[3] Jenks and Lauck, _The Immigration Problem_, p. 100.
[4] The figures for 1910 are taken from the Census of 1910, vol. iv, p. 303. The Census of 1900 does not give occupations by nativity. The figures for 1900 are taken from the _Reports of the Immigration Commission_, vol. xxviii, pp. 66, 71-79, prepared from original and unpublished data of the Census Bureau. Since the figures for immigrant female agricultural laborers are incomplete, it has been here assumed that they were in the same proportion to that of the males in 1910--namely, about 9 per cent. Therefore the figure 22,850 for the immigrant female agricultural laborers for 1900 represents an estimate of 9 per cent of the number of immigrant male agricultural laborers for 1900.
[5] _Reports of the United States Immigration Commission_, 1911, vol. xix, pp. 89-102.
The immigrant desiring to settle on land is constantly on the lookout for an opportunity to acquire land. The most general way of learning of such opportunity is through personal acquaintance or through correspondence with relatives and friends of the immigrant's own nationality who have previously settled on land. These sources of information are considered by the immigrant to be the most reliable, although they have certain drawbacks.
First, immigrants on the land are always desirous of increasing the number of people of their own race or nationality in their particular locality, for the sake of their own advantage; for the larger their community the better their social and business opportunities. Therefore they are often prone to exaggerate the advantages of land and farming in their section and to be silent as to the disadvantages, so as to induce more people of their race to join the community.
[Illustration: THE OWNER OF THIS FARM, SETTLED IN 1917, HAS PERSUADED SIX MEMBERS OF HIS FAMILY TO BUY FARMS IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD]
Second, it is quite a common practice among immigrant settlers to receive from land companies certain commissions for bringing in further settlers, which induce them to exaggerate the good qualities of the land. The usual commission in the North Middle states is fifty cents per acre. The prospective buyers of land do not usually know about this.