at the disposal of the Immigration Commission by the Italian authorities. The two reports last mentioned have been freely used and duly accredited. Other sources considered in the preparation of the reports were largely official publications of foreign governments, and in some cases authoritative unofficial publications were employed.

The Commission's report upon this topic is divided into two parts. The first is a discussion of recent European immigration to the United States and the more general features of the emigration situation in Europe, while the second part deals more particularly with emigration conditions in the various countries which are now the chief sources of immigration to the United States. It is the purpose of the report to show the causes and character of the present movement of population from Europe to the United States and other matters necessary to an understanding of the situation.

In studying this situation in the various countries which are now the chief sources of our immigration, the Commission considered the possibility and feasibility of international agreements as a measure for regulating the movement of population between such countries and the United States. Naturally such information as was secured in that regard can not be included in the Commission's report to the Congress. There seems to be every assurance, however, that agreements with certain European governments for the control of the movement, especially with a view to preventing the emigration of criminals and other undesirables, are entirely within the range of possibility.

OLD AND NEW EUROPEAN IMMIGRATION.

In studying the emigration situation in Europe the Commission was not unmindful of the fact that the widespread apprehension in the United States relative to immigration is chiefly due to the changed character in the movement of population from Europe in recent years. Because of this, European immigration, for the purposes of this report, is divided into two general classes, which for convenience of reference may be designated as the old and the new immigration. The former class includes immigrants from England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland, which countries from 1819 to 1883 furnished about 95 per cent of the total movement of population from Europe to the United States, while the latter class, or new immigration, includes immigrants from Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Montenegro, Poland, Portugal, Roumania, Russia, Servia, Spain, Syria, and Turkey, which countries in the year 1907 furnished 81 per cent of the total number of European immigrants admitted to the United States.

The crest of the wave in which the old immigration predominated was reached in 1882, the crest of the new, thus far, in 1907, and a survey of European immigration in those years as shown by the following table indicates in detail the change in its character geographically.

TABLE 1.-European immigration to the United States, fiscal years 1882 and 1907, by country.

[Compiled from reports of the United States Commissioner-General of Immigration.]

In 1907 Poland is included under Austria-Hungary, German Empire, and Russian

Empire.
Less than 0.05 per cent.

The following table shows the number of European immigrants admitted to the United States in 1882 and 1907, classified according to old and new immigration, as previously explained:

TABLE 2.-European immigration to the United States, fiscal years 1882 and

Because of this radical change in the character of European immigration to the United States in recent years the Commission in its various lines of investigation has paid particular attention to the peoples of southern and southeastern Europe who have come to this country as immigrants. For the same reason the investigation in Europe was made especially with a view to securing information relative to conditions general in the south and east of Europe, so far as such conditions were in any way related to the subject under consideration.

ATTITUDE OF EUROPEAN COUNTRIES TOWARD EMIGRATION.

All European countries except Russia and Turkey recognize the right of their people to emigrate. Under the Russian law citizens of the Empire are in general forbidden to leave the country to take up a permanent residence elsewhere, but the fact that Russia in 1907 was third among the emigrant-furnishing nations of Europe indicates that the law in this regard is practically obsolete. The same is true as regards the Turkish law upon this subject. From a sentimental standpoint emigration is, with a few exceptions, a matter of national regret. In some countries military reasons inspire a not inconsiderable degree of opposition, for the reason that emigrants as a rule are of an age which makes them liable to military service. There appears to be, also, a well-grounded and increasing objection to emigration in some sections of Europe because of the economic loss resulting from the exodus of so many agricultural and other laborers. In general, however, it may be said that emigration is recognized as a phenomenon controlled almost entirely by irresistible economic forces which practically compel an attitude of acquiescence on the part of governments.

Some European countries, notably France, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Belgium, have experienced no emigration problem of importance in more recent times. At one time Germany was the leading emigrant-furnishing nation of the world but this has now ceased to be the case. During the period when the emigration movement from northern and western Europe to the United States was at its greatest height, Denmark was somewhat affected. The movement from Denmark, however, was never so large as from other Scandinavian countries. The United Kingdom is still a source of considerable immigration to the United States, but the movement is smaller than formerly, and the number now emigrating is not sufficiently large to create an emigration problem. There is also a considerable movement of population from the United Kingdom, or more particularly from England and Scotland, to Canada and other parts of the British Empire, but this is encouraged and in a measure assisted, for England is the only country in Europe which openly promotes, or at least sanctions and assists in, the emigration of public charges. Such assisted emigration, however, is directed to Ĉanada or other British colonies instead of to the United States.

The European countries most concerned in the matter of emigration at the present time are Norway, Sweden, Italy, Austria, Hungary, Russia, Greece, Turkey, and the Balkan States, and so far as practicable the Commission has considered the attitude of these countries toward the present movement of their people to the United States.

In most European countries the government exercises some measure of control over emigration. Generally, however, this control concerns merely the welfare of the emigrant in protecting him from exploitation and ill treatment before embarkation and during his voyage at sea. Some countries also take a deep interest in the welfare of their citizens who as emigrants have left their native land.

The attitude of some governments toward emigration is naturally influenced to a greater or less extent by the permanency of such emigration. As stated elsewhere, the newer immigration to the United

States from southern and eastern Europe is to a considerable degree a movement of transient industrial workers, rather than persons who emigrate with the purpose of becoming actual settlers in another country. While it is a fact that many who come to the United States as intending transients eventually become permanent residents, it is also true that many continue in a transient state, and thus retain a more than sentimental interest in their native countries. Whatever may be the value, in an economic sense, of this latter class of immigrants to the country in which they may temporarily reside, it is certain that they are an important factor in promoting the general economic welfare of several European countries. The advantage in this regard is in great part due to the large and constant flow of socalled immigrant money into such countries from the United States. The greater part of this money is sent to countries or sections of countries where low economic conditions prevail, and its uplifting effect in many places is recognized. Another quite important factor in this regard is the immigrant who returns to resume a permanent residence in his native country with more or less capital acquired in the United States. Through the purchase and development of land or in other enterprises these returned immigrants have naturally benefited the communities in which they reside. It may be stated also that the introduction of American ideas and methods has, in many cases, proved a valuable adjunct to American-earned capital.

On the other hand, emigration from some provinces of southern and eastern European countries has been so great that a shortage in the supply of common labor has resulted. This claim was frequently made to members of the Commission by landowners and others in various countries. It appears also that a relatively large increase in wages has occurred in sections from which large numbers of immigrants have been drawn.

In brief, it may be stated that employers of labor may, through excessive emigration, be affected by a shortage of labor and a consequent rise in wages. But on the other hand, the economic condition of the laboring classes from which the great majority of emigrants are drawn is favorably affected, not only by remittances from the United States but by increased wages at home.

CHARACTER OF EUROPEAN EMIGRATION.

The present-day emigration from Europe to the United States is for the most part drawn from country districts and smaller cities or villages and is composed largely of the peasantry and unskilled laboring classes. This is particularly true of the races or peoples from countries furnishing the newer immigration, with the conspicuous exception of Russian Hebrews, who are city dwellers by compulsion. Emigration being mainly a result of economic conditions, it is natural that the emigrating spirit should be strongest among those most seriously affected, but notwithstanding this the present movement is not recruited in the main from the lowest economic and social strata of the population. In European countries, as in the United States, the poorest and least desirable element in the population, from an economic as well as a social standpoint, is found in the larger cities, and as a rule such cities furnish comparatively few emigrants. Neither do the average or typical emigrants of to-day represent the

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lowest in the economic and social scale even among the classes from which they come, a circumstance attributable to both natural and artificial causes. In the first place, emigrating to a strange and distant country, although less of an undertaking than formerly, is still a serious and relatively difficult matter, requiring a degree of courage and resourcefulness not possessed by weaklings of any class. This natural law in the main regulated the earlier European emigration to the United States, and under its influence the present emigration represents the stronger and better element of the particular class from which it is drawn.

A most potent adjunct to the natural law of selection, however, is the United States immigration act, the effect of which in preventing the emigration, or even attempted emigration, of at least physical and mental defectives is probably not generally realized. The provisions of the United States immigration law are well known among the emigrating classes of Europe, and the large number rejected at European ports, or refused admission after reaching the United States, has a decided influence in retarding emigration, and naturally that influence is most potent among those who doubt their ability to meet the law's requirements.

In its study of the character of European emigration the Commission confined itself to the ordinary characteristics and conditions of the various races which make for their desirability or undesirability as immigrants to the United States. The character of the various races from an ethnological standpoint has also been given attention and a comprehensive study in this regard forms a part of the Commission's general report under the title "Dictionary of races or peoples." a

In addition to more general observations relative to the character of European emigration, the sex, age, occupation, and degree of education are essential to an understanding of the present-day immigrant.

For the purpose of this discussion data relative to the abovementioned items have been compiled for an eleven years' period, 1899-1909, and the results classified according to the old and new immigration previously mentioned. In this instance, however, the classification is by race or people, rather than country of origin, which arrangement is permitted by the fact that the data employed have since 1899 been so recorded by the Bureau of Immigration. In what follows the old and new immigration will be considered to include the following races or peoples:

Old: Dutch and Flemish, English, French, German, Irish, Scandinavian, Scotch, and Welsh.

New: Armenian; Bohemian and Moravian; Bulgarian, Servian, and Montenegrin; Croatian and Slovenian; Dalmatian, Bosnian, and Herzegovinian; Finnish; Greek; Hebrew; North Italian; South Italian; Lithuanian; Magyar; Polish; Portuguese; Roumanian; Russian; Ruthenian; Slovak; Spanish; Syrian; and Turkish.

a Reports of the Immigration Commission, vol. 5. (S. Doc. No. 662, 61st Cong., 3d sess.)

Nearly all Syrian and a considerable number of Turkish immigrants come from Turkey in Asia, but for convenience and because they are so closely allied to the people of Turkey in Europe they are classed here as a part of the new immigration from Europe.