The Slavs
will have to be reckoned with, most assuredly, as an element in our
civilization.
[Illustration: SLAV DISTRIBUTION IN THE UNITED STATES]
The maps here given, by the courtesy of _Charities_, show the sections
from which the Slavs come and how they disperse in this country.
[Sidenote: Chiefly Unskilled and Illiterate]
An analysis of the official statistics shows that, with the exception of
the Bohemians, these newest immigrants are mainly unskilled, illiterate
peasants from country districts, and with little money in their pockets
when they land. Of the Bohemians and Moravians forty-four per cent. are
skilled laborers, and only 1.50 per cent. over fourteen are unable to
read and write; but of the Poles eighty-five per cent. are unskilled,
and thirty per cent. can neither read nor write; and this represents the
average. We are getting in an illiterate mass, therefore, and the amount
of money they bring per capita averages about $10. But on this point a
writer says, speaking from a wide observation:[64]
[Sidenote: A Hopeful View]
"This does not necessarily mean that they are undesirable immigrants.
The illiterate, unskilled immigrant may be, in fact, more desirable than
the better educated skilled laborer, or the still better educated
professional or business man.
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