European immigrants continued to come to Latin America in the national period for a number of reasons, many economic. Immigration was important to Latin America for many reasons, and the issue is examined by Morner in both quantitative and qualitative terms. He says that quantity is easier to examine than quality. By 1940, no less than 30 percent of the population of Argentina was born abroad, while by contrast, the percentage in the Untied Stats has never been higher than the 1910 figure of 14.7 percent. Most of these immigrants were of productive age, which also means that they would have more children. The Argentine population did indeed grow rapidly, increasing from 800,000 in 1841 to 14 million in 1940. Mass immigration in Brazil affected only one part of its immense territory so that the foreign-born reached only 19 percent. Many of these immigrants were European in origin. In 1887, the population of the Argentine capital was 32 percent Italian (Morner 77-78).
These immigrants made a considerable contribution to the development or underdevelopment of Latin America, depending on circumstances. Immigration also affected the course of race relations, with blacks and mulattoes being placed on a lower social level when compared to Europeans and their descendants. Most of the Europeans who came to South America did so searching for economic advantage. Brooke cites the number of Italian immigrants who came to South America looking for a future they could not have in their homeland. What is ironic is how many of the Italian and Spanish descendants in Latin America today are looking back to their homeland as the future and as the place where they might find the opportunity they can no longer find in Latin America because of changed economic conditions. Immigration as an issue has been replaced by emigration, and the political parties today argue over these matters and what to do about them (Brooke "266").
Latin Ameri...