FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER VII[ToC]

Participation of Jews in Total Immigration

We turn now to a consideration of the part played by the Jewish immigration in the total immigration to this country for these thirty years.[90] A general rise is revealed in the proportions the Jewish bore to the total immigration. In the decade between 1881 and 1890, of the 5,246,613 immigrants, the Jewish immigrants were 193,021, or 3.7 per cent of the total. In the decade between 1891 and 1900, of the 3,687,564 immigrants, the Jewish immigrants numbered 393,516. The Jewish proportion of the total rose to 10.7 per cent. This really tremendous rise was due to the fact that while the total number of immigrants fell off one-third in this decade, the Jewish immigrants doubled their numbers. It is from this decade that the Jewish immigrants become conspicuous in the immigration to the United States. In the decade between 1901 and 1910, of the 8,795,386 immigrants, the Jewish immigrants numbered 976,263. The proportion of the Jewish immigrants to the total rose to 11.1 per cent. Even in this decade of tremendous increase in the general immigration, the Jewish immigration rose at a still greater rate.

For the entire period the Jewish immigration was 8.8 per cent of the total immigration.[91] This proportion was not reached before 1891. The maximum in the first decade was in 1887, when the Jewish immigration constituted 6.7 per cent of the total for the year. In 1891, this proportion rose to 9.2 per cent. It reached its highest point during nineteen years, in 1892, when the Jewish immigrants constituted 13.2 per cent of the total for the year. Throughout the period of depression, from 1893 to 1898, the contribution of the Jewish to the total immigration was, with two exceptions, above its average for the thirty years. In 1893, when the number of Jewish immigrants fell to half of that of the preceding year, its contribution to the total was 8 per cent. In 1897, a year of lowest Jewish as well as general immigration, its proportion was the same as the average. In the following years the contribution of the Jewish immigration rose proportionately, and in 1900 it reached the maximum for thirty years, constituting 13.5 per cent of the total for the year. The next highest proportion was reached in the year of maximum Jewish immigration, 1906, when the Jewish immigrants represented 13.4 per cent of the total for the year. Throughout the years from 1904 to 1908, the Jewish immigrants contributed above their average for the period. In 1908, when the numbers both of the Jewish and the total immigration had been greatly reduced, the Jewish immigrants contributed 13.2 per cent of the total, one of the highest proportions in the entire period, a fact which indicates that the Jewish immigrant tide recedes more slowly than that of the total immigration. In 1909, the year in which the effect of the panic of 1907 was registered in the Jewish immigration, the proportion of the Jewish immigrants to the total fell to 7.7 per cent. A slight relative rise took place in 1910 to 8.1 per cent.

A comparison of the annual fluctuations of the Jewish and the total immigration enables us to distinguish some points of difference.[92] Though, on the whole, the Jewish corresponds with the total immigration in its rise and fall, there are significant differences. Thus, 1882 represents a year of high immigration in each, but the rise is in the case of the total immigration one of 17.9 per cent over that of the preceding year, but in the case of the Jewish, it represents a rise of 131.9 per cent over that of the preceding year, proportionately more than seven times as great. Another period of rising movement is in 1891 and 1892. Where, however, in 1891 the total immigration rose 20.9 per cent, the Jewish rose 79.5 per cent. In 1892, the total rose 3.4 per cent, the Jewish rose 48.6 per cent. In all these cases the difference is so great as to indicate the working of special influences in the Jewish movement.

The existence of these special influences is again evident in the last decade. In 1904, the total immigration fell off 5.2 per cent, but the Jewish immigration rose 39.4 per cent. In 1906, in spite of the great total immigration of that year, and its increase of 7.2 per cent over the preceding year, the increase of the Jewish was 18.2 per cent—more than double that of the total. Again, the maximum periods of the two movements do not coincide. The total immigration reached its highest point for the thirty years in 1907. The maximum of the Jewish movement was in 1906.

The panic of 1907 also appears to have influenced the Jewish immigration more slowly than the total. The greatest fall in the latter took place in 1908, immediately after the panic. The greatest fall of the Jewish immigration took place in 1909. This is another indication of the slowness of the response of the Jewish immigration to business conditions in this country, as compared with the rapid response of the general body of immigrants.

As the racial classification was introduced only in 1899, it is impossible to determine for the entire thirty years the exact place the Jews occupy in the movement of peoples from the Old World to the New. During the twelve years from 1899 to 1910, there entered the United States a total of 1,074,442 Jewish immigrants, an annual average of nearly ninety thousand. This was the second largest body of immigrants, constituting more than a tenth of the total immigration for this period. In this regard the Jews were surpassed only by the South Italians.[93]

This is an immense volume of immigration, both relatively and absolutely, and indicates to what an extent the immigration tendency has seized the Jews. In this tendency, however, the Jews from the different countries of Europe differ very strongly. As practically only three countries of Eastern Europe—Russia, Roumania and Austria-Hungary—are represented in the recent Jewish immigration, a rate of immigration established for the Jews should be based upon the population of these countries rather than upon the total Jewish population in Europe. Thus established, the Jews have the highest rate of immigration of any immigrant peoples. In 1906, during the maximum period of Jewish immigration, the rate of immigration of the East-European Jews was twenty out of every thousand. In 1907, the rate of the Jewish immigration was nineteen out of every thousand. The Jews are approached in this respect only by the Slovaks, who, in 1907, had a rate of immigration of eighteen per thousand. In this respect, the Jewish immigration is seen to occupy an exceptional position in the recent movement of peoples from Europe to this country.