CHAPTER 1 
THE PROBLEM 
The Nature of Modern Migration. 
In significant respects, the great migratory movement to the 
United States in recent decades differs from earlier migrations. 
The migration of the semi-barbaric races which conquered the 
countries of southern and western Europe was a concerted, hostile 
movement of whole peoples, moving as military or political units. 
Likewise the early colonization of the Western Hemisphere by 
European peoples was largely by organized groups or under direct 
political authorization and for governmental purposes. 
In contrast, the European emigration of recent history has been 
essentially a peaceful phenomenon of individual and family move- 
ment, although attaining an enormous scale which has given it a 
significance at least comparable to any of the earlier movements. 
The motives for this movement of millions of people must be 
sought in the conditions which lead the individual to break es- 
tablished ties and risk a new start in a strange country. These 
motives, as well as the effects of the resulting migration, are as 
varied and complex as human life itself, and the minute details could 
be ascertained only by examination of the histories of the individual 
migrants. But general tendencies are more significant than an 
unwieldly mass of detail; and, because of the great numbers in- 
volved, significant major tendencies can best be discovered by the 
use of the statistical methods suitable for the quantitative analysis 
of mass phenomena. Accordingly, this monograph presents the 
results of a quantitative analysis of migratory movements. 
While it is a part of a comprehensive coordinated program of 
investigation of the fundamental problems of migration, the present 
report is restricted primarily to the results of one phase of a survey 
of the economic causes and effects of migration, with particular 
regard to the supply of labor in the United States. 
Migration and the Supply of Labor. 
‘+ The significance of the problem of the relation of immigration to 
labor supply and the desirability of subjecting it to a close analysis 
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