ABSTRACT
One can understand more fully what is involved from a detailed account of how each component of the population changed and how the Bureau of the Census and other federal units responded to their moving targets. In 1940, when for the first time the census data were supplemented with a registration by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the difference in the figures was great—a census count of about 3.5 million aliens and a registration of about 5 million. Most Lutherans in the United States are of German or Scandinavian descent, living in the Middle West as prototypes of small-town Americans. Strange to say, ethnic groups have been identified quite differently by various federal agencies. Data from unofficial sources furnish a general view of religion in the United States. In order to inhibit those who desired the benefits of American citizenship while residing in their native country, naturalized citizens were forbidden to live abroad for more than a limited period.
