THE IMMIGRANT 87 



is more marked among the members of the new immigration than 

 among the older immigrants. Thus in 1910 the percentage of 

 foreign-born living in cities of the specified size had risen to 72.2. 

 The reasons for this tendency of the foreign-born to congregate 

 in the most densely settled districts may be briefly summarized 

 as follows. (1) They land, almost without exception, in cities, 

 and it is often the easiest thing for them to stay there. It takes 

 some capital, knowledge, and enterprise to carry the immigrant 

 any distance from the port of arrival, unless he has a definite 

 connection in some other place. Yet it is claimed that, land 

 them where you would, about the same number of immigrants 

 would find their way to New York within a few weeks. 

 (2) Economic opportunities are much more abundant and varied 

 in the cities than in the country. (3) Such occupations as are 

 obtainable in the city require much less capital than the char- 

 acteristic country occupations. With a few dollars, an im- 

 migrant in the city can set himself up in some independent busi- 

 ness, depending on turning over his capital rapidly to make a 

 living. There are so many people in the city, that if one can 

 manage to serve the most trivial want satisfactorily, he can get 

 along. But any independent business in the country requires 

 a larger outlay of capital than the average immigrant can hope 

 for. The only country occupation open to him is common farm 

 labor, and there are other reasons which make him ill adapted 

 for this. (4) In the cities, the newly arrived immigrant can 

 keep in close touch with others of his own race and tongue. In 

 the compact colony of his fellow-countrymen, he. may be sure 

 of companionship, encouragement, and assistance when needed. 

 It is the most natural thing in the world for an immigrant to 

 want to settle where there are numbers of others of his immediate 

 kind. (5) Knowledge of the English language is much less 

 essential in the city than in the country. The presence of others 

 who can speak the same tongue makes it possible for an immigrant 

 to make a living without knowing a word of Ihe language of his 

 adopted country, as many of them do for year after year. In 

 the rural districts, however, it is impossible for a newly arrived 

 immigrant to get along at all without a knowledge of the 

 English language, either in independent, business, or as an em- 

 ployee, unless he settles in a farm colony of people of his own 



