Page 104 [104]
OCR
BALÁZS VENKOVITS of them from Eastern, Central, and Southern Europe, including Hungary. Between the 1870s and the First World War, more specifically the numerous restrictions and the quota system introduced in the aftermath ofthe Great War, the United States attracted the large majority of these immigrants. Between 1881 and 1920, approximately 24 million people settled in the United States. However, after the US government introduced various forms of restriction that initially applied to non-European groups but were subsequently broadened to include other people as well, migrants looked for better opportunities in alternative destinations, and among them were countries that happened to implement policies aimed at attracting immigrants. Canada became more attractive because “from the mid-1890s until World War I, favorable government policies, eastern industrialization, and the opening of the western provinces to agriculture brought 300,000 to 400,000 immigrants each year, most from the British Isles and central and southern Europe.”* Changes in Canadian policies during the 1920s enabled the immigration of thousands of Eastern Europeans until the process was cut short by the Great Depression. Hungarian emigration patterns largely fit into the general trends described above. The key destination was the United States and alternatives like Canada became more attractive only in the 1920s. By the beginning of the 20" century, Hungarian emigration reached unprecedented heights, and transAtlantic migration was perceived by Hungarian officials “as the newest, most modern movement, most significant with regard to its character, and most dangerous concerning its effects.”* Between 1899 and 1913, 85 percent of people leaving Hungary emigrated to the United States.* However, it is difficult to calculate the exact number of Hungarians who left the homeland. According to Gusztäv Thirring, the number of people who left (who were not necessarily all of Hungarian ethnicity) between 1881 and 1900 was close to 500,000. By the first decade of the 20 century, however, the number reached almost 1.5 million. Julianna Puskas claimed that “the actual number of immigrants to the United States for the examined period [1871-1913] can be estimated to be 1,200,000.”° Various push factors forced Hungarians (especially young men) to look for better opportunities abroad, even on the other side of the Atlantic. Hungarian emigration was primarily driven by overpopulation (population growth exceeding food production), economic hardship, limited opportunities for John Powell, Encyclopedia of North American Immigration, New York, Facts on File, 2005, 46. Gusztav Thirring, A magyarországi kivándorlás és a külföldi magyarság, Budapest, Fritz Armin, 1904, 12. * Julianna Puskás, From Hungary to the United States (1880-1914), Budapest, Akademiai Kiadó, 1982, 21. 5 Ibid., 18-19. * 102 +
