IMMIGRATION STATISTICS Up to 1899 the best material that we have consists of the figures, supplied by the immigration authorities, as to the countries from which immigration is drawn. After that year the immigration figures are also classified according to "races and peoples" and these not only give us direct information, but throw light on the racial significance of the figures for the different geographical contingents, which are all that we have to go by for the years before 1899. We find that during the decade 1899-1908, the immigration from Austria-Hungary was six tenths Slavic. Since there is no reason to think that this proportion would be less in earlier years, and since for the same decade 69 per cent of all Slavic immigrants came to us from Austria-Hungary (and for earlier periods this proportion would doubtless be still larger), the Austro-Hungarian contribution to our immigration may be taken as a rough index of the incoming Slavs. . The year 1880, which we have taken as our landmark, shows a sudden rise, the numbers of that year being almost three times those of the preceding. From this time onward there is an increase, which is, however, sharply checked in 1893 by the depression then beginning. It was not till 1900 that the numbers reacted from this to their level of 1892. The culminating point up to date was reached in 1907, after which the recent panic again lessened the influx, and started a new period of decline, though a brief one, since the figures for 1909 indicated a recovery from 168,509 to 170,191.2 CLASSIFICATION BY "RACES AND PEOPLE" The change spoken of above by which the immigration data are presented by racial and national groups instead of by country of last permanent residence only, is a great boon to the student of this subject. The classification was made by one of our best 1 For a criticism of this classification, see below, "Our Slavic Fellow-Citizens," page 247. 2 The years are not calendar but fiscal years ending June 30, so that e.g. 1907 means July 1, 1906, to June 30, 1907. known ethnologists, the late Professor Otis T. Mason, but it is probably impossible to make one that shall be at once practical and quite logical. This one is open to several minor objections. Distinct nationalities like Croatians and Slovenians, Bulgarians and Serbians, are lumped together, and at the same time special place is given to a group which is merely a territorial division; namely, Dalmatians, Bosnians, and Herzegovinians (who are Servo-Croatians). 'It is hard, however, to explain or excuse the practice of the immigration authorities of including Hebrews in the Slavic group, as was done, for instance, on page 21 of the 1906 report of the Commissioner General of Immigration. In the same report the Lithuanians and Rumanians are also included as Slavic, but this is less objectionable as these peoples, although they never count themselves as Slavs nor are so counted by others, and although they speak non-Slavic languages, probably have much Slavic intermixture, and considerably resemble, in culture and habits, the neighboring Slavic peoples. The same might be said of the Magyars, despite their Mongolian type of speech. The Jew, on the contrary, even the Polish or Russian Jew, is not only remote in blood and speech from all Slavs, but moves in another world of ideas and purposes, and plays a very different economic part both in Europe and America. To put him into one class with Slavic immigrants in a table of racial divisions can only create confusion.1 The years 1899 and 1908 are the earliest and latest for which full information as to immigrants by races is available. In these ten years the country admitted over one and a half million Slavs, many of whom, however, had been here before or have since returned. It is not uncommon for a Slovak to have made the trip to America eight times, in which case he appears in our figures as eight immigrants. 1 For a further consideration of this subject, see Boeckh: "The Determination of Racial Stock among American Immigrants." Quarterly Publications, American Statistical Association, Vol. X, pp. 199-221 (December, 1906). IMMIGRATION BY COUNTRIES AND PEOPLES Statistics show that for the period between the years 1899 and 1908, 69 in 100 of Slavic arrivals came, as already said, from Austria-Hungary, 25 per cent more from Russia, 2 per cent each from Germany and the territory Bulgaria-Servia-Montenegro,1 per cent from Turkey, and only 1 per cent from all other countries combined. The immigration from Bulgaria, Servia, and Montenegro is - almost wholly Slavic (96 per cent), that from Austria nearly two thirds such (61 per cent), while the streams from Russia and Turkey are not far from one third Slavic, and that from Germany is one tenth Slavic. Our previous study of conditions in Europe, combined with the American figures, indicates that we have received during the decade 1899-1908 the following groups from the countries named: I. From Austria-Hungary: Bohemians (Chekhs) from Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia (83,698). Poles from Galicia (about 335,651). Slovaks from northern Hungary (about 320,047). Ruthenians from Galicia and northeastern Hungary (about 102,036). Slovenians from the Austrian province of Carniola and adjacent Croatians from Croatia-Slavonia, Istria, Dalmatia, Bosnia and II. From outside Austria-Hungary: The largest of the three Polish contingents, that from Russia (369,973). The smallest of the three Polish contingents, that from Germany (32,388). Russians proper, from Russia (53,454), only between three and four per cent of the total of almost a million and a half immigrants that Russia has sent us in the decade. Serbians (beside those from Austria-Hungary) from Serbia, Mon- And lastly, Bulgarians from Bulgaria and Turkey, which latter, A large part of the Slavic immigrants that come from outside the five main fields ((1) Austria-Hungary, (2) Russia, (3) Germany, (4) Bulgaria, Serbia, and Montenegro, and (5) Turkey in Europe) are those who give their last permanent residence as British North America or the United States. The latter rubric was, however, provided only in the 1906 tables, in which it occupies a large space (1059 Poles, for instance, gave the United States as their last country of permanent residence). RACIAL GROUPS Turning now to the consideration of the separate national streams, it has been noted that the great numerical predominance is with the Poles, who make up 44 per cent of the Slav total for the decade. The little people of the Slovaks make the second group, with almost one fifth of the whole. Third comes the mixed group of Croatians and Slovenians, which the data do not allow us to separate, and which together make over 16 per cent. The other groups are all much smaller. The Bohemians, who were the most important group of Slavic immigrants in the earlier years, and even in 1880 were not far from twice as numerous in the country as natives of Poland, sank during this period to one twentieth of the whole; that is, to less than the little group of the Ruthenians and to scarcely more than those newcomers, the Serbians and Bulgarians. Even within the period the emphasis has been shifting. Within the Slavic group, as in European immigration in general, the spread of the movement has trended south and east. Taking 1907, the year of the high tide of immigration, and comparing 1 Unfortunately the immigration data are so grouped as to make it impossible to distinguish Croatians and Slovenians from one another, or Bulgarians and Serbians from one another, though these are all separate nationalities with distinct languages. this with 1899, we see that the different groups have increased at very different rates. The Bulgarian-Serbian group rose from under 100 to 27,000 or to two hundred and ninety-one times as many. The related group from Dalmatia and Bosnia increased twentyfold; the Ruthenians, starting with 1400, rose to over 24,000, multiplying more than seven times; the Russians increased their numbers nearly ten times. The older immigration groups also increased, though at a less rate; Bohemians and Poles and the Croatian-Slovenian group all about fivefold, while the Slovaks increased less than threefold, and reached their maximum in 1905. “ALIEN DEPARTURES" AND NET INFLOW We must, however, be on guard in using any immigration totals not to overlook the fact that they represent gross, not net, arrivals. We must allow for the numbers of immigrants returning from the United States. In the appendix to the report of the Commissioner General of Immigration for 1908, an estimate is attempted of "Alien departures," with the result that the accepted immigration figures should be reduced as follows: That is, while the total immigration for 1908 was 782,870, the real, net immigration was only 209,867, or not far above a quarter as much, and for this one year the figures are not estimated but actual. What then are we to suppose in regard to the Slavic immigration? What proportion of their total of nearly 1,700,000 during the decade 1899-1908 represents a net addition to our numbers? We may get a side light on this by studying the successive immigration reports, which give the number of immigrants of each nationality who have been in the country previously. Statistics present percentages for two years (for 1906 and, for purposes of comparison, for 1900), and I find to my own surprise that the English, Irish, and |