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The preceding table clearly indicates a preponderance of males in both Bulgarian and Magyar households, although the excess of males over females is less marked among the Magyars than among the Bulgarians. The Bulgarian households show only 6 females out of a total of 517 persons, as contrasted with 73 Magyar females out of a total of 276, or, in terms of percentages, only 1.2 per cent of persons in the Bulgarian households are females, while 26.4 per cent of those in Magyar households are of this sex.

The table next presented shows, by sex and by general nativity and race of individual, the persons in the households studied for whom detailed information was secured:

TABLE 585.-Persons for whom detailed information was secured, by sex and general nativity and race of individual.

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The preceding table shows that, of the total number of persons covered by the detailed study of households in the community, 98.5 per cent of the males are of foreign birth and 1.5 per cent are of native birth but of foreign father. Of the females, 75.9 per cent arc foreign-born, chiefly of the Magyar race, while 24.1 per cent are native-born of Magyar (foreign) father. Very few Bulgarian females, either of the first or second generation, were studied. Among the males for whom detailed information was secured, a much higher proportion of those of foreign birth are Bulgarians than Magyars. Of the males of the second generation, detailed information was only secured from 11, all of Magyar fathers.

CHAPTER II.

RACIAL DISPLACEMENTS.

History of immigration-The industrial depression and the exodus of 1909-The Bulgarians at home-Period of residence in the United States of members of immigrant households studied-Methods of securing immigrants-Destination of immigrants to the community-Racial composition of the community-Distribution of the population-[Text Table 586 and General Table 327].

HISTORY OF IMMIGRATION.

In 1892 the site of this community was an unbroken stretch of cornfields. In the following year a large company began the construction of their present rolling-mill plant, an enterprise which was considerably delayed by the financial depression of that time. The men employed in the construction were Americans, white and black, and some Americanized Germans, all brought from the neighboring city of St. Louis. When the rolling-mill plant began operation in 1894, the pioneer operatives were English, Irish, Germans, and Welsh. In this year also about 75 Polish families, including about 300 adult males, appeared. They came from St. Louis, and most of them had been in the United States for a number of years. As they found regular work in Community E, they remained, the company building frame houses for their use. A plant for stamping granite and metal ware was completed shortly after the rolling mills, and the majority of the operatives of the two establishments still continued to be of the English-speaking races. Among them were many native negroes, who lived in a row of shanties built along the Mississippi River and known as the Levee. For a period of six years, however, no immigrants, with the exception of the Poles mentioned above, appeared in the community.

During the two years 1894-1896 a large steel plant, including blast furnaces, rolling mills, and foundries, was established in the community. In 1901 another steel establishment of the same description began operations. Four years later a large company for the manufacture of corn products was located in the community. About the same time shops were erected for building wooden and steel cars. These shops employed over 3,000 men. By the year 1900, as was to be expected, the demand for unskilled labor could no longer be supplied by English-speaking people alone. Consequently, in that year Slovaks from St. Louis were employed by the local industries. Within a year they numbered about 50 families, or 250 male workers. In 1902 came the Magyars, followed by a few Croatians. In 1903 the Magyars numbered about 20 families, with the usual following of single boarders. Mixed groups of Roumanians, Greeks, and Servians followed. The latter were from southern Hungary and numbered about 50 male adults, including about a dozen family groups.

In 1904, when the first Bulgarians appeared in the community, the immigrant population was approximately as follows:

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About 200 Italians worked in the car shops, but they never settled, commuting each day to and from a neighboring city where was an Italian colony, their employers supplying them with free transportation. In the years 1904 and 1905 began the swarming of the Bulgarians to the community. The Bulgarian immigration was furthered by the head of one of the three Bulgarian mercantile houses. This Bulgarian came to the United States in 1903 and for one year worked at railroad construction in eastern and southern States, during which time he learned English rapidly and became a gang foreman. In the fall of 1904 he came to St. Louis, with considerable savings, intending to winter there. At that time it happened that an extensive insurrection in his native province, Monastir, was being crushed by the Turks. Early in the winter he heard that a number of his countrymen, refugees from home, had arrived at Dayton, Ohio. there on a visit and persuaded 47 men to return with him to St. Louis, and, on finding that cheaper lodgings could be had in the adjacent towns, they moved to Community E. They were the first to arrive. Although by no means penniless, they looked about for work, the future banker who had brought them acting as their spokesman. Employment was soon found for 16 men. Then came to the leader of the party an agent from one of the local steel plants and agreed to employ as many men as the leader could find. The agreement was made during the winter, and already more refugees from the devastated villages in Monastir were arriving. The Bulgarian wrote to them, and they came and were all employed. Then he wrote to the refugees in Bulgaria, that country being then so thronged with them that they could find no work there. Before the spring of 1905 over 900 had arrived and found employment. Meanwhile, a Bulgarian baker in St. Louis had removed his bakery to the community and opened, besides, a saloon and money exchange. He also wrote to his countrymen, and perhaps advanced many of them the expenses of travel at a lucrative rate of interest.

Living quarters in the town proper soon became crowded, and in March, 1905, a group of Bulgarians rented the cottages which had been previously occupied by English-speaking races, and which were located near the mills a short distance from town. This section became known as "Hungary Hollow," and apparently the Englishspeaking people did not like their new neighbors, for soon the Bulgarians had possession of all the houses. By the autumn of 1905 there were fully 1,500 Bulgarians in Hungary Hollow and its vicinity.

In the winter of 1905 the Bulgarian who had started immigration to the community, in company with several others, capitalized a

company at $50,000. They opened a general store and erected a building costing $5,100, paying $1,000 down and $100 per month. In the two upper floors they lodged their countrymen; below they established a general store, bakery, saloon, and butcher shop, in addition to the inevitable bank. Business prospered, and by the following spring they erected another brick building of 26 rooms. They also bought four cottages for use in connection with their lodging business. In the meantime another Bulgarian company built one cement and one frame building. About the same time still another Bulgarian came direct from Macedonia with capital of his own, which he had withdrawn from a business he had sold at home, and built another large brick structure, in which he established a general store and bank. Another commercial company, backed by Macedonians, built a large frame house and bought or built ten frame cottages, opening a grocery store and a saloon. These companies established themselves in Hungary Hollow, but the same commercial enterprise manifested itself in the town proper.

The two large Bulgarian mercantile houses began business, one opening with a capital of $130,000. They built their lodging houses on European plans, so that parts of the Bulgarian quarter present the appearance of a prosperous town in European Turkey, the houses being brick and cement stuccoed, with broad, open, front windows. The increasing Bulgarian immigration seemed to warrant this remarkable business activity. In the autumn of 1907 it reached its highwater mark. At that time there were 8,000 Bulgarians in the community.

The first to feel the influence of the new arrivals were the Englishspeaking races. The unskilled among them disappeared gradually; even the negroes along the Levee evacuated their homes in favor of the Bulgarians. Finally the English-speaking employees remained only in the skilled departments of the industrial establishments, living in substantial and well-kept cottages in the best parts of the town proper. The early immigrant races also dwindled in numbers, but this is probably due more to the recent industrial depression than to the influx of Bulgarians. In 1906 they numbered about the same as in 1904. In the year 1909 they were estimated to be as follows:

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The Magyars, as is evident, have increased since their arrival. The Armenians appeared in the community at about the same time as the Bulgarians. None of these races may be classed as direct immigrants. Most of those who have left the community have returned to St. Louis, whence they came. Some of the races entered as having no families have a few, represented by saloon keepers, but not by employees in the local industries.

THE INDUSTRIAL DEPRESSION AND THE EXODUS OF 1909.

The panic of the autumn of 1907 did not affect the community until the following spring. By that time, however, the mills began to close, and then followed distress among the recent immigrants. Thousands were fed by the commercial houses all summer. One banking house could pay its depositors some of their money, but the others were obliged to suspend payment for the time, giving depositors only bread. Even the municipality donated two wagon loads of flour, and the American saloon keepers and merchants made donations. The Bulgarians suffered most, for they were the unskilled laborers. In the summer of 1908 a few men were able to get work on the railroads, and this relieved the situation to some extent. These laborers returned in the autumn, but by that time the mills had taken on more men, and by taking turns at the work, helping each other and drawing on their bank accounts, the winter passed better than the summer. The following figures, furnished by the leading immigrant banking house, shows the effect of the business depression on the economic condition of the Bulgarians in Community E. This company forwarded remittances from Bulgarian immigrants to their families abroad in 1906, $14,000; 1907, $150,000; 1908, $10,000. The bank in 1909 sent on an average $100 a week. During the past year they have received $4,000 from abroad in remittances for immigrants here.

The spring of 1909 threatened a return to the conditions of the previous year, especially as most of the immigrants had spent all their savings. In the month of May, 1909, however, came a large demand for laborers on railroad-construction work in the two Dakotas, Minnesota, and Montana. There was a general rush in response. This had occurred the previous year, but to a lesser extent. May 25 is a national and a sacred holiday among the Bulgarians, the day of St. Methodius and St. Cyril. At this celebration, in 1908, 2,000 attended in Community E, marching in parade. During the year 1909 less than 100 were present. By the end of May there were only 400 Bulgarians in the town proper, and only 300 in Hungary Hollow. Almost every house, formerly so crowded, was empty. During the previous summer the Bulgarian population never sank below 2,000, although this was a decrease from what had formerly been 8,000. During the winter it increased again to about 4,000. Apparently none of the other races have been affected. The business done by one of the largest mercantile establishments in the community may be cited to illustrate these statements. The Bulgarians use bread different from the ordinary American product, baked by a member of their own race. The bakery conducted by the mercantile house sold bread during the designated periods of the years 1906–1909 as follows:

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