The fact that the Jewish emigration from Galicia was a movement of families and was essentially a movement of permanent settlement in their new home was noted by Buzek as characteristic of this emigration even in the early eighties, and as strongly contrasted with the emigration of the Poles from Galicia.[114]
A comparison of the return movement of the "old" and the "new" immigration with that of the Jewish immigration gives similar results.[115] For every hundred admitted, there were, in the "new" immigration, forty-two emigrants, relatively more than five times as many as among the Jews. Even in the "old" immigration, which is largely accepted as the type of permanent immigration, for every hundred admitted, there were thirteen emigrants, about one and a half times as many relatively as among the Jews. The Jewish immigration must thus be accorded the place of distinction in American immigration for permanence of settlement.
An unusual test of this conclusion was afforded by the remarkable emigration following the crisis of 1907.[116] The general opinion that "the causes which retard emigration from abroad also accelerate the exodus from the United States", was considerably strengthened by the great exodus of 1908. To this rule the Jewish immigration forms, again, a most striking exception. Although its number in 1907—149,182 immigrants—was only slightly below its maximum for thirty years, and constituted the second highest immigration for the year, only 7,702 Jews left the country in 1908. This constituted only two per cent of the total emigration for that year. Relatively to the number admitted the Jewish emigration was, without exception, the lowest, being only five departed for every hundred admitted. The remarkable disparity in this regard with the Poles and the Italian was again shown here. For every hundred Poles entering in 1907, thirty-three emigrated in 1908. For every hundred South Italians entering in 1907, sixty emigrated in 1908.
That the business conditions of this country affect Jewish immigration is unquestioned, but the difference in the degree and the manner of the response puts it in a class apart. A comparison of the total gain in population in 1908 and 1909 in the immigration of Italians and Jews shows that whereas in the Italian inward and outward movement in 1908 there was a net loss to this country of 79,966, but in 1909 a net gain of 94,806, in the Jewish inward and outward movement in 1908 there was a net gain of 95,685, and in 1909 a net gain of 50,705.[117] The Jewish immigration responds in its inward movement much more slowly and less completely to the pressure of unfavorable conditions in this country. In its outward movement it shows practically no response.
The conclusion that the Jewish immigrants constitute to an unusual degree a body of permanent settlers is strengthened by an examination of the figures concerning immigrants who have been in the United States previously.[118] Of the total from 1899 to 1910 of 9,220,066 immigrants, 1,108,948, or 12 per cent, had been here before. Of the 1,074,442 Jews who entered the country during this period, only 22,914, or 2.1 per cent, had been previously in the United States. The proportion of Jews who have been in this country before is by far the lowest of any immigrant peoples.
As the total Jewish exodus is insignificant as compared both with the total emigration and the proportion of the Jewish immigration in the total inward movement; as the Jewish outward movement shows practically no response to unfavorable economic conditions in this country, and as the Jewish inward movement presents the phenomenon of a practically new body of immigrants, we are led to conclude that the Jewish immigration exhibits a quality of permanence and stability to so great a degree as to render this fact one of its distinguishing characteristics.
FOOTNOTES:
[108] Immigration Commission: Conclusions and Recommendations, p. 16.
[109] Cf. [table XLIII], p. 182.