New Britain herald., 1930-10-11
100000 ITALIANS IN


 pounded theory that Columbus was a Spaniard, the first Italian to set foot upon the shores of the New World came in 1492. That was 43S years ago; and tomorrow the an- niversary of the termination of this eventful trip is celebrated.
 Those who will celebrate most enthusiastically are 100000 | Italians in the United States Joining them quite as enthusiastically will be the 5,50O,O0O of Italian stock in | the country.
 It is possible that when the com plete racial census figures for 1880 are !nced by the Census Bu- reau Eill be found that the ItaliG yorn are the largest foreign group in the country.
 But that does not mean the largest
  Census Bureau classfies as flor eign stock" those who were either foreign born or had at least one foreign born parent. This classifica- ton in 1920 showed 3,336,941 or Italian stock in the country, or more of ID al population. It was surpassed by the German (seven per cent of the popuation), the Irish (four per cent) and the Russian (three and g half per cenO. Included in the Russian, however, were the Polish stock
 But from 1910 to 1920 the Italian stock increased 59 per cent in this country, while the German stock de- creased 12 per cent, the Irish eight per cent, and the Russian" stock increased 52 per cent. These fluctu-
 
 crest of the German and Irish stock came before the Italian and the for mer represent a much higher age level; and incidentally, the second generation of any stock, not possess ing a foreign born parent auto 11,, lI11 nd pletely American
 With immigration cut down to next to nothing, as at present, it will be no more than 50 years when everybody in the nation will be classified as clear-cut American. having no foreign born parents.
 Further facts upon the remark able accession of Italian born and Italian stock in the makeup of modern America, culled from official sources, read as follows:
 = year listed 1,610,113 persons in the United States as having been born in Italy. They represented 1.5 per cent of the total American population and 11.5 per cent of the total foreign born population. They were our
 
 surpassed only by those borr in Germany. who numbered 1,6S6, 10S. The 1880 census figures on for eign-born have not yet been publish ed. However, an approximate esti- mate of the Italian-born now in the United States can be made by add ing to the total for 1920 the immi- grants from Italy since that year (about 4390O0) and subtracting those who emigrated back to Italy since then (about 255,0O0). There must be subtracted further the num- Der or deaths or lldlldl-DOlll llOlli 1920-30, which can only be approXl- mated. By this process, the 1880 figure for Italian-born in the United States comes to about 1,700,000, or 14 per cent of our present popula- ton.
 The 192o-3O death rate of the Italian born in the United States is considerably lower than the 1920-30 death rate of the German-b born, for the latter are older The peak of German immigration to the United States came in the decade from 1881 to 1890, when there were 1,452, 970 German immigrants. In the decade from 1901 to 1910, there were only 14S,945 German immigrants to this country, The peak of Italian immi- grafton came in 1901-1910, when D. 045,S77 came here from Italy, with l l s