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by Frederick Franklin Schrader

The German American Vote.

The German American Vote.—The following table shows the vote of the Germans, Austrians and Hungarians (according to the census of 1910) in ten states where their vote is above 40,000, the figures beingcompounded of those naturalized and those having applied for their first papers:

	Germans	Austrians	Hungarians	Total
New York	163,881	41,466	16,123	221,470
Illinois	124,430	30,461	5,374	160,265
Wisconsin	92,655	11,385	1,620	105,660
Ohio	68,576	12,342	8,757	89,675
Michigan	52,510	4,113	1,011	57,634
Minnesota	46,281	9,515	1,022	56,718
New Jersey	44,899	7,403	4,448	56,750
Iowa	39,348	4,802	249	44,399
Missouri	35,267	4,115	1,835	41,217
California	34,911	5,135	1,065	41,111

These figures are but remotely representative of what is called “the German vote” or the vote of the Austro-Hungarians, as no account is here taken of the first generation born in the United States, the sons of these naturalized Americans, nor of their grandsons.

With the first generation of German Americans, the total vote in 1916 of this element in New York, Illinois, Wisconsin, Ohio, Missouri, Michigan, Iowa, Minnesota, Indiana, New Jersey, California, Nebraska, Kansas and the two Dakotas amount to 1,860,500.

New England, which was the center of anti-German sentiment as it is the center of puritanism and Anglo-American hyphenation, contains the smallest number of Germans and the largest number of aliens of any section in the United States; in other words, the lowest percentage of naturalized citizens among the foreign-born white men of the age of 21 and over—40.7 per cent. The highest proportion of naturalized foreign-born above 21 years was in the West North Central division, that is Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas, where the Teutonic element is largely settled. Table 25 of the U. S. Census Bulletin on Population (1910) “Voting Age, Military Age, and Naturalization,” shows that the German aliens 21 years and over, all told, number only 127,103, and the Germans stand at the foot of the list of twenty-nine (alien immigrants) or 9.9 per cent., the highest being 83 per cent. The French aliens in the United States numbered 27.8 per cent., the Scotch 21.8, and the English 19.6. In other words, only 9.9 in every hundred of Germans could not be forced to go to war, but nearly 28 out of every hundred Frenchmen, 21.5 out of every hundred Scotchmen, and more than 19 out of every hundred Englishmen were immune from military duty in the United States, also from the payment of taxes.

There are more German-born persons in the United States of the age of 21 and over than there are persons of any other foreign nationality. Of the total number of foreign-born (6,646,817), Germanyis represented by 1,278,667, of whom 69.5 per cent. had been naturalized in 1910. Russia comes next, with 737,120, of whom only 26.1 per cent. were naturalized. There were 437,152 Englishmen of voting age, 59.4 of whom were naturalized, while only 49.6 per cent. out of a total of 59,661 Frenchmen of voting age were entitled to vote.

The following table shows the States containing the largest number of Germans of voting age of all foreign-born citizens:

	Germans	Austrians	Hungarians
East North Central	461,038	166,037	90,577
West North Central	228,262	63,686	——
South Atlantic	32,143	10,961	6,007
East South Central	15,154	1,719	——
Pacific	73,302	23,500	——

	Germans	Austrians	Hungarians
New Jersey	60,380	26,082	22,773
Ohio	87,013	38,400	47,852
Indiana	32,123	7,356	9,383
Illinois	159,112	81,883	20,391
Wisconsin	117,661	20,700	6,014
Iowa	52,393	8,580	——
Missouri	47,038	8,819	5,834
South Dakota	11,964	3,099	——
Nebraska	31,008	12,184	——
Kansas	18,910	6,178	——
Maryland	17,370	3,397	967
Colorado	9,558	8,221	——
Oregon	10,786	3,622	——
California	44,712	11,125	——

In the following States the German-born citizens of voting age constitute the second largest number of foreign-born citizens:

	Germans	Austrians	Hungarians
Michigan	65,129	17,698	6,937
Minnesota	57,789	22,261	——
Texas	24,039	9,767	——

In Michigan the Germans and Austrians together outnumbered the Canadians 3,588. In Minnesota the Swedes came first, with a total of 67,003, and in Texas the Germans were outnumbered only by Mexicans.

The German-born of voting age in New York State are outnumbered by Russians and Italians, but as 68.2 per cent. of the 215,310 are citizens, only 17.5 per cent. of the Italians and only 24.4 of the Russians had acquired the franchise in 1910, the Germans outclass them numericallyas voters. They are third also in Washington with a total of 17,804, next after the Canadians with 20,395 and the Swedes with 19,727. Of the Germans, however, 66.9 per cent. were naturalized while only 55.1 per cent. of the Canadians had their franchise, giving the Germans the advantage when the votes are counted.

	Germans	Austrians	Hungarians
New York	215,310	105,889	39,577
Washington	19,727	9,675	——

In Pennsylvania Germans of voting age are outnumbered by Austrians, Russians and Italians in the order named; but only 12.4 per cent. of the Austrians, 21.9 per cent. of the Russians and 13.7 per cent. of the Italians had the franchise, whereas 66.5 of the Germans were citizens.

In North Dakota the Norwegians, Russians and Canadians outnumbered the Germans in the order named, and here all had become citizens in fairly relative proportion, as also in Montana, where the Germans of voting age were outnumbered by the Canadians, Irish and Austrians.

	Germans	Austrians	Hungarians
Pennsylvania	95,539	145,528	68,522
North Dakota	9,160	2,565	1,096
Montana	5,419	6,067	——

In New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut the total number of German-born voters was only 33,011, Austrians 29,686 and Hungarians 6,377, and these were principally in Massachusetts and Connecticut. Maine had none.

The following table shows the number of Germans, Austrians and Hungarians who were citizens in 1910, including those who had taken out their first papers:

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Germans	1,017,037
Austrians	208,550
Hungarians	62,366
Total	1,287,953

In addition, the citizenship of a total of 240,953 Germans, Austrians and Hungarians had not been reported. The following shows the number of Irish, Swedes, Swiss and Hollanders of voting age in 1910, including those who had applied for their first citizenship papers:

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Irish	439,973
Swedes	259,305
Hollanders	40,332
Swiss	49,364
Total	788,974

Other States in which German-born naturalized males of 21 or over lead all other foreign-born are:

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Kentucky	7,380
Tennessee	1,509
Alabama	1,255
Mississippi	647
Arkansas	2,203
Louisiana	2,739
Oklahoma	4,071
Idaho	2,133
Wyoming	1,091
New Mexico	804
Arizona	852
Nevada	922
Delaware	903
District of Columbia	1,952
Virginia	1,547
North Carolina	365
South Carolina	570
Georgia	1,174
West Virginia	2,137
Florida	925

In West Virginia the total number of Italians was 11,561 against only 3,392 Germans, but only 748 Italians had become citizens against 2,137 Germans; and in Arizona there were 2,196 English as compared with 1,324 Germans, but 825 Germans had become citizens as compared with 832 English-born.

Of the 234,285 Russians in New York only 92,269 had become naturalized and taken out their first papers. In Minnesota were 52,133 Swedish voters, in Illinois 43,618, in Iowa 10,636, in Wisconsin 11,532, in Nebraska 10,000, in Washington 13,393, and in California 11,076.