THE IMMIGRANT 77 



about 30 per cent, belong to the English-speaking races. They 

 are distributed fairly equitably throughout the North Central, 

 Eastern, and Western states although their main strength is in 

 the first group. This distribution is also true of the Germans. 

 They are the most important people belonging to this group, 

 including 775,175 males or 28 per cent, out of a total of 2,- 

 105,766. In direct contrast are the Scandinavians, of whom a 

 far greater percentage, 44 per cent, of the Danes and 50 per 

 cent, of the Norwegians, are engaged in agriculture. Although 

 found throughout all of the above-mentioned sections, by far the 

 greatest percentage of those engaged in agriculture are found 

 in the North Central states. This concentration is most marked 

 in the case of the Norwegians, of whom 97 per cent, of those in 

 agriculture are found in that section and Washington. Their 

 total number is only 140,000. Nevertheless by further concen- 

 tration in Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, 

 Illinois, and Iowa within the North Central section they trans- 

 form those states into a veritable Norway in America. The 

 Danes, on the other hand, scatter so that it is difficult to point 

 out a single large and well-defined Danish settlement, while the 

 Swedes may be termed the compromisers, neither scattering as 

 much as the Danes nor concentrating as much as the Nor- 

 wegians. These settlers were further reinforced by a few Ice- 

 landers. The natives assumed a by no means favorable attitude 

 towards those who were entering into competition with them; 

 but the newcomers were on a quest for homes which nothing 

 except absolute prohibition could prevent. In this search the 

 similarity of conditions in the various sections of America to 

 those of their former habitats was their principal guide. Thus 

 the Germans selected the timber lands of the Northwest; the 

 Norwegians the rough and hilly lands; the Irish the well-wa- 

 tered meadows. This conception that agriculture in America 

 must necessarily resemble their own in Europe was not always 

 fortunate. Since agricultural conditions in Ireland were 

 wretched, it deterred a large number of the Irish from going 

 on the land. As a result only 354 out of every 10,000 Irish 

 own farm homes while 611 of the Germans, 717 of the Scan- 

 dinavians, and 721 of the British do. The immigrants were, of 

 course, influenced by other considerations also. Some had 



