tures were reported by the Russians in the two groups with incomes of $500 and over. In the lowest income group the highest expenditure for food was found among natives of Austria-Hungary, while the Russians were on a par with the English and above the Irish, the Canadians and the Germans. In the other two groups, the natives of AustriaHungary expended more than the native Americans and more than any of the "old immigrants." The Italians expended more than the native Americans in the two extreme groups, and only $10.00 less per year, i. e., three cents a day less per family in the middle group. It is possible that the higher expenditure for food among the "undesirable" races is accounted for by the size of the family, but the earnings of the head of the family must cover the expense of supporting all its members. It is therefore, the total expense rather than the average per individual that may, by supposition, affect the rate of wages.

Still, if we turn to the comparative table of the same report in which the expenditure for food of native and foreign families is reduced to a uniform basis of units of consumption, we observe the same tendency as shown by the comparison of total expenditures. We learn from that table:

(1) That among the families having no children the natives of Russia expended $145.24 per one hundred units of consumption, while the natives of the United States expended only $119.85;

(2) That among the families with two children, the Russians expended $107.35 as against $95.24 expended by Americans;

(3) That among families with three children, the average expense of the Russians was $108.11, whereas the Americans expended only $85.06;

(4) That an Italian family with one child expended on an average $124.73, while an American family of the

1 Eighteenth Annual Report of the Commission of Labor, Table V D., p. 102.

same size was contented with $109.94, an English family with $107.19, and a Norwegian with $87.53;

(5) That an Austro-Hungarian family without children or with one child expended more for food than a Scotch family of the same size;

(6) That an Austro-Hungarian family with two children needed $117.22, while a native American family of the same size could exist on $95.24, and an English family on $105.86;

(7) That an Austro-Hungarian family with three children, expended $98.65 per one hundred units of consumption as compared with $85.00 expended by an average American family of the same size, and with $85.20 expended by an average English family;

(8) That an Austro-Hungarian family with four or five children, expended more than a Scotch family;

(9) That the Scotch were in every group inferior to the Russians;

(10) That English families with less than five children had a lower expenditure for food than Russian families of equal size.1

These budgets have been quoted here as the best evidence that has been collected on the comparative standards of living of native and foreign-born wage-earners. Still, large as the number of individual families included in the canvass of the Bureau of Labor may look at a superficial glance, it affords too narrow a foundation for nice distinctions. Food expenditures vary with the size and the income of the family, and with geographical location affecting the prices of food-stuffs. If the food expenditures are to be compared by nationality, under uniform conditions as to location, size of family, and income, some of the groups must be so minute as to preclude the possibility of any reliable generalizations. The last table commented upon may serve as an illustration; among the foreign nationalities, there is no group of more than seventeen

I

Eighteenth Annual Report of the Commission of Labor, p. 631, Table

families, while most of the groups contain less than ten families, and twenty-one consist of only one family. Variations in individual cases, however, are very wide. The only conclusion that is warranted by such statistics as are available is a negative one, viz., that the existence of a race standard of living determining the rate of wages for every race is not proven. "The actual standard that prevails is set primarily by the wages paid and the prices charged."?

E. Clothing

In no other respect is the assimilation of the immigrant accomplished so rapidly as in the matter of dress. The mandates of Herbert Spencer's "ceremonial government" cannot be disobeyed. "Many of the recent immigrants," says the Immigration Commission, "still have some articles of clothing which they brought with them from Europe. Most of their clothing, however, practically all, is made in this country and purchased by them here." The prices which the alien workman must pay in an American department store for shoes and clothes are fixed, not by his im

1 In a later work, published in 1917, the chief expert of the Immigration Commission seems to have come to recognize that the standard of living of the new immigrants is not lower than, but different from, that of the native wage-earners. Whereas the immigrant seeks primarily physical comfort, with the sophisticated American worker the conventional plays a conspicuous part in his family budget. To put it in Professor Lauck's words:

"It is significant to note that all newer immigrants spend a greater proportion of their total expenditures for food than do the native wageearners. This seems to be due to the fact that their standard of living is less subject to demands created by desires other than for food. In a sense, their standard is more elemental. They are more free to satisfy their natural physical wants, and less restricted than native wageearners, by the pressure of other wants upon their income. In the selection of their diet it seems to be the consensus of observations that the newer immigrant has the advantage over the native wage-earners." W. Jett Lauck and Edgar Sydenstricker: The Condition of Labor in American Industries, p. 288.

Chapin, loc. cit., pp. 249-250.

3 Reports of the Immigration Commission, vol. 9, p. 81.

ported individual or racial psychology, but by the American manufacturer, the American railway manager, and the American department store proprietor, every one of them eager to make an American profit, in order to maintain an American standard of living for himself.

The Immigration Commission secured the transcripts of store accounts, which showed that the prices paid for wearing apparel by immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe were the same as those advertised in Washington, D. C., by the department stores and tailor shops catering to the trade of government clerks.1

The United States Bureau of Labor has published comparative statistics showing for each nationality the average annual expenditure for clothing. It can be seen at a glance that the expenditure for clothing among the native, as well as among the foreign-born, increases with the increase of their earnings. Whether, or not, the wage-earner's standard of living determines his wages, i. e., whether, or not, he is paid higher wages because he wears better clothes, it is self-evident that his ability to buy clothes is limited by his earnings. A comparison of race standards in the matter of clothing must therefore be made for workmen of the same earning capacity. Table 80 on page 267 follows the arrangement of Table 79.

It can be seen from Table 80 that in each of the income groups the variations of expenditure by race are confined within very narrow limits, the margin between the highest and lowest expenditure not exceeding $10.00 a year. It is evident that such a margin is too small to produce an appreciable effect upon the rate of wages.3

1 Reports of the Immigration Commission, vol. 9, pp. 81, 84.

2 Eighteenth Annual Report of the Commissioner of Labor, Table V,D. It must be borne in mind, that the numbers of families in each group being small, the variations may be due to differences in the size of the families, in geographical location, etc. Even the earnings may vary within each income group as much as $99.00 per year. Some allowance must be made for the inaccuracy of the figures, inasmuch as they are all mere estimates.

TABLE 80.

FOR CLOTHING IN NORMAL FAMILIES OF UNSKILLED

LABORERS, CLASSIFIED BY INCOME AND NATIVITY. '

EXPENDITURE

The expenses of a normal family for housing, food, and clothing amount in the aggregate to about three fourths of the total expenditure for all objects. The preceding analysis has shown that the variations of these principal items of a workingman's budget are not affected by race. Table 81 on page 268 points in the same direction. It can be seen from the comparative figures that the average wageearner's family of every nationality lives practically up to its income. A very small margin is left for savings. But while the native workman may save or spend at pleasure, the newly-arrived immigrant must save money.

"Before the immigrant can realize any return from his labor in the form of American wages, he must incur the following expense or indebtedness, for even if one or all costs are prepaid for him by relative, friend, or other person, he eventually pays them all by deductions from his wages or otherwise:

1 Eighteenth Annual Report of the Commissioner of Labor, pp. 560-563. Ibid., p. 581, Table 5K.