sidered desirable and qualified to enter.

[Illustration]
A German family of ten considered desirable and qualified to enter.

GROUPS OF IMMIGRANTS UPON THEIR ARRIVAL AT ELLIS ISLAND

These swarms of foreigners who come to us each year are causing
uneasiness in the minds of the thinking people. Can our foreign
population be growing more rapidly than our power to assimilate it? Is
this element as dangerous to our civilization as we think? Has
criminality increased as a result of increased immigration? Has this
element increased labor agitations during the past decade? Some contend
that we are rapidly approaching the limit of our power of assimilation
and that we are in constant danger of losing the traits which we call
American. The immigrants from southern Europe are in too many cases
deficient in education. This lack of education may or may not prove a
danger. So far it seems to have been the rule that in the second
generation these foreigners have shown themselves extremely anxious to
take advantage of the opportunities offered by our free schools.

One of the most serious charges made against the Americanized foreigner
has been that through him there has developed in our political system a
strain of corruption which endangers our institutions. Political
corruption did not come with the immigrants: it was known in all its
forms years ago. This much can be said, however: the worst class of
foreign-born citizens has ever proved to be a support of corrupt
political bosses. Our city governments have been notoriously corrupt and
the cities harbor the great masses of foreigners. The high cost of
living in the cities and the relatively low wages force the aliens into
poor and crowded quarters which tend to weaken them physically and
degrade them morally and socially. Among the Italians of the cities
there appears to be a vicious element composed of social parasites who
found gambling dens, organize schemes of black-mail, and are the agents
of the dreaded Black Hand. It is the class which furnishes aids for the
lowest political bosses and furnishes the bad reputation for the
Italians.

[Illustration]
Group of Cossack immigrants considered desirable and qualified to enter.

An investigation of the nationalities in the city of Chicago has been
made by Professor Ripley, of Harvard. The results illustrate the
wonderful dimensions of the problem which the cities confront in the
assimilation of the foreign element. I