436 



THE AM ERIC AX MUSEUM JOURNAL 



Sweden and Xorway have made im- 

 portant contributions to the north cen- 

 tral and northwestern states. Utah is 

 the only state in which the Danes are 

 sufficiently concentrated to rank among 

 the first four nationalities in impor- 

 tance. 



Through Mexico and Culxi we have 

 received a rather important Spanish 

 element in some of our southern states. 

 Since the outbreak of the war we have 

 had an increase of Spaniards from 

 other sources. 



Louisiana is the only state in which 

 immigrants directly from France are 

 sufficiently concentrated to rank among 

 the first four nationalities in impor- 

 tance. It should be remembered, how- 

 ever, that about 30 per cent of our 

 Canadian immigrants are of French 

 descent. 



These maps (3 to 14), besides show- 

 ing the sources of the foreign stock in 

 different states, bring out several im- 

 portant points. Most important is the 

 fact that our immigrants are not dis- 

 tributed at ranclom throughout our 

 country but that the peoples of a given 

 nationality show usually one region of 

 maximum concentration surrounded by 

 areas of decreasing concentration. With 

 the exception of the people of German, 

 Irish, or English origin, these areas of 

 concentration are fairly restricted. 

 Even among the more cosmopolitan peo- 

 ples the distribution is by no means 

 random. 



How far can we go in judging the 

 past from the present ? Such a regular 

 distribution and localization of nation- 

 alities would seem to indicate that this 

 is a very important factor in determin- 

 ing the distribution of our immigrants. 

 Like attracts like. It is not assuming 

 too much to say that this has always 

 been one controlling factor and that the 

 present distribution of our foreign stock 

 will serve in a measure as an indication 

 of the relative importance of the vari- 

 ous nationalities in the various states. 



Another important factor in the lo- 



calization of national groups is inter- 

 state migration. Maps 15 and 16, based 

 on our last census, show that the gen- 

 eral trend of interstate migration is 

 from east to west. Nearly all the east- 

 ern states have lost by this migration. 

 It is also interesting to note that the 

 lines of migration are generally from 

 one state into another in the same lati- 

 tude. Only in instances where there is 

 some unusual drawing factor does mi- 

 gration depart from this rule. 



Biological Eaces axd Some Inher- 

 itable Characters Distix- 

 GUisHixG Them 



So far we have been dealing with na- 

 tionality which is quite a different thing 

 from race. It seems to be a common 

 fallacy for a nationality to look upon 

 itself as a biological race. We hear so 

 often of the Irish race, the Jewish race, 

 the Italian race, or the French race, 

 and numerous organizations exist in 

 this country for the purpose of per- 

 petuating and fostering pride in and 

 loyalty to these and other races. Even 

 in America those of us who can trace 

 back our American-1)orn ancestry five 

 or ten generations begin to look upon 

 ourselves as something quite distinct 

 and different from our newly arrived 

 immigrants whom we are satisfied to 

 lump together as foreigners. Yet the 

 difference is largely a temporal differ- 

 ence. Anthropological research has 

 proved that these fancied races do not 

 exist as such. There is no such thing 

 as an Irish race, an English race, a 

 Scotch race, or numerous others that 

 have been advocated. Differences, when 

 they exist, usually consist in a differ- 

 ence in the proportions of the various 

 racial elements represented in a nation- 

 ality. The United States alone cannot 

 lay claim to the distinction of present- 

 ing a heterogeneity of biological types. 

 France, Switzerland. Germany, Aus- 

 tria-Hungary, Eussia, and numerous 

 other nations are close seconds. 



What then is race? The average ob- 



