That the German element in the United States constitutes a much larger part of the population than appears in our various statistics, is often not taken cognizance of, especially by those who are most concerned. This is a fact, nevertheless. Most of the statistical works only consider as Germans those who came from Germany or those whose parents came to this country from there. This, of course, is a mistake. We should classify as German all those who are of German descent and who have been directly influenced by German culture. An examination of the European map will show what this definition really means. Throughout Eastern and Southeastern Europe, from the White Sea to the Caspian and 2Black Seas, one finds smaller and larger German settlements, where the higher German civilization maintains itself amidst people of a lower culture. The former lands of the Hapsburg regime, Austria, Hungary, Galizia, Siebenbuergen, Bucovina, and even Rumania, Bulgaria and European Turkey, are covered with small patches of Germans. The millions of Germans in Switzerland and Bohemia may be mentioned to complete the picture.

But with that we have by no means exhausted the countries of origin which comprise the German element in America. Hardly has any national group come to the American shores but what it included adherents of a Teutonic cultural alliance. It is undoubtedly astounding, but according to the census of 1920, not less than 21,997 persons, subjects of German culture, 3came from France to settle in America. And they are not all Alsatians and Lorrainians who, after the war, were disgusted with the French administration and thus forsook their native soil to seek their fortune elsewhere; to the contrary, very few of this class have appeared here, because France is providing all possible difficulties to prevent such an emigration. France follows this policy, as formerly, in view of her declining birth-rate. The Germans coming from France lived there long before the last war, and the migratory instinct, which permeates so many of this race, prompted them to cross the ocean. The German spreads his culture from Central Europe to all parts of the continent and also to other parts of the world. Colonies of Germans can be found in South America, Africa, and Asia; yet, the German retains his own customs, his civilization, considering it as the higher accomplishment.

An easier assimilation manifests itself only with races that have a common root, like the Scandinavians, Dutch, and English. Thus one finds that the German among the Latin and Slavic races maintains his culture, bequeathing it to his offspring for centuries, in spite of harrowing antagonism; whereas, when he lives with related nations, Germanism is soon absorbed, often within a few generations.

Therefore, if people of the Romance countries, Slavs or similar districts, come to the United States and declare that German is their mother tongue, then we do not err by including them as Germans. On this score, however, many of our statistical records lead us astray. As an example, it is claimed that 3,694 German farmers live in North Dakota. Any one who is conversant with conditions there and knows what a large percentage of Germans are among the population, will not believe such statements, 5particularly when he is confronted with the report that 8,590 Russian-born farmers settled in that State. Everything is accurate in due conformity to reliable statistics; the number of Germans and the Russians born in their country, all of it tallies. But the impression derived there from is totally misleading, because the thousands of native Russian farmers and live stock breeders of the Northwest, are mostly Germans who came from the countless German settlements in Russia. Therefore, one does not hear the Russian language there, but German is spoken everywhere, although it is gradually being displaced by the ethnologically related English.

According to the 1920 census, there were 2,267,128 foreign born Germans in the United States; yet, it is highly probable that this number is 6far too low, because the count was made at a time when many Germans, due to business and other reasons, considered it inopportune to admit their nationality. Of this number, only 72 percent were born in Germany, i.e., 1,641,482. The following countries are listed: From Austria, 201,603; from Russia, 16,535; from Switzerland (only those who speak German), 97,087; from Hungary, 76,847; from Poland, 38,179; from France, 21,997; Czecho-Slovakia, 16,446; from Canada, 11,136; from Luxemburg (Northwestern Germany), 10,844; from Rumania, 8,167; from Jugo-Slavia, 7,787; etc.

From this, one might assume that regardless of the restricted immigration quotas for the various nations and the approximately 55,000 Germans who entered the United States, the actual amount of German-speaking people and propagators of German culture, must have been near the hundred thousand mark.