10 Bille—A History of the Danes in America . 
finding what per cent, this sum is of the whole number of per¬ 
sons of that nationality in the United States. The number five 
hundred is taken, because in counties containing a lesser number 
of persons of a given nationality, as a rule, no settlement will be 
found sufficiently large to maintain in a vigorous condition the 
social and religious life of the mother country, hence a nation 
with a large percentage in this column shows proof of a desire 
to concentrate on a basis of nationality. 
The percentages in column four for contiguous territory are 
based on the fact that where more than five hundred of a given 
nationality are found in adjoining counties they form in many 
respects one settlement, because they are able to co-operate 
in the maintaining of churches and schools, and other rela¬ 
tions of a social nature which they can only have with their 
own countrymen. Therefore a high percentage in this column 
also shows a desire for concentration on the basis of nationality. 
The percentages in column five for cities of more than twenty- 
five thousand inhabitants are given, because a nationality largely 
represented in these cities may have a high percentage in col¬ 
umn three on account of a liking for city life, rather than from 
any special desire to form settlements for the sake of living 
with their own people. It is the rural settlement which shows 
the national preference most strongly; for the formation of 
large settlements of this kind in a country as extensive as the 
United States necessitates a strong motive for so doing, and a 
definite plan. Therefore a nationality with a low percentage in 
column five, and high percentages in columns two, three and four, 
shows the strongest tendency to form settlements for the sake 
of associating with fellow-countrymen. But the emigrants of 
a nationality which fails in forming rural settlements to any 
extent, and does not concentrate largely in cities, show the least 
desire for association with their own people because they do not 
find such association by accident, as is the case with those 
nationalities which prefer city life, nor by preconcerted plan, as 
do those who form large rural settlements. From the table, the 
Norwegians are thus seen to lead in the matter of forming settle¬ 
ments, while only the French can be said to be in any way less 
forward in this regard than are the Danes; and these two peo- 
