CHAPTER I |
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THE ORIGINAL MAKE-UP OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE | 3 |
Traits of the Puritan stock—Elements in the peopling of Virginia—The indentured servants and convicts—Purification by free land—The Huguenots—The Germans—The Scotch-Irish—Ruling motives in the peopling of the New World—Selective agencies—The toll of the sea—The sifting by the wilderness—The impress of the frontier—How an American Breed arose—Its traits. |
CHAPTER II |
THE CELTIC IRISH | 24 |
The great lull—The Hibernian tide—Why it has run low—Effects on Ireland—Irish-Americans in the struggle for existence—Their improvidence and unthrift—Why they lacked the economic virtues—Drink their worst foe—Their small criminality—Loyalty to wife and child—Their occupational preferences—Their rapid rise—Their rank in intellectual contribution—Celtic traits—Place of the Irish in American society. |
CHAPTER III |
THE GERMANS | 46 |
Volume and causes of the German freshet—Why it has ceased—Distribution of the Germans in America—Deutschtum vs. assimilation—The "Forty-eighters"—Influence of the Germans on our farming, on our drinking, on our attitude toward recreation—Political tendencies of German voters—The Germans as pathbreakers for intellectual liberty—Their success in the struggle for existence—Moderation in alcoholism and in crime—Preferred occupations—Teutonic traits—Effect of the German infusion on the temper of the American people. |
CHAPTER IV |
THE SCANDINAVIANS | 67 |
The size of the Scandinavian wave—Distribution of this element in the United States—Social characteristics—Crime and alcoholism—Occupational choices—Readiness of assimilation—Reaction to America—National contrasts among Scandinavians—Intellectual rating—Race traits—Moral and political significance of the Scandinavians. |
CHAPTER V |
THE ITALIANS | 95 |
Causes of the Italian outflow—Distribution of Italians—Social characteristics—Broad contrast between North Italians and South Italians—Occupations—Agricultural settlements—Freedom from alcoholism—Gaming—Addiction to violence—Camorra and Mafia in America—Difficulties in dealing with Italian immigrants—Their mental rating—Traits of character—The Italians as a social |
element. |
CHAPTER VI |
THE SLAVS | 120 |
Place of the Slavs in history—Lateness of their awakening—Size of the Slav groups in America—Occupational tendencies of the Slavic immigrants—Distribution—Alcoholism—Criminality—Subjection of women—Extraordinary fecundity—Displacement of other elements—Resistance to Americanization—Clannishness—Social characteristics of Slav settlements—Industrial segregation—Mental rating—Prospects of Slavic immigration. |
CHAPTER VII |
THE EAST EUROPEAN HEBREWS | 143 |
One-fifth of the Hebrew race in America—"The Promised Land"—Hebrew interest in free immigration—Waves of Russo-Hebrew immigration—Occupational preferences—Morals—Crime—Race traits—Intellectuality—Persistence of will—Growth of Anti-Semitism in America—Causes—Prospects—Why America is a powerful solvent of Judaism—Signs of Assimilation. |
CHAPTER VIII |
THE LESSER IMMIGRANT GROUPS | 168 |
African, Saracen and Mongolian blood in our immigrants—The Finns—Motives and characteristics—Political aptitude—Patriotism—The Magyars—Social condition and traits—The Portuguese—Origin and volume of the Portuguese influx—Distribution—Industrial and social characteristics—Resistance to assimilation—The Greeks—Immigration from Greece purely economic—Distribution and occupational preferences—Serfdom of Greek bootblacks—The Levantines—Racial and social characteristics. |
CHAPTER IX |
ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF IMMIGRATION | 195 |
Stimulators of migration—The commercial interests behind the movement—The new immigrant as an industrial tool—How tariff protection coupled with the open door augment the manufacturer's profits—Effect of the new immigration upon the cost of living, upon agricultural methods—Shall the penniless immigrant be helped to get upon the land—The utilization of foreign labor to break strikes—The foreign laborer as a hindrance to unionism—Effect upon wages and conditions—Is the foreigner indispensable—Immigrant women doing men's work—Fate of the displaced American—Immigration and crises—The inevitable rise of social pressure—Who bears the brunt? |
CHAPTER X |
SOCIAL EFFECTS OF IMMIGRATION | 228 |
Immigration and social atavism—Community reversions to the Middle Ages—Immigrant illiteracy and ignorance—New readers of the yellow press—The spread of white peonage—Caste cleavage—Attitude of the foreign-born toward the claims of women—Split-family immigration and the social evil—How immigration makes acute the housing problem—Why overgrown cities—Immigrants who discount our charities—The wayward child of the immigrant—Insanity among the foreign-born—Obstructions to the operation of the public school—Signs of social decline—Peasantism vs. social progress. |
CHAPTER XI |
IMMIGRANTS IN POLITICS | 259 |
The Hibernian domination of Northern cities—Political psychology of the Celts—Practical consequences—Immigration as foe to party traditionalism—Citizenship of the new immigrants compared with the old—Accumulation of voteless men—How this lessens the political strength of labor—Psychology of the ignorant naturalized immigrants—How the cunning boss acquires "influence"—Feudal relation between the boss and his humble constituents—Naturalization frauds—The Tammany way—The political ma
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