The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1884-01-25
of Iarpor inilnx Of foreigners

tiou of = larger influx of foreigners
iHdn .,c. before is easily made with
1l, serious jituunce oi our social
and poiugal for,.L
ireland ud Germany have furnished
the most cooslde,abla part Of our for
eign population. aud iu almost equal
proportion, though Great Britain aud
its trans-oceanic dependencies (exclud
ing Irelaud) aud Canada combined,
have given us nearly rs many as either
Hiberuia or the fatnerlnl. This for
eign population has been subject
to the widest diffusion, and however
impressive it might be if it proceeded
from one stock and was grouped in a
single locality, the great variety AMI
dissimilarity of the race which it pre-
sents and its general dispersion through
the states, obviates the threatened dan
ger Of any notable foreign Influence
crystalizing here into an element hos
tile to our institutions. There are but
three states and ten territories, all re-
motely West, in which the foreign born
equals so per cent of the native popu-
laticn in thirteen states aud territories
it is 25 per cent, in eleven states it is
10 per cent in ten from to 10 and
in eight less than 2 per cent. 1t is re-
markably how the foreign and colored
population are mutually exclusive, and
almost i'll every section where the col
ored are found in large number the for
eign born are not, and vice versa, 1t
is reassuring to those who stand in
such dread of foreign influence to OBJ
serve how the predominance of the diff
ferent races varies in different states AL
though the Irish population of Penn
sylvania largely out-number the Ger
man there are nearly as many Irish
born residents of Massachusetts as of
our own state in New York, Connec-
ticut, California and New Jersey the
Irish top the list in Illinois, Wiscon.
sin, Indiana, Texas, Iowa, Missouri'and
Ohio the Germans assert themselves
quite as emphatically in the lead in
Minnesota the Scandlnavians are
far ahead of any other, and a goodly
number of them are settled in Illinois,
Iowa and Wisconsin. The number of
natives of British America found in
Massachusetts, and michigan is aston
ishng, until explained by the lumber
interests and factory industries two
thirds of all the Mexicans are in Texas
and 10 per cent. of the Chinese in Cal
ifornia two-thirds of the Irish in the
country are east of Pittsburg's meridi-
an, and two-thirds of the Germans are
west of it. Most of the Russians in
the country are Mennonites and Kan
sas has the largest number of them
Ohio of Swiss Wisconsin the Bohe-
mians New York the Poles, Austrians
and French and Michigan the Hollan
ders. Foreigners generally display an
appetency for city life, though the
more numerous races have of late years
shown falling off as elements of city
population. Fall River, and Lawrence,
Mass, textile manufacturing cities in
the East, aud San Francisco, Cal, ex-
treme geographical points, show the
highest rank in foreign born relatively.
to the total population, and next to
them come Chicago and Detroit, CEN
tral commercial cities on the lakes.
These striking facts all point to the
same conclusion that our foreign born
population is so widely dispersed as TO
be easily assimiated. 1t presents the
widest range of diversity in its ele-
ments, and is taken up and moulded
by the people of different common
wealths as much unlike each other as
the bulk of our foreign immigration is
dissimilar to the native. There is no
greater percentage of influx, so long
as it comes from the civilized races,
than is healthy to the body polite, and
nowhere to-day are the foreign ele-
ments of our population uniting and
massing against the native. In fact it
is easier to array the one of these ele-
ments against the other even now than
to incite them to an anti-American at
tack upon the institutions of their
adopted country or to arouse the spirit
of Known Nothingism to shut the gates
upon the immigrant.-Lancaster In
telNgencer