OTHER SECTIONS OF THE EAST.

COMMUNITY C.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTION.

Summary description of the community-Industrial history-Inducements and obstacles to immigration-Households studied-Members of households for whom detailed information was secured-Employees for whom information was secured [Text Tables 408 to 412 and General Tables 214 to 216].

SUMMARY DESCRIPTION OF THE COMMUNITY.

The location of a large steel plant in Community C gives character to the entire town, influencing and controlling its life, not only in an industrial and business way, but also in its social and political aspects. The town is exceedingly elongated in form, due to its location upon one side of a narrow river bottom; the residence portions include a part of the higher ground adjoining the valley, while the steel works lie stretched along the lowlands. Communication with a neighboring city of some size is had by means of an interurban electric railway, while two steam roads provide for the transportation of freight, one of these railroads maintaining a local passenger service also, but practically all of the travel is by way of the electric road.

INDUSTRIAL HISTORY.

A few words regarding the history of the town will make clear the connection which has existed from the earliest times between the management of the steel company and the life and activities of Community C. In 1866 there were but six families living in what was soon to become the town of "steel works" and later the present-day community. It was in that year that the steel company, while prospecting for a favorable location, was offered 81 acres of land on the banks of a river, the people of a neighboring community subscribing nearly $25,000 for the purchase of the site. The company having accepted this donation, the first surveying of building lots was made in April, 1866. In 1871 a post-office was established and in 1880 the town was incorporated. The first buildings of the steel plant were commenced in May, 1866; from that time to the present the life of the community has been largely the reflection of the life and activities of this great industrial enterprise. In 1882 the steel company erected at a cost of $100,000, and presented to the community, a modern brick school building, 148 by 79 feet in size, containing ten rooms. It also maintains a controlling interest on the public school board, and through its assistance the superintendent of schools is paid a higher

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salary than is usual in cities of this size. The object of this policy, the superintendent of schools states, is to stimulate interest in education as a source of skilled employees and to maintain a satisfactory labor supply.

In normal times the steel company employs about 8,000 men, most of whom are residents of the town, whose total population probably never exceeded 18,000. It is apparent from these figures that the company has always been in a position to influence to a very large degree the affairs of the town. At the present time the vicepresident of the company is president of the council and this office has frequently, if not usually, been filled by some one high in authority at the works. The favorable or unfavorable attitude of the company toward candidates for office seems to be communicated to those with whom it may have weight and to constitute the most important influence in local politics.

The present magnitude of the steel works may be judged from the following rough totals showing annual capacity: Blast furnaces, 640,000 gross tons; Bessemer and open-hearth plants, about 900,000 tons; rolling mills, 910,000 tons; other more specialized products, over 100,000 tons.

INDUCEMENTS AND OBSTACLES TO IMMIGRATION.

The primary inducement to immigration to Community C is, of course, economic. The steel company offers unskilled work at a low rate of compensation, 12 cents an hour, but a ten and twelve hour day in normal times makes it possible for the immigrant to earn from $1.20 to $1.44 a day. This is the only opportunity for regular employment which the community offers to men in any large way. The recent erection of a cigar factory, with a capacity of 1,000 employees, forms an additional economic inducement by providing an industry which offers employ ment principally to women, being thus complementary, in an industrial sense, to the steel company, which employs men exclusively.

A factor never to be lost sight of is the attractive power of a nucleus of foreign employees in any industrial center. As will be explained more fully in a subsequent section it is largely through the letters or oral communications of these first comers that others of the same race are induced to locate here. The alien in a strange land, of whose language and customs he is ignorant, is strongly influenced by the presence or absence of those with whom he may associate upon equal terms. Furthermore, his knowledge of industrial opportunities comes largely through channels determined by the location of his pioneering fellow-countrymen.

Closely connected with this consideration is the presence of churches and schools in which his own language is used. Thus the fact that both Servian and Croatian-Slovenian churches are located in Community C and that the latter has a well attended parochial school, is a circumstance which weighs in the minds of people of these races. The fairly healthful surroundings of the community, its proximity to other centers, and the fact that it is upon the main line of a great railroad also favor the incoming of immigrant laborers.

With regard to the attitude of the native population toward the immigrants, it may be said that there is a general deprecation of

their presence rather than open hostility to them. This dislike is caused first of all by the feeling that they are gradually although slowly effecting a change in the conditions of employment at the steel works. The change is sometimes described as a forcing out of the American and Americanized foreign employees. That is hardly accurate, however, for the immigrant does not appear to underbid the American, or at the present time to be even competing with him. in any serious way for the better-paid positions. There is, however, the general feeling that in so far as the recent immigrants are entering occupations in which Americans are engaged, they are rendering those occupations undesirable. The American laborer does not care to work with the "Hunkie" and he resents the latter's presence and in many cases transfers his own labor to an occupation such as a clerkship at lower wages. This all tends, of course, to the intensification of competition upon higher industrial levels.

The "Austrian," as the various races of southeastern Europe are designated locally, is disliked also, by reason of his manner of living. The better informed among the native population make a distinction, of course, between the various races, and give to the more cleanly or thrifty or temperate elements of the foreign population due credit for these qualities. The result of this attitude is a general and rather profound indifference to the immigrant population of Community C. The steel company is regarded as responsible for their unwelcome presence and is felt to be the proper agent of any improvement in their conditions which it might seem desirable to make.

HOUSEHOLDS STUDIED.

The following tables show, by general nativity and race, the number of households, persons within the households, and the individual employees studied in detail. The table first presented shows households studied, by general nativity and race of head of household:

TABLE 408.-Households studied, by general nativity and race of head of household.

From the above table it will be seen that households whose heads were foreign-born constitute 80.2 per cent of all households studied in this locality, while households whose heads were native-born of

foreign father and native-born of native father constitute 14.8 and 4.9 per cent, respectively. Among those households whose heads were of foreign birth the number of Croatian exceeds the number of German households by one only, the combined number constituting 29.9 per cent of all households studied. The Bulgarian and Slovak households, each constituting 3 per cent, were studied in smaller numbers than the households whose heads were of other race origins.

As regards households of persons native-born of foreign father it will be seen that there is little difference in the proportion of English, German, or Irish, these households, together with those whose heads were native-born of native father, being studied for purposes of comparison with those whose heads were foreign-born.

The following table shows the persons in the households studied and persons for whom detailed information was secured, by general nativity and race of head of household:

TABLE 409.-Persons in households studied and persons for whom detailed information was secured, by general nativity and race of head of household.

Of the total number of persons in the 405 households studied 87 per cent were in households whose heads were foreign-born, 9.5 per cent in households whose heads were native-born of foreign father, and 3.5 per-cent in households whose heads were native-born of native .father. As regards those persons in households whose heads were of foreign birth it will be noted from the above table that the number of persons in households whose heads were Croatians, Germans, and Servians constituted 44.5 per cent of the persons in all households studied. It will also be seen that the smallest proportion of the total number

of persons were in households whose heads were English. In those households whose heads were English, Germans, and Irish nativeborn of foreign father similar proportions were reported. As regards the persons for whom detailed information was secured it will be seen that the proportion in households the heads of which were foreignborn constitute 83.6 per cent of the total number. On the other hand, the households whose heads were native-born of foreign father constitute 11.9 per cent of the total number of persons for whom detailed information was secured. The persons in households whose heads were Croatians, Germans, South Italians, and Servians made up 51.5 per cent of the total number for whom detailed information was secured. The households the heads of which were English show the smallest proportion of the total number.

The next table shows sex of persons for whom detailed information was secured, by general nativity and race of head of household:

TABLE 410.—Sex of persons for whom detailed information was secured, by general nativity and race of head of household.

The totals of the above table show that of the 2,160 persons for whom detailed information was secured 58 per cent are males. Among persons native-born of foreign father and native-born of native father the females predominate, but to a less extent than do the males. among the foreign-born. In only two instances among the foreignborn do the females predominate over the males, while the lowest proportion of females, or 17.9 per cent, is shown by the Bulgarians. The English, Germans, and Irish native-born of foreign father each show proportions of males and females similar to that shown by the total number of persons native-born of foreign father, the proportion of females in each instance being slightly in excess of the proportion of males.