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Even in the bituminous mining areas of western Pennsylvania the southern and eastern Europeans have purchased homes and places of business in the urban centers around which the mining villages cluster. As typical of conditions, the extent of the property holdings in Windber, Pennsylvania, a bituminous coal mining community of this character, may be cited.

In this city the Italians, North and South, show a greater tendency to save than any other race. The majority of the South Italians save their money and send it abroad, while most of the North Italians buy real estate. Next to the Italians, the Slovaks save their earnings and usually invest in real estate. The table on p. 296 shows, for the year 1909, property holdings of the foreign races in Windber. That the Slovak holdings are greater than those of the combined Italian races is partly accounted for by the fact that the Slovaks outnumber the Italians. The figures represent taxable property only, but may be accepted as exhibiting the order in which the several races in the community exhibit a tendency to purchase real estate.

The disposition to acquire homes is most noticeable among the North Italians, Slovaks, Scotch and Magyars. These races, in the order named, own the largest amount of taxable property in the town. Immigrants of all races invest in land, even the South Italians, who, however, send most of their savings to Italy to purchase land in that country, or to redeem mortgages and pay taxes on property which they already own abroad.

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1 This table, to show accurately the relative holdings, should include the number of each race in the community. Unfortunately, such data were unobtainable, and the table should not be used as a basis for conclusions. The Slovaks, Italians, and Magyars, in the order named, are numerically the strongest in the community.

In the larger industrial cities and towns, where the manufacturing companies do not rent houses, the ownership of homes is more common than in mining localities. In the New England textile and other manufacturing centers the acquisition of property by southern and eastern Europeans is not so extensive as in the smaller industrial localities of the Middle States, the Middle West and the Northwest and Southwest. As representative of the conditions in cities and towns, the statement next presented shows, for the year 1909, the aggregate assessment value of the property owned by recent immigrants in Steelton, Pennsylvania, an iron and steel manufacturing community with a population of about 18,000.

AGGREGATE ASSESSMENT VALUE OF PROPERTY OWNED, BY RACES, IN STEELTON, PA., 1909

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The number of property holders of each race was as follows:

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It will be noted that in point of property owned the order of races is quite different from that in the preceding table. The Hebrews as property owners come first in amount of property owned; then the Slovenians, Croatians, Italians; while the Servians, Macedonians and Magyars are near the end of the list. The Croatian population, it may be explained, consists of a minority who have been in the country for a long term of years, and a majority of more recent comers.

The former have secured property, the latter, are still intending to return to Austria-Hungary.

In the second table the Italians and Hebrews are found tying for first place in regard to the number of property owners, with the Slovenians and Croatians not far behind. Referring to the population of these races a truer view of the progress that each has made in the acquisition of property is obtained.

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The Italians stand easily first in the acquisition of homes, as the Hebrews stand first in the number of business places established.

Numerous other cases might be presented but the two mentioned are representative. In a general way the purchase of homes and the acquisition of property vary with period of residence, and the tendency toward home ownership does not become noticeable until the immigrant or his family has decided to remain permanently in the United States. Before that decision is reached all savings are accumulated in the form of cash or are sent abroad each month or pay period. As already pointed out, as a rule no personal property is accumulated, the clothing and furniture of the immigrant households and their members being confined to the barest necessities.

Immigrant business men, who are found in all for

eign colonies and communities as well as in the American sections of mining and manufacturing localities, have in the aggregate accumulated a large amount of property chiefly in the form of small business establishments, together with their equipment and stocks of goods. It is not uncommon to find southern and eastern European business men of this class whose possessions will range in value from twenty to one hundred thousand dollars.

OWNERSHIP OF HOMES

Under favorable conditions the tendencies toward acquiring their own homes, exhibited by families the heads of which are of foreign birth and employed in the industries of the United States, may be taken as an indication of progress toward assimilation and of an intention to settle permanently in this country. In many instances, as has been stated, the wage-earner is living and working in a large urban or industrial center where the acquisition of real estate is beyond his resources. In many industrial localities, also, as already pointed out, especially in those connected with the mining industry, the so-called "company-house" system prevails, under which the industrial worker is practically not permitted to buy a home, but must live in a house owned by the operating company and rented to him. Under these and similar conditions, therefore, racial inclinations toward the acquisition of property can not have full play, and statistics as to home ownership based on returns from heads of families engaged in different industrial pursuits and in widely separated industrial localities must be accepted with some qualification. As a consequence, some reservations must be made in the case of the figures

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