Conclusion
How Effective Was the Wisconsin Office of
Commissioner ofEmigration?
It has been observed that among all ethnic groups emigrating to Wisconsin,
Germans represented the largest contingent, in Haertel's estimate of
1853 four times as numerous as the next largest group, the Irish. We also
remember that Van Steenwijk claimed that of 30,000 pamphlets printed during
his year in office, 20,000 were in German, and that Haertel chose to send fully
half of his 30,000 pamphlets to Europe. Finally, we may recall that Frederick
Horn believed one-fourth of all German emigrants arriving in New York to
be headed for Wisconsin.253 In other words, Wisconsin's commissioners of
emigration made no mistake about the fact that the overwhelming majority of
foreigners pouring into Wisconsin around the middle of the nineteenth century
was of German origin. This observation is borne out by the federal census
records of both 1850 and 1860. While the number of pamphlets printed and
disseminated, in absolute terms, was no match for the masses of people that
crossed the Atlantic, the priority given to a German readership confirms the
commissioners' understanding of the ethnic proportions within the flood of
emigrants.
Under the circumstances it is no surprise that the German version of the
pamphlet, deemed by the commissioners to play such an important role in their
efforts to reach out to the emigrants, was carefully designed, as we have seen in
at least one example. Its twofold purpose was to provide an objective overview
of the state and its resources while at the same time promoting it as a place
of abundant opportunity. Since Wisconsin had already experienced a large
German influx, especially after 1848, and since the current social and political
situation in Europe was anything but apt to reduce the exodus of Germans,
the importance of the pamphlet, even with its necessarily limited circulation,
should not be underestimated.
Likewise, we have seen by the cited examples of private publications and
periodical articles that the travel guide industry was flourishing in the mid-
nineteenth century. At a time when German emigration to the U. S. had reached

its first peak, numerous printed sources of advice and information were directed

253. See pp. 40-41 above.