National origins provision of immigration law

Bibliographic data

Monograph

Identifikator:: 1796380105

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-196168

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: National origins provision of immigration law

Place of publication:: Washington

Publisher:: Gov. Pr. Off.

Year of publication:: 1929

Scope:: III, 171 S

Digitisation:: 2022

Collection:: Economics Books

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Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Statement of Samuel A. Mathewson, University Club, New York City

Collection:: Economics Books

120 NATIONAL ORIGINS PROVISION OF IMMIGRATION LAW MEMORANDUM By SAM A, MATHEWSON With reference to the contention stated in A Hidden Phase of American History, by Michael J. O’Brien, that the Irish in America at the time of the Revoly- tion far exceeded the number indicated by the surnames listed in the census of 1790, and that such census and the Colonial Irish stock estimates based upon it, as contained in A Century of Population Growth, are correspondingly inaccurate One of the chief bases by which Mr. O’Brien supports his conclusions regard- ing the number of people of Irish origin in the United States during the Revolution and 1790 is the number of Irish names appearing in the Revolu- Jdonary War muster rolls. Giving his computations of the number of times certain Irish names appear on such muster rolls and in the census of 1790, he presents ag his conclusion that because the muster-roll figures are much larger than the census figures the latter are correspondingly inaccurate. However, in relying upon the muster-roll figures as the basis of comparison Mr. O’Brien is using data plainly unreliable. In the preface of volume 1 of Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War (a compilation of the records of the Massachusetts soldiers and sailors who served in the Army and Navy during the Revolutionary War, as shown in the archives in the office of the secretary, Massachusetts) it is stated : “% « * Tn crediting service to any given individual no attempt has been made to force identification where a person of similar name has been found upon the rolls ag serving at a distant and separate interval of time, in a differ- ent command, and without any place of residence stated. * * Many of the rolls furnish no proof whatever as to residence of the men borne upon them. * * * The principle was adopted of bringing together scattered records of service and crediting them to one individual where identification was proven by place of residence, by continuous service, or by service in the same command at not too widely separated intervals, when it might be fairly presumed that the proofs of continuous service had failed of preservation and were only lacking from the State’s collection, All records that failed to meet these tests are simply printed as they are found, and must stand ag unidentified. * * * The above-mentioned publication, Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War, embodies 17 volumes with pages totaling in number 16.180. Taking a minimum average of 10 names to the page, the total number of names listed is 161,800. According to the census of 1790 the total white popula- tion of Massachusetts at that time was 373,187. Subtracting 20 per cent from the 1780 figures, the mean of the total white population during the Revolutionary War could not have been more than 298,567. Thus if the muster-roll figures were to be aceepted without correction they would indicate that more than one- half of the population of Massachusetts was in the Revolutionary forces. Since it is a recognized fact that the fighting element in a community seldom exceeds one-tenth of the entire population, and that one-fifth is an extraordinarily high proportion, it is easy to see to what extent duplications must exist in the Revo- lutionary muster rolls. On pages 120 to 121 of A Hidden Phase of American History some of the difficulties above enumerated are apparently recognized, and yet it would seem ‘hat in the case of the muster rolls anyway these difficulties have not heen solved. Since Massachusetts is the only State which has alphabetically arranged its Revolutionary War records the muster rolls of that State are the only ones adapted to an immediate comparison with the figures given by Mr. (Brien. The names of Revolutionary soldiers and sailors in other States are for the most part listed in rosters by companies and regiments, thus entailing an endless task in running down any particular name or names. Reference should be made to the variations in spelling of the same name which. of course, is one of the causes of duplication. In the introductory note to each volume of Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War it is stated: fx % ok Ag the same name may appear under various forms, each carrying some portion of a record of service, it is necessary in order to obtain the com- plete record, as far as preserved, of anv given individual, to examine all the forms under which a name is stated to appear in the record index * % *

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