Commissioner of Immigration has kept statistics of the destination of
these recent immigrants, and they show the following results: In 1907,
of the 294,000 Italian speaking immigrants who came to us in that year,
120,000 settled in the state of New York; 53,000 in Pennsylvania; 19,000
in Massachusetts; and 17,000 in New Jersey. Three fourths of the Italian
immigrants, in other words, apparently go to these four states. Of the
138,000 Poles who came in 1907, 33,000 were bound to Pennsylvania,
31,000 to New York, 12,000 to New Jersey, and 17,000 to Illinois. These
four states seem to constitute the favorite places of settlement for the
Slavs. Of the 149,000 Russian and Polish Hebrews who came in 1907,
93,000 settled in New York state, 15,000 in Pennsylvania, and 9000 in
Massachusetts, these three states being the favorite places of
settlement for recent Jewish immigrants.

It seems clear from these figures that the congestion of recent
immigrants is serious, and it is a question whether with such congestion
it will be possible to assimilate these recent comers, so unlike
ourselves in social traditions and ideals, to the American type. It is
claimed by some that there is no serious congestion of immigrants in
this country, and that the immigrants distribute themselves through the
operation of normal economic influences in the places where they are
most needed, and that we need not, therefore, be concerned about the
congestion of foreign born in certain communities. This view, however,
that economic laws or forces will sufficiently attend to this matter of
the distribution of our immigrants, is not borne out by the facts of
ordinary observation and experience.

_The Distribution of Immigrants in Industry_. It is probably safe
to say that four fifths of our recent immigrants belong to the unskilled
class of laborers, though the percentage of unskilled fluctuates greatly