Volume 25 — THE CATHOLIC WORLD. VOL. XXV., No. 148.—JULY, 1877.
Reading edition
THE EUROPEAN EXODUS.
We propose in the following pages to speak of the past history, the present condition, and the future prospects of European emigration to this country. We shall have to present many dry figures and prosaic statistics; but the investigation will lead us to regard the wonderful manner in which the wisdom and the love of God have been manifested in the control which he, as the ruler of all things, has exercised over this European exodus. Even out of those details of its course and progress which have seemed most deplorable, and have caused to many of God’s enlightened servants the greatest anxiety and grief, beneficent and grand results now begin to be discerned which are likely to secure the permanent establishment of the church in this land, and to prepare her for the magnificent task which, as we believe, she is destined to accomplish here—the salvation of the republic and of society from the utter ruin into which the arch-enemy of mankind would otherwise soon engulf them. The foolishness of men is sometimes the wisdom of God; and God, who governs all things sweetly, has chosen to turn the apparent folly of a large portion of the emigrants from Europe to the United States during the last twenty-five years into channels through which inestimable blessings have already flowed, and others, still more glorious, are yet to pass.
The great wave of emigration began to rise in 1840, reached its highest point in 1869-72, and, notwithstanding some fluctuations, continued to bring to our shores a colony every day until 1875. In that year it experienced a sudden and serious check, and has ever since steadily subsided, until now it has not only sunk to low-water mark, but has even seemed to be about to flow the other way. The official reports of the Commissioners of Emigration of the State of New York classify the passengers who arrive at this port from foreign countries as “aliens” and as “citizens or persons who had before landed in the United States”; and the “aliens” are subdivided into steerage and cabin passengers. It 434is safe to take the “alien steerage passengers” as persons who have come to this country for the first time with the purpose of residing here—in fine, as bonâ fide emigrants. The alien cabin passengers in most cases are tourists or visitors, although among them also are some emigrants. Now, the whole number of alien steerage passengers who arrived at the port of New York during the year 1876 was only 60,308, of whom 17,974 were from Germany, 12,728 from Ireland, 5,429 from England, 1,479 from Scotland, and 428 from Wales. The whole number of steerage emigrants from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland who landed at New York during this year was only 20,064—a much smaller number than arrived in any previous year since 1840. Indeed, in no previous year until 1875, when it was 34,636, had the number failed to be twice as great; in many years it was more than ten times as large. The following table will show the emigration of all classes from the United Kingdom into the United States at all our ports during the last thirty-six years:
1840 40,642
1841 45,017
1842 63,852
1843 28,335
1844 43,660
1845 58,538
1846 82,239
1847 142,154
1848 188,233
1849 219,450
1850 223,078
1851 267,357
1852 244,261
1853 230,885
1854 193,065
1855 103,414
1856 111,837
1857 126,905
1858 50,716
1859 70,303
1860 87,500
1861 42,764
1862 58,706
1863 146,813
1864 147,042
1865 147,258
1866 161,000
1867 159,275
1868 155,532
1869 203,001
1870 196,075
1871 198,843
1872 233,747
1873 233,073
1874 148,161
1875 92,489
1876 [72]54,554
The 54,554 persons who, not being citizens of the United States, arrived in this country from the United Kingdom in 1876, embrace all those who came either for pleasure, or for business, or to remain. But during the same year 54,697 persons of Irish and British origin arrived in the United Kingdom from the United States; so that the emigration from this country to the United Kingdom exceeded the immigration into the United States from the United Kingdom by 143 souls. The English Board of Trade, in publishing these returns, says that “as regards North America, in fact, the records of 1876 are the records of a movement of passengers to and fro, and the so-called emigration is not really emigration.” We digress here, for a moment, to speak of one or two facts disclosed by the emigration returns of the British Board of Trade for 1876, which cast a side light upon a portion of our subject.
The total emigration from the United Kingdom to places out of Europe in 1876 was 138,222 persons; the total immigration into the Kingdom was 91,647 persons, showing an apparent loss of population of 46,575. But after deducting from both sides the persons of other than British birth, the net loss of population to the United Kingdom by emigration is reduced to 38,000 persons—a percentage scarcely worth mention when compared with the annual increase by births. As regards the emigration from that Kingdom to the United States, it is noted not only that it has become very small, but that its character has materially changed. Only 73 agricultural laborers sailed from England for the United States, but no less than 3,191 of this class sailed for Australia; while, on the other hand, “4,535 gentlemen, professional men, merchants, etc., and 43510,874 persons of no occupation, have gone to the States, and only 1,106 of the first-named class and 2,753 of the second migrated to Australia.” The returns go on to point out that emigration from Ireland, and of Irishmen living in England and Scotland, has almost entirely ceased. “The total number of persons of Irish origin who emigrated from the United Kingdom in 1876 to places out of Europe was 25,976.” Of these 16,432 came to the United States; some of these were only visitors; but counting them all as emigrants, they would not number as many as arrived here in a single month in former years.
The gradual but steady decrease of Irish emigration to the United States is pointed out in these returns in a forcible and apparently exultant manner. From 1853 to 1860 the annual average of Irish emigration to this country was 71,856; during the ten years following it was 69,084; in 1871 it fell to 65,591; in 1874 it was 48,136; in 1875 it was 31,433; and last year it sank to 16,432.[73] “The Irish people,” says the Board of Trade with evident satisfaction, “do not at present migrate from the United Kingdom in any appreciable numbers, although they may emigrate from one part of the United Kingdom to another.” We cannot call the correctness of this statement into question; it is no doubt quite correct; and it is safe to conclude that, for the present at least, and probably for many years to come, Irish emigration to this country will be limited to very small proportions. Nay, there is some reason to fear that, unless a marked improvement soon occurs in the industrial affairs of our country, we shall be in danger of seeing too many of our Irish and Irish-American citizens leaving us to seek homes in Australia. The year 1877 is scarcely six months old, but it has seen three vessels sail from this port with American, Irish, and German emigrants for Australia. This movement is probably a wholly sporadic one, and too much importance should not be attached to it. But we are not yet in a condition to encourage emigration from this country nor to desire to see it under any circumstances. We wish still to receive many millions of people from the Old World, and, as we shall show, there is a strong probability that we shall obtain them.
Emigration from the Continent of Europe, while showing a decrease, has not diminished in such a marked degree as that from the United Kingdom. The whole number of alien emigrants who arrived at the port of New York during the thirty years ending December 31, 1876, was 5,604,073. Of these 2,920,397 were natives of Great Britain and Ireland; 2,665,774 were natives of the Continent; and the remaining 17,902 came from all the other countries of the earth. The following table will show the exact number of emigrants from each country arriving at the port of New York during the last thirty years:
FROM GREAT BRITAIN.
Ireland 2,001,727
England 732,922
Scotland 157,578
Wales 28,170
2,920,397
FROM AMERICA.
South America 3,066
West Indies 7,897
Nova Scotia 1,611
Canada 1,397
Mexico 1,030
Central America 289
15,290
436FROM CONTINENTAL EUROPE.
Germany 2,121,020
France 107,710
Switzerland 81,798
Holland 39,069
Norway 44,772
Sweden 116,655
Italy 42,769
Belgium 10,096
Spain 7,796
Denmark 32,974
Poland 11,291
Sardinia 2,306
Portugal 1,791
Russia 22,124
Sicily 339
Greece 269
Turkey 242
Austria 21,677
Luxembourg 1,076
2,663,774
FROM THE ORIENT.
China 1,057
East Indies 304
Arabia 14
Africa 191
Australia 225
Japan 175
Unknown 646
2,612
5,604,073
We may remark that fourteen of the countries in this list are Roman Catholic countries, and that the emigrants from these number 2,212,963 souls. The proportion of Catholics among the emigrants from the other twenty-one countries would probably be, taking them altogether, not less than one-fourth of the whole number—597,772. This would give a Catholic emigration at the port of New York alone, during these thirty years, of about 2,800,000 souls. But we shall return to this part of our subject later on.
The emigration from Germany at the port of New York during the year 1876 was 21,035 persons, of whom 17,974 were steerage passengers; in 1875 the number was 25,559; during the twenty-eight years from 1847 to 1875 the average number of emigrants arriving from Germany at this port had been 75,000 annually. The severe and sudden check which emigration received in 1875 must be traced, in the case of Germany, almost wholly to the effects of the financial disasters which had occurred in the United States, and which had then begun to be heavily felt. The Germans are a prudent people; they are exceedingly well informed concerning the condition of affairs here, and they were well advised not to come to a new country at a moment when industry and trade were prostrated, when labor was superabundant and poorly paid, and when confidence and enterprise were so paralyzed that capital could find no productive or safe employment. The restrictive measures against emigration instigated and enforced by Prince Bismarck, and the financial distress which prevailed, and which still prevails, in Germany, had also their influence in discouraging and retarding emigration; but the principal cause of its decline in the case of Germany was the one we have mentioned. When that cause shall have ceased to act, as there is reason to believe it soon will do, we can expect with confidence a revival of emigration from Germany and the other Continental countries of Europe. Should the present war in the East become general and involve all Europe, the anxiety of the people to escape its horrors and burdens will increase the desire for emigration, but their facilities for seeking a new home will probably be lessened by the same causes. We must, in all likelihood, wait for the return of prosperity here and of peace in Europe before the great wave of emigration again rises to its former level. There is no reason to doubt that in due time it will again attain its former proportions; but the principal countries from whence we must hereafter look for our emigrants are Germany, Austria, Sweden, 437Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, Holland, and perhaps England. The emigration of the future, most probably, will to a large extent be composed of people possessed of some capital, and prepared to begin their new life under far more favorable conditions than those which surrounded the Irish and German emigrants of past years upon their arrival here. The latter, landing here too often with no capital but their muscles, their honest hearts, and strong but often uncultivated intellects, have accomplished the work to which they were ordained. Their successors will find much prepared for them, but they also will have their mission to fulfil.
Let us now endeavor to ascertain with as much accuracy as possible in what manner our foreign-born citizens have disposed of themselves, and what it is that they have done and are doing for us, for themselves, and for God. It appears that, according to the census of 1870, the whole number of foreign-born persons then in the United States was 5,567,229, of whom 62,736 were Chinese, 9,654 were negroes, and 1,136 were Indians. There were also 9,734,845 persons who had been born in this country, but whose parents were all of foreign birth, and 1,157,170 others the father or mother of each of whom had been of foreign birth. These 16,459,244 persons constituted, in 1870, the whole of that portion of our population which could in any way be classed as foreign or as being under the immediate domestic influence of foreigners. There remained 22,099,132 persons, who were not only native-born, but whose parents on both sides were natives. Let us deal, first, with the persons of foreign birth. In 1850 there were but 2,244,602 persons of this class; in 1860 they had increased to 4,138,697, and in 1870 to 5,567,229 souls. The following table will show their nationalities:
Ireland 1,855,827
England 550,688
Scotland 140,809
Wales 74,530
Great Britain[74] 4,117
Germany 1,690,410
France 116,240
Denmark 30,098
Holland 46,801
Hungary 3,649
Italy 17,147
Belgium 12,552
Luxembourg 5,802
Austria 30,506
Bohemia 40,287
Norway 114,243
Poland 14,435
Portugal 4,495
Russia 4,638
Spain 3,701
Sweden 97,327
Switzerland 75,145
Turkey 301
Malta 51
China 63,042
Greece 390
Greenland 3
India 551
Japan 73
Africa 673
Asia 834
Australia 3,111
Pacific Isles 305
Sandwich Isles 539
South America 3,378
West Indies 4,897
Mexico 41,308
Cuba 4,811
Atlantic Isles 4,219
British America 489,344
At sea 2,612
Unknown 2,135
We have omitted from the above table 9,654 negroes and 1,136 Indians, born outside of the United States.
Where now do we find these five and a half millions of foreign-born citizens? The greater part of them—4,193,971—were congregated in ten States, as shown by the following table:
TABLE OF TEN STATES HAVING 200,000 OR MORE OF FOREIGN-BORN POPULATION.
STATES. 1870. 1860. 1850.
California 209,831 146,518 21,802
Illinois 515,198 324,643 111,892
Iowa 204,692 106,077 20 969
Massachusetts 353,319 260,106 164,024
Michigan 268,010 149,093 54,703
Missouri 221,267 160,541 76,592
New York 1,138,353 1,001,280 655,929
Ohio 372 493 328,249 218,193
Pennsylvania 545,309 430,505 303,417
Wisconsin 364,499 276,927 110,477
4,193,971 3,183,939 1,737,998
There were fourteen States each of which had an Irish-born population of less than 10,000 souls—to wit, Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, 438North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia, and Virginia; nineteen States each of which had an Irish-born population of less than 100,000—to wit, California, Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin; while Illinois had 120,000, Massachusetts 216,000, Pennsylvania 235,000, and New York 528,000 Irish-born citizens. Eighteen States had each a German-born population of less than 10,000—namely, Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maine, Mississippi, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia. Thirteen States had each a German-born population of less than 100,000—namely, California, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, and Texas; while Missouri had 113,618, Pennsylvania 160,146, Wisconsin 162,314, Ohio 182,889, Illinois 203,750, and New York 316,882. The following table will show the exact number of persons of Austrian, German, French, and Irish birth residing in each State in 1870:
States. Austrian. French. German. Irish.
Alabama 99 587 2,479 3,893
Arkansas 41 236 1,562 1,428
California 1,078 8,063 29,699 54,421
Connecticut 154 820 1,243 70,630
Delaware 8 127 1,141 5,007
Florida 17 126 595 737
Georgia 34 308 2,760 5,093
Illinois 2,099 10,908 203,750 120,162
Indiana 443 6,362 78,056 28,698
Iowa 2,691 3,130 66,160 40,124
Kansas 448 1,274 12,774 10,040
Kentucky 146 2,052 30,318 21,642
Louisiana 433 12,288 18,912 17,068
Maine 10 136 508 15,745
Maryland 266 640 47,045 23 630
Massachusetts 255 1,627 13,070 216,120
Michigan 795 3,120 64,143 42,013
Minnesota 2,647 1,743 41,364 21,746
Mississippi 85 621 2,954 3,359
Missouri 1,493 6,291 113,618 54,983
Nebraska 299 340 10,954 4,999
Nevada 157 414 2,181 5,135
New Hampshire 9 59 436 12,190
New Jersey 686 3,128 53,999 86,784
New York 3,928 22,273 316,882 528,806
North Carolina 13 53 904 677
Ohio 3,699 12,778 182,889 82,674
Oregon 53 308 1,875 1,967
Pennsylvania 1,556 8,682 160,146 235,798
Rhode Island 19 167 1,200 31,534
South Carolina 10 143 2,742 3,262
Tennessee 112 562 4,525 8,048
Texas 1,748 2,226 23,976 4,031
Vermont 2 93 370 14,080
Virginia 56 368 4,050 5,191
West Virginia 59 223 6,231 6,832
Wisconsin 4,486 2,704 162,314 48,479
30,104 116,240 1,690,410 1,855,827
These four nationalities, then, account for 3,692,581 of the foreign-born population in 1870; and the remaining 1,874,648 had their birth in the other thirty-five different countries named in one of our preceding tables. A glance over the table just given will show still more plainly within what limits the great bulk of the Irish and German born population is found; and the reader will remember that we have shown that all but 1,373,258 of the entire foreign-born population were residing in the ten States of California, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. In twenty of the States the persons of Irish birth exceeded those of German birth; in the remaining seventeen States the latter outnumbered the former. The excess of persons of Irish birth over those of German birth, however, was only 165,417. This was seven years ago. During these seven years the emigration from Germany has almost equalled that from Ireland, and for the thirty years last past, taken as a whole, the arrivals from Germany have exceeded those from Ireland by 439119,293 souls. We shall probably not be far out of the way if we assume that the entire foreign-born population of the United States is at present about seven millions, of whom two and a half millions are of German, and nearly an equal number of Irish, birth. Let us, however, continue to confine ourselves for the present to the official facts in our possession, and proceed to follow up the 5,567,229 persons of foreign birth whom we know were among us in 1870.
One of the remarks most frequently made concerning the foreign-born population of this country is that it has a general disposition to congregate in our large cities, from which have come consequences highly prejudicial both to itself and to the community at large. These two assertions have been made so persistently and in such good faith; they have seemed to be so susceptible of proof and so apparently true; and they have chimed in so well with the sometimes latent and sometimes active prejudice against “foreigners” which is so often found in the breasts of the natives of every country, that they have passed current almost without challenge and have come to be regarded as axioms. Nay, not a few of our foreign-born citizens themselves, and even of the Catholic bishops and clergy, have often accepted these two assertions as true, and have not ceased to deplore the crowding of the foreign population into the large cities, regarding it as an almost unmixed evil, and pointing to it as the source of direful woe. No doubt they have had some reason on their side. A large proportion of the crime and misery of our cities is perpetrated and suffered by foreign-born citizens or by their children in the first generation. Had these citizens not been gathered together in the cities, but scattered at remote distances throughout the country, they might have been criminal and miserable, but their crime and misery would not have been so obtrusive and apparent to every observer. But, leaving this point for a moment to return to it in the light of the facts we are about to adduce, let us see what amount of truth there is in these two assertions. We may remark, in passing, that the truth of the first does not necessarily imply the truth of the second: it may be true that the foreign-born population has congregated to an apparently undue and unwise extent in our cities, but it may not be true that this has been by any means an unmixed evil either to the foreigners themselves or to the native-born.
POPULATION, NATIVE AND FOREIGN, OF THE LARGE CITIES, 1870.
CITIES. Scotch. French. Austrian. Belgian.
New York 7,559 8,240 2,737 325
Philadelphia 4,175 2,471 519 116
Brooklyn 4,098 1,892 321 142
St. Louis 1,202 2,788 751 254
Chicago 4,195 1,417 704 392
Baltimore 525 428 215 29
Boston 1,794 615 124 31
Cincinnati 787 2,090 554 46
New Orleans 568 8,806 253 134
San Francisco 1,687 3,543 470 139
Buffalo 996 2,332 135 37
Washington 298 191 26 8
Newark 870 710 261 45
Louisville 298 856 69 31
Cleveland 668 339 2,155 16
Pittsburgh 584 348 117 9
Jersey City 1,175 276 69 43
Detroit 1,637 760 161 233
Milwaukee 423 189 574 79
Albany 427 149 36 17
Providence 575 72 5 1
Rochester 428 475 39 4
Allegheny 570 619 109 6
Richmond 146 144 29 5
New Haven 347 133 54 6
Charleston 115 97 39 4
Indianapolis 258 237 14 5
Troy 462 88 14 7
Syracuse 138 276 47 1
Worcester 187 29 12 1
Lowell 469 28 3 3
Memphis 119 207 14 10
Cambridge 298 100 9 1
Hartford 359 92 20 6
Scranton 366 64 4 —
Reading 35 77 36 2
440Paterson 879 237 48 21
Kansas City 180 110 44 1
Mobile 166 311 33 11
Toledo 119 206 93 —
Portland 172 23 2 1
Columbus 133 238 20 —
Wilmington 117 64 — 2
Dayton 90 242 28 2
Lawrence 691 4 9 2
Utica 198 287 25 2
Charlestown 89 29 1 2
Savannah 72 99 5 —
Lynn 72 5 1 —
Fall River 382 3 4 2
Totals 43,055 42,430 11,218 2,232
CITIES. Native. Irish. German. English. Brit. Amer.
New York 523,198 201,999 151,203 24,408 4,372
Philadelphia 490,398 96,698 50,746 22,034 1,453
Brooklyn 251,381 73,985 36,769 18,832 2,779
St. Louis 198,615 32,239 59,040 5,366 1,986
Chicago 154,420 39,988 52,316 10,026 9,528
Baltimore 210,870 15,223 35,276 2,138 292
Boston 162,540 56,900 5,606 5,968 13,548
Cincinnati 136,627 18,624 49,446 3,524 1,175
New Orleans 142,943 14,693 15,224 2,005 384
San Francisco 75,754 25,864 13,602 5,166 2,237
Buffalo 71,477 11,264 22,249 3,558 4,113
Washington 95,442 6,948 4,131 1,231 211
Newark 69,175 12,481 15,873 4,040 296
Louisville 75,085 7,626 14,380 930 311
Cleveland 54,014 9,964 15,855 4,530 2,599
Pittsburgh 58,254 13,119 8,703 2,838 282
Jersey City 50,711 17,665 7,151 4,005 556
Detroit 44,196 6,970 12,647 3,282 7,398
Milwaukee 37,667 3,784 22,599 1,395 792
Albany 47,215 13,276 5,168 1,572 843
Providence 51,727 12,085 592 2,426 1,038
Rochester 41,202 6,078 7,730 2,530 2,619
Allegheny City 37,872 4,034 7,665 1,112 152
Richmond 47,260 1,239 1,621 289 42
New Haven 36,482 9,601 2,423 1,087 336
Charleston 44,064 2,180 1,826 234 32
Indianapolis 37,587 3,321 5,286 697 297
Troy 30,246 10,877 1,174 1,575 1,697
Syracuse 29,061 5,172 5,062 1,345 1,167
Worcester 29,159 8,389 325 893 1,960
Lowell 26,493 9,103 34 1,697 3,034
Memphis 33,446 2,987 1,768 589 225
Cambridge 27,579 7,180 482 1,043 2,518
Hartford 26,363 7,438 1,438 787 396
Scranton 19,205 6,491 3,056 1,444 125
Reading 30,059 547 2,648 305 26
Paterson 20,711 5,124 1,429 3,347 128
Kansas City 24,581 2,869 1,884 709 821
Mobile 27,795 2,000 843 386 55
Toledo 20,485 3,032 5,341 694 984
Portland 24,401 3,900 82 557 2,017
Columbus 23,663 1,845 3,982 504 190
Wilmington 25,689 3,503 684 613 47
Dayton 23,050 1,326 4,962 394 131
Lawrence 16,204 7,457 467 2,456 1,563
Utica 18,955 3,496 2,822 1,352 261
Charlestown 21,399 4,803 216 488 1,119
Savannah 24,564 2,197 787 251 63
Lynn 23,298 3,232 17 330 1,133
Fall River 15,288 5,572 37 4,042 1,324
Totals 3,808,770 826,398 564,967 165,024 80,728
In fifty of the largest cities of the United States there was in 1870 a total native population of 3,808,770 souls; 826,398 persons of Irish birth; 564,967 of German birth; 165,024 of English birth; 80,728 natives of British America; 43,055 natives of Scotland; 42,430 natives of France; 11,218 natives of Austria; and 2,232 natives of Belgium—in all, 1,736,052 persons born in foreign countries.
The foregoing tables give the native population of each of these fifty cities, with the foreign population belonging to each of these eight nationalities.
The persons of foreign birth of other nationalities in the above cities would raise the whole number to about 1,800,000 souls.
It is to be noticed from this table, in the first place, that in these fifty cities, in 1870, the proportion of foreign-born to native inhabitants was almost exactly as 18 is to 38—1,800,000 to 3,808,770—while the proportion of foreign-born to native inhabitants in the entire Union was almost exactly as 5 is to 38—5,567,229 to 38,558,371. It must be confessed that on this showing there was an apparently or a really undue proportion of our foreign-born citizens congregated in the large cities. But it should be remembered that among the native-born population were the 10,892,015 persons who had been born here of parents, on one or both sides, of foreign birth, and who, to this extent, were quasi-foreign. If these be taken into account, the proportion of foreign-born and the immediate descendants of foreign-born persons to the rest of the population throughout the country in 1870 would have been as 16 to 38—16,459,239 to 38,558,371. This is really the more correct basis upon which to make the comparison; for without doubt a large proportion 441of the ten millions of persons born here of foreign parents were the children of the five millions of foreign-born persons; and it is perfectly natural that the parents and the children should be found living in the same localities. After giving to this consideration, however, all the weight to which it is entitled, the fact still remains that an apparently excessive proportion of our foreign-born citizens are to be found in the large cities.
Let us look still closer into the subject. The whole number of persons of Irish birth in the United States in 1870 was 1,855,827, and of these 826,398, or 44.4 per cent., were living in these fifty cities. There were 1,690,410 Germans, and 564,967 of them, or 33.4 per cent., were in the cities; 550,688 English, of whom 165,024, or nearly 30 per cent., were in the cities; 489,344 British Americans, of whom 80,728, or only 16.5 per cent., were in the cities; while 30 per cent. of the Scotch, 36.5 per cent. of the French, 36.7 per cent. of the Austrians, and 17.7 per cent. of the Belgians were in the same category. Our Irish fellow-citizens are the greatest sinners—if any are sinners in this respect—and after them, in a declining ratio, come the Austrians, French, Germans, Scotch, English, Belgians, and British Americans. The Irish, Austrians, French, and Germans are the Roman Catholic emigrants, and in the wisdom of God it has been ordained that they should be the ones most crowded into the cities. How have they performed there the work which he sent them to do?
Our cities are the centres of the intelligence, the culture, and the wealth of our country. They contain to a very large extent the brains of the republic. From them issue influences which sway, if they do not absolutely control, the thoughts and actions of the people. These influences are not, by any means, always altogether wholesome, but they are unquestionably potent. The newspapers, magazines, and other periodicals published in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, St. Louis, Chicago, Baltimore, Cincinnati, New Orleans, San Francisco, and Milwaukee have a circulation exceeding that of the similar publications of all the rest of the country combined. The serial publications of one firm in New York alone reach into the millions; the aggregate annual circulation of the New York daily and weekly journals is so large that mere figures expressing it convey but a faint idea of its extent. The publisher of a magazine in New York told the writer the other day that if the copies of his publication issued each year were stacked together, the column would be three times as high as Trinity Church steeple.
The social influences of the cities upon the rural districts are also powerful. The cities not only set the fashions in dress, but in political, moral, and religious thought and custom. The sturdy independence of the bucolic mind may yet boast of its existence, but it very often yields to the sway of urban ideas. A lady who had lived all her life in a small village, in which the only Catholic population consisted of a handful of poor Irish people, destitute of a church, and visited only at long intervals by a humble priest who celebrated the divine Mysteries in an attic over a liquor-store, not long ago came to New York, and was taken by her friends into one of our magnificent Catholic churches. The grandeur and 442beauty of the Mass were for the first time revealed to her; for the first time she obtained an idea of what the Catholic Church was and what it taught. By the grace of God her conversion followed, and, mainly through her exertions and her influence after her return home, her village is now blessed with a church, a resident priest, and a Catholic population composed largely of converts. In very many of our rural localities all over the Union the Catholics are few and poor; in too many of them the idea of a Roman Catholic in the minds of the natives is still associated only with the idea of an ignorant fanatic, who worships images, pays half a dollar to a priest to pardon him for a crime, and believes that the Pope is God. But when the country merchant of such a locality comes to New York to make his purchases, and sees the splendid Catholic churches here, and finds, perhaps, that the great importer with whom he deals, or the wealthy banker, or the renowned lawyer to whom he is introduced, is a Roman Catholic, and not unseldom an Irishman or a German, his eyes are opened and his mind is prepared for the reception of the truth. In a word, the congregation of foreign-born emigrants, the most of whom are Catholics, in our large cities, has had the effect of making the Catholic church in these cities a noticeable and a respectable fact, and of thereby accomplishing one of the preliminaries in the work which it has yet to perform in the republic. The influence of this fact is to be perceived, also, in the changed tone of the secular press with regard to the church. Respectable journalists, with few and decreasing exceptions, have become ashamed to repeat the vulgar and senseless slanders and the worn-out calumnies concerning the church, her ministers, her dogmas, and her sacraments which were so current twenty years ago. In communities consisting in an appreciable and often in a large proportion of intelligent, wealthy, and influential Catholics, the able editors do not venture any longer to amuse their readers with arguments based on the assumption that the church is the foe of knowledge and of education, and that her mission is to degrade, enslave, and pauperize mankind. In cities where the spires of dozens and scores of Catholic churches, tipped with the emblem of our salvation, point towards heaven; where Catholic hospitals, asylums, schools, and academies abound; where many of the most enterprising and wealthy merchants, manufacturers, and bankers are Catholics; where in the front rank of all the professions Catholics are found—in these communities it is no longer a social disgrace or a mark of singularity to be a Catholic, and a convert to the faith is no longer looked upon as a person of weak intellect or a slave to a benumbing and degrading superstition. We shall show, in the subsequent pages of our article, that for all this, to a very great extent, and under what seems to have been the direct guidance of God, we are indebted to the foreign-born population of the country, and that its accomplishment was made possible, humanly speaking, by their congregating themselves in the cities instead of dispersing in small bodies throughout the agricultural regions of the country. But we shall show, also, that, the work of God having thus far been accomplished, the time has now arrived when the future emigration to the United States 443should be directed towards the rural districts, under conditions which, until now, were practically impossible; and we shall seek to point out in what manner this new colonization may be best directed in order to promote the welfare of the emigrants themselves, the prosperity of our country, and the greater glory of God.