The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-11-17

Washington. D. c. Nov 1t iilgh
hopes for the PROV >sed AmericanH',
ton program is held out by a study
~ the remarkable way the United
states has absorbed the amazingly
large foreign element of its popula-
ton" says bulletin from the Ma
tional Geographic Society.
In describing the volume of this
influx, not generally realized when
was halted by the European war, the
bulletin quotes from communlca-
ton to the society as follows:
Who can estimate our Gebt to i'm
! m igration? Thirty three million peo-
pln have made the long voyage from
lien shores to our own since u was
proclaimed that all men are born
/ free and equal. and iiberty's eternal
! fire was ktndlcd first on American
! soil It is as If half the former
/ German Empire should embark Tor
America, or ali of pre-yVar England
except the county Of Kent. - IS
as If all the population of all OF the
states of the United States west of
the Mississippi, plus that of Alabama,
should have come bodily to America.
History records no similar move
! mont Of population which in rapidly
or volume can equal this Compared
to it the hordes that invaded En-
rope fro Asia, great and enormous
as they were were insignificant
Z "CT tie 80 coo. 900 who have come
more than Ia 600 600 still live among
us. and their children and children's
children are now in good truth 5t ne
( OF our bone and bio of our blood
Not long ago America crossed the
I hundre i-mi'iion line in the number
of its. citizens. and ii is interesting
I 20 note the composition of that popu-
lation.
TO begin with. there are 1000
900 colored people, including negroes.
Indians, Chinese. etc. Then there
are l4.500.000 people OF foreign birth
among us In addition to these.
there are Il 600. zee children of for
ei;rn born fathers and mothers and
g SOC 600 children Of foreign born
5 fathers and native mothers. or vice
verse. When all OF these have been
deducted fror' the 100 600. 900 only
Z "a. o0A or" -~mafn of full white ma
i've ancestry.
''ypt tne IS 600 900 American peo-
pie who are of foreign stock-~that
is. foreign horn or the children OF
foreign. born pe~ent--include some
Of the most iliu Isl Gus citizens OF our
republic Even the President of ae
7 United States himself has only ore
ancestor who was born in America.
and the list is long aro notable Of
statesmen, CAPTAINS of industry lead
ers of finance, inventors. makers of
| literature and progress, who have
strains OF blood rot more than one
genera ton on this side of the sea.
An examination OF the statistics
49,, l. ftra
since the foundation Of our govern
rnent the united kingdom 80 Great
Britain, md ireland have contributed
400. 600 of her people and GERMANY
more than six million. Ireland. with
more than four million: Great Bril-
! tain. with a little less than four mil
/ lion. and Scandinavia. with some
thing less than two million, have to-
ccthcr with Germany, contributed
more than hall OF the total immi-
grafton to our shores since the be-
ginning of the Revolutionary war
when we take the German i'm
migration of the United States be-
tween t77s and 1890 and compare 1t
with that from other countries, a
somewhat startling result, and one
usually unsupported. is disclosed.
The total arrivals Of aliens IN those
INA wears aggregated 1858, oco, OF
Whom moro than 100000 were Brit
ism and Irish and 5,i2s,oo were Ger
mans. which shows that one amen
out Of every three arriving IN Amer
leo during more than a century of
our existence was German oeiS
the I-nited Kingdom shows IA greater
proportion.
since 1880 the trend has been
v.ry different. with moro than IT.
! 900 0oe immigrant arrivals since
I that date. only 1,023,noo have been
Germans II from this number a
nroper deduction is made fer those
who returned to their homeland and
= those who have died since their
arrival 1t will be seen that there
are fewer than 4 million former
students OF the kaiser in this coun-
try who have not been here more
than twenty six years OF more than
/, .OOo. 900 reoplc Of German birth
and immediate ancentry among us
less than 100000 fail to have the
background Of birth or long resi-
dence in America behind them.
ut Is interesting to note the other
foreign elements that have entered
,oto the make mn Of American pom
>'ation since 1776. What wealth
ireland has given us, More Irish
people have crossed the seas 10 be-
come part If us than have remained
behind It Ii remarkable that 70
small an island--smaller. indeed.
than the State OF Maine--could in n
century and half send us enough
people 10 duplicate the present pop
,ilation of eleven of our States hav-
7g an aggregate area as large AZ