The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-11-30
The Value of Emigration to Us.

Jne NaIue OF Eli grallOn 10 US.
From The ~. Y. World
Mr.. Banks told us last winter that, since
1890, the European states have furnished this
country with upwards of $500, 600 OF their
citizens, who, with their descendants, now
number above 20,000,0 600 This is startling
fact, and ii brings us at once to an apprecia.
tion of the power and wealth we have derived
from this great influx OF foreign element,
because it is tangible. AS these twenty
millions are to the whole population, 40 is the
ratio of benefit secured by their coming com
pared with the general aggregate Of the ma
tional wealth. Mr.. Banks ventured the asser-
tion that these twenty millions of aliens by
birth and extraction had sent back to Europe
0,000, 600. But we infer that he includes
in this statement only those remittapcss which
have been registered, for 1t is known that
large sums have been carried to Great Britain
and the Continent by passengers, of which no
record was made and which there was no
means of reaching. 1t would not be extravs-
CANT TO suppose that, since the foundation of
the republic, 325 or $50 millions of dollars
have been sent away from our shores by
emigrants and their descendants. This
whole subject of foreign emigration is one of
paramount importance in its relation to the
national interests. And though the advau-
tages enjoyed in the past have been large, we
have the satisfaction of knowing that they will
be greatly exceeded in the future, when the
attractions and the opportunities offered to
those abroad will be four-fold more than they
now are.
From 1920 to 1880, pa, 400 persons of alien
birth landed on our shores; from 1880 to 1910,
552 600; from 1s40 to 1850, 1,5SS, 300; from
1850 to 1860, 2,707, 624, Such strides of in
crease each decade are marvellous, and cannot
be compared with any facts in other countries,
for the reason that America is the only nation
which attracts emigration. Some twenty-five
years ago one Of the writers for Biackwood
was highly elsted with the fact that between
1901 and 1921 the population of England,
Scotland, and Wales had increased one mil
lion, by unemployed Irish seeking work away
from home. Indeed, he was so exultant over
the event that he fairly challenged anyone and
| every one to show a 'simiar instance Of so
great an inundation of inhs bitants breaking
| into any country, barbarous or civilized" lie
affirmed that not even the Goths and Vandals
| had attained to such a mark when they over
| whelmed the Roman empire. He would have
been amazed, perhaps, could he have foreseen
| that, within q few years then to come, over
| four and one quarter millions of people would
take up their effects and journey, not one
hundred miles merely, but three thousand
and more, over the briny deep, to found a
home in the new Western republic.
What has emigration done for us 80 far
| this decade, and what will it do in the
futurel The annual average at present is not
a whit less than 100000 persons. That is a
temperate estimate. MIR. Banks puts it at
$50, 900. By actual investigation it has been
ascertained that the emgrant brings between
| $50 and 800 with him for every man, woman,
and child. The latter sum is nearer correct.
We have then, thirty millions, OF specie
mostly, added to the national money re-
sources, and over seventy-fve millions
brought in by the emigration from January L,
1861, to the close of 1854, or over sixty mil
lions, at the minimum rate of $50 per capita.
Bat we must look further than the money
value of the emigrant, and consider his pro-
ductive capacity. The emigrant is certainly
equal to the Southern negro in this respect,
and the average production of the latter, even
under the incubus of slavery, was set down
at $500 per head per annum. AT this rate our
annual emigration would add one hundred and
fifty millions year to the cash value of the
country. Assuming that from 1865 to 1870
the annual average emigration would only
reach 250, 600 persons, we have as the result
one billion added to the national cash value
for the current decade. The emigrant,
though, has actually double the negro capa.
city, which makes the annual increased cash
value from that source three hundred mil
lions and two billions for the ten years from
1860 to 1870. These figures will give some
idea Of the benefits we derive from foreign
| emigration.