TABLE 1. Comparative classification of immigrant races or peoples.... 3. Population of Austria-Hungary, by race.. 4. Czech population of Austria-Hungary. 5. Distribution of Serbo-Croatian population in 1900. 6. Distribution of Serbo-Croatians, by religion.. 7. Finnic population of the Russian Empire, 1897 8. German population of the world ....... 212 214 219 221 230 230 237 242, 243 9. Population of India, by language and geographical division 248 10. Distribution of Italians 252 15. Races or peoples of the Russian Empire, exclusive of Finland: 1897.. 266 16. Races or peoples of Finland: 1900.. 267 17. Distribution of Little Russians (Ruthenians). 268 18. Scandinavian population and immigration 271 207 IMMIGRANT RACES OR PEOPLES. INTRODUCTORY. Since eastern Europe became an important source of immigration many new ethnical factors have been added to the population of the United States. Early in the Commission's investigations among these newer immigrants it became apparent that the true racial status of many of them was imperfectly understood even in communities where they were most numerous, and the difficulties encountered in properly classifying the many ethnical names that were employed to designate various races or peoples suggested the preparation of a volume that would promote a better knowledge of the numerous elements included in the present immigrant movement. This work, which was prepared by Dr. Daniel Folkmar, assisted by Elnora C. Folkmar, is presented as a part of the Commission's report, under the title "Dictionary of Races or Peoples." While this "dictionary" treats of more than six hundred subjects, covering all the important and many of the obscure branches or divisions of the human family, it is intended primarily as a discussion of the various races and peoples indigenous to the countries furnishing the present immigration movement to the United States, or which may become sources of future immigration. Until 1899, when the Bureau of Immigration first classified arriving immigrants according to the race or people to which they belonged, practically all population statistics respecting the foreign-born in the United States were recorded only by country of birth. Previous to the adoption of the improved method of recording immigration statistics the Bureau of the Census had attempted in some instances to distinguish among the various east European peoples in the population, and as a result of this effort reports of recent censuses include more or less accurate data relative to the Polish and Bohemian elements in the population. In the first-mentioned case this grouping is accomplished by regarding for census purposes the former Kingdom of Poland as a geographical entity instead of Provinces of Austria, Prussia, and Russia, as Poland has been politically for more than a century. In the same way Bohemia is considered as a geographical unit instead of a part of Austria. With these exceptions, however, census reports make no distinction between the many important ethnical factors to be found among natives of eastern European countries resident in the United States. Poland and Bohemia also appear as "countries of birth" in earlier immigration statistics, but when the movement of population from Austria-Hungary, Russia, Turkey, and the Balkan States to the United States assumed large proportions the old method of recording arrivals only by the country of their nativity was of little value in determining the ethnical status of such immigrants, and the Bureau of Immigration finally adopted the racial classification. The bureau recognizes 45 races or peoples among immigrants coming to the United States, and of these 36 are indigenous to Europe. This classification was adopted by the Immigration Commission in collecting and compiling data respecting the foreign-born in this country, and it is also made the principal basis of Doctor Folkmar's dictionary of races or peoples. No work of this nature has before been published in the English language, although related works have been printed in the French, German, and other languages. The present work, moreover, differs essentially from previous publications of the same nature, in that it is written primarily with reference to the subject of immigration, and is for the convenience of students of that subject rather than for the ethnologist. Therefore, in addition to a more strictly ethnological discussion of the various immigrant races and peoples, careful attention has been given to their numerical and geographical distribution, as well as their relative importance in the movement of population to the United States and other immigrantreceiving countries. In the preparation of the dictionary it was neither the plan of the Commission nor the purpose of the author to attempt an original discussion of anthropology or ethnology, but rather to bring together from the most reliable sources such existing data as it was believed would be useful in promoting a better understanding of the many different racial elements that are being added to the population of the United States through immigration. In the more strictly ethnological topics of definition and division, or classification of races or peoples according to their languages, their physical characteristics, and such other marks as would show their relationship one to another, and in determining their geographical habitats, an effort has been made to present the view most generally accepted among ethnologists, or, in case of radical and important differences of opinion, to present the rival views. It need not be explained, in view of the vastness of the ethnographical field and the present imperfect state of the science, that mistakes are inevitable in a work of this nature. It is not to be regarded as written for the ethnologist, but for the student of immigration: for the one who wants in convenient form an approximately correct statement as to the ethnical status of immigrant races or peoples, their languages, their numbers, and the countries from which they come. In determining the number and geographical distribution of the races and their various divisions, reference was had to the census reports and other official publications of foreign countries, as well as to standard works of history and travel, and the publications of foreign geographical and other scientific societies. Included in the dictionary is a selected bibliography of general works upon the subject under consideration, and a list of a few of the authorities that were consulted in its preparation. The number of the chief divisions or basic races of mankind is more in dispute at the present time than when Linnæus proposed to classify them into 4, or Blumenbach into 5, great races. Some writers have reduced the number of such basic races to 3, while others have pro |