The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1893-01-16

reached II per cent, in Minnesota 80 per
cent ana In North Dakota 10 per cent. In
. .nlS STATE not much less than one-half of
the ihhaoltants were born in foreign lands.
but tnis Is not by any means the COM
piete effect Of foreign imm igration upon
our population. There is little admixture
OF Diood with native Americans, little
intermarriage between the different ma.
tlohaiitles-irlsh marry Irish and Ger
mans marry Germans and their children
are measuraoly Irish and Germans still.
VI the children of immigrants there were
IN the country in 1870, when they were
hrst counted, not fewer than 4,954, 600,
whlch, added to the foreign born, make
a.oZL233 persons of foreign extraction.
Inc Whoie population was thus at that
tlfne made up of 60 per cent. of native
blood and 81 per cent OF foreign blood.
In $3.50 the children of i'm Rigrants num-
bered III, 503. $50. making, with those of for
eign birth. 2O.625. 5l2. At this date the
native whites Of native parentage consti-
suted go per cent, and those born Of
foreign parents 375 per cent. More than
one-thlrd OF the population was alien
either by birth or in the first generation.
II this alien population were uniformly
distributed over the country the ca>e
would not be as serious as it is, but it is
distributed very unequalIy. Practically it
Is confined to the north and west, as is the
case with the foreign born. Of these states
as whole nearly one-half the population
Is OF foreign birth or extraction, while in
certain states the proportion runs much
higher.
Massachusetts, and New York contain
o. per cent. OF foreign blood Rhode ISL
and % per cent. Wisconsin "A per cent,
Minnesota 20 per cent. and in North Da-
kota no less than 70 per cent or nearly
iour-tifths of the population are either for
eeign born or the children of the foreign
born. In New York city. with
ents. Is this an American city? The
same question may be asked regarding
Chicago. while IL Milwaukee the German
language is heard more commonly than
the American, and there are great regions
IN those Northwestern states peopled ex-
ciusiyeIy with ScandInavians, where our
tongue as never heard.
As class, the foreign born throng our
cities. The only nationalities OF which
the majority seek rural life are the Swedes
and Norwegians. In 1880 more than one
third of ali the foreign born element of
our population was found in the fort y-four
largest cities.
Generalizing regarding the leading ma
tlonaiIties. II may De broadly stated that
the IRISH are found mainly in New York
The Germans are widely distributed,
mainly IN the cities from New York
through. the Northern states to the
Dakota8 The Italians live mainiv in the
Northeastern states and in New Orleans.
The Scandinavians are found mainly in
Wisconsin, Minnesota and the DakOtas.
The Hungarians. Bohemians and Poles
are found mainly IA the great cities and in
the mining regions of the North. The
French Canadians have swarmed over the
border into New England and New York,
where they have largely replaced the Irish
as factory hands.
The first point which attracts the read
er's attention in the above outline OF the
history OF imm grafton. next to the enor-
nous increase IN the total number in re-
cent years. is the rapid increase OF certain
classes. notably the Italians. Russians,
Poles. Hungariars. Bohemans and French
Canadians. AS q class. these people are
much lower in the scale of civilization
than ourselves and are Objectionable ele-
ments TO introduce into our social, indus
trial and civil conditions. During the
past ten years more than /. 500. 900 OF these
people have come among Us, and they are
still coming al greatly accelerated rate.
grants from Great Britain, Ireland
and Germany were mainly peo-
pie OF substance and education,
who would have been welcomed into the
best community. But the quality of these
elements has deteriorated with time. The
oerudHS anu DTllian VINO TO-DAY come TO
Us are by no means of as high class as
-hose who made up the earlier immigra-
ton. lfthesc statements need demonstra-
ton 1t is readily At hand. One has but TO
watch the unloading of a few carg0es of
Immigrants from Liverpool and Hamburg
to be convinced of its truth
The ignorance of the Northern states is
practically confined to the foreign-born
eiement-the immigrants. In 1SS0 only
about per cent. of the native inhabitants
of the Northern states ten years ago and
over We're unable to write, while no fewer
than IA per cent. of the fore!gn-born in
habiiants OF those states were unable to
write. The case was even worse in New
England, where, of native-born but per
cent. could not write, while of the foreign
born not less that - per cent fell into that
category. The census of 1890 will doubt
less show still worse condition of affairs,
owing to the immen~e immigration of the
lower classes during the past decade
AS TO he part which the foreign ele-
ment plays among our criminal classes.
the statistics are equally decisive. Out of
81, 10 white prisoners confined for crime
in the United States in 1890, Is, $50 o 80
per cent. were foreign born, and 1882,
or % per cent. were the children of tor
eign born parents. This disproportion of
the foreign born among criminals is APP
parent when il is remem hered that the
foreign born population constitute but
lG.S per cent OF the white Inhabitants.
The criminalty of the foreign born is
nearly double its due proportion, and that
of those born in this country of foreign
parents, though less is far above that OF
the white natives of native parents. The
latter class constituted in 1922 62.5 per
cent. Of the entire white popui alton. while
criminals Of this class constituted but
31.5 per cent. of all white criminals.
An immediate result OF this immense
food of immigrants has been an increase
in the density of the population. Now it
Is well known that, other things being
equal, as the density of the population
becomes greater, the rate of natural
increase diminishes. IT matters not in the
least how this increase in density OF popu-
ialon is produced, whether by immlgra-
ton or by natural increase, the result is
the same. II follows that had there been
no immigration, the rate Of the natural
Increase would have diminished less rap
idly than II has and would today be
greater than il IS. By opening wide our
doors t. the poverty. ignorance and crime
OF Europe, We have reduced orr own rate
OF increase and have substituted the lower
classes OF Europe for our own flesh and
blood. Could a.truism 20 farther?
Tins process has produced Cur.ous re-
suit. The foreign born element has filled
and practically mouopolized the lower
groups of avoCauons, and has Literally
forced the element I'M into tho