TABLE 52.-Affiliation with trade unions of foreign-born males 21 years of age or over who are working for wages, by years in the United States and race of individual.

(STUDY OF HOUSEHOLDS.)

[This table includes only races with 200 or more males reporting. The total, however, is for all foreign-born.]

Of the total number of foreign-born males 21 years of age or over who have been in the United States under five years 20.1 per cent are affiliated with trade unions; 20 per cent of those who have been here from five to nine years and only 16.8 per cent of those who have been here for ten or more years are affiliated with trade unions. Among those whose residence here has been for less than five years the Hebrews show the largest proportion and the Bohemians and Moravians the smallest proportion affiliated with trade unions. Among those who have been in this country from five to nine years and in the other period of residence-ten years or over-the Hebrews show the largest proportion. In the latter period of residence less than 10 per cent of the Bohemians and Moravians and South Italians are affiliated with trade unions.

CHAPTER V.

HOUSING AND LIVING CONDITIONS.

Rent in its relation to standard of living-Boarders and lodgers-Size of apartments occupied Size of households studied-Congestion-[Text Tables 53 to 65, and General Tables 23 to 34].

RENT IN ITS RELATION TO STANDARD OF LIVING.

The monthly rent payments of the households the heads of which were clothing manufacturing operatives are chiefly significant in their bearing upon the standard of living of the employees, owing to the practice of crowding persons in the apartments in order to reduce the per capita rent outlay. This condition of affairs is disclosed by the following series of tables, the first of which shows the average monthly rent payment per person per room and per apartment, according to general nativity and race of head of household.

TABLE 53.-Average rent per month, by general nativity and race of head of household,

From the above table it is seen that 665 households are reported as paying an average rent of $11.94 per month per apartment, $3.38 per month per room, and $2.30 per month per person. No race pays as high as $14 rent per month per apartment, but the Poles and South Italians each pay over $13, the Russians and Hebrews over $12, and the Lithuanians and Bohemians and Moravians pay more than $9.

The Poles, paying over $4 per month per room, show the highest figure in that regard, while the Bohemians and Moravians, with an average of $2.17, show the lowest.

All races excepting the Lithuanians pay an average monthly rental of more than $2 per person, the highest figure, $2.62, being paid by the South Italians, and the lowest, $1.72, is paid by the Lithuanians. The following table exhibits the range in monthly rent payments per apartment by showing the per cent of households paying each specified monthly rent per apartment according to general nativity and race of head of household.

TABLE 54.—Per cent of households paying each specified rent per month per apartment, by general nativity and race of head of household.

(STUDY OF HOUSEHOLDS.)

[This table includes only races with 20 or more households reporting. The totals, however, are for all races.]

Of the 665 households included in the above table, slightly less than 25 per cent pay over $15 rent per month per apartment. Of the total number 60.2 per cent pay under $12.50, 13.2 per cent pay under $7.50, and 1.7 per cent pay under $5 per month. The only households that were studied in numbers sufficiently large for computation of percentages are those the heads of which are foreign-born. None of the Polish households pay under $7.50 rent per month per apartment; 30 per cent of the households of that race pay under $10 and 20 per cent pay over $15. No race shows a proportion of as many as 10 per cent paying under $5. The Bohemians and Moravians show the largest proportion of households paying under $7.50. The South Italians show the smallest proportion paying under $10. The largest proportion paying that amount is shown by the Bohemians and Moravians. None of the Lithuanians pay over $15 per apartment per month. The South Italians show the smallest proportion paying under that amount, or 62.5 per cent. Of the Poles, 80 per cent, and of the Bohemians and Moravians, 93.3 per cent, pay under that amount.

The per cent of households paying each specified monthly rent per room is shown in the table next presented according to general nativity and race of head of household.

TABLE 55.-Per cent of households paying each specified rent per month per room, by general nativity and race of head of household.

(STUDY OF HOUSEHOLDS.)

[This table includes only races with 20 or more households reporting. The totals, however, are for all races.]

Data are furnished in the foregoing table for 665 households, of whom 6.5 per cent are paying under $2 per room per month rent; 35.6 per cent under $3, while 58.6 per cent are paying under $4 monthly rental per room.

Many more Bohemians and Moravians, or 33.3 per cent, are paying under $2 per month rent per room than any other race. The next highest figure is the 5.1 per cent shown by the Hebrews; both South Italians and Lithuanians show less than 3 per cent, while no Poles are found paying so low a rental.

Again, in the column designating those paying under $3 per room per month, it is seen that the Bohemians and Moravians lead with 88.9 per cent, and the Lithuanians with 75.9 per cent are second. Both the Hebrews and South Italians show between 25 and 30 per cent, while the Poles are last, with only 5 per cent paying less than $3 rent per month per room.

Over 90 per cent of Bohemians and Moravians and Lithuanians are paying under $4 per month per room; next in order come the Hebrews with 58.3 per cent, the South Italians with 40.8 per cent, and the Poles with 15 per cent.

The following table shows, by general nativity and race of head of household, the per cent of households paying each specified monthly rent per person:

TABLE 56.—Per cent of households paying each specified rent per month per person, by general nativity and race of head of household.

(STUDY OF HOUSEHOLDS.)

[This table includes only races with 20 or more households reporting. The totals, however, are for all races.]

Of the 665 households paying rent and reporting amounts, 85 per cent pay under $4, 68.6 per cent under $3, 35.2 per cent under $2, and 2.3 per cent under $1 per person. Of the several foreign-born races, the Lithuanians show the largest and the South Italians the smallest proportion paying under $4, under $3, and under $2, while the Bohemians and Moravians show the largest and the Poles the smallest proportion paying under $1 rent per month per person.

BOARDERS AND LODGERS.

The practice of the housewives of taking boarders and lodgers into the home in order to supplement the earnings of their husbands has already been discussed. The extent to which boarders and lodgers are kept and its bearing on living conditions are considered in the present connection. The first table submitted, which immediately follows, shows, by general nativity and race of head of household, the number and per cent of households keeping boarders and lodgers.