want, and whom you want, just as you please, rather than being ordered about as some one else pleases.
The first day out I found the first cabin asquiet as the steerage; only more dignified. The passengers were walking on tiptoe; many of them trying to adjust themselves to these labyrinthine luxuries; while the distinguished rustle of silken petticoats relieved the pressure of the atmosphere, which naturally was tense from the excitement of the beginning of a journey. Critically, almost with hostility, each passenger measured the other; the tables were buried beneath the loads of flowers and floral designs which were past the fading, and in the first melancholy stages of decay; so that all of it reminded me of a palatial home, to which the mourners have just returned from a rich uncle’s funeral.
As yet, no one had spoken to me, although I had volunteered a wise remark about the weather to one passenger, and the gentleman addressed recoiled as if I had struck him with a sledge hammer. I learned afterwards that he occupied a thousand dollar suite of rooms and that his name was Kalbsfoos or something like it. In choosing his seat at the table, I heard him remark to the head steward that he did not want to sit “near Jews,” nor any “second class looking crowd”; but that was a difficult task to accomplish.
More than a third of the passengers were Jews, and more than two-thirds were people whose names and bearing betrayed the fact that they were either the children of immigrants, or immigrantsthemselves, who too were returning to the Old World because they had succeeded. In the Vs. Mr. Vanderbilt’s name headed the list, but the name closest to his was Vogelstein; while between such American or English names as Wallace and Wallingford, were a dozen Woolfs and Wumelbachers, Weises and Wiesels. I need not tell you of the multitude of the Rosenbergs and Rosenthals there were in our cabin. Mr. Funkelstein and Mr. Jaborsky were my room-mates. First cabin after all is only steerage twice removed, and beneath its tinsel and varnish, it is the same piece of world as that below me; which you pity, and which you dread.
The staple conversation to-day is the size of the pool—which has reached the thousand dollar mark, and the fact that a certain actor lost fifteen thousand dollars at poker the night before. In the second cabin the pool was smaller, the limit in poker ten cents; while in the steerage they lived, unconscious of the fact that pools and poker are necessary accompaniments of an ocean voyage.
It is a stratified society in which I find myself up here, and the lines are marked—dollar marked. The stewards instinctively know the size of our bank accounts by our wardrobes. Around the captain’s table are gathered the stars in the financial firmament; those whom nobody knows, who travel without retinue are at the remoteedges of the dining room, far away from the lime light.
In the steerage, everybody “gets his grub” in the same way, in the same tin pans—“first come first served”; and all of us are kicked in the same unceremonious way by the ship’s crew.
The first cabin and the society it represents are not all finished products. There are many of those who eat, even at the captain’s table, who are still in blessed ignorance of the fact, that knives were not made for the eating of blueberry pie; and who also do not know what use to make of the tiny bowls of water in which rose leaves float, when they are placed before them.
Then there are the maidens who walk about with mannish tread, talking loudly and violently through their noses; who assault the piano furiously with the notes of rag-time marches; and who waft upon the air perfumes which offend one’s olfactory nerves.
Yet beside them, and in strong contrast to them are those superb men and women, the flower of American civilization, whose like has never been created anywhere else in the world.
No, what I have learned in the first cabin has not changed my vision in the least; for the world it represents is not closed to me; and I reckoned with it in my story. You know enough about me to realize that I harbour no class or race prejudices, and that I try to“play fair.”
The people of the steerage are in a large measure what I told you they are—primitive, uncultured, untutored people; with all their virtues and vices in the making. They are the best material with which to build a nation materially; they are good stock to be used in replenishing physical depletion; and capable of taking on the highest intellectual and spiritual culture. They are a serious problem in every respect; whether you shut the gates of Ellis Island to-day or to-morrow, those that are here are an equally serious problem.
One thing the journey in the first cabin has done for me; it has made me grateful for my journeys in the steerage; grateful that I could stand among those tangling threads out of which our national life is being woven, and see the woof and the warp, and know that the woof is good. I am conscious of the fact that it will take strong sound warp to hold it together, to fill out our pattern and complete our plan. Oh, my dear lady! What a great country in the making this is! And how close you and I are to the making!
Here are we, living at a time in which the greatest phenomenon of history is taking place. Future generations will wonder at the process and will say:“A new gigantic race was being born between the Atlantic and the Pacific; a race born to build or to destroy, to cry to the world, ‘Ground Arms,’ or cast it into the hell of war; a race in which are welded all kindreds of the people of the earth, or a race which will destroy itself by mutual hate.”
My lady, you and I are here to work at a task which will outstrip all the wonders of the world, and we cannot do it in our own strength; we need to call to each other, as we bend to our task, the greeting which the Slovaks sent after you when you left the ship:
“Z’Boghem, Z’Boghem,”“The Lord be with thee.”
“Z’Boghem, Z’Boghem,”“The Lord be with thee.”
THEauthor has refrained from using statistics in his book, not because he has any objection to figures; but because the statistics of immigration (even those prepared by the United States Government) are misleading.
Professor Walter F. Willcox, Chairman of the Committee on Basal Statistics, appointed by the National Civic Federation, calls attention to this fact in his report, and gives the following reasons for their unreliability.
The meaning of any statistics depends largely upon the meaning of the unit in which the statistics are expressed. It is a common but fallacious assumption that a word used as the name of a statistical unit has precisely the same meaning that it has when used in popular speech. In the present case the word “immigrant” has had and to some degree still has different meanings, which may be called respectively the popular or theoretical meaning and the administrative or statistical meaning, and these two should be carefully distinguished.In the popular or theoretical sense an immigrant is a person of foreign birth who is crossing the country’s boundary and entering the United States with intent to remain and become an addition to the population of the country. In this sense of the word an alien arrival is an immigrant whether he comes by water or by land, in the steerage orin the cabin, from contiguous or non-contiguous territory, and whether he pays or does not pay the head tax. The essential element is an addition to the population of the country as a result of travel and the word thus covers all additions to the population otherwise than by birth. A person cannot be an immigrant to the United States more than once any more than a person can be born more than once. It is a characteristic of this meaning that it does not alter.The word immigrant in its administrative or statistical sense is not defined in the Reports of the Commissioner-General of Immigration, but from that source and from the instructions and other circulars issued by the Bureau the following statements regarding its meaning have been drawn:1. The administrative or statistical meaning of immigrant is not fixed by statute law but is determined by the definitions or explanations of the Bureau of Immigration and those are dependent upon and vary with the law and administrative decisions.2. In the latest circular of the Bureau immigrants are defined as “arriving aliens whose last permanent residence was in a country other than the United States who intend to reside in the United States.” This definition seems to agree closely with the popular or theoretical one.3. But the foregoing definition is modified by a subsequent paragraph of the same circular which excludes from the immigrant class “citizens of British North America and Mexico coming direct therefrom by sea or rail.” So the official definition is substantially this: An alien neither a resident of the United States nor a citizen of British North America, Cuba or Mexico, who arrives in the United States intending to reside there.4. The only important difference between these two definitions is that the statistical definition excludes, as the popular definition does not, citizens of British North America, Cuba and Mexico. As the natives of Canada and Mexico living in the United States in 1900 were 14.2 per cent. of the natives of all other foreign countries, it seems likely that the figures of immigration for the year 1905-06 should be increased about 14.2 per cent. in order to get an approximate estimate of the total immigration into the country during the year just ended.5. Perhaps the most important difference between the popular or theoretical and the statistical definition of immigrant is that the former is unchanging and the latter has been modified several times by changes of law or by modifications of administrative interpretation.6. Until January 1, 1906, an alien arrival was counted as an immigrant each time he entered the country, but since that date an alien who has acquired a residence in the United States and is returning from a visit abroad is not classed as an immigrant. This administrative change has brought the statistical and the popular meanings of immigrant into closer agreement, but in so doing has reduced the apparent number of immigrants more than ten per cent. and has made it difficult to compare the earlier and the later statistics.7. Until January 1, 1903, an alien arriving in the first or second cabin was not classed as an immigrant, but rather under the head of other alien passengers. This change likewise brought the two meanings of immigrant into closer agreement, but also made it difficult to compare the figures before and after that date. By a mere change of administrative definition the reported number of immigrants was increased nearly twelve per cent.8. Until the same date an alien arrival in transit to some other country was deemed an immigrant, but since that date such persons have been classed as non-immigrant aliens. This change also makes the figures before 1903 not strictly comparable with later ones. About three per cent. of those who were formerly classed as aliens have been excluded since 1903. The alteration has brought the two definitions closer together, but in so doing has entailed administrative difficulties which lead the bureau to favour a return to the former system or at least to favour collecting the head tax from such aliens in transit.9. An immigrant in the statistical sense is a person liable for and paying the head tax. But to this there are two slight exceptions. Deserting alien seamen not apprehended are liable for the head tax which is paid by the company from which they desert, but such cases are not included in the statistics. Citizens of British North America, Cuba and Mexico coming from other ports than those of their own country are reported as immigrants, but do not pay the head tax. Obviously both are minor exceptions hardly affecting the rule. In the popular or theoretical meaning of immigrant this head tax is not an element.10. Probably other changes of definition have occurred of recent years. No attempt has been made to exhaust the list. The general tendency of the changes has clearly been towards a closer agreement of the popular and the statistical meanings. But they have probably tended to make the increase of immigration indicated by the figures greater than the actual increase, and to that degree to make the figures misleading. If the Government Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization could make a carefully studied estimate of the extent to which such changes inthe official reports really modify the apparent meaning of the published figures, it would render a valuable service.11. A committee like the present can hardly make such an estimate or go further than to point out that for the reasons indicated the official statistics of immigration are likely to be seriously misinterpreted and are constantly misinterpreted by the public.The official statistics of immigration being subject to all the qualifications indicated and reflecting so imperfectly the amount of immigration as ordinarily or popularly conceived the question at once arises, Can any substitute or any alternative be proposed? What the public is mainly interested in, I think, and what it commonly but erroneously believes is indicated by the official figures of immigration, is the net addition to the population year by year as a result of the currents of travel between the United States and other countries.Alternative figures for the last eight years, a period which closely coincides with the last great wave of immigration now at or near its crest, may be had by comparing the total arrivals and departures in the effort to get the net gain. The results appear in the following table:Fiscal YearTotalPassengersArrivalsTotalPassengersDepartedTotalImmigrationArrivalsMinusDeparturePer Cent.That NetIncreaseMakes ofImmigration1898343,963225,411229,299118,55251.81899429,796256,008311,715173,78855.81900594,478293,404448,572301,07467.01901675,025306,724487,918368,30475.51902820,893326,760648,743494,13376.319031,025,834375,261857,046650,57375.91904988,688508,204812,870480,48459.319051,234,615536,1511,026,499698,46468.11898-19054,822,6623,285,37268.1The figures indicate that the net increase of population by immigration during the last eight years has been slightly more than two-thirds of the reported immigration. But these figures of net increase should be increased by an estimate of the arrivals by land from Canada and Mexico. As the Canadians and Mexicans by birth residing in the United States in 1900 were 14.2 per cent. of all residents born in other foreign countries, this would indicate an influx of 466,000 Canadians and Mexicans, a figure probably in excess of the truth since the currents have probably been setting Canadaward of recent years. I estimate, therefore, that the net increase from immigration 1898-1905 has been about 3,750,000 instead of 4,820,000 as might be inferred from the reports of the bureau of immigration. The actual increase would then be about seventy-eight per cent. of the apparent increase.
The meaning of any statistics depends largely upon the meaning of the unit in which the statistics are expressed. It is a common but fallacious assumption that a word used as the name of a statistical unit has precisely the same meaning that it has when used in popular speech. In the present case the word “immigrant” has had and to some degree still has different meanings, which may be called respectively the popular or theoretical meaning and the administrative or statistical meaning, and these two should be carefully distinguished.
In the popular or theoretical sense an immigrant is a person of foreign birth who is crossing the country’s boundary and entering the United States with intent to remain and become an addition to the population of the country. In this sense of the word an alien arrival is an immigrant whether he comes by water or by land, in the steerage orin the cabin, from contiguous or non-contiguous territory, and whether he pays or does not pay the head tax. The essential element is an addition to the population of the country as a result of travel and the word thus covers all additions to the population otherwise than by birth. A person cannot be an immigrant to the United States more than once any more than a person can be born more than once. It is a characteristic of this meaning that it does not alter.
The word immigrant in its administrative or statistical sense is not defined in the Reports of the Commissioner-General of Immigration, but from that source and from the instructions and other circulars issued by the Bureau the following statements regarding its meaning have been drawn:
1. The administrative or statistical meaning of immigrant is not fixed by statute law but is determined by the definitions or explanations of the Bureau of Immigration and those are dependent upon and vary with the law and administrative decisions.
2. In the latest circular of the Bureau immigrants are defined as “arriving aliens whose last permanent residence was in a country other than the United States who intend to reside in the United States.” This definition seems to agree closely with the popular or theoretical one.
3. But the foregoing definition is modified by a subsequent paragraph of the same circular which excludes from the immigrant class “citizens of British North America and Mexico coming direct therefrom by sea or rail.” So the official definition is substantially this: An alien neither a resident of the United States nor a citizen of British North America, Cuba or Mexico, who arrives in the United States intending to reside there.
4. The only important difference between these two definitions is that the statistical definition excludes, as the popular definition does not, citizens of British North America, Cuba and Mexico. As the natives of Canada and Mexico living in the United States in 1900 were 14.2 per cent. of the natives of all other foreign countries, it seems likely that the figures of immigration for the year 1905-06 should be increased about 14.2 per cent. in order to get an approximate estimate of the total immigration into the country during the year just ended.
5. Perhaps the most important difference between the popular or theoretical and the statistical definition of immigrant is that the former is unchanging and the latter has been modified several times by changes of law or by modifications of administrative interpretation.
6. Until January 1, 1906, an alien arrival was counted as an immigrant each time he entered the country, but since that date an alien who has acquired a residence in the United States and is returning from a visit abroad is not classed as an immigrant. This administrative change has brought the statistical and the popular meanings of immigrant into closer agreement, but in so doing has reduced the apparent number of immigrants more than ten per cent. and has made it difficult to compare the earlier and the later statistics.
7. Until January 1, 1903, an alien arriving in the first or second cabin was not classed as an immigrant, but rather under the head of other alien passengers. This change likewise brought the two meanings of immigrant into closer agreement, but also made it difficult to compare the figures before and after that date. By a mere change of administrative definition the reported number of immigrants was increased nearly twelve per cent.
8. Until the same date an alien arrival in transit to some other country was deemed an immigrant, but since that date such persons have been classed as non-immigrant aliens. This change also makes the figures before 1903 not strictly comparable with later ones. About three per cent. of those who were formerly classed as aliens have been excluded since 1903. The alteration has brought the two definitions closer together, but in so doing has entailed administrative difficulties which lead the bureau to favour a return to the former system or at least to favour collecting the head tax from such aliens in transit.
9. An immigrant in the statistical sense is a person liable for and paying the head tax. But to this there are two slight exceptions. Deserting alien seamen not apprehended are liable for the head tax which is paid by the company from which they desert, but such cases are not included in the statistics. Citizens of British North America, Cuba and Mexico coming from other ports than those of their own country are reported as immigrants, but do not pay the head tax. Obviously both are minor exceptions hardly affecting the rule. In the popular or theoretical meaning of immigrant this head tax is not an element.
10. Probably other changes of definition have occurred of recent years. No attempt has been made to exhaust the list. The general tendency of the changes has clearly been towards a closer agreement of the popular and the statistical meanings. But they have probably tended to make the increase of immigration indicated by the figures greater than the actual increase, and to that degree to make the figures misleading. If the Government Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization could make a carefully studied estimate of the extent to which such changes inthe official reports really modify the apparent meaning of the published figures, it would render a valuable service.
11. A committee like the present can hardly make such an estimate or go further than to point out that for the reasons indicated the official statistics of immigration are likely to be seriously misinterpreted and are constantly misinterpreted by the public.
The official statistics of immigration being subject to all the qualifications indicated and reflecting so imperfectly the amount of immigration as ordinarily or popularly conceived the question at once arises, Can any substitute or any alternative be proposed? What the public is mainly interested in, I think, and what it commonly but erroneously believes is indicated by the official figures of immigration, is the net addition to the population year by year as a result of the currents of travel between the United States and other countries.
Alternative figures for the last eight years, a period which closely coincides with the last great wave of immigration now at or near its crest, may be had by comparing the total arrivals and departures in the effort to get the net gain. The results appear in the following table:
The figures indicate that the net increase of population by immigration during the last eight years has been slightly more than two-thirds of the reported immigration. But these figures of net increase should be increased by an estimate of the arrivals by land from Canada and Mexico. As the Canadians and Mexicans by birth residing in the United States in 1900 were 14.2 per cent. of all residents born in other foreign countries, this would indicate an influx of 466,000 Canadians and Mexicans, a figure probably in excess of the truth since the currents have probably been setting Canadaward of recent years. I estimate, therefore, that the net increase from immigration 1898-1905 has been about 3,750,000 instead of 4,820,000 as might be inferred from the reports of the bureau of immigration. The actual increase would then be about seventy-eight per cent. of the apparent increase.
Printed in the United States of America
A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K,L,M,N,O,P,R,S,T,U,V,W,Y,Z
“Americana,” by Dr. Lamprecht, quoted,321Americanizing the stranger,291Americans, poor example set by,119Americans or foreigners, in the slums,316Amish, the,96Anti-Semitic riots,53Ashkenazim, the,146Assimilation, miracle of,291Atheism of Hungarians,249Austro-Hungarian Jews,148Bialistok, Jews from,61,325Bohemian movement, beginning of,23Bohemian immigrant, distribution of,225;characteristics of,227;irreligion of,228;socialism of,234;both best and worst,235Bohemian school teachers from Cleveland,355Bulgarians, the,26,180Castle Garden days,78Catholic,seealso Roman CatholicCatholic Church, foreign priests a hindrance to,323;and the Bohemians,229;and the Italian,278Catholic Hungarians,247Centre of Mill Horror,222Christian Church and Jews,164Church, political power of,322Citizenship papers for ten dollars,331Commissioner Watchorn, Ellis Island,81Commissioner Williams, Ellis Island,81Competition the life of prejudice,309.Count Aponyi, Hungary, quoted,318Crainers, the,212Criminal element among immigrants,75Criminals, Italian,255,273Croatians, the,26,180,212Czechs, the,180Dalmatians, the,26,181Degeneration due to influx of foreigner, not evident,304Deported from Ellis Island,65,66,68,72,82,92Detention room, in the,68Diocletian, palace of, a Slavic town,18Economic problem of new American,309Economic value of immigrant,318Educational Alliance, the,161,163Ellis Island ahead,48;examination at,65;conditions at,79;new conditions at,86Emigrant, passports for,31;treatment of, at port of embarkation,32;medical examination of,35;examination of, at home,75Endeavour Societies, Jewish,151Ethical Culture Society, the,152Excluding the weak and helpless,072Families divided, by inspectors,65Finns, the,27Free thinkers,106First Cabin vs. Steerage,14Gentlemen in homespun vs. beasts in broadcloth,46George, Joseph J., Worcester, Mass., and Syrian children,83Geringer, Mr., editorSvornost,228,229Ghetto, the Russian,136;of New York,154;vs. the West Side,305;vs. upper Broadway,306German aristocracy, the real,98German Evangelical Church,108German immigrants, the first,94;characteristics of,97;socialism of,98;intellectual life of,100;social life of,101;political influence of,103;influence of Church upon,105;materialism of,107;influence of, on religious life,108German Jews,148German Methodists,108Great Russian, the,181Greek Catholic Church, the,204Greek Catholic immigrants,322Greek Church and the Slav,204Greek immigrant, the,282;characteristics of,285,288;and the Church,287Greek Orthodox immigrants,322Greek play at Hull House,291Hall, Prescott F., quoted,296Hamburg, treatment of emigrant,34Hartford, Conn., Italian district,266;gathering of Jews in,298Hearst influence in the Ghetto,168Hertzl, Theodore,298Hester Street vs. the West Side,305Hoar, Geo. F., Senator, quoted,82Hoboken saloon-keeper, the,348Hungarian,seealso MagyarHungarian Catholic, the,247Hungarian Greek Catholic,247Hungarian gypsies,244Hungarian immigrant, characteristics of,250;socialism of,244;hostility to religion,249Hungarian Jews in second cabin,351Hungarian Protestant, the,248“Hunkies,”198;looking for work,213;in steel mills in Penn.,220;with the Illinois Steel Co.,222Huss, John, succeeded by George Washington,234Illyrian, the,180Imagination and reality,74Immigrant of to-day, characteristics of,29;expectations of,62;treatment of, at Ellis Island,79;types of,91;not content with old conditions,311;problem of, not an economic one,314;economic value of,318;economic effect on his own country,318;religious ideas of,322;amenable to religious influence,326;in politics,330;patriotism of,332Immigrant societies,64Immigration, quality of, improving,91;where the danger lies,92Immigration laws, effect on steam ship companies,35;amendment to, procured by Senator Hoar,85;as to public charge,92Immigration Congress, N. Y.,315Infidelity of Bohemians,228Ingersoll, Robert, influence of,228,230Inspectors at Ellis Island,80Italian movement, beginning of19Italian, the, at home,28,252;characteristics of,253;affected by other races,253;lawlessness of,255;criminals,255;distrust of the Church,258,260Italian immigrant, the,262;characteristics of,262;distribution of,264,269;in business,268;competitor of the Jew,271;and the school,276;and the Church,277Italians returning in the second cabin,354Jamestown, N. Y., Swedish colony of,117,122Jewish movement, beginning of,21Jewish world, the real,133Jews the, in the old world,126;homelessness of,126;distribution of,127;characteristics of,127;in Russia,134;socialism of,140;250th anniversary of landing in America,143;charter granted to, in 1655,144;four groups of,147;spiritual movements among,151;and the Christian churches,164,329;missions in the Ghetto,166;in politics,167;second generation of,171;mutual distrust of,172;racial fealty of,303;relation to Christianity,329Judaism, crisis of, in America,302.Kishineff, Jews from,61,325Labour market, changes in,310Labour unions or manufacturers’ associations,310Lady of the First Cabin, The,9,359Lamprecht, Prof. K., quoted,101,321Lindsburgh, Kansas, model Swedish town,122Lithuanians, the,27Little Hungary,238,305;as a political school,352Little Russian, the,182Lodge, Henry Cabot, Senator,83Lombroso, Dr., on criminology,256Lutheran church, influence of,105Lutheran church and the Swedes,118Magyar,seealso HungarianMagyar, the,27;Jews,149;in Austro-Hungary,241;in Little Hungary,242;political tendencies of,244;not Slavs,241Man at the Gate, the,78Marxian Socialism,98,234Massarik, Professor, quoted,230Materialism of Germans,107;of Bohemians,230Mennonites, the,94Milwaukee, the most German city,100Minneapolis,115,122Minnesota, Swedes unpopular in,117Money sent home by immigrant, an economic gain,320Montefiore, Sir Moses,131Montenegrins, the,26,180Moravians, the,96National Immigrant Societies,64Neglect, effect of,124Nelson, Knute,117New Britain, Conn., Polish town,212New Greece, Chicago,288New Prague, typical Bohemian town,231New Ulm, a city without a church,98Odessa, Jews from,61Pastorius, Francis Daniel,96Paupers and criminals, a million a year?72Pole, the, vs. the Slovak,210Polish movement, beginning of,24Polish town, New Britain, Conn.,211Political immigrants,97Political tutelage of immigrants,330Pope Pius X,259President Roosevelt and Ellis Island,81Prohibitionists, the first,96Protecting American labour,309Protestant influence on Bohemians,231;Hungarians,248;Church and the Italians,281Public charge, a,68Rabbinism, power of,146Rabbis of the Ghetto,162Race movement of Eastern Europe,16Races, difficulty of distinguishing between,294Racial characteristics, changes in,294Racial fealty of Jews,303Religions, national,322Religious atmosphere of America,321Religious ideas of immigrants,322Republicans, Democrats and “Inepenny,”345Restriction Immigration League,296Returned immigrant, influence at home,339Roman displaced by Slav,18Roman Catholic,seealso CatholicRoman Catholic Church, influence on Germans,105;and the Slav,204Roman Catholic immigrants,322Roosevelt, President, and Ellis Island,81;letter to, of Senator Hoar,84Russian Jews,150;characteristics of,173Russian refugees,57Saloon-keepers in second cabin,349Scandinavian immigrant, the,112;characteristics of,113;distribution of,114;second generation of,113;considered unreliable,117;town of Lindsburgh, Kansas,122Schurz, Carl,97Schwenkfelders, the,96Secret societies of Italy,256Sephardic Congregations,145Servant girl, as she returns,337Servians, the,26,180,212Shylock vs. Daniel Deronda,130Silverman, Dr. Joseph,143Slav at home, the,20;distribution of,179;characteristics of,180,183;blood revenge still practiced,185;treatment of women,187;love of music,189;religious feeling of,195Slavic immigrant, the,198;the Slovak,198;the Pole,198,210;the Bohemian,225Slavic literature,194Slovak movement, the,25Slovak, the,180,191,200;in politics,206;entertainments,207;as a type,301Slovenes, the,26,181Slums in the, Americans or foreigners,316Socialism of Germans,98;of Jews,140;of Bohemians,234;of Italians,257Social nose or social heart,12Social Democracy, and the Magyars,243Social Democrats in the Ghetto,167Social Labour Jews,169South Chicago, steel mills of,222Spanish Jews,147Steamship companies, responsibility of,76Steerage, the, from the quarter-deck,10;conditions in,35;vs. second cabin,36;should be abolished,37;accommodations, English best,38;vs. the slum,41;songs,42;comradeship of,43,50;amusements of,51;question of,53;shadows of the past,53;polyglot sermon in,62;and anarchy,77;fellowship of, on return voyage,334;self-assertive on return,335“Stomach Jews” vs. “Soul Jews,”328Stratified society in first cabin,362Strikes by foreigners,311Svornost, Bohemian infidel paper,228,232Swedes,seeScandinaviansSyrian children, story of,82Syrians, the,28Tragedy of the deported,65,66,68-72,82,92Tucker, President, quoted,326Tunkers, the,96Turner Societies,106,230University Settlement, the,164Vanderbilt vs. Vogelstein,361Watchorn, Robert, Commissioner, Ellis Island,81;secures reforms,86Wends, the,180West Side vs. Ghetto,14Williams, William, Commissioner at Ellis Island,81Yiddish, the,156Zionistic movement,141Zionist leader, Theodore Hertzl,298