,000 went to the
polls. The ratio is five out of seven. Two million negroes were
excluded, and 1,400,000 foreign-born had not yet naturalized. This
leaves 2,600,000 natives and foreign-born who might have voted but did
not. The foreigner who takes out his citizenship papers does it mainly
to vote. Two-thirds of them had done so or declared their intention in
1900.[112] Probably the proportion of native whites who did not vote was
15 per cent of their total number, and the proportion of foreign-born
who did not, or could not, was over 40 per cent.

But this proportion differs greatly among the several races. It is not
so much a difference in willingness as a difference in opportunity. Five
years are required for naturalization, and while 40 per cent of those
who have been here six to nine years have not declared their intention
nor taken out their papers, only 7 per cent of those who have been here
twenty years retain their allegiance to foreign governments.[113] This
increases relatively the political weight of the Teutonic and Celtic
races which are oldest in point of immigration, and reduces relatively
the weight of the Italian, Slav, and Jewish races. The figures below
make this quite plain. The table shows the proportion of foreign-born
who remain aliens, in the sense that they have neither taken out
citizenship papers nor declared their intention of doing so. Only 7 to
13 per cent of the foreigners from Northwestern Europe are aliens,
compared with 35 to 60 per cent of those from Eastern and Southern
Europe. In course of time these differences will diminish, and the
Italian and Slav will approach the Irishman and German in their share of
American suffrage:--

PER CENT OF ALIENS AMONG FOREIGN-BORN MALES OF VOTING AGE[114]

Wales 7.1
Germany 8.3
Norway 9.7
Ireland 10.1
Denmark 10.3
Holland 11.6
Sweden 11.9
Scotland 12.5
Bohemia 12.6
England 12.9
Canada, English 21.1
Russia (mainly Jews) 35.2
Canada, French 38.5
Finland 38.6
Austria (largely Slavs) 44.6
Portugal 51.6
Italy 53.0
Hungary (mainly Slavs) 53.1
Greece 57.8
Austria, Poland 61.6

The right to vote is not "inalienable," neither is