that 50 per cent of the women have organizations of their own. Many of the Poles who were not members of a society in the United States were those who considered their stay here too transient to warrant membership.

An analysis of the fifty-five family interviews showed that whereas 36 per cent of the men were members of church societies, only 19 per cent of the women were so affiliated. On the other hand, the tables were almost reversed on the question of lifeinsurance policies carried by commercial companies— the Metropolitan and Prudential seemed popular among these Poles. Here 36 per cent of the women were insured, 27 per cent of the men, and 48 per cent of the children. This last large figure is of interest in connection with the findings of the Ohio Health Insurance Commission. In reading the following it will be remembered that large numbers of the coal miners in Ohio are of Slavic descent: "The usual forms of industrial insurance were everywhere present in the mining districts, through which children, in particular, are covered for funeral benefits." The charge for a $100 policy was usually 10 cents per week for a child, 25 cents per week for an adult.

These findings indicate a larger proportion of Polish wage earners helped by benefit societies than do those of the Pennsylvania Health Commission report for wage earners in general. The latter found so many restrictions of age, standing in the society, kind of illness, that it concluded that "This type of health insurance . . . reaches comparatively few

"The Health of Ohio Coal Miners," Ohio Health Insurance and Old Age Pension Commission Report, 1919, p. 375.

in the wage-earning group." The table from the Illinois Health Commission's report, which is quoted later, also shows a much smaller proportion of each race in benefit societies than do the Ohio and Pennsylvania studies.

Polish societies are nearly always connected with the Catholic Church. They exist by reason of close proximity in the United States of people who speak the same language and have the same ardent love for the homeland. Their function is pre-eminently social and nationalistic. Secondarily, however, they aim to aid members and their families in time of illness or death.

The sick benefits paid by church societies average from $5 to $7 a week for twelve weeks. A funeral benefit is always included. The services of a doctor appointed by the society are usually available to members in time of illness, although some societies pay $1 or $2 a visit for the member's own physician. The men's dues vary from 35 to 50 cents a month, depending, of course, on the extent of sick and death benefits offered. Among the women's societies the dues range from 25 to 35 cents a month, and the sick benefits rarely exceed $5 a week.

ITALIANS FROM SAME VILLAGE UNITE

Contrasting in many respects with these Polish societies are the Italian. Instead of the church, the keystone of their organization is common origin in a certain village in Italy., Many mutual-aid societies. are continuations of similar organizations in Italy, where each little town has its own association for

co-operative undertakings. In Genoa, for instance, there is a socialistic industrial society with five thousand members which is running its own industries. Members from this city naturally band together in the Unite States for self-aid.

Thus it is frequently found that the essential requirement for membership in an Italian society is residence or birth in a particular village or district in Italy. As many of these associations will be found in any colony as there are villages represented. In Boston, as already mentioned, more than one hundred of these societies are to be found, and it is claimed that there are three hundred in Philadelphia. They are usually named after the patron saints of the home villages: "San Domenico," "Santa Brumitto," or "Santa Pepeica." Women's societies are not nearly so numerous as they are among the Poles, and those that do exist are chiefly for intellectual purposes.

Among the men's societies, the sick benefits are practically the same in amount as among the Poles— $6 to $7 a week-but the period of payment is a little longer, thirteen to fourteen weeks. One society was found which paid $10 a week benefit for four weeks. Medical care by the society doctor is commonly given to all members free, and to their families at one half the price usually charged. One society was found which, for an extra charge of a dollar a year a member, extends free medical service to the family. Death benefits of $50 to $200 are universal. The monthly dues range from 60 to 75 cents.

The idea that a "society" exists to provide cash or medical benefits is so deeply ingrained in the immigrant's mind that he finds it hard to understand or

ganization for any other purpose. The following incident came to light during an interview with an Italian family:

Two years ago they joined the Red Cross by paying $1 and were told that whenever they needed help to apply to them. They did this when the husband was taken sick, but were given no financial help. Suspicion and dislike of the Red Cross resulted.

NATIONALISTIC INTERESTS OF JEWS

There is little difference between the Italian societies and those among the Jews. The national, or Zionist, movement plays an important part in the aims of many Jewish organizations, and most of their societies are open to both men and women. The lodges, however, are large, as many of them are branches of state and national organizations, and they are based on neither village life nor the church.

In some, sick benefits are paid by the central organization out of dues paid into the central treasury by each local. The dues commonly required to give the $6 or $7 a week sick benefit and medical care for members are $1.25 a month for single men and $1.55 for married. Membership in the benefit systems is left to choice except in a few organizations. Most people belong to the societies, however, for the sake of the benefits attached.

HOSPITAL CARE AMONG THE GREEKS

The Greek societies are formed almost entirely of men, and they, like the Italians, base their member

ships on former village connections in Greece. According to a Greek physician interviewed in a metropolis of the East:

There are more organizations than anything else among the Greeks. Every group of ten to twelve people from the same village start a society here, as a branch of a society there or as a matter of patriotism. Their principal object is to raise money to send home for some public improvement: a school, a church, or some undertaking by the society in Greece.

Comparatively few of these have sick or death benefits attached. Those that have benefits make an interesting contrast with the racial societies already considered. Hospital care is practically ignored among the Poles, Italians, and Jews. Greek societies, however, employ a doctor on contract, who cares for ill members in some hospital where expenses are paid by the society. This frequent use of the hospital by the Greeks is a significant thing when taken in connection with the communal fashion in which the men of the Greek immigration live. It would seem to be a direct outgrowth of the inadequate facilities for nursing afforded by the communal boarding house.

FIRM FINANCIAL BASIS OF THE PORTUGUESE

Among the Portuguese and Czecho-Slovaks the dues and benefits, both for sickness and death, seem to be somewhat higher than among other races. For instance, in one Portuguese society in California the dues were found to be $26.50 a year, while the sick benefits varied from $5 to $15 a week. Says one doctor on that coast: