CHAPTER IV
IMMIGRATION AND BUSINESS CYCLES PRIOR TO 18go
Economic Motives for Migration.
Evenfwith no direct knowledge of the statistics of immigration,
one would be led to expect that variations in economic conditions
in the United States would exercise a large influence upon the number
 of incoming aliens. It will be granted that the hope of economic
betterment is not the sole motive for emigration. Religious or
political persecution, racial discrimination, or the mere love of
adventure may be the impelling force. But, in the main, the emigrant
 is a seller of labor, seeking the best price for his services, and
hence not apt to be attracted by a stagnant market. Furthermore,
for many prospective immigrants the financing of the trip becomes
easier when times are prosperous in the United States, for at such
times friends and relatives who have previously emigrated are in a
better position to remit funds for the trip. Approximately one
third of the total number of immigrants have their passage paid by
relatives.! Even those who pay their own way are apt to find it
easier to obtain the necessary funds in periods of prosperity in the
United States, for, as we shall note more in detail in a subsequent
chapter, periods of prosperity in the United States are ordinarily
accompanied by prosperity in the country of emigration, when
savings are more readily accumulated and property more easily
disposed of.:
Lastly, the increasing facility of communication tends, we should
expect, to decrease the lag between industrial slumps and the consequent
 decreases in immigration.
Opinions of Authorities on Immigration Problems.
The arguments just cited for expecting a close relationship between
 fluctuations in industry and immigration are uniformly
supported by the conclusions of various authorities who have given
consideration to this problem.
132.1 per cent in the seven fiscal years, 1908-1914, inclusive.
2See discussion of this point in Chapter VIII.
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