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seem to show a peculiarly bad eminence, leading in homicide with 6.3 per cent. of all the convictions, while the nationality next to them is the Irish with only 2.2 per cent. In abduction, the Italians also lead with 2.3 per cent., England being second at only 0.62 per cent. In assault the Italians are first with 28.9 per cent., Austria-Hungary second at 15 per cent. In all of the offenses of personal violence the Italians lead, except in the case of rape, where the Germans and Italians are equal at 2.1 per cent., citizens of the United States following at 1.6 per cent. In the same court, the Italians lead in crimes against the public health and safety with 13.8 per cent., the Poles ranking second with 5.2 per cent. In the case of violation of excise laws and similar offenses, the Canadian leads with 10.5 per cent., the English following with only 6.2

per cent.

It is perhaps sufficient to say here that on the whole, in spite of the inclination apparently shown by certain nationalities to commit certain classes of crime, it is impossible to show whether or not the totality of crime has been increased by immigration.

NEW MEASURES NEEDED

There can be no doubt regarding the inadequacy of our laws for the exclusion of criminals. Many criminals doubtless come as seamen, or as employees in some capacity on ships, and then secure entrance to the country by desertion, while, as already explained, many others escape because the inspecting officials can not detect them.

Unless an immigrant has a criminal record abroad, there seems no way of ridding the country of his presence if he becomes a criminal here. It seems ad

visable that our laws be so amended that an alien who becomes a criminal within a relatively short time, after his arrival, say from three to five years, should be deported after he has paid the penalty here. Presumably such a person has brought with him a tendency to commit crime.

Moreover, it would seem advisable for the United States to make arrangements with certain foreign countries that keep police records of all their citizens, so that all persons arriving from those countries might be required to produce a penal certificate showing a clear record. Those unable to present such a record should be excluded. Such an arrangement could not well be made with all countries, since, first, many countries keep no such records, but also, second, because such an arrangement would probably be used by some countries as an additional means of oppressing political offenders or those suspected of revolutionary inclinations, however praiseworthy such inclinations might be from the American viewpoint.

Birth-Rate Among Immigrants and Their Descendants

So much has been said in late years about "race suicide," and so much of both the industrial and military strength of a country depends upon the natural increase of population through the birth-rate, that the relative fecundity of American women as compared with the descendants of immigrants and of Americans is of great significance. Fortunately enough, excellent material was collected by the Twelfth Census, altho not utilized by the Census Bureau, so that the Immigration Commission was able from the original data thus collected to reach accurate results

of value. It was not considered practicable to exploit the material for all sections of the United States, but the State of Rhode Island, the city of Cleveland and forty-eight counties largely rural in the State of Ohio, the city of Minneapolis and twenty-one rural counties in Minnesota, were taken as typical of the different sections of the country and of urban and rural conditions. The detailed figures are of great interest.*

WOMEN BEARING NO CHILDREN

Some general conclusions may be reached as follows: The percentage of women under forty-five years of age who had been married from ten to nineteen years, when classified by parentage and nativity shows that in all these regions selected for study 7.4 per cent. bore no children. Among the native whites of native parentage this fact held of 13.1 per cent, while among the whites of foreign parentage of only 5.7 per cent. Among the women of foreign parentage the percentage of women bearing no children was. largest among the Scotch-8.9 per cent. of the first generation and 11.3 per cent. of the second generation.

The Polish women were the most fertile; of the women of the first generation only 2.6 per cent. bore no children, and of those of the second only 1.3 per cent. The Bohemians, Russians, and Norwegians show likewise relatively few women without children. while the English, French and Irish rank next to the Scotch in the large numbers unfruitful. Speaking generally, also, it may be noted that the percentage of childless women is decidedly higher in the second generation of the white women of foreign parentage, altho this difference does not appear in so marked

Reports of Immigration Commission, Vol. 28.

a degree in rural Minnesota as in the other areas. Generally speaking, the result would seem to indicate that the second generation, under rural conditions, is almost as likely to have children as the first. Under urban conditions this is not so likely to occur, as percentages indicate.

AVERAGE NUMBER OF CHILDREN

Considering the question from another viewpoint, that of the average number of children borne by women of the different races and nationalities in these different localities, among the women of American stock, the average number of children in Cleveland, Minneapolis and Rhode Island, which are largely urban, is much the same, 2.4 and 2.5, while in the rural districts of both Ohio and Minnesota, the number of children is practically one more, 3.4.

Among the women of foreign stock, the difference between city and country is not so decidedly marked, but there is also decided variation among the different. races. The average number of children borne by women under forty-five years of age, married from ten to nineteen years, was 2.7 for native women of native parentage, and 4.4 for the native white women of foreign parentage. Among those races studied, the highest birth-rate was found among the Poles-6.2 children for the women of the first generation and 5.1 for those of the second. Next to these rank the French Canadian with 5.8 for the first generation and 4.9 for the second. Among the foreigners the lowest birth rate was found among the English, with 3.7 for the first generation and 2.9 for the second. The Scotch ranked almost the same with 3.8 in the first generation and 2.9 in the second.

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