OBEDIENCE TO MUNICIPAL HEALTH REGULATIONS.

The regulations of the municipal board of health cover in a fairly complete way such subjects as conduct of hotels and boarding houses meat markets and slaughter houses; grocery and provision stores, and dairies; wells and water, sewer and house drains; privy vaults, cesspools, etc.; quarantine in case of specified communicable diseases; funerals, etc.; spitting on sidewalks and in public places; disposition of refuse and garbage; specified regulations as to barbers, bakers, butchers, plumbers, and milk dealers. The machinery for the execution of these laws consists of a city health officer, a sanitary inspector, and the police, with the cooperation of physicians. As a general rule, it may be stated that in the foreign sections of the city the regulations are continually violated in every particular. The frank confession on the part of the health officials of the impossibility of enforcing them among the immigrants on account of the lack of sufficient force, the testimony of physicians whose practice is largely in the foreign sections, and the undeniable evidences of failure to observe health regulations afford ample evidence of the truth of this statement.

Just in what particulars immigrants are most guilty of violations could not be ascertained at the office of the city board of health. No records are kept except those of deaths and of the diseases causing death, these giving country of birth, but not the race of the deceased. Very vague ideas as to the diseases common among immigrants and as to the violations of laws governing health were the only information on the situation that the city officers had. Their attitude seemed to be that if epidemics could be kept down in the foreign sections, and the spread of dangerous diseases to native sections could be prevented, their duty was done.

Interviews with physicians practicing among the immigrants of the foreign sections indicate that in general only about half of the population of these sections make any effort to obey health laws in whole or in part, and that the southern European races may be graded, according to their observance of the laws, in the following order: Poles, Magyars, Croatians, Slovaks, Macedonians, Servians, and Italians. This order, however, is due not so much to a knowledge of or a willingness to obey health regulations as to habits already formed. A very small percentage know anything about the regulations, and the general attitude of the immigrants toward them is one of contempt, since the purpose of the rules is misunderstood. Possibly the best observed regulation is the one requiring the placing of garbage in barrels for removal to the city garbage plant. The explanation of this lies chiefly in the fact that little animal or vegetable food is allowed to go to waste, and that the removal of garbage is regarded as a convenience more than a sanitary measure. The milk supply of the whole city is in the hands of a few large dairies, and the immigrants thereby enjoy to a large extent the same benefits as the natives. On the other hand, violations of other sanitary laws are everywhere plain among the immigrant population. In the opinion of physicians, much of the disease prevalent among immigrants is due to bad meat, which can be bought more cheaply than fresh meat. The butcher shops, as well as grocery and provision stores, are kept in a dirty condition, and the regulations as to the cleanliness of the persons who

handle these foods have probably never been heard of. The cleansing of dry closets, which prevail among immigrants in the foreign sections, is irregular, and in frequent instances filthy conditions have been found, especially in the cases where they are used by large groups or several groups of people. The proximity of wells to privy vaults and cesspools is common, a fact which is rarely taken into account by city health officers when there is cause for examination into the water supply. Quarantine is maintained in the case of no communicable disease except smallpox, and frequently no placards are placed on houses wherein communicable diseases exist, both of which are in express violation of the very complete regulations on these points. The regulations as to expectoration on sidewalks in the foreign sections have been unknown until recently, when notices were posted in all parts of the city; the presence of a policeman in the foreign sections is so rare, however, except on call, that it is doubtful whether any improvement in enforcing the law will result.

The regulations as to cleanliness in barber shops, bakeries, etc., are unknown and quite evidently not enforced. The most glaring example of unsanitary sewerage is seen in the Italian quarter. The houses here are built on a steep slope. All of the closets are either dry or situated over cesspools, and the natural drainage is toward the river. The residents in the houses below obtain their water from wells which are sunk immediately in the course of this drainage. Open sewers on both sides of the principal street run into the river. During the summer months the odors are very perceptible.

The foreign section is situated below the other sections of the city and below where the two rivers join." The people in that section, who are chiefly immigrants, thus get the full benefit of the filth that is emptied into the two rivers for several miles above. In the dry seasons of the year, during the warm weather, the water is quite low and forms in standing pools or flows very slowly. Frequently the odor from the river is offensively evident.

a See map facing page 329. In what follows, the term "the foreign section" refers to this part of the community.

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THE NATIVE AND THE FOREIGN DEATH RATE.

Although no exact data as to the death rate by races is available, the following statistics from the report of the local board of health will indicate by nationalities the proportion of deaths among immigrants to deaths among natives:

TABLE 320.-Nativity of deceased in Community A, 1903 to 1907.a

• In studying the table the following points should be noted: (1) No distinctions are made according to race except in the case of Poland, by which is meant " Polish," the country of birth not being indicated.

(2) It is probable that foreign races are included to some extent in "Not reported."

(3) All children born in the United States, irrespective of the race or country of birth of parents, are included under "Community A" and "United States (other)." The table also includes children born in foreign countries.

CHAPTER IX.

INDUSTRIAL EFFECTS OF RECENT IMMIGRATION.

Industries established by immigrants-Changes in industrial methods and organization-Effect of employment of immigrants upon wages-[Text Tables 321 and 322].

INDUSTRIES ESTABLISHED BY IMMIGRANTS.

Demand by immigrant consumers has not brought into existence any industry for the production of commodities for their exclusive use that has had a direct effect upon the community as a whole. The presence of immigrants has, of course, increased to some extent the output of minor industries conducted by natives, though not to the extent that would have been true had the increase in population been of native instead of foreign origin. On the other hand, the industries in immigrant sections that have been started as a result of demand on the part of immigrant consumers are small and few in number. The two breweries, to some extent, supply the barrooms with a cheap kind of beer; a small factory furnishes to some extent sauerkraut used by the Germans, Magyars, Croatians, and Slovaks; one restaurant manufactures a small portion of the ice cream sold at retail in the alien stores; two tailoring establishments depend almost altogether upon the patronage of the better class of immigrants. These constitute all of the evidence of industries started as the effect of the peculiar demand of immigrants.

CHANGES IN INDUSTRIAL METHODS AND ORGANIZATION.

None of their plants were established because of the presence or availability of immigrant labor, but the presence of immigrants was due to the plants which, on account of their expansion and development and the increasing scarcity of labor in the less skilled occupations, in turn became more or less dependent upon immigrants for their labor supply. This dependence has greatly increased in recent years. The steel plant, employing a large proportion of unskilled workers, could not, according to the statements of its representatives, have been operated at all without the aid of immigrants. The same is true, in proportion to the ratio of unskilled laborers employed, of all the other plants in the locality.

In addition to the growing dependence of the employers upon recent immigrants as the source of their labor supply, the peculiar training and skill of certain races of immigrants has had its effect certainly upon the racial classification of employees, if not upon the development of the establishments themselves. Thus in the early history of the local steel industry, from 1852 until the strike of 1858, the Welsh constituted a majority of the miners and ironworkers on account of their experience in Wales, and contributed much to the development of the industry in this locality at a time when it was comparatively new in this country. Another illustration may be found

in the English mechanics and engineers who came from England already trained and experienced, and individual instances in every race, except Italians and Macedonians, have been found here of workers, trained in their native land in specific trades, who have found positions, according to skill, in the steel plant. A very clear example of the almost exclusive employment of German brewers was found in a brewery established in the German colony, while there is a distinct. tendency on the part of Irish to hold minor executive positions.

While exerting no real effect upon industrial organization of the plants, instances have been found where immigrant foremen have been employed for gangs of workmen of their own race. This seems to be confined almost entirely to Italians. Other than this, no specific effect on industrial organization was discovered. The same is true of method of work and the use of machinery. On the other hand, there are various instances where the personnel of various departments has been affected. Thus, there has been in the history of the steel plant an occasional tendency to the preponderance of English among machinists, Irish among brick masons, Croatians among carpenters, Poles in the mines, and Italians on the construction gangs. The causes of this appear to vary in the different cases, such as previous training and skill or lack of skill, preponderance of a given race in the vicinity of a department, and other causes peculiar to the specific situation."

In general, then, the conclusion may be safely drawn that while the employers have been unquestionably dependent in an increasing degree upon the availability of immigrants as unskilled laborers and possibly as semi-skilled workers, no really appreciable effect upon industrial organization or methods of production has taken place. The substitution of machinery, according to the testimony of employers, has progressed in a sufficient ratio to the decrease in the supply of hand-skilled workers to preserve the natural improvement in methods; the immigrant, in affording unskilled labor, has been able to supply the increased demand caused by the growth of production.

EFFECT OF EMPLOYMENT OF IMMIGRANTS UPON WAGES.

The employment of recent immigrants in such large proportions has undoubtedly had the effect of preventing an increase of wages to the extent which would have been necessary had the expansion in the local industries occurred without the availability of the southern and eastern Europeans. At the same time, the expansion in the iron and steel industry in the community and the extensive employment of recent immigrants has been attended by an increase in rates of wages due to the general scarcity of labor in the face of the remarkable industrial expansion of recent years. This fact can be readily seen from a comparison of the wage scale of steel company No. 1 for different periods. In the table immediately following, a comparison is made of the rates paid in the different occupations of the principal departments in 1903 and 1908, showing a general increase in the latter year as contrasted with the former.