Speech #680050966

They are not official charts. but. as I have said before. they are charts which. according to my knowledge. on examination. and having before me the immigration and census figures. I found correct. and that the figures on these charts and the plotted lines are substantially accurate. Now. if you will examine the trend of immigration through the history of immigration you will find that immigration moves in cycles. that it corresponds with business depression or business prosperity. In other words. the law of supply and demand obtains in immigration as It obtains in almost everything else. immigration being more or less an economic problem. Chart 1 plots an Immigration line from 1820 to the end of the fiscal year 1.922. that is. July 1. 1923. This chart shows the general Increase in immigration as well as its cyclical movements. ivhich correspond closely to the cyclical mvement of business. The panic years1837. 1873. 1884. 1893. 1907were each followed by a marked decline in immigration. On the other hand. immigration has been greatly stimulated during periods of business prosperity in the United States. In response to the demand for labor in the period of canal development In the twenties and of railroad building in the thirties of the nineteenth century immigration increased from a level of about 10.000 to over 70.000 per year. The opening of the West with its accompanying opportunities attracted a large number of immigrants from Europe after 1880. when the intensive development of the manufacturing industries of the United States greatly increased the demand for labor and a further augmentation of the number of aliens arriving took place. This movement of immigrants was further intensified in the first 10 years of the present century. The war period brought With it a sharp falling off in Immigration. but by 192021 a tendency was shown to approach the prowar volume. The per cent limit act of Mfay. 1921. restricting immigration from European countries to 3 per cent of the total number of foreign born from each country resident in the United States. as shown by the census of 1910. and supplementing the restriction of previous laws. resulted in a decrease of the total immigration in the fiscal year ending June 30. 1922. to a number somewhat below the total immigration in 1850. The lower diagram in this chart shows the assimilation of tile jmmigrants into the population. It shows that in spite of the increasing and Irregular flow of immigration the proportion of foreign born in the whole population has been practically constant. hovering around 13 per cent of the total population. This is also true of the native born of foreign parentage. Thus if in 1860. 1880. 1900. and 1920 the proportion of our foreignborn whites was always around 13 per cent. where is the immigration peril we hear so much about? Reverting to the upper part of the chart. I desire to point out more in detail the relationship between immigration and business conditions during the period from 1900 to 1923. It shows how immigration was checked by the depression in 1900 and 1901. rose rapidly during 1902 and 1903. decreased in 1904. rose again In 1905. 1906. and 1907. fell greatly in 1908. and did not recover in 1909. rose In 1910. fell in 191112. and rose again to a very high point in 191314. During the war period. of course. there was relatively little Immigration. but in 191920 immigration was again approaching its prewar level. The great falling off in immigration in 192122 was due to business depression as well as the operation of the per cent limit act. as is shown by the fact that in the next year more than 50 per cent more people entered. even though the same law was in operation. 41o m CHART 1.