Causes hindering the Americanization of the immigrants of Community C are as follows:

1. The segregation of the foreign population in quarters where they have only limited contact with Americans. The fact that a large proportion of the men live in crowded boarding-houses leads them to seek no further for companionship than the buildings in which they are housed.

On the west side of the city there are a number of coffee houses modeled exactly in their operation after similar institutions in European countries. These are places of social resort where the men of the Balkan States come together (the Croatian being less frequent in attendance) to discuss affairs in the old country and to enjoy themselves. Coffee and tea are served at a cost of three cents per cup. Small cakes, cider, cigarettes, and tobacco are also sold. These houses serve as racial headquarters and it is through them that the labor agent, seeking to secure laborers, comes in contact with the population. Through the coffee-house keeper, or the local labor agent who makes his headquarters at the coffee house and oftentimes lodges there, the demand for labor, whether local or from the outside, is communicated to the men and arrangements made to satisfy it. These coffee houses also serve to keep alive Old World habits and customs and to prevent contact and acquaintance on the part of the alien population with American language and institutions.

The isolation of the men is broken to some extent by their employment, but for the women there is not even this meager opportunity for intercourse with natives. Remaining at home to take care of the children and cook for the boarders, they might almost as well be upon their fathers' little farms in Hungary, so far as receiving the stimulus of American influence is concerned.

2. A second obstacle is the studied aloofness of the native population. In the absence of points of contact with the better sort of Americans, however, it must not be supposed that a similar indifference prevails among the base or mercenary of native birth. Numerous agencies are provided by which a sort of pseudoassimilation with the worst in American life is going on.

3. Final mention should be made of the great difficulty presented by the character of the immigrants themselves. Not only are they aliens, but the majority of them are country people as well. Unacquainted with town life, to say nothing of town life in America, often imperfectly educated or entirely ignorant, and arrived at an age when the lack of early training is resulting in mature stupidity or stolidity, it is evident that the task of transforming them into "intelligent citizens" is formidable.

COMMUNITY D.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTION.

Industrial significance of the community-Description of the locality-Inducements to immigration-Households studied-Members of households for whom detailed information was secured-Employees for whom information was secured-[Text Tables 485 to 489 and General Tables 262 to 264].

INDUSTRIAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE COMMUNITY.

The federal census for 1900 placed the population of Community D at 5,363, no classification as to race or country of birth of inhabitants being made. Most of these early inhabitants were either laborers who were employed in railroad repair and construction work, or persons who had employment in the adjoining city. Until ten years ago, this community was a country town with no industries whatever, and was sustained only by a small rural population. In 1901, a large steel company erected a plant in the community, and immediately there was an influx of people (both native and immigrant) seeking and securing employment. The steel plant referred to is very extensive and, when business conditions are normal, it employs approximately 5,000 men. In 1902, another steel company erected a plant in this community, and while this second establishment is not so large as that first mentioned it has a large business and employs about 500 men. The community is chiefly significant, therefore, in that it represents the growth of a large industrial population within recent years in connection with iron and steel establishments, made up principally of races of recent immigration to the United States. This latter fact becomes evident when the racial composition of the locality in 1907, a year of normal activity, is considered. The estimated racial distribution of the population of the community for 1907 follows:

The three steel plants located in Community D may be designated, for the purposes of this study, as Companies 1, 2, and 3.

Company 1 operates 7 blast furnaces. The following table shows the years in which furnaces were built, and may be accepted as an accurate outline of the industrial growth of the community. The furnaces of company 1 are described as follows:

Coke is the fuel used in these furnaces; the ore is Lake Superior and the product Bessemer pig iron. The annual capacity of all 7 furnaces is 1,080,000 tons. The molten metal from these furnaces is used in the Bessemer converters and open-hearth furnaces of the company. Gas from the blast furnaces is largely used for power purposes. The steel works consist of Bessemer and open-hearth steel works, rail mills, plate mill, etc. The Bessemer department, built in 1902-3, consists of four 10 gross ton acid Bessemer converters and 8 iron and 4 spiegel cupolas. The product is ingots and castings, and the annual capacity 845,000 tons.

The other mills of company 1 are described as follows:

Company 2 operates two furnaces, each 80 by 20, and built during the period 1902-1904. Lake Superior ore, partly mined by this company, is used. The product is foundry pig iron, and the annual capacity 225,000 tons.

Company 3 operates one furnace, erected in 1906. Four hot-blast stoves are also operated. Coke is used as fuel and the ore comes from the Mesabi Range. The product of this company is basic pig iron, with an annual capacity of 150,000 tons.

Considering these three companies together, the grand total product of rolling mills and steel works in this community is as follows:

In considering the advantages of this community from an industrial standpoint its favorable location should not be overlooked. Many of the leading steel operators to-day consider that the district in which this community is located is the future iron and steel center of the country. The attraction of this district, from the standpoint of this particular industry, lies in its cheap transportation facilities, both in the assembling of the raw materials and in the distribution of the manufactured product.

Fully 90 per cent of all immigrant men in Community D are employed in the steel industry. In each of the steel plants the wages for unskilled labor range from $1.50 to $2 a day, according to the character of the work and whether it is inside or outside labor. A great many of the immigrant women find employment in the neighboring city as domestic servants, while among the more sophisticated immigrants the women are often employed in the department stores. There are a few general industries in the city near-by which employ large numbers of immigrant women and girls, and many of the immigrants secure positions in these establishments.

DESCRIPTION OF THE LOCALITY.

This community is conveniently divided into two distinct sections, (1) the section in which the native Americans and the Irish, Scotch, and German immigrants of long residence live, and, (2) the section in which all of the later immigrants including the Poles, Magyars, Croatians, Slovaks, and Servians, reside. This second section of the community is completely isolated from the first and absolutely out of touch of any Americanizing influences. All of the shops, saloons, and boarding houses, are conducted by immigrants who discourage and oppose American activities among their people. The foreign section lies in a damp, swampy, and insanitary lowland, which before the coming of the steel mills was wholly unoccupied. After the heavy spring rains it was usually covered with water which made human habitation impossible. The steel plant was erected on this site and gradually the homes of the lowest labor employed in the mill, and especially those of the immigrants, were built on "made ground" in the area between the steel plant and the so-called American section. Cottages, boarding houses, saloons, and small store buildings were all erected after this fashion. A prospective builder would first "erect" his lot. This would be done by dumping foundation material, ballast, garbage, and dirt upon the site until he had sufficiently overcome the water, and on this made ground he would erect his building. The adjacent lots he would leave as he had found-low, insanitary, floating masses of débris. In the average instance, no structures would be erected on the adjoining properties. Each builder erected his building upon an independent island, as it were, and as a result a large majority of the houses, in fact nearly all, are surrounded by the most insanitary conditions.

The streets of the town are well laid out, for the plan of streets and lots was arranged before any buildings were erected. For the convenience of pedestrians board walks have been built along the principal streets and avenues. These board walks are about 3 feet above the surface of floating débris. For the passage of vehicles plank

roads have been constructed. These consist of two or three layers of thick planks laid across the road and supported by ballast or other foundation material. The plank roads meet the situation in the summer, but in the winter, and during bad weather of other seasons, these streets are impassable. In the spring of 1907 the mud was so deep that no vehicles could move on the streets and mud sleighs were employed to bring beer and provisions to the stores and saloons.

INDUCEMENTS TO IMMIGRATION.

The principal inducements to immigration to this community are: 1. The fact that three operating steel companies located in the community employ about 6,000 men on full time and at the standard wage scale prevailing in the iron and steel industry. Each of these companies employs a large number of unskilled laborers. This is the great attraction which draws so many immigrants, and especially recent immigrants, to the place. Unskilled laborers are paid at the rate of from $1.50 to $2 per day, according to the character of the labor performed, and with respect to whether it is inside or outside labor. These positions are the only ones which the recently arrived immigrant finds himself qualified to fill.

2. The close proximity of the community to a large city. The advantages in the way of schools, and particularly of churches, offered by the near-by city are of no small importance to the ambitious and progressive immigrant.

3. The already large immigrant population. This acts as a nucleus for further colonization. A large proportion of the more recent immigrants have located in Community D because they have heard that there is a settlement of men and women of their own race in this community, and that work in the steel mills is available.

For the higher class of immigrants (the so-called "business immigrants") the large foreign population of the community proves a powerful magnet. Among their own people they can ply their trades successfully. Saloons, restaurants, jewelry stores, and other business enterprises attest that the presence in large numbers of immigrant working men has attracted an important group of immigrant merchants and business people.

There is no noticeable local prejudice either for or against the immigrant. Living as he does in a secluded quarter, and not mingling generally with the natives, he is neither liked nor disliked, universally, but is allowed to pursue his way without interruption.

HOUSEHOLDS STUDIED.

In addition to the statistical and descriptive material gathered from other sources, a study was made of 459 households in the community and detailed information secured for 2,820 iron and steel workers. The table next presented shows the households studied, by general nativity and race of head of household.