IMMIGRATION. 243 



SOCIAL AND POLITICAL EFFECTS OF IMMIGRATION. 



By Dr. ALLAN MCLAUGHLIN, 



U. S. PUBLIC HEALTH AND MARINE HOSPITAL SERVICE, WASHINGTON, D. C. 



rpHE assimilation of hundreds of thousands of aliens every year 

 -*- undoubtedly produces social and political effects worthy of close 

 study, which are overlooked by some and exaggerated by others. 



The subject of the illiteracy of immigrants brings us naturally to 

 the question of illiteracy at home, and statistics show many remarkable 

 things in this connection. The illiteracy of the United States as a 

 whole is something over eleven per cent., while the percentage of illit- 

 eracy among immigrants from England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, 

 Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, France or Germany is 4 per 

 cent, or less. • 



Another fact demonstrated by statistics is that in the states which 

 receive a great proportion of aliens every year, the percentage of 

 illiteracy is low, while in the states where the percentage of foreigners 

 is lowest, as in Georgia, Tennessee and Kentucky, the percentage of 

 illiteracy for the state is very high. 



The question of illiteracy in our own country is largely a question 

 of presence or absence of schools, and statistics show that the immi- 

 grants go to the states which have the best common school system and 

 are thus best fitted to reduce their illiteracy. The fact that illiteracy 

 in New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Massachusetts has decreased 

 in spite of the thousands of aliens received every year, speaks well not 

 only for the public school system of these states, but also for the 

 adaptability of the immigrant and his desire for education. 



Thus it will be seen from the tables given below that, although 

 illiteracy is high among the foreign born in cities as compared with 

 native whites, the native white children of foreign born parents com- 

 pare favorably with children of the native white. In regard to per- 

 centage of illiteracy and school attendance, Table I. shows that the 

 illiteracy of the foreign born is reduced in one generation, as shown 

 by the native children of foreign parents, from 12.9 per cent, to 1.6 

 per cent. It also shows that the native children of foreign parents have 

 a much lower percentage of illiteracy than the native whites of native 

 parentage. 



Table II. shows that a greater percentage of native white children 

 of foreign parentage attend school between the ages of five and four- 

 teen, than of native whites of native parentage. Table III. shows that 



