TEE SLAVIC IMMIGRANT. 25 



THE SLAVIC IMMIGRANT. 



By Dr. ALLAN MCLAUGHLIN, 



U. 8. PUBLIC HEALTH AND MARINE HOSPITAL SERVICE. 



TT^VEEY new factor of our immigration is looked on with suspicion. 

 -*— ^ It is the right and duty of every American to criticize justly the 

 raw material for future citizenship passing within our gates and to 

 insist that this material shall be measured and weighed, measured by 

 the standard of humanity, weighed in the scale of justice, and if found 

 wanting sent back without ceremony or sentiment whence it came. 

 But too often the criticism is blinded by race prejudice and ignorance 

 of the immigrant. Every race that has figured prominently in our im- 

 migration statistics has had to bear the brunt of attacks by well-mean- 

 ing pessimists, who, in many instances, never saw an immigrant in the 

 rough. In this regard the Slav is not more fortunate than his prede- 

 cessors, the German, the Irishman and the Scandinavian. 



One of the most striking facts shown by recent immigration statis- 

 tics is the rapid increase of Slavic arrivals. From almost nothing 

 before 1868, it has grown progressively year by year, until it now con- 

 stitutes nearly one fourth of our total immigration. In view, therefore, 

 of the fact that the desirability of Slavs as immigrants is in question at 

 the present time, and that they constitute such a large proportion of 

 our total immigration inflow, a consideration of the Slavonic immi- 

 grant seems pertinent. 



Great Russians. 

 Eastern Division. -i 2. Little Russians. 



L 3. 



Balkan or Southern Division. 



Western Division. 



White Russians. 



1. Croats. 



(a) Croatians. 



( b ) Slovenes. 



2. Serbs. 



3. Bosnians. 



4. Montenegrins. 



5. Bulgars. 



1. Poles. 



2. Slovaks. 



3. Czechs. 



(a) Bohemians. 

 (6) Moravians. 



4. Lusatian Wends. 



The Slavic race may be conveniently divided into three great divi- 

 sions according to their geographical distribution in Europe : an eastern 

 division, embracing all the Russian Slavs; a southern division, the 

 Slavic inhabitants of the Balkan states, and that portion of Hungary 



