ABSTRACT
The average American is scarcely aware of the continuous influx of foreigners. He does not see them landing every day at Ellis Island. Between 1820 and 1910 the total immigration from foreign countries, excluding Canada and Mexico, was about 28,000,000; between 1850 and 1910 it was about 25,000,000; between 1880 and 1910 it was about 19,000,000. In the earlier period the immigrant was most likely to be Irish or German, or if he was neither of these he was almost sure to be Scotch, Welsh, Canadian, or English. Not until the decade ending in 1870 did the Scandinavians begin to come; not until the next decade did the immigration from southeastern Europe begin. The striking aspect of immigration before 1890 is the steady flow of the new-comers into the great agricultural Northwest. In the decade between 1840 and 1850 the total foreign-born population of the North Central states was only 641,000, while that of the North Atlantic states was 1,304,000.
