Arizona republican., 1898-11-27
VOLUME AND CHARACTER OF OUR
 IMMIGRATION.

A certain interest always attaches to
 the statistics showing the number Of
 new members which have been added
 10 the population by immigration, but 1 it is when one goes beyond the mere
 figures of enumeration 5o consider the
 quality Of the new additions to the population that immigration statistics | become most instructive. Beth classes ! of data are given in the annual report
 of Commissioner-Gen Powderly,
 which has just been submitted to the ! secretary of the treasury. It is shown that the number of immigrants arriv- ing in the Uniced States during the last fiscal year was 229, ,299, which was a slight decrease-1, ,533-as compared with the number fer the preceding year The males outnumbered the fe- males by over 42,000, the former num- | bering 135,7T5. The total number de- barred was 3,030, not a very large pro- portion when one considers the large volume of the immigration, being only about l 1-3 per cent. The bulk Ol those Gebarred Were excluded because of be- ing paupers or persons likely 10 become a public charge. In this class there were 2,261 persons. Contract labOrers comprised the next largest class, with
 
 bered 25S, and assisted immigrants 79, while there were only 12 insane per sons, ? convicts and 1 idiot.
 The range Of illiteTacy among the immigrants may be gathered from the statement that those over fourteen who could neither read nor write numbered 43,057. Their economic condition was somewhat better than that for the year before, for they exhibited to the exam , over S300, 900 in excess of that exhibited | by slightly larger number of immi- grants in the year preceding, and prob- ably did not represent their entire pos | sessions. The greatest number or | those declaring their occupations were | comprised in the class of laborers viz, 52, ,531; servants came next, with | 23, ,656, and farmers third, with 16,243. | As regards the country Os origin, Italy | came first, with 5S,613: Russia second, | with 27,225; Ireland fourth, with IT,, Ill. If the figures for Hungary and | Galicia and Bukowina, in Austria-Hun- gary, were united the dual kingdom would take second place, but as it is | they are given separately, 16,659 for | the former and 12,4 APO for the latter To . Sweden are credited 12,3 ,39S immigrants | and to England 9,877. There are some pathetic humorS in certain of the sta tistics embodied in the report. For example, we learn that among the steerage passengers were 54 actors, 59 artists, 153 clergymen, 12 editors, 37 lawyers, S1 physicians, 136 sculptors and bankers, not to mention others whom only untOWard faite would seem likely to drive to seek passage under steerage conditions
 Commissioner PoWderly makes some which seem to have reason behind them. One of them is to the effect that the head tax on immi- grants should be increased from S1 to S2. This is recommended mainly on the ground of the need of providing fund sufficient to permit of the enlarge ment Of the bureaus operations to their full capacity of usefulness in pro- tecting the country from the influx of dependent, defective and criminal classes from abroad. Another recom mendation is to the effect that the law prohibiting the expenditure of a great CT sum for immigration purposes at any port than shall have been collected at that port be repealed. This seems entirely reasonable, for the existing law would seem unduly to localize the operations of system which is in it's essence national. So there would seem little to urge against the eSta blishment of an immigration directory, to be kept for each fiscal year by the bureau of immigration, with the view ot prevent ing frauds in naturalization proceed ings by requiring aliens presenting themselves as candidates for citizen ship to produce certificates or dupli- cates thereof from the bureau. This