The participation of the Jews in the total immigration to the United States is large and increasing in importance. For the last fifteen years they formed the second largest body of immigrants. Their fate of immigration is also higher than that of any other immigrant people. Of note, too, is the slow response of their immigration to unfavorable economic conditions in this country. When these facts are joined to those which have shown the striking relative participation of the Jews in the movements from Russia and Roumania, and the existence of special causes operating in these countries and indicating their influence in the yearly variations and in an extraordinary rate of immigration, it becomes clear that for the largest part of this period of thirty years Jewish immigration is controlled mainly by the conditions and events affecting the fate of the Jews in the countries of Eastern Europe. That the conditions in the United States exercise an influence, favorable or unfavorable, upon the immigration of Jews is undoubted. The influences, however, exerted by the conditions abroad are far stronger and steadier, and, on the whole, override the latter. The conclusion previously reached that the Jewish immigration is for the largest part the result of the expulsive and rejective forces of governmental persecution is thus strengthened by this examination into the situation as presented by the figures of the Jewish immigration to the United States. With it as a guiding principle, some of the main characteristics peculiar to the Jewish immigration are explained. To these we now turn. PART II JEWISH IMMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES B. ITS CHARACTERISTICS CHAPTER I FAMILY MOVEMENT Vital aspects of an immigrant people are revealed in its sex and age distribution. Generally speaking, whether an immigration is composed of individuals or of families is shown in the relative proportion of males and females, and of adults and children, of which it is composed. That the Jewish movement is essentially a family movement is shown by the great proportion of females and children found in it.[94] From 1899 to 1910, out of a total immigration of 1,074,442 Jews, 607,822, or 56.6 per cent were males, and 466,620, or 43.4 per cent, were females. These proportions have varied but slightly throughout the period. The greatest departures were in the years 1904 and 1905. The increase of the immigration of males in these years is explained by the unusual conditions existing in Russia at this time--economic unrest, revolution--which had the effect of sending over the men as an _avantgarde_ to prepare the way for their families. Young men fleeing to escape conscription also swelled the numbers. In 1906, however, the number of males decreased by 2,000, but that of females increased by more than 25,000. In this tremendous increase of females is registered the effect of the _pogroms_ of 1905-6, in which years the movement became a veritable flight.