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.
FOOTNOTES:
[90] Cf. [table XXX], p. 174.
[91] Cf. [table XXXI], p. 174.
[92] Cf. [table XXXII], p. 175.
[93] This average and the same relative position is maintained if we take the fifteen years from 1899 to 1913, in which period there entered 1,347,590 Jewish immigrants.