EUROPEANS IN UNITED STATES—RIPLEY. 589 
of the country, they would serve to populate no less than nineteen 
States of the Union as they stand. The newcomers of the last eight 
years could, if suitably seated, elect 38 of the present 92 Senators of 
the United States. Do you wonder that thoughtful political students 
stand somewhat aghast? In the last of these eight years (1907) 
there were 1,250,000 arrivals, sufficient to entirely populate both New 
Hampshire and Maine, two of our oldest States with an aggregate 
territory approximately equal to Ireland and Wales. The arrivals 
of this one year would found a State with more inhabitants than any 
twenty-one of our existing Commonwealths. Fortunately, the com- 
mercial depression of 1908 has for the moment put a stop to this 
inflow. Some considerable emigration back to Europe has in fact 
ensued. But this can be nothing more than a breathing space. On 
the resumption of prosperity the tide will rise higher than before. 
Each immigrant, staying or returning, will influence his friends, his 
entire village; and so it will be until an economic equilibrium has been 
finally established between one continent where labor is dearer than 
land, and the other where land is worth more than labor. 
It is not alone the rapid increase in our immigration which merits 
attention. It is also the radical change in its character, in the source 
from which it comes. Whereas until about twenty years ago our 
immigrants were drawn from the Anglo-Saxon or Teutonic popula- 
tions of northwestern Kurope, they have swarmed over here in rap- 
idly-growing proportions since that time from Mediterranean, Slavic. 
and oriental sources. A quarter of a century ago two-thirds of our 
immigration was truly Teutonic or Anglo-Saxon in origin. At 
the present time less than one-sixth comes from this source. The 
British Isles, Germany, Scandinavia, and Canada unitedly sent us 
90 per cent of our immigrants in the decade to 1870, 82.8 per cent in 
1870-1880, 75.6 per cent in 1880-1890, and only 41.8 per cent in 1890- 
1900. Since then the proportion has been very much smaller still. 
Germany used to contribute one-third of our newcomers. In 1907 
it sent barely one-seventh. On the other hand, Russia, Austria-Hun- 
gary, and Italy, which produced about 1 per cent of the total in 1860- 
1870, jointly contributed 50.1 per cent in 1890-1900. The growth 
of this contingent is graphically shown by the preceding diagram. 
I have been at some pains to reclassify the immigration for 1907 
in conformity with the racial groupings of the “ Races of Europe,” 
disregarding, that is to say, mere linguistic affiliations and dividing 
on the basis of physical types. The total of about 1,250,000 arrivals 
was distributed as follows: 
350000 "Mediterranean (nalce== sess a eee one-quarter. 
LOA OO OS AU OTING eral Ce ie as ae ee et one-sixth. 
BOOSIE RAK tes = = ee OE eS ee eee one-quarter. 
GA OOO R ME TCO CRA COs sare een ee Sees tye eee one-sixth. 
146: 000T Jewish: (mainly, roussian)): 2s es eee eee one-eighth. 
