1791–1800 100,000 1801–1810 100,000 1811–1820 98,385 1821–1830 143,439 1831–1840 599,125 1841–1850 1,713,251 1851–1860 2,511,060 1861–1870 2,377,279 1871–1880 2,812,191 1881–1890 5,246,613 1891–1900 3,687,564 1900–1910 8,795,386 Combining these two sets of figures, it appears that for each immigrant coming to this country during the decades specified, there was at the close of the decade the following number of square miles of territory in the United States: 1800 8.278 1810 19.998 1820 20.927 1830 14.355 1840 3.437 1850 1.739 1860 1.205 1870 1.273 1880 1.076 1890 .570 1900 .824 1910 .347 This table illustrates forcibly the fact that from the point of view of the need of new settlers immigration at the present time is a vastly different matter from what it has ever been before in the history of our country. This impression is strengthened if we make another comparison, which is even more significant for our purposes, viz. the relation of immigration to the public domain, that is, to the land which still remains unclaimed and open to settlement. If there were still large tracts of good land lying unutilized, and available for settlement, as there have been in other periods of our history, we could take comfort in the thought that as soon as the incoming aliens caused too great a congestion in any region, the surplus inhabitants would overflow, by a natural process, into the less thickly settled districts. Let us consider what the facts have to show in this respect. In 1860 there were, as nearly as can be estimated, 939,173,057 acres of land lying unappropriated and unreserved in the public domain. In 1906 there were 424,202,732 acres of such land, representing the leavings, after all the best land had been chosen. In other words, for each immigrant entering the country during the decade ending 1860 there were 374 acres in the public domain, at least half of it extremely valuable farm land. In 1906, for each immigrant entering during the previous ten years, there were 68.9 acres, almost wholly arid and worthless.