THE IMMIGRANT POPULATION OF MASSACHUSETTS. INTRODUCTION. This report consists of three parts, as follows: I. Immigrant Aliens Destined for and Emigrant Aliens Departed from Massachusetts, 1912.1 II. Immigrants in Cities and Industries. III. Foreign-born Population of Massachusetts, 1910. The first part of this report has reference to the changes in the population of the Commonwealth resulting from immigration and emigration during recent years and has been compiled from the Annual Reports of the Commissioner-General of Immigration; the second part is an abstract of the Report of the United States Immigration Commission, created by Act of Congress in 1907; while the third part is an abstract of the statistics of population of the Thirteenth United States Census (1910). The report of the United States Immigration Commission2 was recently issued in 42 volumes with a total of 30,000 pages, but the edition was so limited that it has seemed that a useful service would be rendered by this Bureau in making available for our own constituency the information for Massachusetts covered by this important inquiry. We have therefore prepared an abstract of several of the volumes so as to present in a compact form the principal facts ascertained by the Commission relative to the living conditions and the economic status of that portion of the immigrant population of Boston and of other cities of Massachusetts which was under consideration by the Commission. The investigations of the Commission 1 Similar presentations of this nature for prior years have been published by this Bureau in Labor Bulletins Nos. 38 (December, 1905), 49 (May, 1907), 56 (January, 1908), 63 (Apr., 1909), 75 (August, 1910), 81 (May, 1911), and 90 (March, 1912). * Senate Documents Nos. 208, 282, 338, 633, 61st Congress 2d Session, and Nos. 662, 665, 747, 748, 749, 750, 753, 756, 758, 761, 764, and 785, 3d Session. • Prof. Jeremiah W. Jenks, a member of the Commission, and Mr. W. Jett Lauck, superintendent of field agents, prepared a book on the salient points of this report which was published under the title of "The Immigration Problem" by Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1912. Introduction. were of such wide range and exhaustiveness that considerable time was required in securing and compiling the statistical data, and although the field work was conducted principally in 1908 and 1909 the reports have been but recently published. The general housing conditions in the cities show but little change from year to year; a second investigation, even as late as 1912, would probably therefore have found the housing and living conditions practically the same as in 1908, although the exact location of the various immigrant colonies may have changed somewhat during the interval. Immigrant Aliens - - 1912. I. IMMIGRANT ALIENS DESTINED FOR AND EMIGRANT ALIENS DEPARTED FROM MASSACHUSETTS, 1912.1 1. INTRODUCTORY. The primary purpose in preparing this report has been to show the volume and character of that portion of immigration to the United States which was destined for Massachusetts and the volume and character of that portion of the immigrant population of Massachusetts which departed from the Commonwealth to take up a permanent residence abroad. The data herein presented have been selected from the Annual Reports of the Commissioner-General of Immigration for the years 1896 to 1912, and from the Annual Reports of the Superintendent of Immigration for the years 1893 to 1895. 2. IMMIGRANT ALIENS DESTINED FOR MASSACHUSETTS. The number of immigrant aliens admitted to the United States and destined for Massachusetts shows a decrease in 1912 as compared with 1911, while the proportion of those destined for Massachusetts of those admitted to the United States shows a slight increase. There has been considerable variation in the total number of immigrants to the United States in each year and also in the number destined for Massachusetts during the past 20 years. The number admitted to the United States in 1893 was 439,730, but this large total was not reached again until 1900, and from year to year thereafter, with the exception of 1904, it increased until in 1907 there were 1,285,349 immigrants admitted. This was the record year both for the United States and for Massachusetts. The number admitted fell far short in 1908 and 1909, increased to 1,041,570 in 1910, fell to 878,587 in 1911 and to 838,172 in 1912. The largest percentage of immigrants destined for Massachusetts was in 1895, when 11.6 per cent came to this State. Notwithstanding the much larger numbers of immigrant aliens entering the United States in 1905, 1906, 1907, and again in 1910, the percentages destined for Massachusetts were only 7.0, 6.7, 6.7, and 7.9 for the respective years. It may be noted, also, that while the number of immigrants entering the United States decreased 1 An immigrant alien is a person, not already a citizen of the United States, who enters this country with the avowed intention of settling here and who is not returning to resume a domicile formerly acquired here. An emigrant alien is a person, not already a citizen of the United States, whose permanent residence has been in the United States, who intends to reside permanently abroad and who is not making a temporary trip abroad. |