were built, charcoal being used to reduce the ore. Shortly afterwards several coke furnaces were constructed, and in 1867 the first steel rails were produced. In 1878 a steel plant was added to the furnaces. During the next twenty years the steel operations of the community were constantly extended, the largest additions being a structural-steel plant, frog, and switch works, and two companies for manufacturing radiators. The bituminous coal resources immediately adjacent to the town were also developed. The population of Johnstown increased in accordance with the expansion of its industries, the estimated population at the present time of the municipality proper being over 55,000. Practically all of the increased population has been recruited from immigrants of recent and past immigration. The year when each race began to form considerable parts of the immigrant male population is as follows:

Welsh, 1852; Irish, 1855; German, 1858; English, 1858; Slovak, 1880; Polish, 1880; Magyar, 1885; Croatian, 1897; Servian, 1897; Italian, 1900; Syrian, 1903; Macedonian, 1905.

The greater number of immigrants from races of southern and eastern Europe have arrived during the past ten years. About 20,000 persons are at present employed in connection with the steel mills, and 3,000 in the coal mines of Johnstown, of whom more than one-half are of foreign birth.

The total population of the municipality of Johnstown, as given by the Twelfth Census, was 35,936, of which 28,618 were natives and 7,318 were foreign-born. The foreign population in 1900, by countries from which the largest number of immigrants came, was as follows:

Austria, 923; England, 570; Germany, 1,663; Hungary, 2,017; Ireland, 581; Italy, 381; Poland (all countries), 334; Russia, 78; Scotland, 75; Wales, 446; other countries, 250; total, 7,318.

This enumeration did not include the adjoining boroughs of Franklin and East Conemaugh.

The following table will indicate the foreign population of Johnstown and neighboring boroughs in 1907 and 1908. These statistics are of necessity only approximate, and are estimates based on information from all available sources. It is believed, however, that they are approximately correct. The figures for 1908, as compared with 1907, will show roughly the effect of the industrial depression of 1907 and 1908, which resulted in the exodus of a considerable portion of the foreign-born population.

TABLE 166.—Estimated foreign-born population of Johnstown and neighboring boroughs, by race, 1907 and 1908.

From the above table the estimated foreign population, excluding the somewhat detached borough of East Conemaugh, was in 1907 about 22,000.

The table next presented shows the percentage which each race. forms of the total number of employees for the years 1905, 1907, and 1909.

TABLE 167.-Per cent which each race forms of the total number of employees, 1905, 1907, and 1909.

HISTORY OF IMMIGRATION TO REPRESENTATIVE IRON AND STEEL

ESTABLISHMENTS.

In addition to the history of immigration to representative communities within the district, the racial movements to a number of selected iron and steel manufacturing plants may be explained. Each plant or company is designated by a number, and selection has been made of plants not only situated in different sections of the district, but also of different dates of establishment.

PLANT NO. 1.

Located in an urban center on one of two rivers uniting to form the Ohio, plant No. 1 is the outgrowth of a rolling mill built in 1852. As operated at present, it consists of blast furnaces, rolling mills, and steel works, a chain factory, iron and steel foundries, etc., each having an annual capacity as follows: Six blast furnaces, 1,055,000 tons of Bessemer and basic pig iron; two completed rolling mills and steel works, 800,000 gross tons of Bessemer steel ingots, 625,000 tons of open-hearth steel ingots, 1,200,000 tons of steel billets and blooms, and 1,150,000 tons of plates, sheets, structural shapes, bars, rails, railroad splice bars, and other finished rolled material; a spike, rivet, and bolt department, 8,930 gross tons; structural material fitting shops, 30,000 tons; a chain factory, 10,000 gross tons; iron and steel foundries, 15,600 net tons of iron and 5,400 net tons of steel castings; a cold-rolled and cold-drawn department, 30,000 tons of cold-rolled and 45,000 tons of cold-drawn steel products; and forge and machine shops, the former having an annual capacity of 3,000 tons while the latter are equipped with tools of modern design and can produce pulley and balance wheels up to 30 feet in diameter and handle masses weighing 50 tons. Ground has been broken for three additional furnaces within 25 miles of the urban center, and rolling mills and steel works, also one other blast furnace, are projected.

In 1877, before the introduction of machinery and when only iron was made, there were four departments of this plant, viz, puddling, heating, roughing, and rolling. The work in these departments at that time, as well as all other work in and around the plant, was performed by Americans, English, Germans, Irish, and Welsh. In 1879, a scarcity of labor existing, about 100 Swedes were employed. These, however, remained only a short time. In the same year the "German" Poles arrived, and as the representatives of the abovementioned races were advanced from what is usually termed the "common" labor class to the more skilled positions, these recent arrivals were given employment. From this period until 1888 no other immigrant races were employed. During the year 1888 the "Austrian" Poles secured their first employment, and these were followed in 1890 by the Slovaks, who at the present time largely predominate as "common" laborers. In the following year the Lithuanians, now numbering about 150, were employed, and in 1895 the "Russian" Poles, who are said to outnumber either the "German" or "Austrian" Poles at present, were employed for the first time in this plant. In 1900 a very small number of Swedes were again employed, and these were followed shortly afterwards by the Magyars. A few years ago about 12 Italians were given employ

ment, but at present not one is to be found in the plant. French and Greeks are also employed, but in very small numbers, and have entered the plant only within the last few years.

PLANT No. 2.

Located on one of the principal tributaries of the Ohio River, from 5 to 10 miles southeast of the urban center, plant No. 2, one of the most important in the district, was built in 1880-81. Plant No. 2 is equipped with Bessemer steel converters and basic openhearth steel furnaces; a metal mixer, reversing blooming and cogging mills; universal slabbing mills; structural mills; sheared plate mills; universal plate mills; a guide mill; heating pits and furnaces; a beam fitting shop; a steel foundry; an armor-plate plant, consisting of a press shop, a carbonizing shop, and a machine shop for finishing armor plate; also a protective deck-plate plant. This plant produces blooms, billets, slabs, structural shapes, structural work, boiler plates, ship plates, tank plates universal plates, railroad ties, armor plates, and open-hearth steel castings; also forging blooms and forging billets. It has an annual capacity of 500,000 tons of Bessemer steel ingots, 2,050,000 tons of basic open-hearth steel ingots, 1,665,000 tons of blooms, billets, and slabs (of which about 125,000 tons are not rolled into finished forms at these works), 450,000 tons of structural shapes, 30,000 tons of structural work, 855,000 tons of boiler, ship, tank, and universal plates, 35,000 tons of railroad ties, 37,000 tons of other rolled products, 3,300 tons of open-hearth steel castings, and 10,000 tons of finished armor plates.

The history of the first employees of this plant is almost identical with the history of those of all other plants in this section, in that Americans, English, Germans, Irish, and Welsh were chiefly employed. It was not long, however, after the erection of this plant that trouble arose between employer and certain employees, resulting in the departure of a number of old employees from the plant. Vacancies thereby caused led to the employment of the more recent immigrants, the first of whom, employed in 1882, were the Magyars. Other races were employed in the following order: Slovaks 1886-87, Poles 1895, Lithuanians 1897, Russians 1899, Croatians 1899-1900, and the Roumanians in 1903. The Bulgarians were first employed in this plant about two or three years ago, and number not over 85 to 90 at present. The Italians have been employed at various times for a period of from ten to twelve years, but are not permanent, as they are usually employed only when there is construction work to be done. From one to a dozen of the following races are represented at this plant, viz, Bohemian, Ruthenian, Scandinavian, Servian, Syrian, Greek, etc. These last-named races are not long in any one place and are in no way a factor in the operation of this plant. They have drifted in and out and, because of the small number employed, have not attracted sufficient attention to justify the officials in making a statement relative to their first employment. Here, as in other plants, the erection of churches has, more than anything else, enabled the officials to make a racial classification of the force.

PLANT NO. 3.

Plant No. 3 is located on a tributary of the Ohio River, from 15 to 20 miles southeast of the urban center, and began operations the latter part of 1902. The equipment of this plant consists of acid and basic open-hearth steel furnaces, soaking pits, blooming, billet, structural, and bar mills, with an annual capacity of 35,000 tons of acid and 450,000 tons of basic ingots; 400,000 tons of blooms, billets, and slabs; 90,000 tons of merchant bars; and 100,000 tons of structural shapes. Two additional structural mills are in course of construction.

It is doubtful if another plant can be found-certainly not in this section-where so little change has occurred among those races that have been from the beginning of operations and are now an important factor in the operation of the same. The Americans, English, and Irish, and a few Germans, Scotch, and Welsh have from the beginning occupied the skilled positions. At no time since this plant has been in operation have either the Scotch or Welsh exceeded 1, the Germans 2, English 3.5, or the Irish 3 per cent of the total number employed. Only 2 of the more recent immigrant races, the Slovaks and Croatians, out of 27 races represented at present, are employed in such numbers that in the event of dismissal, or a "walk out," the operation of the plant would be affected. These races were employed at the time the plant began operations, and as late as 1907 were classified as Austrians. The Magyars were also employed in the beginning, and in 1905 constituted a fraction over 6 per cent, while at present they constitute less than 2 per cent of the entire force. The Italians entered this plant in 1903-4 and have suffered a reduction from 7.5 per cent in 1905 to about 2.5 per cent at present of all employees. Representatives of the other races have been employed from time to time, but in such small numbers that their coming or going has had no effect whatever upon the operation of the plant.

PLANT NO. 4.

Plant No. 4 was built in 1886-1888, and is located a few miles nearer the urban center than is plant No. 3. It began operations in 1889. The equipment of this plant consists of Bessemer converters, basic open-hearth steel furnaces, a metal mixer, soaking pits, trains of rolls, a bar reel, and machines for making twisted bars for concrete work. The plant produces billets, blooms, slabs, sheet bars, splice bars, and merchant bars, also forging blooms and forging billets. It has an annual capacity of 625,000 tons of Bessemer steel ingots, 500,000 tons of open-hearth steel ingots, 1,200,000 tons of blooms, slabs, large and small billets, sheet bars, and splice bars, 300,000 tons of merchant bars, and 1,500 tons of twisted bars for concrete work. A finishing train, formerly in another mill in this locality, is being installed; estimated annual capacity, 130,000 tons of large rounds and merchant bars.

At the time this plant began operations, and for several years thereafter, the Americans, English, Germans, Scotch, and Welsh constituted its entire working force. As this plant expanded and there existed a demand for additional labor, the more recent immigrants to this country came forward to satisfy that demand. At first only a small number of several of these races were employed,