To paint an adequate picture of the part which the immigrant has played in the economic progress of the United States, it would be necessary, as Rudyard Kipling says, “to splash at a ten-league canvas with brushes of comet’s hair.” The industrial and agricultural greatness of the United States has been made possible by the brawn and brain of the immigrants and their children.

Cotton

The important part played by the Negro in the agricultural life of the South is nowhere more vividly portrayed than by the story of King Cotton. Cotton production, which amounted to 85,000,000 lb. in 1810, doubled every ten years for the following three decades. By 1840, two-thirds of the world’s cotton supply was produced in the South and, by 1850, cotton valued at $98,000,000 was raised. In 1937-1938, the United States produced four times as much cotton as the rest of the world.

Much of the credit for this amazing achievement goes to the Negro whose labor has been the foundation of our Cotton Kingdom.

Tobacco

The story of tobacco is, too, largely the achievement of Negro labor. In 1618, the Virginia planters exported 20 lb. of tobacco, which increased to 1,500,000 lb. in 1639 and reached a total of 53,000,000 lb. in 1773. In 1937, the United States raised more than one-fourth of the world’s tobacco supply.

In addition to his labor in the cotton and tobacco fields, the Negro has also helped to make profitable the production of rice and sugar.

Railroads

The railroad played a great part in the settling of the West. With the completion of the Erie Canal, the Irish transferred their energy and labor to building tracks for the transcontinental railroad. The Chinese also labored on the western end. Today, Irish, Chinese, Italian, and Mexican laborers help to maintain the railroads. In 1937, almost one-half the world’s miles of railways were in our country.

Automobiles

Natural resources and inventive genius have enabled us to produce each year three times as many automobiles as the rest of the world put together. The work of the Poles, Slavs, Mexicans, and other groups has been an important factor in this phenomenal growth.

Steel

Early colonial iron mills were operated by the Germans, whose muskets, made in Nazareth, Pa., were used by the continental troops. In later years, the Poles and Slavs have labored in the great steel mills of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, and New York. It is the endurance and physical heritage of these sturdy people that have made it possible for us to lead the world in the production of steel.

Coal

The Welsh with the Scotch-Irish were the first to develop our coal mines in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. These, together with the English, Irish, Germans, Poles, and Slavs, have made us the chief coal producer of the world.

Farming

Our debt to the German farmer is great, for he made the wilderness blossom in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Missouri. To Minnesota and surrounding states came the Swedes, Norwegians, and Finns with their advanced cooperative methods and the Danes with their dairy methods.... Sturdy Czechs farmed Nebraska and Iowa. The Swiss in Wisconsin helped us to become the greatest cheesemakers in the world. The Russians brought us important seed varieties of wheat, rye, oats, buckwheat, sunflowers, and millet.

Finns and French-Canadians in the lumber camps of Maine and Washington have made it possible for us to produce more than 24 million board feet of lumber in one year.... Portuguese are prominent in the New England fisheries as are the Finns on the Pacific Coast.... The Greeks have developed a flourishing sponge industry in Florida.... Italians are engaged in the marble quarries of Vermont and on truck farms of New Jersey and California.