HAS IMMIGRATION INCREASED POPULATION? 253 



wliole population, with the greatest immigration added, kept 

 steadily falling. 



What shall be said of the last decade, 1880-'90, when the increase 

 of the whole population, with a still greater immigration added, 

 has fallen to a rate which is four per cent lower than the rate of 

 the native whites during the Revolution ? Is this a crowded coun- 

 try ? We have sixty-five millions in a territory which every one 

 admits can easily support four hundred millions. Is this a 

 luxurious, worn-out, jaded country ? Where, how, and by what ? 

 Possibly among a fraction of the population in a few great cities. 

 But they do not constitute the country. Look at the small towns, 

 the great country districts, the masses of the people, and where 

 are the signs of the luxury that enervates ? Fashionable society 

 has grown in recent years ; but even admitting that it has grown 

 to the fullest possible extent, and that it is guilty of all the folly 

 with which it is charged, it has not yet become one fortieth part 

 of the population. 



Spain is said to be an old, worn-out nation, but during the ten 

 years from 1880 to 1800 she increased the annual rate of her 

 growth from 35 per thousand to 54 per thousand. Even France, 

 though her rate had fallen very low in 1870, has steadily increased 

 it in the last twenty years, and raised it from 7 per thousand in- 

 habitants in 1870 to 37 per thousand in 1890. England has stead- 

 ily increased her rate in the last twenty years. So has Russia, 

 whose rate is very high, being 105 per thousand in 1870, 130 in 

 1880, and 140 in 1890. Holland, a very old and closely settled 

 country, has increased her rate in almost the same proportions, 80 

 per thousand in 1870, 118 in 1880, and 135 in 1890. Belgium's rate 

 is not far behind.* 



Of all these countries none are superior to the United States 

 in natural fertility and resources. Most of them are much infe- 

 rior, and have a larger proportion of people to the square mile. 

 The United States has only 21"31 to the square mile; f but Russia 

 has 42, Spain 86, Great Britain 184, France 320, Holland 350, and 

 Belgium 530. 



If we are right in believing that the lowering of the rate of 

 native growth was due to the increase of foreigners, then immi- 

 gration has not materially increased, but, on the contrary, has 

 somewhat decreased the American population. If the native 

 population had kept up an increase per decade of only 34 per 

 cent, which was less than it had in the twenty years 1790 to 

 1810, and immigration had ceased, the white population would 



* Mulhall's Dictionary of Statistics, article Population, p. 442. 



f The average of 21-31 per square mile for the United States is calculated on the total 

 land area, exclusive of Alaska and Indian Territory. 



