TABLE 681.-Per cent of families in which wife has employment or keeps boarders or lodgers, by yearly earnings of husband and by general nativity and race of head of family. (STUDY OF HOUSEHOLDS.) [This table includes only races with 20 or more selected families reporting. The totals, however, are for all races. The families here represented are only those where both husband and wife are present. For selection of families, see p. 272.] The foreign-born in the foregoing tables show 11.6 per cent of the wives of men earning under $400, 22.2 per cent of those whose husbands earn $400 but under $600, and 17.1 per cent of those whose husbands earn $600 or over, have employment or keep boarders or lodgers. SOURCES OF FAMILY INCOME. The table next presented shows, by general nativity and race of head of family, the percentage of families having an income within the year from husband, wife, children, boarders or lodgers, and other sources. TABLE 682.-Per cent of families having an income within the year from husband, wife, children, boarders or lodgers, and other sources, by general nativity and race of head of family. (STUDY OF HOUSEHOLDS.) [This table includes only races with 20 or more families reporting. The totals, however, are for all races. Seven families are excluded which report income as "none."] As regards the source of family income of the 469 families studied in this locality, it will be noted that 95.9 per cent have an income from earnings of husband, 19.6 per cent from the contributions of children, 11.7 per cent from the payments of boarders or lodgers, 1.7 per cent from the earnings of wife, and 10.4 per cent from other sources. Both the employees of foreign birth and the negroes native-born of native father (with the exception of a considerably smaller proportion of the latter having an income from contributions of children and from other sources) show proportions having an income from each source that vary but slightly from the proportions shown in the total for all families. Among the foreign-born there is no very striking variation from the total for all families as regards income from husband. The Scotch, with 50 per cent, show twice the proportion of any other race with an income from contributions of children, but have no family reporting the wife at work. This race also has much the largest proportion with income from sources not specified. As regards those who have an income from payments of boarders or lodgers, the proportion of the South Italians is small, and the proportion of the French is large, as compared with the per cent in the grand total. The following table shows, by general nativity and race of head of family, the source of family income in detail, the proportion in each source specified being exclusive of all other sources: TABLE 683.-Source of family income in detail, by general nativity and race of head of family. (STUDY OF HOUSEHOLDS.) [This table includes only races with 20 or more families reporting. The totals, however, are for all races. Seven families are excluded which report income as "none."] As regards the 469 families studied in this locality, it will be noted that 62.7 per cent derive their entire income from earnings of husband, 1.1 per cent from husband and wife, 13.4 per cent from husband and children, 8.5 per cent from husband and boarders or lodgers, and 12.6 (0) (b)|(b) (b)| (b) 3.6 .0 .0 10. 1 .3 0 0 9 per cent from source or combination of sources not before specified, while 0.2, 1.3, and 0.2 per cent of the families have entire income from wife, children, and children and boarders or lodgers, respectively. As contrasted with the proportions of South Italian, French, or Slovak families having entire income from husband, the proportion of Scotch is very low, while of those having entire income from husband and children, the Scotch with 26.5 per cent report a slightly larger proportion than the Slovaks, and a considerably larger proportion than the French or South Italians. The proportion of Slovak families having entire income from husband and boarders or lodgers. is larger than that shown by the French, and considerably in excess of that shown by the Scotch or South Italian families. A larger proportion of Scotch families, or 44.1 per cent, derive their income from sources not specified than from any other source. The French, with 22.9 per cent, show the next largest proportion having entire income from this source, a proportion considerably in excess of that shown by the South Italians or Slovaks. Only a small proportion of South Italian families have entire income from husband and wife, a small proportion of Slovak families have entire income from wife, and proportions of South Italian and Scotch families have entire income from children. RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF DIFFERENT SOURCES OF FAMILY INCOME. The table next submitted shows, by general nativity and race of head of family, the percentage of yearly income from husband, wife, children, boarders or lodgers, and other sources. TABLE 684.-Per cent of total family income within the year from husband, wife, children, boarders or lodgers, and other sources, by general nativity and race of head of family. (STUDY OF HOUSEHOLDS.) [This table includes only races with 20 or more families reporting. The totals, however, are for all races. Seven families are excluded which report income as "none."] The preceding table shows that over three-fourths of the total yearly family income is provided by the earnings of the husband, the next highest proportion is provided by contributions of children, and a considerably lower percentage is derived from payments of boarders or lodgers, while the percentages of income from other sources and from the earnings of the wife are very small. Negroes native-born of native father show the earnings of the husbands to constitute a much higher percentage of the total yearly family income than is the case with foreign-born families; the earnings of the wife also constitute a higher percentage of the family income among the negroes than in the foreign-born families. On the other hand, contributions of children form a high percentage of the total yearly income of foreign-born families when contrasted with the per cent coming from the same source in negro families. The per cent of income from boarders or lodgers is slightly higher in negro families than in those of the foreign-born, while foreign-born show a very much higher per cent of income from other sources than do negroes. Among the foreign-born races, the South Italians show the highest per cent of income from earnings of husbands and the Scotch the lowest. The French show the highest percentage of income from earnings of wives and the Scotch have no revenue from this source. The lastnamed race shows a very high percentage of income from the contributions of children, while the French have a comparatively low percentage of income from this source. Slovak and French families have a much higher per cent of income from payments of boarders or lodgers than have either Scotch or South Italians, while French families have a considerable per cent of income, as contrasted with other races, from sources not specified. CHAPTER IV. WORKING CONDITIONS. Methods of wage payments-Regularity of employment-Company houses and industrial communities-The company-store system-Relations between employees— Social association-Welfare work by the employers-The immigrant and organized labor-Labor disputes-[Text Tables 685 and 686 and General Table 393]. METHODS OF WAGE PAYMENTS. In the majority of mines and plants wage payments are made by the calendar month. In a few the payments are biweekly, and in the case of one mining company the payments are made daily. This refers to cash payments. The almost universal practice, however, of payments in commissary checks or by commissary credit during the period intervening between the regular pay days when payments in currency are made practically amounts to wage payments at any time at the will of the wage-earner, and in effect nullifies any system of cash payments. "Pay days" thus have become the days on which a monthly or a biweekly statement of the account between employer and employee is rendered, and on which the latter may at his will draw out the cash balance in his favor if any exists after his own deductions through store accounts, store purchases, and through medical, hospital, and school assessments by the company are made. REGULARITY OF EMPLOYMENT. Except during periods of industrial depression, it is claimed by the employers that the demand for labor in all occupations in the mining and iron and steel industries is uniformly regular, and that the work offered is without interruption. This appears to be a true statement of the actual conditions in normal times, with possibly the exception of employment offered in the construction departments of the larger plants and mines, which depends upon causes unrelated to a large degree to the ordinary run of operation. Another exception, too, may be noted in the case of the smaller mines, whose output is for domestic consumption and which is not affected by depressions to any considerable extent. A third exception, of course, is found in periods of labor disputes. The table next presented shows, by general nativity and race of individual, the months worked during the past year by males 16 years of age or over in the households studied, who were employed away from home. 48296°-VOL 9-11-13 185 |