Commissioner of Agriculture 109 



there must be a community of interest that will organize and 

 bring about better conditions. Stop the talk that has spread all 

 over the country of " abandoned and unoccupied farms in New 

 York State/' talk higher prices for land, better conditions, better 

 roads, better schools, more and better live stock and poultry and 

 with one grand effort bring our Empire State back to her rightful 

 position at the head of the list in agricultural production, in 

 order to accomplish all this, thousands of willing workers arc 

 needed on the farms, and this department, so far as possible, 

 stands ready to assist the farmers in securing them. 



Immigrants, a large proportion of whom were tillers of the soil 

 in their native countries, to the number of 782,870 in 1908 came 

 to the United States, and in 1909, 751,28(3, of which, 256,425 in 

 1908 and 220,865 in 1909 gave their ultimate destination as New 

 York State. An analysis of the immigration movement for the 

 •past few years shows that, while formerly a greater proportion of 

 immigrants came from northern Europe and the British Isles, at 

 the present time the great bulk is from southern Europe, par 

 tieularly Austria-Hungary, the Russian Empire ami Finland, and 

 lialy, lull while lacking to a greal extent the education possessed 

 by the Northerner, a large proportion of the other class make 

 excellent farm help. 



There is a constantly increasing number of people from British 



North America coming to make their homes in this state, the 



total number of which during the last fiscal year was 51,941, of 



whom nearly 15,000 were Americans who had emigrated to the 



Canadian Northwest, attracted there by cheap lands, but who, 



upon proving their claims and securing their title, decided to 



return to their former homes, and so either sold or rented their 



holdings. United States Commissioner of Immigration John 



Clark, of Montreal, reports the number who returned during the 



past five months as follows: 



Male Female Total 



July 982 3S7 1,309 



August 021 431 1,352 



September 971 550 1.521 



October 624 360 9S4 



November 1,091 408 1,499 



Totals 4,589 2,130 0,725 



