The weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1891-1894, 1892-08-13
THE AMERICAN RACE.
What 1t Is Destined to BecOme-ADglo-
German with u Dash of Celt.

what IL Is Destined to ~cOn1e-ADgl0
German with n Dash of Celt.
1t is curious to note the shifting char.
acter of the immigration to this country.
For a while we were threatened with an
Italian deluge. When the collapse in
the Argentine Republic and Uruguay
turned the f1oodtide of southern Europe
in this direction the American ports
were overrun with the brown races of
Sicily and the Italian peninsula, and
some of the prophets began to predict
that the American people would be Lat
inized. But the Italian immigration is
already decreasing. The report of the
bureau of statistics shows that the num-
Der of Italians arriving IN this
country during the nine months
ending with March was 30,194, while
during the corresponding period of the
year preceding it was 3S,O23, and still
greater for the year before that. The
feature of the movement from Europe
is the growth of the Russian
immigration. This is due to two causes,
the increasing discomfort throughout the
empire and the Jewish persecution, the
latter in particular being effective. Asa
source of human supply Russia now
last nine months we received from that
country 62,2l9 immigrants, which was
more than double the number for the
equivalent period preceding. A few
years the immigration from Russia
was so small that it was not worth
mentioning.
But there is one country from which
the human stream is not subject to
spasmodic increases or decreases. On
the contrary, it flows steadily on with a
gradually swelling volume, and the
characteristics of that land, next to those
of parent England, will always have the
greatest influence upon the United
States. The German nation has long
furnished us more immigrants than any
other, and even the great Russian squirt
has not been able to pass it. The Ger
mar movement, which began a half
century ago. has been throughout that
time unchecked, and is % larger than
ever before. During nine months the
total Of arrivals from the German EN-
pire was 7G,l2S, and of the Germans
from Austria 2O,497, this being an in
crease of about II per cent in one year.
The immigration from England, Scot
land and Wales does not change much
from year to year, but remains close to
10000 annually. While in certain years
Russia, Italy and other countries may
go ahead, yet the island of Great Britain
remains. next to Germany, our chief
source of human supply. Contrary to
the general belief, the immigrants from
Great Britain are much more numerous
than those from Ireland. There have
been periods when there was ar enor-
nous influx from Ireland, but for many
years it has averaged not more than 3d.
600 annually. Obviously the Scandina-
Wan blood-and a vigorous red blood it
is is destined to figure cO%nspicuously in
the composition of the American of the
future. The arrivals from Sweden, Nor
way and Denmark are next in Importance
to those from Great Britain and Ger
many. and exceed by o%ne-fourth those
from Ireland. The Bohemian and Hun
garian immigration is still large, but is
increasing very little. while that from
Poland has augmented considerably. On
the whole, after examining the figures
for many years. there is no reason to
change the opinion of earlier investigat-
ors that the American race will be es-
sentially a composition of the Teutonic
peoples of northern and central Europe.
1t will be Anglo-German with a Celtic
dash, and it is too late for the Italian,
Hungarian, or POLISH blOods to have any
effect upon it.-Louisville Courier-Jour-