El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-12-11
New Aliens Not Like Old
Nearly Five Millions of Germans
Have become Citizens of
the United States.
Frederic j. HasEfn--
By Frederic j. Haskin'
D. G. Dec. IL

the history of immigration to
America than the change in the char
acter of the stream of humanity that is
coming to our shores. The bulk Of i'm
migration always has come from
Europe, for to date. nearly SO out Of
every 100 immigrants arriving have
come from that one continent.
Early Immigrants Wanted Homes.
1 me old immigration differed from
! the new in many essentials. The former
was largely a migration of people who
came 10 become citizens. to acquire
/ homes here, and to establish their nos
| terlty upon the land. They entered
| practically every line of activity in
every part of the country. A large
I proportion of them were engaged in
I agriculture before they came and thew
Went out as farm labOrers when they
got mere But they were frugal and the
Iaboler of yesterday became the farmer
or today They formed a very impor-
| tant factor in the development of all
the territory west of the Allegheny
mountains. So rapid was the process
OF assimilation that the racial id entity
Of their children was almost lost and
forgotten; Among them only Is out Of
every 100 go back to their homes in
Europe, while SO out of eveFy 100 from
southern and eastern Europe return
me old immigration comes with its
families for more than tWo-fifths are
females. The new" immigration leaves
the women folk behind, for only a little
more than One-fOurth of the arrivals
are females
New Arrivals Land With SIG.
The better condition of the Immigrant
from northwestern Europe as compared
with MS more unfortunate brother in
Otner parts of the continent is revealed
Dy the money they were able to show.
me average old immigrant can ex-
h1btt $40 to the immigrat ton insDecfor
The average new" immigrant has
ABOUT SIG when he lands The educa-
tlonal advantages Of the old" immi- |
grant are even more marked There
are more than Is times as many illit-
crates coming to Us from the new"
immigration as from the old The
oIo immigration measures up to all
the usual tests of good citizenship in
ABOUT the same ratio when compared !
with the new" And vet all authOrf-
ties agree that in the new" Immigrant /
we nave, as rule, diamond in the 1
rough. a human being who is lust A 1
capable of transformati Cl into a good 1
citizen as his more fortunate brother |
from northwestern Europe. The process
Is simply longer and more tedious I
one, and one to which the immigrant !
does not lend himself as readily
Nearly Five Million Germans.
GSIlhdhy mas gwen us more lmmi- /
grants than any other country, with the 4
single exception of the united king
dom. Nearly 5000. 600 Germans have /
come across the water to become a part
or this nation. The pioneers of the
great German migration were the
Mennonltes, who, in 1852 followed the /
path of the English Quakers. They
were the first people in America to
petition the abolition of slavery They
also were the first people in America
TO raise their voice against ntemper-
ance- They were soon followed BY the
Scandinavians, Of whom it has been
said that there is no second generation.
since the children become so thorough
" Americans.
The coming of the new inmigra-
ton has caused the members of the
old to move out of their vocatfons
and residential quarters and on uD into
a higher sphere. Where once the Irish !
the German and the Scandinavian !
worked and lived, now the Greek the {
Italian. the Pole, the Bohemian. the
and the Russian Jew are
found The German, the Irishman. the
Swede and the Norwegian have moved
into better quarters and have taken
up more attractive work
The immigrant from northwestern
Europe quickly becomes a citizen.
More than nine-tenths Of the Swedes
and the Swiss entitled to citizenship !
papers have them, approximately
seVen-eighths Of the Germans Welsh |
Danes and Norwegians have taken
them out, and four-fifths of the Irish.
English. Dutch and Scotch have cast
their lotgpermanently with US. Com ]
pare this with the allies in the Balkan .
1
terence in the character of the aspira- |
tons of the two types of immigration /
viii appear Only one-eighth of the =
Servian immigrants have taken out cit
zenship papers, One-fifth of the Greeks I
and little more than a third of the {
Seven-tenths Of the south /
ern Italians hold aloOf from citizen :
ship. L.
Room For Another Billion.
The late Prof ". J. MCGEE once de-
dared that the soil Of the United States
las sustaining power of 500 to the !
square mile Assuming that one-thirQ | y
# our territory is waste land. we stilI. 7
lpon this basis. have room for round 7
billion of people.
Many economists think the immigra- 7
ion from northwestern Europe has set 7
led down to a basis that is about nor 1
nal and that we hencefOrth may count a
lpon receiving about $50 600 Of them [
Turing the average year. But there
re others who say that the disappear +
nee Of cheap farming land and the fill /
nS of the factories with cheap labor
rom southern Europe will cut down |
ne figures probably to half their pres !
mt proportions They believe that Ger
many is about the best example of what -
We may expect Of the 'Old" immigra- | 1
ion in the future; and Germany now / t
ives US only One-eighth as many of | h
er good citizens in year as she did Q
0 years ago. r
All students Of the immigration !
rOblem agree that the passing OF the }
old" immigration accentuates the i
roblems of the new" and since it is I
ecoming the latter or nothing It be- i
doves the nation to try to make the a
lost Of it, and to aid it to fill the place t
4 the future that the old" has filled h
4 the past The consensus Of opinion h
that this is not so much a matter of 7
he restriction of immigration as 1t is n
the immigrants.