The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-10-06
Our New Population.

We print to-day letter arguing that
the great problem before this country
concerning the accession of the multi
tudes Of aliens now coming here, chiefly
from eastern and southern Europe, is to
regulate their distribution, so that 1t shall
be to parts Of the Union where their labor
is needed. A serious evil brought to us
with their immigration, in the opinion
of our correspondent, is the prevailing
disposition Of these foreigners to settle
in great cities, rather than to distribute
themselves throughout the country.
The consequence OF their aggregation
in the cities, he says, is that they form
special foreign communities, which are
"in the country and not Of the country"
where little or no opportunity is pre-
sented for their proper assimilation and
Americanization.' This feature Of the
problem he seems to think peculiar
to the present immigration, but it is by
no means new.
When the Irish immigration began to
pour in after the potato famine, the same
feature Of it gave occasion for very
serious native American" uprising in
New York. These newcomers, also,
were collected in special communities
and districts, and their advent brought
about a radical change in the character
Of the town. The tenement house sys-
tenn grew up, and in those tenements and
in particular districts, to great extent,
these new immigrants were gathered to-
gether. The German immigrants and
afterward those from the Scandinavian
countries were more disposed to dis
tribute themselves in the West, where
they furnished the basis Of the popula-
ton for powerful States. The analysis
of the race elements in New York lately
made by us shows, however, that 80
great part Of them remained in this
city that even in 1900 those Irish and Ger
man immigrants and their children con-
stituted about one-half of the whole
population; and il we deduct from the
1874 white natives Of native parentage
only about one-fifth of the whole popu-
lation-the grandchildren Of these i'm
migrants, the remainder is reduced
very largely.
So distinct were these immigrants,
even as concerned the districts generally
inhabited by them, that "Irish-Ameri-
can" and German American" were
terms introduced and used in political
phraseology. The Irish, for the most
part, herded together under the impulse
Of race attachment and religious pref
udice, and newspapers were printed for
their special patronage. Convenience
Of intercourse led to the same herding OF
the Germans, speaking language diff
ferent from that of tho rest OF the COM
rnunity. Newspapers Of large circula-
ton and powerful political influence
were printed in the German language.
The majority Of these Germans still dwell
in the tenement house districts, under
the compulsion Of pecuniary circum-
stances, though during the last twenty
years newer immigrants, chiefly Jews
and Italians, have come in to drive them
from districts they formerly occupied.
The political distinctions expressed in
tho terms AIrish-American" and Ger
man-American, however have lost their
force and their reason, almost wholly.
In politics these citizens are simply
American, divided in opinion as citizens
generally are. Distinctively Irish papers
have either died out or preserve very
feeble existence. The paper printed in
German which once had great circula-