RACE MIXTURE AND NATIONAL CHARACTER. 89 



problem whose solution no one can predict. The immigrants 

 did not come here in tribes, but as individuals. If the millions 

 of Germans had come with state encouragement in a body, the 

 results might have been different, but they came as individuals 

 and mingled with our people. 



I have already stated the elements that are to be assimilated. 

 For the purpose of convenience, they may be classed into four 

 groups as follows : 1. Colored, 7,000,000, or twelve per cent. 2. 

 Native whites of native parents, 34,000,000, or fifty-five per cent. 

 3. Native whites of foreign parents, 11,000,000, or eighteen per 

 cent. 4. Foreign born, 9,000,000, or fifteen per cent. 



These elements differ by blood, by parentage, and by birth- 

 place, and they are of great importance. No other country has 

 such important elements, and no nation has ever sought to 

 solve such a question in a peaceful way. The native American is 

 the element about which all others must be grouped, and they 

 must be assimilated to this. The third element is very interest- 

 ing. This class stands halfway between the foreign and the 

 native. It represents the process of assimilation in the act. The 

 fourth element is the foreign born, and it is the most difficult to 

 assimilate on account of its constant renewal. 



There are two ways of combining these figures. The third and 

 fourth elements may be added together, and we will then have 

 20,000,000. These figures show how large the foreign element is. 

 In regard to its distribution in New England and the Northwest, 

 New England would have forty-seven per cent foreign popula- 

 tion ; in Massachusetts alone this element constitutes fifty-six 

 per cent; in Rhode Island, fifty-eight per cent; in New York, 

 eighty two per cent ; in Wisconsin, ninety per cent. But it is 

 not right to consider the second generation as foreigners. They 

 are more American than foreign. It is best to contrast these two 

 classes and measure their relative strength. We find in the East 

 that the first generation outnumbers the second, while in the 

 West the second generation is the stronger. Thus the question 

 of foreign influence is a more serious one in New England than in 

 the Western States. 



The chief forces tending toward the assimilation of races in 

 our country are physical environment and social environment. 

 The physical environment means not only the influence of Na- 

 ture, but also the habits of life. In this respect the influence of 

 frontier life should be considered. From the beginning, the 

 people along the frontier have had a struggle with Nature, and 

 they developed self-reliance and the capacity for self-government. 

 So the pioneer set up self-government in the wilderness, and the 

 State Constitutions of the West and Northwest, where the propor- 

 tion of immigration is so great, show no signs of foreign influ- 



