Immigrants, Urban Politics, and Policing in 1900

America's largest cities in 1900 were struggling under the effects of industrialization, urbanization, and immigration. Increasing numbers of immigrants presented political, economic, and cultural threats to the hegemony of native-born middleand upper-class Americans. As a result, nonimmigrant Americans put pressure on the police to clamp down on urban crime, especially crime related to undesirable aspects of the 'foreign community's lifestyle like the consumption of alcohol. We test conflict theory's threat hypothesis in large American cities in 1900 by relating the percentforeign-born and the arrest ratefor drunkenness under numerous controls suggested by criminological research. Because the urban politics of the period revolved around battles between city bosses and reformers, we incorporate political variables into the analysis. The results support a political interpretation of the aggressiveness with which urban police made arrests for drunkenness.