INFLUENCE OF ECONOMIC CONDITIONS 207 
1882, again rose to about 17,000 in the years ending June 30, 1885 
and 1886, and then, with the improvement of conditions in the 
United States, rose rapidly to a peak of 81,511 in 1892. In these 
years good conditions in America acted as an attracting force and 
bad conditions in Russia as an expelling force, for in July, 1890, 
there was a revival of the attacks against the Jews and in 1891 the 
expulsion of the Jews from Russia was ordered by Imperial edict. 
Also, 1891 and 1892 were depression years in Russia with crop 
failures and famine conditions. 
In 1893 conditions improved in Russia, but depression set in in 
the United States, accompanied by a decline in immigration from 
Russia. 
The poor harvests of 1896 and 1897, contrary to the tendencies 
just noted in the previous occurrences of that kind, are followed, 
in the years ending June 30, 1897 and 1898, respectively, by a 
decided decrease in emigration to the United States, both absolutely 
and relatively to immigration from other countries. 
From this point, immigration from Russia rapidly increased, both 
in good years and in bad years, until it reached a high point of about 
263,000 in the year ending December 31, 1906. It is not obvious 
whether this 1906 boom was due to the coincident industrial ac- 
tivity in the United States or to the depression and disturbed 
conditions which prevailed in Russia in 1905 and 1906 and for some 
years prior thereto. It is noteworthy, however, that this rapid 
rise in the years prior to 1908 is shared by other emigrant countries, 
so that for several years after 1899, there is no marked change in 
the proportion between immigration from Russia and that from 
other countries (see Chart 35). 
The Russian movement yielded to the general slump in im- 
migration in 1908 and continued to decline in 1909, and again in 
1911, then exhibited a spectacular increase to a total of about 
291,000 in the twelve months ending June 30, 1913, and about 
345,000 in the year ending December 31, 1913. 
Though Russia had experienced a depression tendency toward 
the close of 1911, together with crop failures and some famine 
conditions, 1912 was a period of industrial activity, which continued 
into 1913, and crops were excellent in both 1912 and 1913; hence 
we do not find in Russian economic conditions an obvious explana- 
tion for the unprecedented increase in emigration. Nor, as we have 
noted in previous chapters, does the industrial boom in the United 
States in 1912 appear exceptional enough to account for the intensity