12 Transactions of the Canadian Institute. [vol. x 



between their showing and that of the Scandinavians is proportionately, 

 as well as absolutely, far less than the difference between the showing of 

 Scandinavians and Greeks or Germans. There is no very obvious con- 

 nection between the amount of worldly possessions and the geographical 

 distribution of immigrants among the States. 



It must of course be admitted on the other side, first that 1900 may 

 not have been a representative year, and secondly that the average of 

 money shown by immigrants from a particular country may be very 

 different from the normal showing. Mr. Hall* quotes the case of the 

 Hebrews, when on one occasion one man showed $25,000, and nine thou- 

 sand were practically destitute: the average therefore being about $3.00 

 for the group. These objections must be given some weight; although, 

 with an average annual immigration of 850,000 persons, it may be that 

 variations in opposite directions tend to correct one another. It may be 

 that there is a break in the poverty line between an average showing of 

 $14.50, and an average of $16.65: that below this figure the immigrant 

 has no power of choice as to residence, while above it he can follow his 

 inclinations. It may be that the Greeks and the Lombard Italians and 

 the Bohemians and Moravians can settle where they please, and that 

 the Neapolitan Italians, Ruthenians, Croatians and Poles settle where 

 they must. But it is difficult to see wherein lies the magic of $15.00. 

 The Croatians, a very poor people, whose average showing falls short of 

 this, are less widely distributed, it is true, than the Bohemians and 

 Moravians, but more widely than the Scots and English, whose average 

 possession is three times greater than theirs. 



This point is further borne out by the Thirty-fourth Annual Report 

 of the Bureau of Statistics of Labourf (Massachusetts), which discusses 

 "Race in Industry", using the statistics of occupation for those of foreign 

 descent, as well as of foreign birth. From this report the statistics of 

 labourers have been taken. These, purely local as they are, are of great 

 value. In the limited area of Massachusetts, it is impossible that those 

 persons, whose unfitness for any higher occupation condemns them to 

 be labourers, cannot get away from the cities to the land. Moreover, 

 since all those under consideration are themselves without property, 

 there can be no question (as there may be among independent farmers) 

 of poverty barring men from their occupation. Those races which prefer 

 life in the country will show more than the average proportion of labourers 

 in agriculture. Those which prefer life in the city will show less. 



*HaIl, "Immigration and its Effects upon the United States", Part I., chapter iv., 

 p. 20. 



fMassachusetts, Public Document No. 15, 1904, pp. 1-130. 



