PART II-IMMIGRANT FARMERS IN THE WESTERN STATES. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. [For General Tables see pp. 735 to 757.] According to the census of 1900, 14.1 per cent of the persons gainfully occupied in the 11 States and Territories of the Western Division were farmers. Among 239,530 were 26,098 one or both of whose parents had been born in Great Britain, 11,499 in Ireland, 5,439 in Canada, 20,941 in Germany, and 15,331 in the three Scandinavian countries-Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. The number of Italian farmers and of farmers of Italian descent was 2,599, most of them living in colonies near a few large cities or in limited areas in California. With the exception of those of Irish extraction the percentage of each race engaging in agricultural pursuits was not very different from the average percentage of all persons gainfully occupied who were likewise engaged. The place they occupied in farming is indicated by the following table, which shows the percentage of the farmers in each of the 11 States, having one or both parents born in each of the countries to which reference has been made: TABLE 1.-Per cent of persons of foreign-born parentage engaged in farming in the States of the Western Division, by country of birth of one or both parents. These figures include the foreign-born of these countries and those who were nativeborn of one or both foreign-born parents native of these countries. Compiled from reports of the census of 1900. Since the census of 1900 was taken the number of some of the European races settled upon the land has greatly increased. This is especially true of the Scandinavians. Many industrial families in the cities have been able to establish themselves upon the land, while new immigrants have come directly from their native country, and beginning frequently as farm laborers, have later become independent farmers. A more striking movement is found, however, in the large number who have migrated from the North Central States, and especially from the Dakotas, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. The greater part of this movement has been directed to Washington and Öregon and to the recently reclaimed lands in the States immediately to the east, which have been more easily reached by the railways and which offer a climate said to be more agreeable to the Scandinavians than that of the States farther south. According to the best estimates, the rural as well as the city Scandinavian population of these States has increased greatly within 10 years. But any estimate of the number or increase of any of the north European races must be very general, for while they sometimes settle as communities, they are usually interspersed among the farmers of other races. The number of Italians upon the land has also increased rapidly, for those from the northern provinces of Italy have shown a strong desire to become independent farmers, and the direct immigration of this race has been the largest from Europe. The Portuguese from the Azores have also been added to each year and constitute a strong element in the agricultural population of the central part of California within a hundred miles or so of San Francisco. The other south European and the east European races, with the exception of the German-Russians, have not engaged in farming to any great extent. The German-Russians, with much assistance, have made great progress in Colorado, while the one large colony in California, about Fresno, has grown rapidly during the last 10 years. The Dalmatians have come into the ownership of several farms and lease a still larger number in the apple-producing district about Watsonville, Cal. Yet, most of the members of this race, as well as of the other races from Austria-Hungary, have immigrated within comparatively recent years, and have remained industrial workers or have engaged in the conduct of saloons, restaurants, and similar enterprises in the cities. Here and there Greeks have become tenant farmers, but they are few. The Polish farmers are more numerous, but they, too, are limited to a representative here and there. In fact, with minor exceptions, the farmers of races which have not been conspicuously employed as farm laborers, represent the older immigrants among the Europeans. With the exception of the North Italians and Portuguese, the south and east Europeans have not been residents sufficiently long to develop the attitude of permanent settlers and to adapt themselves to the changed conditions so as to have undertaken farming to any great extent without the assistance of those interested in them as laborers. Of the Asiatics, the comparatively few Armenians, though of the industrial and merchant classes, have exhibited an intense desire to become landowners or merchants. Only one large colony is found in the West, viz, that at Fresno, Cal. The eastern Asiatics, on the other hand, have been numerous on the Pacific coast and have leased much land, and lately the Japanese have purchased a large number of farms. In 1900 the Chinese held the tenure of 1,060 farms, the Japanese of 39, in the States of the Western Division. Though the number of Chinese engaged in certain kinds of farming has increased, the acreage controlled by them has doubtless decreased with the advance of the Japanese. In 1909 the Japanese owned or leased more than 210,000 acres in the States of the Western Division and Texas and Florida. Their advance has been due as much to the dominant position they have occupied as agricultural laborers as to anything else, as will be shown later in this report. Yet that there have been other factors in the rapid advance of the Japanese is clear from the fact that the Mexicans, who are thriftless and without ambition, have made practically no progress in the direction of becoming independent farmers, where they have been introduced as farm laborers under circumstances similar to those under which the Japanese have been employed. There are, however, many farmers of Mexican descent in Arizona, New Mexico, and southern Colorado. Most of them are native-born and engage in the growing of products primarily for family consumption. The Commission planned to make a study of farmers of different races in California, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, and Utah, and of Mexicans in Arizona and New Mexico, as well as of agricultural labor in intensive farming. The suspension of the general field work in the spring of 1909, however, made it impossible to carry out the plans which had been matured. Previous to this, the Germans of one community, the Scandinavians of three, the Italians of four, and the Japanese of three had been studied. After the suspension of the general field work, the investigation was limited to the Japanese and to other races selected for comparison, engaged in farming in the same localities and competing to an extent with the Japanese. The communities in which studies were made and the selection of races are explained by these facts. The number of farms studied, the number conducted by each race, the number of individual farmers and partners, and the chief kind of farming engaged in, are shown, by State and locality, in the table next presented. |