| All paupers admitted | 10,272 |
| Per cent. of white paupers admitted: | |
| Native | 44.0 per cent. |
| Foreign-born | 56.0 per cent. |
Foreign-Born White Paupers Admitted in 1904, by Nativity
| Country of Birth | Per cent. | Per cent. |
| Ireland | 54.3 | |
| Germany | 18.7 | |
| England and Wales | 6.4 | |
| Canada (including Newfoundland) | 4.3 | |
| Scandinavia | 2.0 | |
| France | 0.9 | |
| Scotland | 2.0 | |
| ——— | 88.6 | |
| Italy | 3.5 | |
| Hungary and Bohemia | 0.6 | |
| Russia and Poland | 3.3 | |
| Unknown | 4.0 | |
| —— | 11.4 | |
| Grand total | 100.0 |
What is more striking still is the following table which seems to prove that the new immigrant does not increase his percentage in the criminal column materially, in fact that there is a slight tendency to decrease it.[6]
Foreign-Born Offenders According to Years of
Residence in the United States
| Years | Major Offenses. | Per cent. | Minor Offenses. | Per cent. |
| Under one year | 36 | 3.3 | 86 | 1.0 |
| One year | 79 | 7.2 | 229 | 2.8 |
| Two years | 63 | 5.8 | 297 | 3.6 |
| Three years | 52 | 4.8 | 285 | 3.4 |
| Four years | 40 | 3.6 | 177 | 2.2 |
| Over four years | 824 | 75.3 | 7,143 | 87.0 |
| Totals | 1,094 | 100.0 | 8,217 | 100.0 |
I am not trying to prove that the old immigration was worse than the new; I do not believe that these statistics prove it, in spite of their appearing to. But they do prove conclusively that statistics of this kind are absolutely unreliable in furnishing tests of the moral fiber of this or that group.
Far more reliable is the verdict of various communities after twenty-five years’ experience with the newer immigrant.
Take for example the city of Streator, Ill., which has steadily grown in size and in the number and variety of its industrial establishments; a development which could not have taken place without the new immigrant. There are certain unprofitable seams in the mines which the English-speaking miners would not have worked; even as there are less profitable veins which the Slav does not care to touch and which are being worked by Sicilians, new upon the scene.