The meaning of any statistics depends largely upon the meaning of the unit in which the statistics are expressed. It is a common but fallacious assumption that a word used as the name of a statistical unit has precisely the same meaning that it has when used in popular speech. In the present case the word “immigrant” has had and to some degree still has different meanings, which may be called respectively the popular or theoretical meaning and the administrative or statistical meaning, and these two should be carefully distinguished.

In the popular or theoretical sense an immigrant is a person of foreign birth who is crossing the country’s boundary and entering the United States with intent to remain and become an addition to the population of the country. In this sense of the word an alien arrival is an immigrant whether he comes by water or by land, in the steerage or in the cabin, from contiguous or non-contiguous territory, and whether he pays or does not pay the head tax. The essential element is an addition to the population of the country as a result of travel and the word thus covers all additions to the population otherwise than by birth. A person cannot be an immigrant to the United States more than once any more than a person can be born more than once. It is a characteristic of this meaning that it does not alter.

The word immigrant in its administrative or statistical sense is not defined in the Reports of the Commissioner-General of Immigration, but from that source and from the instructions and other circulars issued by the Bureau the following statements regarding its meaning have been drawn:

1. The administrative or statistical meaning of immigrant is not fixed by statute law but is determined by the definitions or explanations of the Bureau of Immigration and those are dependent upon and vary with the law and administrative decisions.

2. In the latest circular of the Bureau immigrants are defined as “arriving aliens whose last permanent residence was in a country other than the United States who intend to reside in the United States.” This definition seems to agree closely with the popular or theoretical one.

3. But the foregoing definition is modified by a subsequent paragraph of the same circular which excludes from the immigrant class “citizens of British North America and Mexico coming direct therefrom by sea or rail.” So the official definition is substantially this: An alien neither a resident of the United States nor a citizen of British North America, Cuba or Mexico, who arrives in the United States intending to reside there.

4. The only important difference between these two definitions is that the statistical definition excludes, as the popular definition does not, citizens of British North America, Cuba and Mexico. As the natives of Canada and Mexico living in the United States in 1900 were 14.2 per cent. of the natives of all other foreign countries, it seems likely that the figures of immigration for the year 1905-06 should be increased about 14.2 per cent. in order to get an approximate estimate of the total immigration into the country during the year just ended.

5. Perhaps the most important difference between the popular or theoretical and the statistical definition of immigrant is that the former is unchanging and the latter has been modified several times by changes of law or by modifications of administrative interpretation.

6. Until January 1, 1906, an alien arrival was counted as an immigrant each time he entered the country, but since that date an alien who has acquired a residence in the United States and is returning from a visit abroad is not classed as an immigrant. This administrative change has brought the statistical and the popular meanings of immigrant into closer agreement, but in so doing has reduced the apparent number of immigrants more than ten per cent. and has made it difficult to compare the earlier and the later statistics.

7. Until January 1, 1903, an alien arriving in the first or second cabin was not classed as an immigrant, but rather under the head of other alien passengers. This change likewise brought the two meanings of immigrant into closer agreement, but also made it difficult to compare the figures before and after that date. By a mere change of administrative definition the reported number of immigrants was increased nearly twelve per cent.

8. Until the same date an alien arrival in transit to some other country was deemed an immigrant, but since that date such persons have been classed as non-immigrant aliens. This change also makes the figures before 1903 not strictly comparable with later ones. About three per cent. of those who were formerly classed as aliens have been excluded since 1903. The alteration has brought the two definitions closer together, but in so doing has entailed administrative difficulties which lead the bureau to favour a return to the former system or at least to favour collecting the head tax from such aliens in transit.

9. An immigrant in the statistical sense is a person liable for and paying the head tax. But to this there are two slight exceptions. Deserting alien seamen not apprehended are liable for the head tax which is paid by the company from which they desert, but such cases are not included in the statistics. Citizens of British North America, Cuba and Mexico coming from other ports than those of their own country are reported as immigrants, but do not pay the head tax. Obviously both are minor exceptions hardly affecting the rule. In the popular or theoretical meaning of immigrant this head tax is not an element.

10. Probably other changes of definition have occurred of recent years. No attempt has been made to exhaust the list. The general tendency of the changes has clearly been towards a closer agreement of the popular and the statistical meanings. But they have probably tended to make the increase of immigration indicated by the figures greater than the actual increase, and to that degree to make the figures misleading. If the Government Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization could make a carefully studied estimate of the extent to which such changes in the official reports really modify the apparent meaning of the published figures, it would render a valuable service.

11. A committee like the present can hardly make such an estimate or go further than to point out that for the reasons indicated the official statistics of immigration are likely to be seriously misinterpreted and are constantly misinterpreted by the public.

The official statistics of immigration being subject to all the qualifications indicated and reflecting so imperfectly the amount of immigration as ordinarily or popularly conceived the question at once arises, Can any substitute or any alternative be proposed? What the public is mainly interested in, I think, and what it commonly but erroneously believes is indicated by the official figures of immigration, is the net addition to the population year by year as a result of the currents of travel between the United States and other countries.

Alternative figures for the last eight years, a period which closely coincides with the last great wave of immigration now at or near its crest, may be had by comparing the total arrivals and departures in the effort to get the net gain. The results appear in the following table:

The figures indicate that the net increase of population by immigration during the last eight years has been slightly more than two-thirds of the reported immigration. But these figures of net increase should be increased by an estimate of the arrivals by land from Canada and Mexico. As the Canadians and Mexicans by birth residing in the United States in 1900 were 14.2 per cent. of all residents born in other foreign countries, this would indicate an influx of 466,000 Canadians and Mexicans, a figure probably in excess of the truth since the currents have probably been setting Canadaward of recent years. I estimate, therefore, that the net increase from immigration 1898-1905 has been about 3,750,000 instead of 4,820,000 as might be inferred from the reports of the bureau of immigration. The actual increase would then be about seventy-eight per cent. of the apparent increase.