Arizona republican., 1899-12-30
TEST OF PROSPERITY
More immigrants are Arriving
 Nov Than Ever.
Increase is Slow but Gradual Record for the Last Two Years. Deductions From the Rise and Fall Within Eighty Years.

New York, Dec. 29.-The number of ! immigrants who arrive at the port of i New York has been steadily increas- ing in the last two years. Last year there was an increase of about 8 per cent in the yearly immigration figures over those of the previous year, and | this years record promises to show a corresponding increase. The immi- grants come here in slightly larger numbers month by month, and drop away from the barge office to make room for the widening stream of their ! followers. Assistant Commissioner of Immigration Edward F. McSweeney was asked yesterday about the in- 1 crease in recent immigration.
 There has been an increase" he said, but nothing sudden. The fluctu- ations in immigration are, as a rule. gradual. For the last two years there has been a steady and uniform growth in our monthly figures. Today immi- grants are coming over in larger num- i bers than last year at this time but this is only the latest step in a grad ual growth"
 How do you account for this growth i in immigration?"
 'I have made a study of the matter, and in my opinion there is only one 1 answer for this question:" said the ] i ton means increase in the country's prosperity. Here's the way I figure it out. Just write in one column the years from 1920 to 1899, and opposite i them the yearly totals in immigration. The year 1920 is as far back as we have a good record. Now you trace the pros i perity of the country down along the column of years and look across at the corresponding immigration figures. De- pression- along one part of the year column; down goes the number of inn migrants for that period. Along comes | renewed prosperity, and you'l see the figures on immigration go up. It's a sure index.
 "Of course, you must allow some time for the conditions of the country to make themselves felt on immigra- tion. It's within a year and half, l though, in every case. Take the panic of 1873. The figures in immigration for | that year were 422, ,545, very high for those days. But next year they jump down almost 50 per cent to 26O.S14 and steadily decline until 1877, when they were only 13O, 5O2. That's the way bad times affect our figures.
 This is only one example, but have followed the table out along all the years, and my theory holds good in every instance. You don't question our growing prosperity nowadays, do 1 you? Well, that's why our immigration
 is on the steady increase"
 Professor Mayo-Smith of Columbia university was asked whether econo- mists generally recognized a connection between the growth of prosperity and ! increase in immigration.
 T think we all agree" he said, that the immigration figures are a sure in dex to the prosperity of a country; I might say, one of the surest indica- tions They rarely fail to show in their fluctuations the ups and downs of a cOuntry's business conditions.
 | Irrespective immigrants are ignor- ant, tc be sure, but the agents of the steamship companies are quick to bring them news of good times in this country. If they will not rely on what the agents tell them they are in i fluenced by what they hear from immi- grants who have gone before them. l When foreigners reach here and find quick employment waiting for them they let their friends in the old coun- try know of it. That brings them over. "Then, too, you may take the case of tfs Italian, which I presume is more or less applicable to other classes of inn migrants. The father or brother comes first to this country. If he finds good employment here he is able in a short while to send for the Srest of the fam fly and right there immigration is in creased. To be sure, the Italians often leave for home again after making enough money, but when they get back to their country they tell of the pros perity here and as a result their neigh
 bors come over in force to try their luck