CHAPTER II.

RACIAL DISPLACEMENTS.

History of immigration-Period of residence in the United States of foreign-born employees-Racial classification of employees at the present time-[Text Tables 556 to 564 and General Table 313.]

HISTORY OF IMMIGRATION.

As in the case of other localities no satisfactory statistics are available for the Middle West regarding the present or past employment of the various races of recent or older immigration to the iron and steel industry. From the return of the censuses, however, information may be secured as to the general nativity and country of birth of the iron and steel workers which furnishes an instructive insight into the racial movements to the steel establishments of the Middle West. In the following table is shown the nativity of iron and steel employees in the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin, for the census periods 1880 and 1890, and the country of birth of parents of the employees for the census period 1900:

Table 556.—Number of iron and steel workers in the Middle West, by nativity and State,

1900.

[Compiled from United States census of 1900, volume not reported. This table does not include the small number of females employed in unimportant positions in the iron and steel manufacturing industry.]

TABLE 557.-Number of iron and steel workers in the Middle West, by nativity and State,

TABLE 558.-Number of iron and steel workers in the Middle West, by nativity and State,

Mention has already been made of the remarkable growth in the number of iron and steel workers in the Middle West and the increase during the period 1880 to 1900 may be readily seen from the above table. In connection with the racial movements to the industry, it is at once evident that the operating forces of the Middle West blast furnaces, rolling mills, and steel works in 1880 and 1890 were composed exclusively of Americans, or immigrants from England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Canada, Germany, Norway and Sweden. After 1890 a change in the racial make-up of the iron and steel workers began and was reflected in a very distinct way in the census returns for 1900. In the table for 1900 it is seen for the first time that a large number of employees were born of parents of Austria-Hungary, Italy, Poland, and Russia. As a matter of fact 13,726 of the total increase of 32,494 iron and steel workers during the period 1890 to 1900 were members of races from southern and eastern Europe, a large proportion of the remainder being Irish and Germans. The same general racial changes in the composition of the iron and steel. working forces of the Middle Western States during the past thirty years is also shown by the representative iron and steel producing

communities within the area under discussion. The following tables show the number of iron and steel workers employed in Chicago, Cleveland, Milwaukee, and Toledo according to the nativity of the employees and, in the first table, the country of birth of their parents, for the census periods 1880, 1890, and 1900.

TABLE 559.—Number of iron and steel workers in the Middle West, by nativity and city,

TABLE 560.—Number of iron and steel workers in the Middle West, by nativity and city,

TABLE 561.-Number of iron and steel workers in the Middle West, by nativity and city,

The foregoing tables exhibit in a local way the same general racial movements that are set forth by the tables for the whole Middle West for the same periods. Prior to 1890 only Americans and older immigrants from Great Britain and northern Europe were employed in the steel works, but during the ten years 1890 to 1900 considerable numbers of southern and eastern Europeans entered the industry. Within the past ten years the racial displacements which were characteristic of the last decade of the past century have become steadily stronger. The larger part of the labor necessary to meet the growing demands of the iron and steel mills of the Middle West has, together with the occupations vacated by a large number of English, Irish, Scotch, Welsh, and German employees who have left the industry, been supplied by members of the races of southern and eastern Europe.

Original information was also secured as to the history of the employment of various races in the iron and steel industry in representative localities, and a summary account is given below according to cities. This history of immigration to iron and steel establishments in selected localities not only furnishes an account of racial movements during recent years but also affords an insight into the movements to the industry which have been characteristic of conditions in the Middle West.

SOUTH CHICAGO, CHICAGO, ILL.

South Chicago is that portion of the city of Chicago, Ill., lying between Seventy-first street on the north and One hundred and thirty-eighth street on the south, east of Lake Calumet, and bounded on the east by Lake Michigan. The principal field for employment in the locality is furnished by the steel mills. Machine and foundry shops and shipyards are also located in the community. Natives, Irish, Poles, Swedes, Slovaks, Magyars, and Lithuanians are found employed in the largest numbers in the steel plants and other establishments.

The total population of this portion of the city, or precinct, as it is called, is estimated to be about 90,000 individuals at the present time, apportioned among the different races as shown in the statement next presented.