SETTLEMENT OR RETURN Finnish Emigrants (1860-1930) in the International Overseas Return Migration Movement
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STUDIA HISTORICA 10 Published by the Finnish Historical Society SETTLEMENT OR RETURN Finnish Emigrants (1860-1930) in the International Overseas Return Migration Movement by Keijo Virtanen HELSINKI 1979 SETTLEMENT OR RETURN SETTLEMENT OR RETURN Finnish Emigrants (1860-1930) in the International Overseas Return Migration Movement KEIJO VIRTANEN To be presented, with the permission of the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Turku, for public criticism in Auditorium I, at 12 noon on December 15, 1979 HELSINKI 1979 SETTLEMENT OR RETURN Finnish Emigrants (1860-1930) in the International Overseas Return Migration Movement by Keijo Virtanen HELSINKI 1979 STUDIA HISTÖRICA Published by The Finnish Historical Society Suomen Historiallinen Seura — Finska Historiska Samfundet Vol. 10 KEIJÖ VIRTANEN Settlement or Return: Finnish Emigrants (1860-1930) in the International Overseas Return Migration Movement ISSN 0081-6493 ISBN 951-9254-25-0 Forssan Kirjapaino Oy, Forssa 1979 To the Memory of My Mother 9biara dataa.t~ ACKNOWLEDGMENTS As the ten years of research which have gone into my investigation of the return migration come to their conclusion, it is a pleasure to recall the various people and organizations with whom I have worked. First and foremost, I would like to mention Vilho NIITEMAA, Professor Emeritus of General History at the University of Turku, who originally guided me to a topic of research which has since then dominated my activities in many ways. In conjunction with Professor Niitemaa's Migration History Project, I have had a number of opportunities to carry out research in the United States and Canada. These visits have also given me the personal occasion to interiorize those factors making to diminish or increase the probability of return, towards which each and every migrant was forced to clarify his stance, and which form the central theme in my dissertation. The supervision Professor Niitemaa has given has been charac- terized by the expertise made possible by the width and variety of his familiarity with many fields of international history. Without his constant interest, criticism, and encouragement, my research would have faced many additional difficulties. Two other members of the University of Turku, Professor Matti LAUERMA and Dr. Reino KERO, Docent, have also followed the progress of my research from its infancy, and have supplied valuable advice. Professor Lauerma also acted as one of the Faculty of Humanities' two official readers of my dissertation, while Dr. Kero has been able to give me many useful hints, especially relating to source materials. The Faculty's other official dissertation reader, Professor Viljo RASILA (University of Tampere), offered criticisms in the final stages which helped to focus attention on certain methodological questions, and contributed to the final overall appearance of the dissertation. A former Chairman of the Suomi Society, Jussi LINNAMO, Chief Director of the Finnish Bank Inspectorate, drew my attention to a number of economic aspects relating to the return migration phenomenon. During the preparation of this research I have been a member of the General History Licenciate Seminar at the University of Turku. Among other colleagues, I would first like to mention Dr. Holger WESTER, Docent at the University of Uppsala, Sweden, whose expertise on the problems in the migration movement contributed to establishing the frame of reference for the present investigation. Professor Robert M. WARNER and Dr. Francis X. BLOUIN (University of Michigan) provided good research conditions for me during the phase of my research carried out at Ann Arbor in 1974-1975. Dr. Michael G. KARNI (University of Minnesota) has been particularly helpful in relation to the stylistic shaping of my work, and I have also had several fruitful discussions with Professor Emeritus John I. KOLEHMAINEN (Heidelberg College, Tiffin, Ohio) on factors affecting the migrants' process of adaptation and their decision to return or to remain. Professor Pentti VIRRANKOSKI, Director of the Department of History at the University of Turku, has provided me with good research facilities, and contributed to obtaining the publication of my dissertation in a highly respected series. The dissertation has been skilfully translated into English by Sirkka and Keith BAT- TARBEE, and the maps and figures have been prepared by Mrs. Taru SUND- STEN, M.A. Over the period 1973-1978, I have received financial assistance from the follow- ing organizations for research and for the collection of material in Finland, the United States, and Canada: the Aaltonen Foundation; the Wainstein Foundation; the Kordelin Foundation; the Helander Foundation; the University of Turku; the American-Scandinavian Foundation, and the Suomi Society. The considerable costs involved in the translation and publication of the dissertation have been partly met by the University of Turku Foundation; the Öflund Foundation; the Sariola Founda- tion, the Finnish Cultural Fund, and the Finnish Historical Society, in whose series of monographs this is being published. For sixteen months I also held a Re- search Assistantship from the Academy of Finland, which was of especial assistance in the final stages of preparation of the dissertation. Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to my wife Orvokki, who has unstint- ingly helped me in the laborious collection of material both in Finland and in North America, and has in particular cared for our children Seppo and Marjaana when my research has prevented me from having enough time for them. Their joint contribution, in counterbalancing the research work involved in the writing of this dissertation, has been invaluable. Lieto, October 1979 KEIJO VIRTANEN CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 7 I DEFINING THE PROBLEM 11 1. The State of Research, the Key Concepts, and the Central Questions 11 2. The Emigration and the Selection of the Sample Areas 22 3. The Use of the Official Migration Statistics 41 4. The Use of Original Material, and the Methodological Questions in the Investigation 45 II THE OVERALL SCALE OF THE RETURN MIGRATION 61 1. Permanent Return 61 2. Temporary Return 70 3. Return to Areas Other than the Place of Origin 75 4. The Duration of the Emigration of Permanent Return Migrants 79 III CYCLICAL FLUCTUATIONS IN THE RETURN 84 1. Long-Term Cycles 84 2. Annual Fluctuations 89 3. Seasonal Variation 95 IV THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC COMPOSITION OF THE RETURN MIGRATION 99 V DEMOGRAPHIC FEATURES OF THE RETURN MIGRATION 114 1. Age 114 2. Sex 124 3. Marital Status and Family Emigration 134 VI THE SIGNIFICANCE FOR THE RETURN MIGRATION OF THE HOST AREA 145 1. The Regions of North America 145 2. Other Continents (Australia, South America, and Africa) 164 VII THE INDIVIDUAL'S RETURN DECISION 170 1. Adaptation to the Host Country 170 2. The Migrants' Own Interpretation of the Reasons for Return 175 VIII READJUSTMENT AFTER THE RETURN 186 1. Attitudes to the Migration 186 2. Individual Factors Facilitating or Hindering Readjustment 192 IX THE IMPACT OF THE RETURNING MIGRANTS 203 X FINAL SURVEY: SETTLEMENT OR RETURN IN RELATION TO THE "OLD" AND "NEW" MIGRATIONS 219 APPENDICES 228 LIST OF TABLES 264 LIST OF MAPS 265 LIST OF FIGURES 265 LIST OF APPENDICES 265 LIST OF SOURCES 266 I Defining the Problem 1 THE STATE OF RESEARCH, THE KEY CONCEPTS, AND THE CENTRAL QUESTIONS The point of departure for the present investigation may be taken as the statement by the British statistician E. G. RAVENSTEIN in 1885 to the effect that every current of migration movement occasions a compensatory counter-current.' Despite this observation, European research into overseas migration has paid very little attention to the counter-current, i.e. return migration. As the historical perspective has lengthened, on the other hand, the study of the original emigration movement has increasingly aroused interest in a number of countries, especially over the past two decades? Why has the return migration remained an almost entirely uncharted field? The reason is not failure to recognize the relevance of its investigation, so much as the absence of correspondingly comprehensive statistics to those available for emigra- tion. The large-scale statistical study of migration published by the United States National Bureau of Economic Research in 1929 did pay a certain amount of atten- tion to return migration, but was restricted precisely by the fact that statistics for returning emigrants were only available from five European countries (Spain, Britain, Italy, Sweden and Finland)? Many investigators have indicated interest in the subject, but have also recognized the obstacles to research caused by the sources .4 The difficulties in the sources are still evident in studies of recent return migration: in his study of immigration in Canada after the Second World War, Anthony H. RICHMOND is forced by the lack of reliable data to offer no more than estimates of the strength of the return migration .5 The same also applies to intra-European migration: Du'siga SEFERAGIC complains of the poor sources available in the RAVENSTEIN 1885, 199. 2 ÅKERMAN 1975, passim. 3 International Migrations I 1929, 204-205. 4 See for example HVIDT 1971, 325; HELL 1976, 55. On the international state of sources, see also TEDEBRAND 1976, 203-204. On the sources of Finnish migration, see VIRTANEN 1979, 191-194. 5 RICHMOND 1967, 229. 12 investigation of Yugoslavian migrant workers returning from various European countries in the 1960s and 1970s.6 In general, the most thorough research to date on the overseas return migration has been carried out on Swedish and Italian material, but comparable material is also to some extent available from other countries. Two of the investigations of the Swedish return migration deserve special mention, those by Lars-Göran TEDE- BRAND7 and John S. LINDBERG,$ although in both cases they comprise only one chapter in a larger work on Swedish emigration in general. They do however attempt to establish a quantitative and structural picture of the Swedish return migration.