214 AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



Analysis of the occupation figures of the census of 1900 discovers 

 that 12.3 per cent of all persons having gainful occupations in the 

 North Atlantic division of the states were engaged in agriculture; 

 26.1 per cent in the Western division; 36.3 per cent in the North 

 Central division; 49.9 per cent in the South Atlantic division; and 

 62 . 8 per cent in the South Central division, the average for the 

 United States being 35.3 per cent. Agriculture as an occupation is 

 of least account, relatively, in New England, New York, New Jersey, 

 and Pennsylvania, the group of states constituting the North Atlantic 

 division, and is of greatest account in the lower section of the Missis- 

 sippi Valley, cgnstituting the South Central division. 



The agricultural element in the population, as indicated by the 

 W occupation statistics of the census, is relatively a diminishing one, 

 and it is generally believed that the agricultural laborers, or those who 

 work for hire, are a diminishing relative element in the agricultural 

 population, although this does not appear in the imperfect census 

 record. 



Immigration contributed much to the agricultural population 

 until the supply of cheap and otherwise desirable public land was 

 nearly exhausted. At the present time, when land that immigrants 

 can readily utilize for agriculture is high priced, they are not con 

 tributing appreciably to the agricultural population. During the 

 year ending June 30, 1908, the immigrant aliens admitted to this 

 country numbered 782,870, of whom, or their equivalent, 50 per cent 

 returned to their native countries on account of the industrial depres- 

 sion they found here; the number arriving in the fiscal year 1909 was 

 751,786, of whom 30 per cent returned; and in 1910 the arrivals were 

 1,041,570, of whom 17 per cent did not remain. 



By means of census publications, the white foreign-born agricul- 

 tural laborers, as an element of the total white agricultural laborers, 

 may be determined. In 1890 the white foreign-born element was 

 13 . i per cent of all white agricultural laborers, and the percentage 

 declined to 8.5 in 1900. In the latter year only 258,479 agricultural 

 laborers were foreign-born whites in a total of 3,038,884 white agri- 

 cultural laborers. The white foreign-born as an element of the total 

 white agricultural laborers was 0.6 per cent in the South Atlantic 

 States in 1900; 2.6 per cent in the South Central; n .8 per cent in 

 the North Central; 15.6 per cent in the North Atlantic; 20.9 per 

 cent in the Western. 



