We noticed some months ago that the number of Catholics
in the United States, according to the Catholic census, did not -exceed five-and-a-half millions. This includes, of course, the 'French Catholics of Louisiana and the Spanish Catholics of Texas, California, and Florida, and the English Catholics within the States. The Catholics of Irish blood or birth cannot, therefore, exceed five millions. Mr. E. L. Godkin, an Irishman himself, though not a Kelt, in a long letter to the Tribune about some attacks made on him by Mr. Goldwin Smith, gives the actual number, compiled from the Census of 1881, of Irish-born persons living in the United States. It is 1,854,000, of whom 978,000 are adult males. Of these, 415,000 live by professional or personal service, 284,000 by manufactures and mines, 138,000 by trade and transportation service, and only 140,000 by agriculture,—a curious bit of evidence as to the dread of work on the land which Irishmen carry with them to the States. Mr. Godkin adds, incidentally, that the number of Americans born in Germany is very nearly the same.
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