The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1901-06-27
NOT GOOD FARMERS.
Few Immigrants to America Capa-
bic Of Doing the Work.
Some Interesting Facts Regarding
the Distribution ana EmpIoy-
meat ef the Incoming
ThOusa nds,

0etWecu inc years 1850 ana lSyU
100000 OF the 3,v0O 900 immigrants
who came into the United States were
natives of Great Britain OF OF Germany,
and the number Of Scandinavians was
nearly 100000. The groat mapority
OF these newcomers, especially those
from Germany, Norway and Sweden,
were tanners whose destination was
the west. The term the west, as un-
derstood by immigrants, meant at one
time the western countries of New
York and Pennsylvania. later the
states of what is now called the mid
die west. Ohio, Indiana and Illirois;
then the trans Mississippi states of
Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas and, final.
ly, the northwestern states, to which,
prior to 1895, most of the new immi-
grants went.
In the last few years. notwithstand-
ing the prosperous condition of Auer-
lean manufactures. the large harvests
and liberal prices fer cereals and live
stocks, there has been marked fall
ing on in the immigration of farmers
to the United States and decided
Increase in the number of immigrants
seeking homes in the large cities and
manufacturing towns. The official
figures of the calendar year of 1900
have nos yet made their appearance,
but the total number Of Immigrants
will not be far from $4,000, and of
this number more than 100000 were
from Austria Hungary, another 1CO,-
600 from Italy and another 100000
from Russia and the Polish provinces
of Germany, while Great Britain fur
nished less than $4,000. of which mum
Der 10000 were from Ireland. These
new immigrants seek homes and cm-
ployment in the large cities, says the
New York Sun.
The fertility and productivcncss of
American farms are as great as and
in some cases greater than they were
many years ago. The means of trans
portation have been vastly improved
and the market 81 demand is decided
| ly larger than it ever was before. But
the conditions for the purchase OF
land are no longer 50 favorable. The
most eligible government lands for
| free homesteads have been disposed
Of. The railroad grants which in
cluded alternate parcels along the
| line of the roads have been sold and
in most eases occupied. No state, ex-
| cept in the southwest, where the eli
| II
such as no attract European farmers,
is under the necessity of Offering in
ducements to immigrants, and the lat
ter, no longer recruited from the
farming class on the European con-
| tinent and in Ireland. come chiefly
from large European cities in which
the population has become congested
or in which the rate of pay to mechan.
les has been forced down by competi.
tion or the use of new mechanical ap.
| pliances.
There is a constant and increasing
demand for mill hands and artisans
throughout the United States. and il
Is to some extent supplied by new
tIious 4 lc
which now furnish the largest share
, OF immigration, Austria, Russia and
Italy, have comparatively little in
common with the United States in the
way of language, customs, historical
! tradition or the forms of government.
! There are no longer in Russia or Aus.
tria prosecutions which would explain
n wholesale exodus of the inhabitants
of various districts, as was the case
10 and Is years ago. The economic
condition of Italy is rather better now
than it was at the time when Italian
immigration to tho United States be.
gan TO be large, and the increase OF
the immigration from these countries
can, therefore, be explained only upo:,
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 immigra.
tion is explained by the fact that
Germany is ceasng to be an agricul.
tural and is becoming n manufactur.
ing country. The total immigration
to the United States last year was
larger than in any previous year since
1893.