We, the People of the United States.—The national constitution begins with the words: “We, the People of the United States”. But who are the people? No one cares to carry a lot of figures in his head and most people think that statistics are uninteresting; but there are some figures which everyone ought to know and, moreover, there are some statistics which are far from being dry or tedious. The figures relating to the population of the United States, its growth and distribution, are interesting because they portray something that the world has never seen before and probably will never see again,—a country doubling its population four times in just about a single century. That is what the United States did in the hundred years from 1790 to 1890. In 1790 the entire population was less than four millions. (There are more people in the single city of New York today, and almost as many in Chicago.) The population had doubled in 1813, and had doubled again in 1838, when it passed sixteen million. In 1864, only twenty-four years later, it had doubled once more (32,000,000). It passed the sixty-four million mark in 1891, and in all probability will double for the fifth time about the year 1940. In 1920, when the last national census was taken the population had passed 105,000,000.

Now if you will take the data at the foot of the page and work the calculation to the year 2000 (allowing for the gradual slackening of the increase) what will the population of the United States be then?^[7] It will be around three hundred millions, which is more than the white population of the entire world today. Even so the country would not be nearly so thickly populated as some European countries now are. Today there are in the United States about thirty-five persons to the square mile. But there are 700 to the square mile in England and 658 per square mile in Belgium, which are two of the most thickly-populated of all countries at the present time.^[8] Three hundred million people in the United States, if the figure should reach that total at the end of the twentieth century, would be less than one hundred per square mile. There would still be six acres of ground for every man, woman and child in the country. Whether there would be a sufficient food supply to support so large a population is another question and one which is not so easily answered.

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How the National Population is Distributed.—The people of the United States are very unevenly distributed over the face of the country. Great areas, particularly in the West, have only a few persons to the square mile, while the crowded sections of the largest cities have many hundreds to the acre. Even the rural areas of some states are thickly settled while in others the people are few and far between. Rhode Island is nearly as densely populated as Belgium, having about 566 people to the square mile while many states of the Western mountain region have only seven or eight inhabitants per square mile of territory. The reasons for this uneven distribution are chiefly geographical. The states which have grown most rapidly in population are not necessarily the oldest states but the ones which have the greatest natural advantages in the way of fertile soil, or mineral resources, or harbors and waterways, or favorable climate. People make their homes in those regions where they can best make a living.

Favorable climatic conditions exert a strong influence in attracting population. It is an interesting fact, often noted by students of history, that whereas civilization developed earliest in the tropical and semi-tropical zones it has everywhere made its greatest advance in the regions of moderate temperatures and rainfall. Taking the broad strip of country which lies between the thirty-seventh and the forty-fifth parallels of latitude, it will be found that nearly four-fifths of the entire population is concentrated within this mid-latitude area of the United States. And this is the area which, in all probability, will continue to be the most thickly settled.

The center of population in 1920 was at Whitehall, Owen County, Indiana, a little town of forty-three inhabitants which burst into prominence overnight when the census bureau announced it as the pivot of the nation. By the center of population is meant the point which the greatest number of people could reach with the least amount of travel. This point, at each successive census, has been steadily moving westward following very closely the thirty-ninth parallel of latitude. In 1790 it was at Baltimore, in 1840 in West Virginia, in 1880 in Ohio, and since 1890 it has been moving westward across Indiana.^[9] The center of population is a long way from the center of area, the latter being in Northern Kansas not far from the Nebraska border.

The Drift of Population to the Cities.—The distribution of the people has also been influenced by the growth of large cities. In 1790 there were only five communities with populations exceeding 8000, namely New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore, and Charleston. Taken altogether they had only 130,000 inhabitants, that is to say only one person in every thirty lived in these towns. But so rapidly did the various towns and cities spring up all over the country that by the time of the Civil War there were nearly 150 with populations above 8000, and today there are nearly a thousand. Not a single American city had 70,000 population in 1790; today there are more than a hundred such cities.

This remarkable drift of population into the towns and cities, which began early in the nineteenth century and has continued ever since, shows no signs of slackening. It is due to many causes, including the great demand for industrial labor in the cities, the attractiveness of city life to the young men and women of the country districts (see p. 351), and the tendency of the immigrants to locate in the crowded centers. Wherever industry and commerce thrive, there cities will be built and will grow. Half the population of the United States is now living in towns and cities of over 2500 population. If the drift to the cities continues at its present rate of progress, ninety per cent of the people will be living in the cities and towns by 1980 and only ten per cent in the country districts. That is already the case in England.^[10] One Englishman in every seven lives in London. That seems to be a very striking fact until we remember that one American in every ten lives in New York, Chicago, or Philadelphia. New York City has nearly six millions now; in fifty years, at its present rate of growth, it will be an urban giant of fifteen millions or more.

Why do the immigrants go to the cities rather than to the country districts? The chief reason is that most immigrants come to the United States to find work, and work is most easily found in the large cities. The great majority of immigrants have learned no trade before they come to America, hence they must seek jobs which require no great amount of skill or training. Another reason is that the immigrants want to be near others who speak their own language. In every large city these foreign colonies or settlements are created—Italian, Polish, Jewish, and so on. The newcomer naturally prefers to live in one of these colonies until he learns the English language, but having become accustomed to the city he rarely leaves it. Among the many millions of immigrants who have come to America during the past fifty years the great majority have gone to the cities, particularly to the large cities. New York City, for example, contains today more than two million people who were not born in this country. Nevertheless, the cities have not been built up by the immigrant alone. Large numbers of native Americans have left the rural districts and have helped to swell the population of the urban centers.

The Ebb and Flow of Immigration.—The United States has been the melting-pot of the nations. No other country has ever welcomed to its shores so many millions of people from all parts of the earth. One hundred years ago there were relatively few foreign-born persons in the country. But waves of immigration soon began to come and the number of incoming aliens, which was less than ten thousand in 1790, rose to more than four hundred thousand in some of the years preceding the Civil War. The immigrants during this period were for the most part from England, Ireland, and Germany. During the Civil War the influx subsided, but when the war was over it quickly began to swell once more and it continued, with various ups and downs, to the outbreak of the World War in 1914.

In some years, during this period since 1865 the number of immigrants has been as low as 200,000; in other years it has run above a million. Nearly every European race has been represented in this influx, although some have come in much larger numbers than others. Down to about 1880 most of the newcomers were from Ireland, England, Scotland, Germany, the Scandinavian countries, and the other regions of Northern Europe. But since that date the source of immigration has been steadily shifting. During the past forty years a much larger proportion has been coming from Italy, Austria, Hungary, Poland, Greece, and some of the smaller countries.^[11] This has brought in many millions of people who are not of Celtic or Teutonic stock.

Upon the outbreak of the great European conflict in 1914 the flow of immigration subsided quickly and while the war lasted it practically ceased altogether. This was due in part to the reluctance of European countries to let their people leave, and in part due to the lack of shipping, since all available vessels were engaged in carrying troops, munitions, and supplies. Immediately after the close of hostilities, however, the exodus from Europe recommenced, and in the year 1920 the figures of immigration once more rose into the hundreds of thousands. In spite of the strict regulations imposed by the United States government, enormous numbers of people in Poland, Italy, Hungary, and various other countries began applying for permission to migrate. The American consular offices in Europe were besieged by long lines of people waiting all day for passports to the Promised Land. In the face of this threatened flood Congress felt impelled to place all immigration under strict limitation, as will be explained a few paragraphs later.

During the hundred years from 1820 to 1920 it is estimated that more than thirty million immigrants reached the United States, which is the largest migration in history.^[12] It is true that considerable numbers of these immigrants eventually drifted back to their native lands but the larger portion of them remained permanently here.

Causes of Immigration.—The causes of immigration to this country are manifold. First in importance among them is the economic attractiveness of the United States. Cheap land, equal opportunities, the ease with which any industrious man or woman can make a living—these are the magnets which drew millions of people across the Atlantic during the nineteenth century. But there were other causes, namely, the existence in various parts of Europe of conditions which encouraged the people to emigrate. Religious persecution was one of the first things that drove men or women to America. It brought the Pilgrims to Massachusetts in the early days, the Quakers to Pennsylvania, and the English Catholics to Maryland. Political oppression in the middle years of the nineteenth century sent several million Germans to the United States, particularly to the Middle West. Oppression, both religious and political, has been instrumental in driving the Jews across the seas. Overcrowding in both the cities and the rural regions of Europe and the consequent inability of the people to obtain lands of their own, has been responsible for much of the drift to America. The exhaustion of the soil in Ireland, the crop failures and consequent famines there, have led to the migrations of the Irish, although dissatisfaction with political conditions has also been a factor in this case. To a considerable extent, moreover, immigration has been assisted by those aliens who were already settled in this country. Immigrants arrived in this country and by hard work soon became prosperous. Then they sent passage-money to their friends and relatives until whole groups of families were enabled to come to America in this way. The steamship companies, too, have advertised the attractions of America in all parts of Europe; they have kept agents at work in many countries, and have been an important factor in promoting immigration.

Nevertheless the underlying causes of immigration are economic. Immigrants come in greater numbers when prosperity reigns in America than in periods of business depression. This indicates that high wages and plenty of employment are the things which have the greatest influence in bringing them here. The democratic institutions of America have played their part, no doubt, and the relative social equality which exists among the people of the United States has been an attraction to those who are denied such equality in their own homelands. But the equality of economic opportunity, the open career, the chance of making a good living and even a fortune—these, after all, have been and still are the impelling forces.

The Effects of Immigration.—A large immigration is certain to have far-reaching effects, particularly if the newcomers be of a widely different race. It has assuredly had far-reaching effects in the United States. Take the importation of the negroes as the most conspicuous example. The coming of several hundred thousand persons of African blood, during the years preceding 1808, has resulted in placing a colored population of more than ten millions in the heart of a white man’s country, with all the social, economic, and political problems that this situation implies. It influenced the agricultural system of the Southern states, provided the underlying causes of the Civil War, and has profoundly affected the politics of the United States down to the present day. The problem presented by the immigration of the various European races has been altogether different because these races can be assimilated whereas the negroes can not. Even so, the European immigration has presented its own problems and the coming of these many millions has had profound effects upon every branch of American life.

Social Effects.—The social effects are chiefly in the way of introducing natural traits or qualities which were not in the American people during the early period. Immigration has resulted in making a cosmopolitan population which is not uniform in temperament or tastes, and can be made uniform only by the long-continued process of assimilation. This lack of uniformity is in some ways an advantage, not a defect. It may give us, in the long run, a more vigorous population than could ever be had from the development of a single strain. Whether the new composite race which ultimately emerges from the melting-pot will be superior or inferior to the original stock is something which only the future can tell. One disappointing feature is to be found in the fact that many of these immigrants are inferior to the average native-born American in physique, in mentality, and in moral fibre. It is sometimes asserted that the immigrant population is responsible for more than its due proportion of crime but no satisfactory evidence has yet been brought forward to prove this statement. It is a fact, however, that poverty and illiteracy are more common among the foreign-born than among the native white population. It is quite likely that the new environment will do much to remedy this condition and that the second generation, through the work of the public schools, may measure up to the native-born. These public schools are the most potent of all forces in the work of Americanization. It is upon them that we must depend to make the ultimate social effects of assimilation beneficial to the country.

Economic Effects.—Immigration has had important economic results. It has kept the labor market well supplied and throughout the last three-quarters of a century has aided the great industrial expansion of the country. American industry and commerce could not have grown to such proportions without the man-power which has been obtained in such enormous quantities from Europe. We have used great numbers of aliens in building the railroads of the country, in mines and steel mills, in workshops and factories. On the other hand the flood of immigration has at times proved too strong. It has on occasions served to produce an over-supply of labor and this, in turn, has caused wages to fall. Labor leaders claim that the steady stream of immigrants has prevented the rise in the American workman’s standard of living which otherwise would have taken place. Organized labor would like to place a protective duty upon immigrants. If the newcomers could be scattered evenly over the whole country instead of being concentrated in the urban areas, this danger of glutting the labor supply would be very small. In any case, as has already been pointed out, the situation tends to adjust itself, because immigration always falls off when business depression causes a slackening in the demand for labor.

Political Effects.—The exact political effects of immigration are hard to determine. It is to be remembered that most of our immigrants have come from countries where they were given no political opportunities, or almost none. Prior to their arrival in the United States they have had no experience with democratic institutions. Yet we have freely offered them, after five years of residence, the privilege of becoming citizens and voters. The rest of the world has always looked upon this as a very dangerous experiment in democratic government; nevertheless its results have not been at all disastrous. True enough, the newcomers have often been exploited by unscrupulous politicians and they have sometimes allowed themselves to be misled into supporting incompetent or corrupt candidates, especially in the large cities. But the alien immigrant is not wholly or even chiefly responsible for the bad government that we have had from time to time in various parts of the country. Some of the worst political abuses have flourished in states and cities where the proportion of foreign-born citizens is relatively small. Political reformers rail at the iniquities of “foreign-born bosses”, but the fact is that most of our notorious political bosses have been native-born. Notwithstanding the admission of many million aliens to all the rights of American citizenship it can be fairly claimed that American government in its various branches, national, state, and local, is just as honest and efficient as that of any other country.

The Restriction of Immigration.—Until about forty years ago there were practically no restrictions upon the coming of aliens to the United States, but in 1882 laws were passed by Congress to exclude paupers, criminals, and the insane. All laborers of the Mongolian race were also debarred. Three years later, in 1885, it was provided that no immigrant of any race should be admitted to the United States if under contract to perform labor in this country. And from this date to the present the restrictions have gradually been tightened. In 1917 Congress established a literacy test for all immigrants over sixteen years of age, and in 1921 it made further provision that the number of immigrants admitted each year from any European country should not exceed three per cent of the natives of that country already in the United States, as shown by the census figures of 1910. A tax of eight dollars per person is now imposed upon every immigrant.

There are some who believe that it would be wise to prohibit immigration altogether, at any rate until conditions in both Europe and America become more settled. They argue that we already have as many aliens as we can Americanize for some time; that immigration at the present time increases unemployment, and that the quality of immigrants is now considerably below what it used to be. On the other hand it is urged that the industrial growth of the United States requires a larger supply of labor than can be provided without immigration and that by providing proper facilities for selection we can make sure of getting only the right type of immigrant.

Our Racial Problems.—We have several serious racial problems in this country including the problem of the European immigrants in the East (particularly in the cities), the negroes in the South, and the Japanese on the Pacific slope. The large percentage of European immigrants in the Eastern cities has already been mentioned, and the problems which their presence in these cities creates have been alluded to. The European immigrant can be assimilated, but the process takes time because a large part of it must be accomplished through education. If the immigrants could be persuaded to scatter over the country instead of congregating in the cities with their fellow-immigrants, the problem of making real Americans out of them in a short time would be simplified.

The Negroes.—The problem of the negro is older and more difficult still. They are of a race so far removed from the white population of the United States that there is no hope of their ever being assimilated. They were brought here by the tens of thousands without any adequate appreciation of the problem which their presence would eventually create, and they form an unmeltable mass in the melting-pot of American society. At the outbreak of the Civil War the colored population of the United States, most of whom were then slaves, numbered less than five millions, or about one-tenth of the total population of the entire country. Now they number about ten millions. In other words the negroes have a little more than doubled in sixty years. This is a much slower rate of natural increase than has been made during the same sixty years by the white population. A high death rate, especially in the cities, is mainly responsible for this.

The chief home of the negro is still, as it has been from the beginning, in the South. Nearly nine-tenths of the colored population of the United States lives below the Mason and Dixon line, particularly in the great agricultural plain which stretches from Virginia southwestward to Texas. In two states, Mississippi and South Carolina, the blacks outnumber the whites; in three others, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida, they almost equal them. Most of the Southern negroes live in the rural districts and are engaged in the cultivation of the soil; those who have made their way to the Northern states, more than a million in all, live chiefly in the cities. During the past few years the negroes have been coming northward in greater numbers.

The problem of the negro has many phases, political, social, and economic. The political problem arises from the fact that although the negroes are guaranteed by the constitution the right to vote they are by one means or another debarred from voting in practically all the Southern states. The economic problems have been due, in the main, to the lack of educational facilities for the negro, and particularly to the absence of opportunities for vocational education. This defect is now being remedied to some extent by the spread of vocational schools, of which Tuskegee and Hampton Institute are the best-known examples. The social separation between the white and colored races, especially in the Southern states, is as absolute as ever it was and there is no reason to think that this separation will ever be broken down. When two races in the same community must live their lives entirely apart there is bound to be some mutual suspicion and distrust. In any case the negro problem, in its various phases, must be solved by the white population of the Southern states if it is to be solved at all.

The Japanese on the Pacific Slope.—Some years ago the influx of Japanese into the states of the Pacific slope gave rise to the fear that the Far West would soon have a great racial problem on its hands if this immigration were allowed to go on unchecked. One of these states, California, enacted laws designed to prevent the owning or leasing of land by Japanese and pressure was brought upon Congress with a view to having the Japanese shut out of the country altogether. In the end, through diplomatic negotiations, a “gentlemen’s agreement” was concluded between the American and Japanese governments by which the latter promised to grant no more passports enabling its citizens to emigrate to the United States, except in the case of merchants, students and others whose residence in this country would be temporary. The Japanese government has lived up to the letter of this agreement, but this has not prevented a good many Japanese coming into the United States under one subterfuge or another. The Western states are determined that their territory shall remain a “white man’s country”; on the other hand the Japanese government is not willing to agree by formal treaty to the exclusion of its own people from any other country. As a great and powerful nation, civilized and progressive, Japan feels that such a treaty would be a humiliation. So there the matter rests at present. Japanese are not forbidden to enter the United States; we are merely depending upon the informal promise of the Japanese government to keep them from coming here.

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Americanization.—Among the European immigrants now in the United States there are many thousands who cannot speak the English language, who have never become citizens, know nothing about the way in which American government is carried on, and have no comprehension of American political or social ideals. This situation was not fully appreciated until the outbreak of the World War. During the past few years an earnest attempt has been made both by the public educational authorities and by private organizations to Americanize these people by helping them to learn the language, to obtain a knowledge of American history, to become naturalized, and to acquire a proper conception of what American democracy implies. This does not mean, of course, that we desire all people, of whatever race, to possess the same temperamental traits, or hold the same opinions, or have the same point of view. Diversity in individual qualities, physical, mental, and moral, is not undesirable provided the differences are not so great as to prevent the various elements from adequately understanding one another. By Americanization we do not mean, therefore, that every newcomer to this country should submerge his individuality in the general mass, discard his own inherited traits, and put on a veneer of Americanism. Rather it implies that those who are the children of the soil, the native-born, should exemplify the Golden Rule towards the stranger who comes within our gates and should endeavor to show him, by actions as well as words, the meaning of good citizenship in a democracy.

T. N. Carver, Principles of National Economy, pp. 123-140;

J. R. Commons, Races and Immigrants in America, pp. 1-38; 63-106;

J. W. Jenks and W. Jett Lauck, The Immigration Problem, pp. 1-39; 40-66;

Mary Antin, The Promised Land, pp. 180-240;

Edward A. Steiner, On the Trail of the Immigrant, pp. 292-333;

Peter Roberts, The New Immigration, pp. 124-172; 173-199;

E. A. Ross, The Old World in the New, pp. 228-281, and passim;

Booker T. Washington, Up From Slavery, pp. 1-62;

L. H. Gulick, The American-Japanese Problem, pp. 3-27; 118-183.

1. Should immigration be further restricted? The history of immigration. What the immigrants have done for the United States. Economic, social, and political disadvantages of immigration. The present restrictions. Figures showing the probable influx of immigrants under the percentage system during the next ten years. What further restrictions would improve the quality of immigration? How might these restrictions be enforced? Could the selection be made at the port of sailing? Conclusions. References: P. F. Hall, Immigration, pp. 121-138; J. W. Jenks and W. J. Lauck, The Immigration Problem, pp. 135-197; E. A. Ross, The Old World in the New, pp. 282-304; Peter Roberts, The New Immigration, pp. 341-359; Debaters’ Handbook Series, Immigration, pp. 69-81; 148-163 (arguments on both sides); F. J. Warne, The Tide of Immigration, pp. 313-361.

2. The foreign-born population of your own community. Take some such book as F. A. Bushee’s Ethnic Factors in the Population of Boston, or H. B. Woolston’s Study of the Population of Manhattanville, or Robert A. Woods’ Americans in Process, and note the plan followed in studying the characteristics of foreign-born groups. Some excellent suggestions can be had from Carol Aronovici’s booklet Knowing One’s Own Community. Apply this plan to a survey of your own town or city. Some data can be had from the national and state census reports in the case of larger cities; in smaller communities the material must be gathered by field work.

3. An effective program of Americanization. References: F. S. Bogardus, Americanization, pp. 186-225; Peter Roberts, The Problem of Americanization, especially pp. 45-108.

1. The economic effects of immigration. E. A. Ross, The Old World in the New, pp. 195-227.

2. The immigrant in American politics. M. K. Simkhovitch, The City Worker’s World, pp. 181-209; P. F. Hall, Immigration, pp. 183-198; R. A. Woods, Americans in Process, pp. 147-189.

3. The German immigrant. A. B. Faust, The German Element in the United States, pp. 357-390.

4. The Italian immigrant. R. F. Foerster, The Italian Immigration of Our Times, pp. 374-411.

5. The Slavic immigrant. E. G. Balch, Our Slavic Fellow Citizens, pp. 349-377.

6. Our treatment of the immigrant. Jacob A. Riis, The Making of an American, pp. 58-100; E. A. Steiner, From Alien to Citizen, pp. 53-71; 122-168.

7. Immigrant life in the large cities. R. A. Woods, The City Wilderness, pp. 33-57; Ibid., Americans in Process, pp. 104-146.

8. The economic problems of the negro. Booker T. Washington, The Future of the Negro, pp. 42-66; Carl Kelsey, The Negro Farmer, pp. 22-28, and passim.

9. The problem of the Japanese on the Pacific coast. L. H. Gulick, The American-Japanese Problem, pp. 3-27; H. A. Millis, The Japanese Problem in the United States, pp. 152-196.

10. As others see us. Hugo Muensterberg, The Americans, pp. 229-254.

1. What has been the relative rate of increase of population in your own state during the last two decades? Has the rate been more or less rapid than that of the nation as a whole? To what features is the difference due? What racial elements are strong in the population of your state and in what industries are each of these elements chiefly engaged?

2. What have been the impelling causes of immigration from (a) Germany; (b) Ireland; (c) Italy; (d) Russia?

3. Give four reasons why most immigrants settle in the cities.

4. Explain the principal effects of immigration upon (a) the growth of industry; (b) the scale of wages; (c) municipal politics; (d) the public school system (including evening schools, etc.).

5. Which races are the most difficult to assimilate and why?

6. Make some definite suggestions as to how the conditions of the negro race can be made more tolerable in this country.

7. Should Japanese as well as Chinese be excluded by law from immigrating to the United States? Give your reasons.

8. What mistakes are we most likely to make in our zeal for the Americanization of non-English speaking immigrants?

1. The period of residence required for the naturalization of aliens should be extended to more than five years.

2. Aliens ought to be debarred from employment on national, state, and municipal work.

3. The national government should take jurisdiction over and prevent all racial discrimination by the state.