Those not showing money were for the most part children and other dependents. This shows how baseless is the impression, quite prevalent among Americans and aliens alike, that a certain specified amount of money is necessary to secure admission to this country. Thirty dollars or fifty dollars are the amounts commonly mentioned. But since the average based on the total number showing money is barely over thirty dollars, it is plain that there must be a large number showing less than thirty dollars. In fact, some races, as, for instance, the Polish, Lithuanians, and south Italians, have an average of from twenty to twenty-five dollars for all showing money. There is no monetary requirement for admission to the United States. While the possession of a certain amount of money is considered to add to the probability of an immigrant being able to support himself without becoming a public charge, a sturdy laborer with ten dollars in his pocket is more likely to secure admission than a decrepit old man with a good-sized bank account. Against these large amounts of money brought in by immigrants, which represent a net gain to the total wealth of the country, must be set off the enormous amounts of money annually sent abroad by alien residents of the United States. Various efforts have been made to estimate these sums. The best is probably that of the Immigration Commission which sets the figure at a total of $275,000,000 for the year 1907, which was a prosperous year.[170] The following table gives the distribution of immigrants among the different classes of occupations. OCCUPATION OF EUROPEAN IMMIGRANTS FOR THE YEARS 1898 TO 1909, PERCENTAGES[171] OCCUPATION PER CENT Professional 1.0 Skilled laborers 15.2 Farm laborers 15.7 Farmers 1.0 Common laborers 27.8 Servants 10.8 Miscellaneous 2.1 No occupation[172] 26.4 Footnote 171: _Ibid._, Emig. Cond. in Eur., Abs., p. 15. Footnote 172: Including women and children. These figures are taken from the statements of the immigrants themselves, and represent, in so far as they are correct, the economic position of the immigrant in the country from which he came. They are not a reliable indication of the occupation into which he goes in this country.