Emigrant Aliens 1912.

TABLE 6.- Number of Immigrant Aliens Destined for and Number of Emigrant Aliens Departed from Massachusetts in 1912 and Averages for the Period 1908-1912: By Races.

Armenian,

Syrian,

The number of emigrant aliens who departed from this State and from the United States in 1912 and during the five-year period 1908-1912 is given, by occupations, in Table 7.

There were 182 aliens having professions who left Massachusetts, or 6.0 per cent of the 3,056 who left the United States. Referring to Table 3, one will note that 658 such aliens entered this State, making a net gain of 476.

The number of skilled workmen who departed from Massachusetts was 2,002 in 1912 as compared with 10,829 who entered the State during the same year. Textile workers, not elsewhere specified, left to the number of. 411, this being 54.4 per cent of the total number in this class who departed from the United States; the number of weavers and spinners leaving Massachuseits was 200, or 41.5 per cent of all weavers and spinners leaving the United States; and 193 shoemakers departed from Massachusetts, constituting 17.2 per cent of the entire number who departed from the United States.

There were 10,570 emigrant aliens classed under miscellaneous or unskilled occupations who departed from Massachusetts in 1912 as compared with 40 687 such aliens who were destined for this State in the same year. Laborers,

numbering 8,791, ranked as the first group among the unskilled workmen who left Massachusetts, and this seems a large number in view of the fact that only 12,643 such workmen entered in 1912. The unskilled constituted 68.6 per cent of the total number who departed from Massachusetts, whereas the unskilled constituted 58.0 per cent of the total number of immigrant aliens who were destined for Massachusetts in 1912.

TABLE 7.- Number of Emigrant Aliens Departed from Massachusetts and from the United States in 1912, and Averages for the Years1 1908-1911 with Percentages: By Races.

1 The number of Emigrant Aliens was presented in 1908 for the first time in the Reports of the CommissionerGeneral of Immigration.

2 Occupations and residence unknown; left United States via Canadian border; reported by Canadian Government.

Immigrants in Cities and Industries.

II. IMMIGRANTS IN CITIES AND INDUSTRIES.

1. INTRODUCTORY.

The information presented herewith consists of data taken from Volumes 10, 12, 26, 34, and 36 of the Reports of the United States Immigration Commission created by Act of Congress in 1907. The general living conditions in certain cities and industries were exhaustively studied by the Commission in 1908 and 1909. An investigation at the present time would probably not disclose any fundamental changes in the general housing and living conditions of the immigrant population aside from changes in the location of the several immigrant colonies. In preparing this abstract of the principal facts ascertained by the Commission relative to the living conditions and the economic status of that portion of the immigrant population included in the Commission's study of Boston and of other cities of Massachusetts, the Bureau has reprinted, in most instances, the exact wording of the original text, in so far as the portions reprinted are complete in themselves.1 It is to be understood that the reprinted portions do not constitute continuous sections of the original report, but have been selected from various sections of the volumes referred to, the attempt being made merely to reprint the more suggestive results of the Commission's investigations in those phases of its inquiry covered by the title of this article.

In the following quoted paragraphs the text refers to all of the cities included in the Commission's investigation rather than to Boston alone.

(a) Purpose of Investigation.

Congestion of immigrants in large cities has long been considered one of the most unfavorable features of the modern problem of immigration. The Commission, convinced of the importance of this phase of the problem, inaugurated an investigation of living conditions among the residents of some of the most crowded quarters of New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, Cleveland, Buffalo, and Milwaukee. The purpose of the inquiry was to determine to what extent congestion actually prevails among immigrants in cities and the conditions peculiar to particular cities and races, and also to find generally the economic and social status of the city-dwelling immigrant.

All information was secured through personal visits by agents of the Commission. The investigation covers 10,206 households, comprising 51,006 individuals. Emphasis must be placed upon the fact that this is a study of congested or poor localities, and comparison of races should be made with this limitation in mind.

All matter in smaller type has been quoted from the Commission's reports except certain clauses enclosed in brackets which have been added by this Bureau.

Immigrants in Cities and Industries.

(b) Results of Investigation.

[The most important results of the investigation in these seven cities were as follows:]

...

...

The search for immigrant races in congested districts revealed the fact that the population of such districts consists predominantly of races representing recent immigration. . . . Forty-eight of every 100 foreign-born male heads of households studied have come to the United States within the past 10 years, and 21 of every 100 have come within five years. Immigration to the United States has been, on the part of the immigrants in the districts studied, largely a migration from country to city of people unfamiliar with urban conditions. . . . Nearly one-tenth of all the families investigated own their homes. . . . Twenty-six households in every 100 studied keep boarders or lodgers. . . . Forty-five in every 100 of the homes studied are kept in good condition, and 84 in every 100 are kept in either good or fair condition. . . Sanitary equipment depends primarily on the city. . . . In the households investigated the average number of persons per 100 rooms is 134, and per 100 sleeping rooms 232. The cities may be arranged in regard to crowding in the following order: Boston, 144 persons per 100 rooms; Philadelphia, 141; Cleveland, 140; New York, 139; Buffalo, 133; Chicago, 126; Milwaukee, 114. . . . Rent among households studied is considerably higher in the Atlantic coast cities than in the cities on the Great Lakes. A great majority of foreign-born male heads of households who came to the United States before reaching 14 years of age are now able to speak English and to read and write. . . . The great majority of immigrants in the districts studied have come to join relatives or friends. .

...

(c) Method and Scope.

In undertaking an investigation which was to cover over 10,000 households, the Commission felt that it must not attempt to investigate technical details of tenementhouse construction or of sanitary conditions. It aimed simply at obtaining the most essential general facts about the lives of the immigrants in large cities. . . . Within each city the unit of investigation was a block or, more accurately, a frontage; that is, one side of a street between two other streets. The plan was to select a certain number of such blocks and then to secure information from every family living within their limits. The blocks were selected on the double principle of congestion and racial homogeneity; that is, an effort was made to study in each city the most crowded blocks inhabited as nearly as possible by members of one race. In determining congestion, two elements were taken into consideration the number of households per lot and the general condition of the houses, the blocks inhabited by the largest number of households per lot and consisting of the poorest representative dwellings being chosen for study. It was comparatively easy to find the most congested districts; the building and health departments of the cities, charitable institutions, and social settlements are well informed as to the location of these districts. The greatest difficulty was experienced in finding racial uniformity in the population of the blocks. Under the constantly changing conditions of the cities it is no easy matter to find blocks inhabited largely by one race, and in some instances a block tentatively selected

Immigrants in Boston.

as being inhabited by members of one race proved, on closer examination, to be distinctly cosmopolitan, or inhabited by another race the members of which had recently displaced the previous residents. In some cases the final canvass disclosed that the race that was believed to predominate in a certain district formed in reality only a minority of the households; when such districts are included in the study it is because the race in question was not to be found in isolated colonies in the given city. In a few cases all the families belonging to one race and living in a limited area were studied and families of other races were omitted. In the search for racial uniformity the Commission's agents supplemented the information obtained from city authorities and social workers by interviewing physicians, district nurses, lawyers, clergymen, storekeepers, saloon keepers, letter carriers, and janitors-in a word, all persons who were likely to know the people in their neighborhood. Much difficulty was encountered in finding blocks inhabited by Germans, Irish, and Swedes, who are older immigrants and have had opportunities of scattering throughout the cities. As regards households whose heads are native-born white of native father, it proved to be impossible to study these in homogeneous blocks. The only homogeneous blocks discovered represented an economic level far in advance of that of the other families investigated, and since it was felt that Americans of native white parentage should be included in the study for purposes of comparison, in some cities selected families living in poorer neighborhoods were visited by the agents. It is a significant fact that the search for American families in crowded districts of American cities was attended with considerable difficulties.

Congestion in Boston is largely the result of topographical conditions in certain sections of the city and of the adaptation for the use of several households of houses which were constructed as residences for single families. . . . Besides the North End and the West End, which are the two most congested districts of Boston, the Commission has investigated a portion of the South End, which is located in the immediate vicinity of the business section of the city, and of Roxbury and of South Boston, which present different problems from the other districts studied in Boston."

B. COMPOSITION OF POPULATION STUDIED.
(a) Nativity and Race.

[The total number of households in Boston from which detailed information was obtained was 1,416, representing 7,211 persons. For 7,092 of these persons detailed information was secured. The following table shows the distribution of this number by general nativity and race of the head of household:]

1 From Vol. 26 of the Report of the United States Immigration Commission.