REPORT

OF THE

COMMISSIONER-GENERAL OF IMMIGRATION.

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND LABOR,

BUREAU OF IMMIGRATION, Washington, D. C., June 30, 1904.

SIR: I have the honor to present herewith the report of the Bureau of Immigration for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1904, accompanied by various tabulated statements presenting in a condensed form a view of its operations for the period stated.

It is a matter for special felicitation and encouragement that, although the Bureau and its administrative agents were transferred from the Treasury Department and made a branch of a new Department just organized, the initial year under such new auspices, instead of displaying some of those evidences of embarrassment resulting naturally from the process of adjustment to altered conditions, exhibits only indications of steadily increasing vigor, resourcefulness, and success.

It will be noticed that this year full reports are given herein of but two commissioners of immigration. This course, which somewhat varies from the usual practice, is adopted to avoid unnecessary elaboration, the special points of interest in each of the other reports being made the occasion of appropriate comment herein.

One of these exceptions is the report of the commissioner of immigration at Montreal, Canada, and it is made for the reason that it presents a view of an administration conducted under widely different conditions from those existing at seaports of the United States-one that owes its existence to agreement or contract directly, and only indirectly to legislation. The administrative methods are therefore somewhat different from those in operation at our own ports of entry, such being directly the creatures of the law.

The following tables are inserted for convenience of comparison with former reports, and the contents of each table is sufficiently indicated by the heading over it:

TABLE I.-REPORT OF ALIENS ARRIVED IN THE UNITED STATES, BY PORTS, DURING THE FISCAL YEARS ENDED JUNE 30, 1903 AND 1904.

TABLE I.-REPORT OF ALIENS ARRIVED IN THE UNITED STATES, ETC.-Continued.

The total arrivals of aliens, 812,870, are thus shown to be less than the corresponding figures for last year by 44,176, a comparatively insignificant diminution. The arrivals through the Canadian and the continental and insular ports of the United States were apportioned as follows:

The decrease for the year, of 44,176, was apportioned among the ports as indicated below:

The largest ratio of diminution in immigration shows at the port of Philadelphia, amounting to 8,293, or nearly 30 per cent. Some of the

735 smaller ports, particularly in the Southern States, show marked increases, and some few report arrivals for the first time.

TABLE II.-COMPARATIVE STATEMENT SHOWING THE NUMBER OF ALIENS ARRIVED IN THE UNITED STATES, BY COUNTRIES, DURING THE FISCAL YEARS Ended June 30, 1903 AND 1904, RESPECTIVELY, SHOWING INCREASE AND DECREASE FOR EACH COUNTRY.

The striking and significant feature of this table is that the chief diminution in immigration for the year was shown in the arrivals from Austria-Hungary, amounting to 28,855, and from Italy, to 37,326, these two countries aggregating 66,181, or twenty-odd thousand more than the total net decrease for the fiscal year 1904. The countries of north and western Europe, with one notable exception, show increases, Great Britain's increase being 18,643. The one exception to the foregoing statement is shown by the decrease of 18,265 in the arrivals from Sweden.

The only other figures in this table to which attention need be directed are those showing an increase of nearly 100 per cent in the arrivals from China, and a decrease of 5,704 in those from Japan, the latter easily traceable to the pending war in the East.

If to the total arrivals of alien passengers, 812,870, there be added, as should be done, the 27,844 described as "aliens in transit," the total arrivals for the year reach the sum of 840,714, irrespective of those of Canadian and Mexican origin, on account of whom no record is kept.

TABLE III.-REPORT OF ALIENS ARRIVED AND DEBARRED AT THE PORTS OF UNITED STATES AND CANADA, FOR THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1904.

Total..

549, 100 263, 770 812, 870 109, 150 657, 155 46, 565 3, 953 168, 903 95, 575 501, 530 20, 894, 383 103, 750

TABLE III.-REPORT OF ALIENS ARRIVED AND DEBARRED AT THE PORTS OF UNITED STATES AND CANADA, ETC.-Continued.

From the above table it appears that during the year there arrived 812,870 aliens, of whom 549,100 were males and 263,770 were females, an increase in the females as compared with last year of 19,870 and a decrease in males of 64,046. As respects age, 109,150 were under 14 years, 657,155 were between 14 and 45, and 46,565 were 45 or over; 3,953 could read but not write, 168,903 could neither read nor write and, it is presumed, the remainder, 640,014, could both read and write. It also appears that 103,750 of these aliens had already been to this country. That 95,575 brought with them $50 or more each, while 501,530 brought each less than $50. The total amount of money shown to officers by these 812,870 aliens was $20,894,383, or $4,776,870 more than was brought by the 857,046 arrivals of the last year. This fact, taken in connection with the circumstance already referred to as to countries from which the increases of the year under consideration came, furnishes assurance of a marked improvement in the character

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