Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1872-03-02
What we Owe to Foreign Immigration.

the first census was taken, in
1890, as native, what proportion OF
the present population is descend
ed from that nucleus, and what ls
due to foreign immigration during
the intervening eighty years2 Mr.
Frederick Kapp attempted a solu-
ton of this curious question, but his
calculations we're not well ground
ed. He assumed that the census re-
turns of 1860 of the number OF
births and deaths afforded a trust
worthy measure of the natural in
crease of the population. Apply
| ing that ratio to the popula-
ton of the country in 1850, he
brought out the astounding result
that two-thirds Of the white inhsb-
itants of the United States are
either foreigners or the descendants
of foreigners who mad settled in the
country since 1870. Mr.. DeBow,
in his forthcoming volume on the
"Status of the Country" shows the
error of Mr.. Kapp's process. TAX
ing Mr.. Kapp's ratio of natural in
crease and applying it to the poPu-
lation in 1890, he finds that in the
first ten years we must have gained
by immigration at the rate of co.
600 year, whereas it is known that
we did not receive one-tenth part of
that number. The native white pop
ulation must, therefore, have increas-
ed much faster than the 38.1OOper
cent. per annum taken by Mr.. Kapp
as the basis of his calculations. AS
a matter of fact, during the first
years of our existence as a nation,
it is certain that population doubled
itself from the excess of births over
deaths about once every twent-hve
years. Mr.. Kapp's percentage
would not double it in less than fifty.
Mr.. De Bow, by process involv-
> ing great labor but founded on cor,
, rect principles. fixes the number Of
. foreigners and their descendants al
II, 1862, of white Americana, des'
:, cended from residents in the coun'
. try in 1890, at 11,323,883. Mr.
. De Bow, at the time he made hi
: calculation, could not have seen thu
! advance sheets Of the population ta
. bles Of the Ninth Census, in whicl
. . we find some figures which go far tt
Il confirm the substantial CORRECTNESS
. of the results obtained by him
y y Table No. 4 gives 10,S92,0l5 as tn
~ :" number of inhabitants having one o
y y both parents of foreign birth, Will
- the number Of foreign birth is bu
:. 5,556,546. Mr.. De Bows number
y doubtless about a million too small
a but that error is insignificant /
~ comparison with Mr. Kapp's. Ur
- fortunately the question is not OIL
, which admits of solution by Il
~. simpler processes of mathematic
b, Nor have we the statistics of imm
~ ~ grafton for the earlier years of OF
v existence as nation. 1t is certai
70 however, that the arrivals then fro
w y" foreign countries bore no propo
" ton to their present magnitud
I'll Twenty years ago, by the census
II 7 1850, the whole foreign-born pop
. lation numbered 2,244,6O2.
bo We may take twenty years as t.
&c ;S age at which marriages begin to
ho 10 productive. On this assumpti
n nu there can be no individuals of me
'"D than fifty years of age, descend
from foreigners. living in this cou
try in 1900, who are not included
the census class of persons havl
one or both parents Of foreign birt
re- By the same reasoning there can
the none aged more than forty yet
de- descended from foreigners hvi
yes here in 1870 As we go down
The scale the age of those Of foreign d
ing cent, not included in the CEN
hat class, diminishes, and when
try. reach 1850 it disappears altogeth
ON Suppose that in 1910 there we're,
Ilah a liberal estimate, 100000 reside
ian of foreign birth who had lsD'
po- since 1880. Their living desc
hat. dants of the second and third G
.on. erations would not fallin the cen
Iely. class of those having one or b
h of parents foreign, but they themse
ans and their children would be 80
o of cluded. Assuming thu 100000
lod- have increased to 100000 in Il
that not more than 100000 of Il
cted could possibly belong to the sec
acts and third generations. From ]
nsla- to 1880 the immigration certa
air did not exceed 100000. ASS
the the 25O,0O0 to have increased in
shin ty years to 100000. Of thes
SER aged over 20years-at least 70
king, cent. of the whole-are include
f As the census class Of those having
great or both parents Of foreign b
king leaving Is per cent, or $50, ,OO(
o, in be added to the 100000 obto
arch above. Suppose 100000 for
es Of ers to represent the immigr
ir-bal from 1880 to 1910, and to hav
luest, creased to 100000 in 1870.
,ulars have to add to our count onl.
,alace children under 10, say 15 per
men or 100000. The sum of these
had rections, so for, is l,250,00O.
ad re- are but rough calculations, but
in his show that the 10,S92,O15 of pc
ne old having one or both parents OF
water. eign birth must include about
n the tenths of all the inhabitants 9
X, cy- United States who are not des
hdlpa ed from those living on our 8
ty, for the time the Constitution was
to en- ted.-M Y. Tribune.
upon
Of the A writer in Berlin paper
stone fishes the following figures WI
in its gard TO the condition Of Euro
I roof the present time aud that Of
Folding dred Years ago Europe no.