OCR Text |
Show FLOCKING TO NEW ENGLAND. French Canadians to the Number of Half a Million Now Over the Border. - . A quieter immigration movement on a scale so extensive as that of the French Canadians to the United States has never been witnessed. The majority of our citizens have as yet no idea of the extent and results. It is chiefly within th"e last generation that this, "new nation," na-tion," as it may be styled, has noiselessly noiseless-ly overspread the northeastern states. To-day, according to the New England Magazine, this new population throughout through-out the United States numbers considerably consider-ably over 800,000. In New England and New York there are more than 500,000; in Massachusetts alone the figures reach 120,000. This is an astounding aggregate for the brief period of their immigration and the extent of the sources of supply. This result far exceeds, ex-ceeds, proportionately, that to the credit of either Ireland or Germany. According to La Guide Froncaise des Etats UnU (1891), they own real estate to the amount of $105,828,500, and 10,-696 10,-696 of the race are doing business for themselves. As we have already seen, tola people, chiefly agricultural, backward back-ward la education and primitive in habit, numbered 65,000 at the time of the cession of Canada to England 1759-60-while at the present time there are 1,700,000 of them, not including the outflow out-flow to adjoining provinces and the United States. |