Irish, the factory workers have again won a reduction of an hour and a quarter a day. One need not take an optimistic view of labor conditions in the Massachusetts textile mills to recognize that fifty-four hours a week is a great stride in advance since the time when the regular working day was from sunrise to sunset.

The effects of the recent immigration upon the length of the working day can be best observed in the State of New York, which is affected by immigration more than any other State in the Union. The first decade of the present century has witnessed the greatest volume of immigration known in the history of the United States, and the bulk of that immigration has come from the countries of Southern and Eastern Europe. And yet the reports of the factory inspectors of the State of New York, covering an average of nearly a million factory employees annually, show for that decade a gradual reduction of the hours of labor in the State of New York. Comparing the city of New York with the remainder of the State, we find that the population of Southern and Eastern European birth in the great city increased during the same period from one sixth to about one fourth of the total population, whereas in the State outside the city of New York the immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe constituted in 1910 only one sixteenth of the total population; yet after a decade of "undesirable immigration" more than two thirds of all factory operatives in New York City work ten hours or less on week days with a half holiday on Saturday, whereas in the remainder of the State, with a working population predominantly native, the majority still work longer hours. The lower wages of the native American wage-earners in small cities and country towns might be explained by the lower cost of living, which permits the native country worker to enjoy a greater measure of comfort than the more highly paid recent immigrant living in a large city. But the longer hours of the native American wage-earner in the country admit of no such explanation.

Among the many charges against the recent immigrants not the least important one is that their ignorant acquiescence in dangerous and unsanitary working conditions is a menace to the safety of the older employees. The Immigration Commission has accepted without criticism the employers' defense in work accidents, viz., that the majority of accidents arise from the negligence, the ignorance, and inexperience of the employees. There is, however, another side to the question. Many experts hold that most of the risks are humanly preventable, and their continuance is due to economic conditions beyond the control of the employee. Effective prevention of accidents in mines presupposes a carefully planned equipment involving considerable expense. But competition forces the mine operator to follow unsafe mining methods, which inevitably result in unneces sary sacrifice of human life. It is not the carelessness of the mine workers, but the carelessness of mine operators and their representatives that is, according to expert opinion, the cause of the high fatality rate in American mines. Similar dangerous conditions once existed in France and Belgium, but they were removed by stringent legislation and by an effective enforcement of the law. The theory which shifts the blame for accidents from the mine operator to the Slav miner tends to prevent the enactment of such legislation in the United States.

In the iron and steel mills there is the same popular disposition to shift the responsibility for accidents to "the ignorant foreigner," whereas expert opinion views the tre mendous speed at which the plants are run as the real cause of danger. The greatest risk of death and personal injury is assumed by railway trainmen, who are all either Americans or natives of Northern and Western Europe. They have strong organizations and could not be replaced by nonEnglish-speaking immigrants. Yet "acquiescence in dangerous and unsanitary working conditions" appears to be the general attitude of organized and unorganized workers alike, irrespective of nationality. Obviously, organized

n

labor does not feel strong enough to make demands which would involve large outlays by employers for safe equip

ment.

Organization of labor is nowadays generally recognized in the United States as the most effective of all existing agencies for the increase of wages and improvement of working conditions. It would therefore be a cause for grave concern if it were true, as claimed, that the recent immigrants were not organizable, and that their employment threatened the existing labor organizations with disruption. The fact is, however, that the origin and growth of organized labor in the United States are contemporaneous with the period of "the new immigration," and that the immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe are the backbone of some of the strongest labor unions. A notable example is the coal-mining industry, where the mine workers' organization has gained strength only since the Southern and

nonsense! Eastern Europeans have become the predominant element that → noise !!

can

among them. One of the most troublesome problems which the organization of these immigrants has had to face has been the competition of the unorganized Americans of native stock.

Before 1880 all labor organizations were small in membership and their effect upon economic conditions was negli-. gible. Like everywhere, during the infancy of organized labor, a union would spring into existence under the impulse of a strike, would flourish for a while, if successful, and would soon disintegrate. The work of organization has since been proceeding at an ever increasing pace. During the first decade of the new immigration, 1880-1890, more labor unions were organized than throughout the previous history of the United States. The majority of the trade-unionists and Knights of Labor were of foreign birth, whereas the native Americans contributed less than their quota to the membership of labor organizations. The greatest success rewarded the efforts of union organizers during the first decade of the present century, the membership of labor

organizations growing faster than the number of wageearners. Thus the greatest activity in the field of organization coincided with the unparalleled immigration of the past decade. The best field for observation of the effects of immigration upon trade-unionism is the State of New York, which receives more than its proportionate share of immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe. A comparative study of trade-union statistics compiled by the New York Bureau of Labor and of the federal immigration statistics shows that union membership rises and falls with the rise and fall of immigration. The fluctuations of union membership depend upon the business situation, which likewise determines the fluctuations of immigration. The harmonious movement of immigration and organization among wage-earners is thus accounted for by the fact that both are stimulated by business prosperity and discouraged by business depression.

The question arises, however, whether the progress of trade-unionism would not have been greater had there been no immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe during the past decade of industrial expansion. An answer to this question is furnished by the comparative growth of tradeunion membership in New York and in Kansas. The ratio of foreign-born in Kansas has been steadily decreasing since 1880. At the same time Kansas has shared in the recent industrial expansion. Statistics show that the relative number of organized workmen is much higher in New York with its large and growing Southern and Eastern European population than in Kansas, where more than nine tenths of the population are of native birth.

These comparisons prove that recent immigration has not retarded the progress of trade-unionism, except, of course, where it is the policy of the unions to exclude the recent immigrants by prohibitive initiation dues and other restrictive regulations intended to limit the number of competitors within their trades.

Language is nowadays no longer a bar to organization

of the native supply. Absence of immigrants is a sign of a dull labor market.

To be sure, the rise in wages is paralleled by a similar movement of prices. The employer of labor seeks to recoup the advance in wages by advancing the price of his product to the consumer. When the advance in the price of manufactured products becomes general, the wage-earner as a consumer is forced in effect to give up a part or all of his gain in the money rate of wages. The increased cost of living then stimulates further demands for advances in wages. Since combinations of capital in all fields of industry have reduced competition among employers of labor to a minimum, the wage-carners have been at a disadvantage in this continuous bargaining. In general it has been observed by economists that wages, as a rule, do not rise as fast as prices. That this rule holds true irrespective of immigra[tion, is illustrated by the movement of wages and prices during the Civil War. With the exception of the first year, the period was one of prosperity in every branch of industry. The wage-earners were apparently in a favorable situation. The army drew hundreds of thousands of workers from industrial pursuits, while immigration declined. There were at that time no immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe, nor was there any oversupply of unskilled labor. Yet while the depreciation of the currency caused a rapid increase in the cost of living, money wages did not keep pace with prices. In other words, real wages decreased. It must be noted that during the war a lively labor agitation was going on; strikes were usually successful. Withal, labor was unable to win mereases in wages commensurate with the mereased cost of living.

Among the factors tending to depress the rate of wages child labor Þolds a promipone place. The most signifcant fnot to be noted concern y the relation between chi & labOT and immi "soon is the lange proportion of children cmslovad in factores in §. 2oo #chor thone is practical y no En PODLA CON hereas the lemost per cent is found