OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMMIGRANTS ! 
inspection of these charts, to approximate with the eye the relative 
change in different years or in the several curves for any one year. 
Depression Years. 
When examining the fluctuations in migration, we shall have 
frequent occasion to refer to the depression years in industry. 
These years of depression may be quite satisfactorily identified for 
preliminary comparisons by examination of Charts 6 and 7, on 
CHART 6 
InpicEs oF Economic (‘onNpITIONS, BY CALENDAR YEARS: 
1870-1923 
Ratio scale 
1000 11000 
900 , ! 900 
so Ae—e= Railway Trackmen (7housand men) 1 3% 
600 B «—- = Bituminous Coal Production (Million tons) 600 
s00 C —— = Pig Iron Production (One hundred thousand tons) 500 
D »-—x= Volume of Manufacture (/1899=/00) 
#0: «inex of Construction (1914=100) oo 
soo © o—e = Wholesale Prices (79/3 =/00) 300 
5 ~—— = Anthracite Coal Production (Million tons) 
200" + 200 
100} 100 
90 Qo 
80+ ] 80 
70 1 7C 
60| 4 60 
so} 50 
¢0t I 40 
30 30 
: 20 
o— 2. <9s  _Tooh09 | TW |B 
sNumerical data in Tables 12-A and 12-B. 
pages 59 and 62, which show the relative fluctuations in the annual 
statistics. With the exception of the clearings index of business, 
the data plotted in these charts have not been corrected for the 
growth element, hence a mild depression tendency may be evidenced 
merely by a slackening in the rate of increase rather than by a 
decided downward slope of the curve. The fluctuations in the 
production of pig iron, when they are reasonably well supported by 
5G