St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1901-05-08
FARMER IMMIGRANTS.
A Marked Failing OF In Their Num-
Der In the United States.

Marked railing OH IN AACAH "
Der In the United States.
Between the years 1880 and 1890
100000 of the 100000 immigrants
who came into the United States were
natives of Great Britain or Germany,
and the number of ScandinayiaDs was
nearly 100000. The great majority
of these newcomers, especially those
from Germany, Norway and Sweden,
were farmers, whose destination was
the west. The term the west, as I'M
derstood by immigrants, meant at one
time the western counties of New
York and Pennsylvania, later the
states of what are now called the mid
die west, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois;
then the transmississippi states OF
Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas and hnal-
ly the northwestern states, to when,
prior to 1895, most of the new imml-
grants went.
In the last few years, notwithstand-
ing the prosperous condition of Amerl-
can manufactures, the large harYests
and the liberal prices for cereals and
live stocks, there has been a marked
falling off in the immigration of farm
ers to the United States and decided
increase in the number of immigrants
seeking homes in the large cities and
manufacturing towns. The official fig
ures of the calendar year of 1900 have
not yet made their appearance, but the
total number of immigrants will not be
far from 475,000 and of this number
more than 100000 were from Austria
Hungary, another 100000 from Italy
and another 100000 from Russia and
the Polish provinces of Germany, while
Great Britain furnished less than 90
900. of which number 10000 were from
Ireland. These new immigrants seek
homes and employment in the large cit
les.
The fertility and productiveness Of
American farms are as great as and in
some cases greater than they were many
years ago. The means of transportation
have been vastly improved, and the
market of demand is decidedly larger
than it ever was before. But the con-
ditions for the purchase of land are no
longer so favorable. The most eligible
government lands for free homesteads
have been disposed of. The railroad
grants, which included alternate par
cells along the line of the roads, hav
been sold and are in most cases occu
pied. No state except in the southwest,
where the climatic conditions are not
generally such as to attract European
farmers, is under the necessity of offer
ing inducement to immigrants, and the
latter, no longer recruited from the
farming class on the European CONT
nent and in Ireland, come chiefly from
large European cities in which the pop
ulation has become compacted or in
which the rate of pay to mechanics has
been forced down by competition or
the use Of new mechanical appliances.
There is a constant and increasing
demand for mill hands and artisans
throughout the United States, and it is
to some extent supplied by new immi-
grafton. The three countries which
now furnish the largest share of immi-
gration-Austria, Russia and Italy
have comparatively little in common
with the United States in the way of
language, customs, historical traditions
or the form of government. There
are no longer in Russia or Austria
prosecutions which would explain a
wholesale exodus of the inhabitants
of various districts, as was the case
10 or Is years ago. The economic con-
dition of Italy is rather better now
than it was at the time when Italian
immigration to the United States be-
gan to be large, and the increase of the
immigration from these countries can
therefore be explained only upon the
ground that the demand for such
labor as their immigrants have to offer
is growing in the United States. The
falling off Of German immigration is
explained by the fact that Germany
is ceasing to be an agricultural and is
becoming manufacturing country.
The total immigration to the United
States last year was larger than in
any previous year since 1S93.-New
York Sun.