in the table which immediately follows, and an absolutely accurate treatment can be secured only by reference to separate industrial studies and localities.* The tabulation, however, showing, as it does, by general nativity of head of family, the number and percentage of families owning their homes, is indicative of tendencies within certain limitations. The families the heads of which were native-born, whether of native or foreign father, were studied for purposes of comparison with those the heads of which were foreign-born. The table, which is based upon an investigation of 17,628 families, the heads of which were employed in the principal divisions of mining and manufacturing enterprise in 1909, follows:

NUMBER AND PER CENT. OF FAMILIES OWNING HOME, BY GENERAL NATIVITY OF HEAD OF FAMILY

Upon comparing the general nativity groups it is seen that slightly more than one-fifth, 21.8 per cent., of the families the heads of which were white persons of native birth, and 21.6 per cent. of those the heads of which were of foreign birth, owned their homes. The families of the second generation, or those whose heads were of native birth but of foreign father, reported a slightly larger proportion than the two other nativity groups.

The figures for the families the heads of which

* See Reports of The Immigration Commission on Immigrants in Industries.

were foreign-born show that the races of older immigration from Great Britain and northern Europe are more extensive home-owners than are the members of races of recent arrival in the United States. The percentage of home ownership among representative races of the old immigration is as follows:

The principal races of recent immigration from southern and eastern Europe make the showing as to the acquisition of homes:

following

The geographical location of the Bohemians and Moravians in Europe would class them among the more recent immigrants, but the period of time during which they have been coming to the United States would place them among the older immigrant races. They show the largest proportion, or 63.7 per cent., of home-owning families, of all races of recent immigration, the heads of which were native-born of foreign father or foreign-born. On the other hand, the

Finnish families, which show a percentage of home ownership amounting to 56.3, should be geographically classed with the older immigrants from Great Britain and northern Europe, but by period of residence in this country the larger proportion should be termed recent immigrants. Of the families of recent immigration, the North Italians, Slovenians, Croatians, Poles, Lithuanians, Slovaks, South Italians and Magyars have, in the order named, shown proportions ranging from 27.8 to 13.7 per cent. owning their homes. An almost negligible proportion of Russians, Greeks, Rumanians, Servians and Syrians, varying from 1.2 to 4.7 per cent. in the order mentioned, have acquired homes.

School Attendance and Progress

Possibly the chief force that has been active heretofore in the assimilation of immigrants, making them like Americans born, and especially the chief assimilative force among the children whether born here or abroad, is our public schools. In consequence, it seemed to the Immigration Commission* that much emphasis should be laid upon the school attendance of the children of immigrants. The report of that body included information for a total of 2,036,376 school children, of whom 221,159 were in parochial schools, the others in the public schools. The records covered also 49,067 public-school teachers and 32,882 students in colleges and universities. The study of the public schools was made in 37 different cities, including practically all of the large cities in the country, the first * Reports of Immigration Commission, Vols. 29-33.

20 cities in point of population, with the exception of three. The study of parochial schools was made in 24 cities. Seventy-seven of the higher educational institutions sent reports on their students.

In the public schools 766,727, or 42.2 per cent., were children of native-born fathers, while 1,048,490, 57.8 per cent., were children of foreign-born fathers. Of these pupils some were themselves born abroad, some in the United States. Of the total number of children of native-born fathers, 39.5 per cent. were children of white fathers, 2.7 per cent. of native-born negro fathers. Among the children of foreign-born fathers, 318,822 were Hebrews, 17.6 per cent. of the total number. Second in order numerically were the Germans with 11.6 per cent. of the grand total. The Italians were represented by 114,887 pupils, or 6.4 per cent. of the whole. No other race had as many as 100,000 pupils; only two others, the Irish and English, were represented by as many as 50,000. A number of cities show a very high percentage of pupils with foreign-born fathers. The highest per cent. of pupils with foreign-born fathers was found in Duluth, Minnesota, and Chelsea, Massachusetts, each with 74.1 per cent. In New York City 71.5 per cent. had foreign-born fathers; in Chicago 67.3 per cent.; in Boston 63.5 per cent.

New Orleans showed the lowest proportion of pupils of foreign-born fathers, having only 18.1 per cent.; Kansas City ranking next with 21.3 per cent. Where so large a percentage of all the children attending the public schools have foreign-born fathers, it can readily be seen how extremely important is the assimilative force of the public schools in determining what the nature of our citizenship, and, in consequence, of our

Government and of our social institutions of the future, is to be.

This assimilative force is so great that in a second generation a very large proportion of these pupils become to a very noteworthy extent quite Americanized. It, nevertheless, is a matter of great interest to see how the different races compare in the different cities. On p. 305 is inserted a table showing the foreign races that rank first and second in the number of school children in each of the cities studied by the Immigration Commission.

The children of German fathers, it will be noted, rank first in twelve and second in thirteen of these 37 cities. In Milwaukee they form as high as 32 per cent. of the school population; in Detroit, 18.6 per cent. In Chelsea, on the other hand, the Hebrews form 42.5 per cent. of the school population; in New York City, 33.6 per cent.; in Newark, 20.7 per cent. The total composite nature of our population is evidenced by some other examples showing the different nationalities. For example, in Duluth the Swedes have the highest percentage, 21.9 per cent.; in Bay City, Michigan, Canadian, other than French-Canadian, 15.5 per cent. In Boston, the Irish, 16.5 per cent.; in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the Bohemian-Moravians, 18 per cent.; in New Bedford, Massachusetts, the Portuguese, 23.4 per cent.; while in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, the Lithuanians rank first with 30.3 per cent.; in Scranton, the Irish, 10.3 per cent. ; in Providence, the South Italians with 11.5 per cent.; and again in New Orleans, the South Italians rank first, tho only with 4.6 per cent.; the Germans ranking second with 3.4 per

cent.