F
FORESTERS]

=Crime.=--This fact is substantiated by a study of criminal and pauper
statistics. Great caution is needed in this line of inquiry, especially
since the eleventh census in 1890 promulgated most erroneous inferences
from the statistics compiled under its direction. It was contended by
the census authorities that for each million of the foreign-born
population there were 1768 prisoners, while for each million of the
native-born there were only 898 prisoners, thus showing a tendency to
criminality of the foreign-born twice as great as that of the white
native-born. This inference was possible through oversight of the
important fact that prisoners are recruited mainly from adults, and that
the proportion of foreign-born adults to the foreign-born population is
much greater than that of the native-born adults to the native
population. If comparison be made of the number of male prisoners with
the number of males of voting age, the proportions are materially
different and more accurate, as follows:--

NUMBER OF MALE PRISONERS PER MILLION OF VOTING POPULATION, 1890 (OMITTING
"UNKNOWN")[96]

Native white, native parents 3,395
Native white, foreign parents 5,886
Native white, total 3,482[97]
Foreign white 3,270
Negro 13,219

Here the foreign-born show actually a lower rate of criminality (3270)
than the total native-born (3482). This inference harmonizes with our
general observations of the immigrants, namely, that they belong to the
industrial classes, and that our immigration laws are designed to
exclude criminals.

But this analysis brings out a fact far more significant than any yet
adverted to; namely, that the native-born children of immigrants show a
proportion of criminality (5886 per million) much greater than that of
the foreign-born themselves (3270 per million), and 70 per cent greater
than that of the children of native parents.

This significant fact is further brought out, and with it the obverse of
the census mistake above referred to, when we examine the census
inferences respecting juvenile criminals. The census calculations show
that there are 250 juvenile offenders for every million of the
native-born population, and only 159 such offenders for every million of
the foreign-born population; but if we remember that the proportion of
foreign-born children is small, and then proceed to compare the number
of b