: MIGRATION AND BUSINESS CYCLES
a decrease. Thus, in 1881, 1882, 1887, 1888, 1903, 1910, and 1913,
immigration from all these countries shows an increase, and in 1897
and 1908 a decrease. Also, in the depression of 1885 and likewise in
1889, immigration from all the selected countries but Russia declined;
 in 1893, a decline from all countries but Italy and Greece
occurred, and from all but Greece in 1894. With the exception of
the inflow from Greece, all these immigrant streams rose in 1899,
and all rose in 1902 but that from Ireland. The tendency to uniformity
 of movement may be summarized by noting that in twentyone
 of the thirty-four years under consideration three-fourths or
more of the curves show changes in the same direction. It is also
noteworthy that in sixteen of these twenty-one years, an increase
in immigration is preceded, to use a typical index, by an increase in
pig iron production in the United States, or a decrease in immigration
by a decrease in pig iron production, in the calendar year ending six
months prior to the close of the given immigration year.
In the post-war years from 1920 to 1924, inclusive, which are
not shown on Charts 32 and 33, the conformity in the direction of
year-to-year change was even more uniform, all the selected countries
 showing a movement in the same direction, with the exception
of Russia in 1920, Germany and Austria in 1922, Greece in 1923, and
Russia and Austria-Hungary in 1924.
Differences in Degree.
It is not, of course, to be inferred that year-to-year changes in
the number of immigrants, even when similar in direction for many
countries, are necessarily closely similar in degree. For example,
taking the severe depression of 1908 as the basis of comparison, the
sharpest decline among the countries which contributed one hundred
 thousand or more immigrants in the year ending June 30, 1907,
is found in the immigration from Hungary and Italy, countries
from which immigration had been rapidly increasing. In terms of
percentage decline in the year ending June 30, 1908, from the number
for the preceding year, the declines were as follows: United Kingdom,
 18 per cent; Russia, 40; Austria, 43; Italy, 55; and Hungary,
56.
Proportion to Total Immigration.
Further indication of variances in the fluctuations of immigration
from the several countries can be obtained from Charts 34 and 35,
which portray the changes in the ratio of immigration from the

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