IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION.

The work of the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization is divided for administrative purposes into four divisions-first, immigration in general; second, Chinese immigration; third, the Division of Information; and fourth, the Division of Naturalization. These subjects will be considered in their order.

The Bureau suffered a great loss by the death of the CommissionerGeneral, Frank P. Sargent, which occurred September 4, 1908, and was preceded by months of illness. Mr. Sargent was a competent, capable, and conscientious official, and his long experience at the head of this Bureau, beginning with June 25, 1902, when it was yet under the Treasury Department, and his faithful devotion to duty, emphasize the loss that the Bureau and the Department have sustained.

IMMIGRATION IN GENERAL.

In my last annual report I referred to the fact that up to the close of the civil war all our laws upon the subject of immigration were framed to encourage it, and that since then our legislation, while in no way hostile to immigration as such, has been directed toward the elimination of undesirable classes, such as those afflicted with dangerous contagious diseases, persons likely to become public charges, criminals, paupers, and those who do not come to us of their own volition but because their municipalities or governments desire to be rid of them.

President Lincoln, during our civil war, in his third annual message (1863), referring to the subject of immigration, said:

I again submit to your consideration the expediency of establishing a system for the encouragement of immigration. Although this source of national wealth and strength is again flowing with greater freedom than for several years before the insurrection occurred, there is still a greater deficiency of laborers in every field of industry, especially in agriculture and in our mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals. While the demand for labor is much increased here, tens of thousands of persons destitute of remunerative occupation are thronging our foreign consulates and offering to emigrate to the United States if essential, but very cheap, assistance can be afforded them. * * * This noble offer demands the aid, and ought to receive the attention and support, of the Government.

Again, in his fourth annual message (1864), he said:

I regard our immigrants as one of the principal replenishing streams which are appointed by Providence to repair the ravages of internal war and its waste of national strength and health. All that is necessary is to secure the flow of that stream in its present fullness, and to that end the Government must in

every way make it manifest that it neither needs nor designs to impose involuntary military service upon those who come from other lands to cast their lot in our country.

The following table, showing the population of the United States at each decennial census from 1860 to 1900, inclusive, with the number and per cent of native and foreign born, will be found of interest in connection with the subject of immigration. It will be observed that the per cent of foreign born during the forty years has remained practically stationary.

In my last annual report I discussed the general subject of immigration with special reference to its modern phases, and as it has manifested itself in this country, referring to the well-known fact that the rapidity of communication and the cheapness of passenger traffic in recent years has facilitated the migration, especially of the laboring classes, from one country to another where the opportunities for advancement and improving their condition were most favorable. The same physical causes above referred to which facilitate immigration to this country also facilitate emigration therefrom when, by reason of industrial depression or other causes, the opportunities for employment grow less or are even temporarily impeded.

IMMIGRATION AND EMIGRATION.

During a portion of the past fiscal year, and extending into the present, this country has suffered an industrial depression due to a number of causes, among others to overproduction, which were worldwide, but perhaps for the time being more accentuated in this than in the other commercial countries.

The effect upon immigration to this country and emigration therefrom was almost immediate. While the immigration to this country for ten years and more had in each year increased considerably over the preceding year, the fiscal year 1908, as compared with the fiscal year 1907, shows a falling off of about 39 per cent, and as compared with the fiscal years 1906 and 1905 there were approximate decreases of 29 and 24 per cent, respectively. The total number of immigrant aliens who entered the country in the last fiscal year was 782,870, being 502,479 less than in the fiscal year 1907.

For the past fiscal year for the first time it has been possible, by virtue of the provisions of section 12 of the immigration act of February 20, 1907, to ascertain definitely the number of alien departures, and accordingly the net increase to our population by immigration. The new statistical table given in the report of the Commissioner-General of Immigration shows that in addition to 782,870 immigrant aliens admitted to this country there were admitted 141,825 classed as nonimmigrants, making a total of 924,695; and also that there departed from the United States 395,073 emigrant aliens, together with 319,755 nonemigrant aliens, making a total of 714,828. Deducting these total departures of aliens from the total arrivals during the fiscal year, the net increase of alien population has been 209,867. Even this net increase is further reduced by the departure from the United States of naturalized American citizens, concerning which latter class no method is provided by law for collecting data. While the number perhaps is not large, it is still appreciable.

It is worthy of note that of the 782,870 aliens admitted, 630,671 were between the ages of 14 and 44, and 112,148 were under the age of 14; only 40,051 had reached or passed the age of 45. Of those admitted, exclusive of aliens under 14 years of age, 172,293 could neither read nor write, and 2,310 could read but not write. About 26 per cent of those admitted, 14 years of age and over, were illiterate, as compared with 30 per cent for the year 1907. The total amount of money actually shown to immigration officers by arriving aliens was $17,794,226, an average of almost $23 per capita. But it is well known that the amount actually brought over was considerably larger, as under the law aliens are not asked the amount of money in their possession in excess of $50, and there is a natural fear and timidity on the part of most aliens to exhibit a larger amount of money than is regarded by them as necessary for the purpose of reaching their destinations or to show that they have sufficient, in connection with their ability to work, to prevent them from becoming public charges. I have known instances, when I have been present at Ellis Island, when, upon questioning the immigrant, who had shown a nominal sum, as to whether that was all the money he had brought, he exhibited amounts five to ten times greater than he had originally shown.

Arriving aliens whose permanent residence has been outside the United States, who intend to reside permanently in the United States, are classed as immigrant aliens. Departing aliens whose permanent residence has been in the United States, who intend to reside permanently outside, are classed as emigrant aliens. All alien residents of the United States making a temporary trip abroad and all aliens residing abroad making a temporary trip to the United States are classed as nonimmigrant aliens on the inward journey and nonemigrant on the outward. The great preponderance of nonemigrant over nonimmigrant aliens is due largely to the fact that many who on arrival intend to reside permanently change their minds and return after a temporary residence.

REJECTIONS AND DEPORTATIONS.

There has been a considerable increase in the number of aliens rejected on account of mental defects, namely, from 218 in 1907 to 370 in 1908. There has also been in the past year a large increase in the number of contract laborers rejected, from 1,434 in 1907 to 1,932 in 1908, an increase of about 34 per cent. These increases are all the more significant when it is remembered that there has been a decrease of about 39 per cent in the total immigration.

Warrants of deportation have been executed, after proper hearings, in the cases of 1,955 aliens arrested on the charge of unlawful residence, and 114 aliens have been deported with their own consent, they having become charges on the public from causes arising subsequent to their landing. Adding 2,069 deportations to the 10,902 rejected at the ports shows a total of rejections and deportations of 12,971, a decrease from last year of nearly 8 per cent, but an increase of 50 per cent in the ratio the deportations bear to the admissions in the respective years.

Of course these figures give but an inadequate idea of the much greater number of undesirable aliens who but for the stringency of our laws would emigrate to this country, and of the large number that were rejected by the steamship companies because of the penalty they would incur upon the rejection of such aliens upon their arrival.

STATISTICS OF NET IMMIGRATION.

The immigration figures published by the Department in past years, while as nearly correct as possible, either have not been fully understood by the general public or their real significance has misled it. After all, the main consideration is, not how many immigrants come to this country, but rather how many remain, and to what extent the population is augmented from year to year by this alien migration.

Based upon the alien departures for those months of the past year which preceded and were not affected by the industrial depression, the statistical expert of the Bureau has made a calculation of the net immigration for each year from 1899 to 1908, inclusive, giving the total alien arrivals, the total alien departures (in part estimated), and the ratio that the net immigration bears to the immigration figures heretofore published during that period. This calculation will be found as an appendix to this division of the report (p. 31). The statement shows that the net immigration for the period is only 68 per cent of the accepted figures of immigration as heretofore published; in other words, the accepted figures of immigration are 48 per cent in excess of the net immigration.

EMIGRATION.

The facility and cheapness of communication, especially in ocean travel, during the last two decades, which has contributed so materially to immigration to this country, has, as the figures I have referred to indicate, likewise contributed to emigration from this country to other lands. It has influenced also, in a much lesser degree, the migration from this country of native-born citizens.

There are some who regard this large emigration of aliens and naturalized citizens as an additional objection to immigration in general, inasmuch as many of this class who come to this country, and by industry and economy accumulate what will give them, in the country of their origin, a reasonable competency, return thereto, either for temporary sojourn or to spend their remaining years.

This subject has other important aspects which should not be lost sight of. Notwithstanding the large increase in immigration during the past decade, the wage standard of this country has not been lessened; on the contrary, it has continued to increase. The immigrants have also in more recent years contributed quite materially toward transplanting new industries from the different countries from which they emigrated, and toward expanding, among other industries, those that had already been transplanted and established. I think it can also be stated as a fact that the immigrant laborer as a class usually finds employment at the bottom of the scale of industries, thereby leaving the higher grades, where work is more remunerative, to the native workman.

In a commercial sense, this emigration is not without significance. The immigrant who comes to this country, lives here for a number of years, and returns either to his own country or to some other naturally takes with him, not only the money that he has, through thrift and industry, accumulated, but also, to a greater or less extent, American ideals, American tastes, and American requirements. These he consciously or unconsciously transplants. The influence of this emigration upon our foreign trade, especially upon our exports, is not inappreciable. The emigrant is a commercial missionary. His desire for many of our manufactures, with the need of which he has become accustomed, has doubtless, to some extent, contributed to the export of such products, both directly and indirectly, to the country to which he has emigrated.

There is still a larger view which may properly be taken, and should not be disregarded. This migration, when normal and not induced by oppression or persecution, has a far-reaching influence in interpreting one nation to another, in establishing closer relations, and in promoting the peace of the world. Charles Sumner, in his "Prophetic Voices Concerning America," no doubt had this phase