XV

ASSIMILATION AND PROGRESS

Process of Assimilation Slow

Progress in the development of social institutions, of whatever nature, is necessarily slow. Such institutions are in good part the result of the influence of the environment, natural and social, and in consequence any change in social or economic conditions is likely to bring about a modification of the social structure very slowly. Moreover, every people is loath to change materially the nature of its institutions. In consequence, when new races of persons from countries with different customs, come as immigrants, it is desirable that as soon as possible they shall adjust themselves to the new conditions and adapt themselves to the social, political and industrial institutions of their adopted country-in other words, that they become assimilated.

BENEFITS FROM IDEAS OF IMMIGRANTS

This fact does not preclude the possibility of immigrants bringing with them from their homeland some ideas that may gradually be worked into the structure of the institutions of their adopted country in such a way as to improve those institutions, but any such change, as a matter of fact, must be slow and, generally speaking, such changes will be few. It is largely on this account that when the immigrant race is widely different in appearance and customs from that of the

country to which it comes, a feeling of hostility growing out of race prejudice is likely to be roused. Such has been the feeling on the western coast of the United States against the Chinese, Japanese and Hindus, owing to the very decided difference in personal characteristics and in habits of living of these people, entirely aside from the question of their influence on wages and the welfare of the wage-earning classes.

DESIRABLE TO EXCLUDE THOSE WHO CAN NOT BE

ASSIMILATED

Such a feeling is natural, altho, of course, one can not justify race prejudice as such. The coming in of people who will not be assimilated creates discord and makes separate classes or castes in a community. Usually this process does not tend toward an improvement of political institutions, but rather toward their deterioration, entirely aside from the question as to whether the immigrants were lower or higher in the scale of civilization. If the newcomers are so different that they can not be adapted to the conditions prevailing in the country to which they have come, they inevitably produce discord, even tho their habits are fundamentally no worse, either politically or morally, than those of the people with whom they are brought into contact. Of course, if they were powerful enough so that they could promptly mold the institutions of the new type into harmony with their ideas, the situation would be different, but such' a state of affairs has not arisen and will not arise with any group of immigrants in this country. It may, therefore, be assumed that the immigrant who can not be adjusted with a reasonable degree of readiness to the customs and institutions of his adopted

country brings an undesirable element into the community and would better be excluded. Those immigrants who can be readily assimilated will be desirable, if their energy is needed to develop the resources of the country to good advantage, tho it may be injurious if they come in so large numbers that regardless of their personal qualifications they can not be assimilated.

Changes in Bodily Form

It has generally been thought that under the educational, social and political conditions now existing in this country, the immigrants from Europe gradually change their habits of living and their ways of thinking and thus soon become Americans. Indeed, some observers have said that they also change in appearance, but until recently no sufficiently careful study had been made to determine whether as a matter of fact the new environment in America produces any marked change in the bodily form of either the immigrants or their immediate descendants. The investigations of the Immigration Commission, however, show that some changes in bodily form of the descendants of immigrants are very noteworthy.*

SHAPE OF SKULL

Not merely do the children of the immigrants in many instances show greater height and weight than the same races in their mother country, but in some cases even the head form, which has always been considered one of the most stable and permanent characteristics of races, undergoes very great changes.

* Reports of Immigration Commission, Vol. 38.

For instance, the East European Hebrew usually has a round head (brachycephalic). His American-born child becomes more long-headed than his parent, while the descendant of the South Italian, who in Italy has a head of the long type (dolichocephalic), becomes more short-headed than his parent. In other words, in this country, the heads of the descendants of these races that are so markedly different in Europe approach a uniform type, so far as this characteristic of) the shape of the head is concerned. This fact is extremely suggestive, inasmuch as it shows that even those characteristics of people that seem to be most permanent are subject to very marked modifications in the American environment.

RESULTS OF INVESTIGATIONS

The features of bodily form that were especially studied by the Immigration Commission were stature, weight, length of head, width of head, width of face and color of hair. The types that were examined were the Bohemians, Slovaks, Poles, Hungarians, Hebrews, Sicilians, Neapolitans and Scotch. These were selected because they represent divergent European types, and because, also, they have come to this country of late years in so large numbers. The changes that have been observed, as summarized by Professor Franz Boas of Columbia University, who was in immediate charge of the investigation, are as follows:

The Bohemians, Slovaks and Hungarians, and Poles, representing the type of Central Europe, exhibit uniform changes. Among the American-born descendants of these types the stature increases, and both length and width of head decrease,

the latter a little more markedly than the former, so that there is also a decrease of the cephalic index. The width of the face decreases very materially.

The Hebrews show changes peculiar to themselves. Stature and weight increase; length of the head shows a marked increase, and the width of the head decreases, so that the cephalic index decreases materially; the width of the face also decreases.

Sicilians and Neapolitans, representing the Mediterranean type of Europe, form another group which shows distinctive changes. These are less pronounced among the Neapolitans than among the Sicilians, who are also purer representatives of the Mediterranean type, notwithstanding the many mixtures of races that have occurred in Sicily and the adjoining parts of Italy. The stature of the Sicilians born in America is less than that of the foreign-born. This loss is not so marked among the Neapolitans. In both groups the length of the head decreases, the width of the head increases, and the width of the face decreases.

It should be observed that all these studies were made in the vicinity of the city of New York and that, in consequence, the results could hardly be spoken of as general. While the children of Hebrews that in Russia had been city dwellers increase in stature and weight in this country, as might be supposed from the more favorable food, the children of Sicilians, who in their own country had been country dwellers, seem to lessen in stature, probably because they have become city dwellers here. But the important fact to be kept in mind is that whatever the cause may be, and whether the change in type is for the better or worse, the influence of the new environment is very marked indeed, and we may therefore expect that the degree and ease of assimilation has probably been somewhat greater than has been heretofore assumed.