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Immigration Totals since 1820

We have been considering thus far the immigration of a single year. To make the effect of this survey cumulative, let us include the totals of immigration from the first.[4] The official records begin with 1820. It is estimated that prior to that date the total number of alien arrivals was 250,000. In 1820 there were 8,385 newcomers, less than sometimes land at Ellis Island in a single day now, and they came chiefly from three nations—Great Britain, Germany, and Sweden. The stream gradually increased, but with many fluctuations, governed largely by the economic conditions. The highest immigration prior to the potato famine in Ireland in 1847 was in the year 1842, when the total for the first time passed the 100,000 mark, being 104,565. In 1849 the number leaped to 297,024, with a large proportion of the whole from Ireland; in 1850 it was 310,000; while 1854 was the high year of that period, with 427,833. Then came the panic and financial depression in America, and after that the civil war, which sent the immigration figures down. It was not until 1866, after the war was over, that the total again rose to 300,000. In 1872 it was 404,806; in 1873, 459,803; falling back then until 1880, when a high period set in. The totals of 1881 (669,431) and of 1882 (788,992) were not again equaled until 1903, when for the first time the 800,000 mark was passed.

The Totals by Decades

Taking the figures by decades, we have this enlightening table:

1821 to 1830	143,439
1831 to 1840	599,125
1841 to 1850	1,713,251
1851 to 1860	2,598,214
1861 to 1870	2,314,824
1871 to 1880	2,812,191
1881 to 1890	5,246,613
1891 to 1900	3,687,564
1901 to 1905	3,833,076
	—————
Total, 1821 to 1905,	22,948,297

From this it appears that more aliens landed in the single decade from 1880 to 1890 than in the period of forty-five years from 1820 to 1865. Indeed, the immigration of the past six years more than outnumbers that of the forty years from 1820 to 1860.

A Startling Total of 23,000,000

Thus, from colonial days above twenty-three millions of aliens have been received upon these hospitable shores. And more than thirteen millions of them have come since 1880, or in the last quarter century. No wonder it is said that the invasion of Attila and his Huns was but a side incident compared to this modern migration of the millions.

Impressive Comparisons

Canada, our northern neighbor, is a prosperous colony of 5,371,315, according to her latest census. We could almost have peopled Canada entire with as large a population out of the immigration of the decade 1880–1890. More than that, the whole population of Scotland, or that of Ireland, above four and a quarter millions, could have moved over to America, and it would only have equaled the actual immigration since 1900. If the whole of Wales were to come over, the 1,700,000 odd of them would not have equaled by 100,000 the total immigration of the two years 1904–05. If all Sweden and Norway packed up and left the question of one or two kingdoms to settle itself, the 7,300,000 sturdy Scandinavians would fall short of the immigrant host that has come in from everywhither since 1891. More people than the entire population of Switzerland (3,315,000) have landed in America within four years. If only the majority of these aliens had possessed the love of liberty and the characteristic virtues of the Protestant Swiss, our problem would be very different. These comparisons strongly impress the responsibility and burden imposed upon America by practically free and wide-open gates.

The Problem of Assimilation

Here are the totals which we have now reached. Of the 23,000,000 aliens who have come into America since the Revolution, the last census (1900) gave the number then living at 10,256,664. A census taken to-day would doubtless show about 14,000,000. Add the children of foreign parentage and it would bring the total up to between 35,000,000 and 40,000,000. Mr. Sargent estimates this total at forty-six per cent. of our entire population. The immigration problem presents nothing less than the assimilation of this vast mass of humanity. No wonder thoughtful Americans stand aghast before it. At the same time, the only thing to fear is failure to understand the situation and meet it. As Professor Boyesen says: "The amazing thing in Americans is their utter indifference or supine optimism. 'Don't you worry, old fellow,' said a very intelligent professional man to me recently, when I told him of my observations during a visit to Castle Garden.[5] 'What does it matter whether a hundred thousand more or less arrive? Even if a million arrived annually, or two millions, I guess we could take care of them. Why, this country is capable of supporting a population of two hundred millions without being half so densely populated as Belgium. Only let them come—the more the merrier!' I believe this state of mind is fairly typical. It is the sublime but dangerous optimism of a race which has never been confronted with serious problems." But we believe it is the optimism of a race which, when fairly brought face to face with crises, will not fail to meet them in the same spirit that has won the victories of civil and religious liberty and established a free government of, by, and for the people in America.