The People of the United States 



383 



THE FOREIGN ELEMENT 



In the preceding paragraphs the in- 

 crease in the foreign born in the United 

 States as a whole has been discussed, 

 "but it is interesting to inquire further 

 into the nature of the increase. In 

 what sections and states is the increase 

 concentrated, how does the nationality 

 of the immigrants of the past decade 

 compare with the nationality of the im- 

 migrants of the preceding decade, and 

 what is the present distribution through- 

 out the country of our foreign born in- 

 habitants ? 



Four-fifths of the increase in the num- 

 ber of foreigners in the United States 

 during the past decade are found in the 

 states constituting the North Atlantic 

 division. Of the total increase of i , 09 1 , 

 729, as large a proportion as 874,619 oc- 

 cur in this section, while the increase 

 in the South Atlantic division is only 

 7,505; in the North Central division, 

 98,360; in the South Central division, 

 35,834, and in the Western division, 



75.411- 



Thus of every thousand increase of 

 foreign born 801 are concentrated in the 

 six New England States and in New 

 York, New Jerse3^ and Pennsylvania. 

 During the preceding decade, however, 

 the largest share in the increase of our 

 foreign born was found in the states 

 constituting the North Central divis- 

 ion — Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, 

 Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, 

 the Dakotas, Nebraska, and Kansas. 

 These states then showed 44.5 per cent 

 and the North Atlantic states 41.8 per 

 cent of the increase in foreign born dur- 

 ing the ten years. 



In every section of the countrj^ the 

 percentage of increase of the foreign 

 born for the decade has greatly dimin- 

 ished. Even in the North Atlantic di- 

 vision there has been a considerable loss 

 in this respect, the percentage of in- 

 crease for the foreign born for the ten 

 years being only 22.5 per cent as against 

 38.5 per cent for the preceding decade. 



The decrease was especially noticeable 

 in the North Central and the Western 

 divisions, in which the rate of increase 

 for the foreign born fell from 39.2 and 

 54.2 percent to 2.4 and 9.8 per cent re- 

 spectively. 



In each section also, excepting in the 

 North Atlantic division, the rate of in- 

 crease of the foreign born was less than 

 the rate of increase of the native born. 

 In the New England States and in New 

 York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, 

 however, the foreign born have increased 

 a little faster than the native born — 22.5 

 per cent as against 20.5 per cent. 



THE CHANGING CHARACTER OF OUR 

 IMMIGRATION 



The remarkable change that has taken 

 place in the character of the immigration 

 of late years largely accounts for the re- 

 cent concentration in the North Atlantic 

 division. During 1S91-1900, 3,687,564 

 immigrants entered the United States, 

 one and one-half million less than in the 

 ten years preceding. Of German im- 

 migrants during the past decade there 

 were 505,152, whereas during the pre- 

 ceding ten years there were as many as 

 1 ,452,970. Norway and Sweden's con- 

 tribution during 1 891-1900 was 321,281 

 as against 568,362 during 1 881-1890. 

 The figures for Great Britain and Ire- 

 land show a similar decrease. On the 

 other hand, Austria-Hungary, Italy, 

 and Russia and Poland during the past 

 decade sent over 1,846,616 immigrants, 

 about double the number contributed 

 by them during 1 881-1890. 



Thirty years ago Canada, Germany, 

 Great Britain, Ireland, and Norway 

 and Sweden sent 90.4 per cent of all the 

 immigrants entering the United States, 

 and Austria-Hungary, Italy, and Rus.sia 

 and Poland a scanty I . I per cent. In 

 1880 the first group were contributing 

 81.7 per cent and the second group 6.4 

 per cent ; in 1890, the first, 73.9 per 

 cent, while the second had grown to 



