Now, if to this group of basic stock we add the 36,398,958 characterized by the census as foreign stock to which reference has already been made, and also the composite colored element which has been classified by the census, a total is obtained amounting to 96,375,065, to which we can give national attribubutions, as will be later demonstrated on the basis of estimates already computed by the United States census authorities prior to the conception of the act of 1924. This sum of 96,375,065 subtracted from the total population of the United States gives a numerical equivalent amounting to 9,335,555, whose derivation is wholly undetermined. In apportioning these various groups for the purpose of this study, the basic stock has been allotted to the national groups in the proportion that the nations from which their forebears sprang contributed to the population as enumerated in 1790.2 In a previous paragraph allusion has been made to the element classified by the Census Bureau as foreign stock (Vol. II, United States Census, 1920, p. 897). This large group, amounting to approximately one-third of the population as enumerated on that date, was apportioned in accordance with their birth or parentage to the nations of the world, on the basis of a pre-war map, it having been found impossible in the case of the native born of foreign parentage to ascertain the Province or city from which the parents of many of these people originated, although their nationality in accordance with the map of the period of their immigration was ascertainable without peradventure of doubt. Owing to this fact, there are not only some inconsistencies in the figures between the census tables for country of birth (p. 694) and country of origin of foreign white stock (p. 897), but also, as has just been indicated, a redistribution of the whole group is necessary to conform with the present boundaries of Europe. A reapportionment of the 36,398,958 foreign stock has been accomplished on the basis of distribution of the foreign born in the United States, in accordance with the postwar map; for example, the total number of persons born within the pre-war boundaries of the Austro-Hungarian Empire amounted to 2,021,926 (p. 688, Vol. II, United States Census, 1920). The percentage of the foreign born assignable to each of the component parts has been applied to the total foreign white stock as it appears on page 897, Volume II, United States Census, 1920 (4,240,703 plus 133,996, that proportion of those persons of mixed foreign parentage whose fathers were Austro-Hungarian, as given on page 900, Table 4, Volume II, United States Census, 1920, that is to say-4,374,699.) This figure is the total which may be regarded as the Austro-Hungarian strains in accordance with the census enumerations. It should be noted, of course, that in the case of countries such as Poland and Yugoslavia, which are composed of cessions of territory or accretions from various sources, due account has been taken of the fact. In order to be consistent, the descendants of the Irish population in the United States in 1790, amounting to 61,534, or 1.9 per cent of the total number of persons enumerated at that time, have been apportioned between the Free State and North Ireland, on the basis of the relation between the present estimated distribution of immigrants originating in those areas, although the evidence points to the fact that the Irish in the United States during the Colonial period were predominantly from the north of Ireland. 431 A COMPARISON OF CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES BY NORTHWEST EUROPEAN STOCK includes besides the countries of Northwest Europe, Canada, Newfoundland, Iceland, Australia and New Zealand. In the case of Ireland, a peculiar difficulty arises from the circumstance that no division of the population on the basis of the Free State and north Ireland is printed in Volume II of the census of 1920. The number of foreign-born persons assigned, therefore, in the table on the preceding pages has been arrived at by taking the figure for the quota allotted to the Irish Free State on a 2 per cent basis of 1920 (see p. 17, House of Representatives, 68th Cong., 1st sess., Rept. No. 350), deducting 100, dividing by 2, and multiplying by 100. The result given by this calculation is obviously the Census Bureau's estimate of the number of foreign-born persons whose place of birth is attributable to the Irish Free State, viz, 723,800. This figure of 723,800 deducted from the total 1,037,233 enables us by calculating the percentage, to arrive at the proportion of persons born within the Free State which may be applied to the total Irish foreign stock (4,286,720) for the purpose of distributing that element between the Free State and North Ireland. Obviously, the balance not assigned to the Free State is grouped for quota purposes under the heading "Great Britain and North Ireland.' Turning now to the third column of the table comprising a group amounting to 9,335,555, to whom reference has been made before as the numerical equivalent of the native born of native parentage, the national origin of whose parents is wholly indefinite, the following method of apportionment has been adopted. Clearly, this element represents the contribution of eight decades, of which the last which may reasonably be considered as having added substantially to our total population, is that of 1890-1900. Owing to the fact that the proportion of the various nationalities contributed by immigration to our foreign-born population has varied with every decade, each of the eight decades has been treated as a separate group, and the natural rate of increase of the total population has been applied to the net immigration for each of the said decades. The total so arrived at, obviously, is not usable, because it comprises all the persons included in the 36,398,958, who have already been disposed of. The proportions which the descendants attributed to each of the eight decades bear to the total increase of the population by immigration between 1820 and 1900, having been ascertained, it is, therefore, applicable to the 9,335,555, to give the numerical equivalent of white persons of unidentified origins contributed by each of the eight decades. These groups representing the descendants contributed by the net immigration of each of the decades has been apportioned on the basis of national contributions by immigration in accordance with the percentages of distribution given on page 695, Volume II, United States census, 1920, except that the distribution of the first three decades has been assumed to be that as of 1850, the census of 1850 being the first from which we may derive authoritative data respecting the country of birth of our foreign-born population. While it is true that there is a variable rate of fecundity applicable to the different races, the evidence points to the fact that the variation is balanced by the relatively lower marriage rate and the high rate of infant mortality, but the natural rate of increase of our population having been applied to the composite groups of the respective decades, it is a fair assumption that the distribution given in this table is for all practical purposes substantially in accord with the facts. In conclusion, it only remains to refer briefly to the method of arriving at the quotas to conform with the provisions of Section II, subsection (b) of the immigration act of 1924. Since the law provides that a minimum quota of 100 shall be assigned to any nationality whose proportion of the total would not reach that figure, it has been ascertained that 23 nationalities fall into this group, and the total, 2,300, has therefore been deducted from the 150,000 maximum number of immigrants admissible to the United States, leaving a balance of 147,700, to be distributed proportionately among those nations whose quotas run above the minimum of 100. June 14, 1924. 3 While it would be possible to distribute the descendants of immigrants arriving in the United States in the decades 1820-1850 on the basis of data relating to arrival of passengers in American ports from the various nations of the world, the absence of any emigration figures involves an assumption respecting the returns which make it preferable to adopt the definitely ascertained figures of distribution for the foreign born in the United States for the purpose of this study. |