gration represent industrial advances of the community; not always sharply defined, but indicated by growth in business.

Merely as an indication of the increase in industrial activity during the years from 1900 to 1908 alone, the following statement is suggestive:

Industrial development of Community C, 1900–1908.a

The figures of total capitalization for 1908 are not available, and the number of establishments for that year is probably too small, being made according to the state factory inspector's classification and not according to that of the Census Bureau, but the number of employees may be safely compared for the three years specified. From 1900 to 1905 the total number of employees increased 25.6 per cent. From 1905 to 1908 it increased 43.9 per cent, and for the whole period from 1900 to 1908 the increase was 80.7 per cent. Noting that the total number of American whites (and this means persons whose American ancestry goes back two or more generations) in the city to-day, as shown in a preceding table, is only about 7,000, the significance of the immigrant in the industrial development appears. In 1908, 14,497 persons were employed in the factories, while only some 7,000 American men, women, and children were to be found in the whole city, or, in other words, nearly a third of the city's total population is in the factories, and five-sixths of the total population is of rather recent foreign descent. Thus it plainly appears how vital a factor is the immigrant in the industrial activity of the community. In this connection something further may be said of the effect of immigrants upon local industries.

To the immigrant, as has been suggested above, is due in large measure the great industrial development of the community. Without him the problem of sufficient factory labor would have been difficult of solution. The immigrant has gone into the factoriesfew of the males of working age are found elsewhere and the growth of the factories has been made possible with each increasing influx. The population figures of different periods of the last century are significant of the growing immigration.

These figures are for the entire township, which was consolidated with the city in 1905.

As the population has increased most during the past twenty years so has the greatest industrial growth been during this period.

Only one industry can be said to have been established by immigrants, the manufacture of metal trimmings for suspenders and garters, snap fasteners, sheet metal and wire goods. In 1888 one German, two German-Americans, and two English-Americans formed a company for the manufacture of these goods. The business prospered and increased in size, and while not one of the largest of the city's manufacturing plants, it is of considerable importance. Many other immigrants and children of immigrants have ventured into business, but this is the only immigrant in the field of manufacturing, and stands as the sole instance of a new industry established by immigrants. Of the many Community C patentees (and in 1900 there had been issued to the city's residents 1,447 patents), one of the founders of this company, a German by birth, had more than twice as many patents to his credit as any other, having taken out 113.

Beyond the boundaries of the city, however, in a neighboring town, is another industry established by immigrants. This company, which is engaged in the manufacture of brick, was established in 1905 by Italians, and about 90 per cent of the stock is in the hands of persons of this race, a number of the stockholders being Community C Italians. The paid-up capital of this company is $25,000; the annual capacity of the plant 7,000,000 bricks, and the average number of men employed is 20, with a maximum of 50. So far as has been ascertained, it can not be said that any industry has been established or promoted because of the opportunity to employ immigrants. The fact that a large immigrant population has of late years afforded a comparatively full labor market may, perhaps, indirectly account for the establishment of some of the more recent industries. No large manufacturing establishments, however, owe their existence to this. Some of the factories have employed immigrant labor ever since their establishment, but it is doubtful if any of them were created because of the opportunity to employ immigrants.

No industries have been established or promoted because of the peculiar training or skill of immigrants, nor has the demand by immigrant consumers led to the establishment of any new industries. No such demand exists, at least not in a degree sufficient to warrant the embarking upon any new industrial enterprise. The number of immigrants who have become employers, except as proprietors of retail stores, is insignificant. No manufacturing plant of appreciable size, with the exception of the manufacturing company already referred to and the brick company in the nearby town, is in the hands of immigrants or their children. The Germans and English who established the former company, and the Italians who created the latter company, are then the only representatives of the immigrant races who have become, in any significant sense, employers.

The small employers, the retail merchants, usually employ persons of their own races, as their trade does not ordinarily extend much beyond their own racial or linguistic boundaries.

Of the two larger immigrant employers previously referred to, the smaller, the brick company, employs Italians alone. The other factory, which was established by Germans and English, is not strictly an immigrant employer, as its management is chiefly in the hands of second-generation Germans and its business relationships and methods are essentially American. The races to be found in its employ are: Polish, Irish, Swedish, Lithuanian, Slovak, German, French Canadian, Italian, Armenian, and Greek, this being approximately the order of their numerical strength.

INDUSTRIAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE COMMUNITY AT THE PRESENT TIME.

The table below shows for the year 1905 the amount of capital and labor in Community C engaged in the manufacture of hardware as compared with all other industries. As can be readily seen from the table, more than one-half of the labor and capital of Community C is in hardware manufacturing.

In 1908 the records of the state factory inspector showed 56 industrial establishments in Community C employing five or more persons each. The total number of employees in these 56 establishments was 14,497, of whom 11,356 were men and 3,141 women. The smallest number employed in any establishment was five and the largest number 2,415.

These figures indicate in a crude way the importance of the community's industries. Placing the total population of the city at approximately 44,000, it is found that nearly one-third of all the persons in the city were employed in the 56 establishments recorded

by the factory inspector. It must be remembered, however, that the year 1908 was one of comparative stagnation in the industrial world and that the above figures do not represent fully the total employment under the most favorable conditions.

The opportunities for employment in the lower occupations, such as common laborer, machine operator, etc., are numerous in the establishments manufacturing hardware, cutlery, tools, and other metal goods. The positions requiring skill and training are, of course, fewer, and less frequently vacant; yet even of these there are usually a number open to skilled workmen. Labor qualified to fill these latter positions is not abundant and the field is by no means overcrowded. Yet because of the large amount of unskilled labor required in the production of hardware and kindred manufactures, the bulk of the employment available is in the unskilled (and consequently less remunerative) occupations.

Outside of the hardware, cutlery, and tool manufacturing industries the opportunities for employment are not great. A hosiery and knit underwear factory affords employment to a number of women (and a few men), and the iron foundries and machine shops, which are relatively inconsiderable in the extent of their demand for labor, offer employment for a small number of men. The manufacture of hardware and allied lines, however, is the great source of labor demand, and employment is usually to be found in these factories.

Of native labor there is but a small supply; the wages paid, moreover, for the lower grades of work are not sufficient to tempt the American workman. The factories must look to the immigrant for most of their employees. And the right sort of immigrant, one who can adapt himself to the work, who is steady and industrious, and content with a moderate wage, will usually find employment with the larger of the metal manufacturing establishments.

HOUSEHOLDS STUDIED.

Detailed information was secured from 686 households in Community C, the heads of which were employed in the local industries. The following table shows the households studied, according to general nativity and race of head of household:

TABLE 154.—Households studied, by general nativity and race of head of household. (STUDY OF HOUSEHOLDS.)

Of 686 households studied in this locality 85.7 per cent have heads who are of foreign birth, the heads of 9.9 per cent of the households are native-born whites of native father and the heads of 4.4 per cent of the households are native-born of foreign father. Of the households whose heads are native-born of foreign father, those whose heads are of English, German, and Irish parentage each show 1.5 per cent of the total number of households for whom information was secured. Of the households whose heads are foreign-born, those whose heads are Swedes show 16.2 per cent, while households the heads of which are Lithuanians, Slovaks, Poles, South Italians, and Germans show over 10 per cent; the households the heads of which are Ruthenians show over 6 per cent; while the households the heads of which are Russians show only 1.6 per cent of the total number of households studied in this locality.

MEMBERS OF HOUSEHOLDS FOR WHOM DETAILED INFORMATION WAS SECURED.

The table next presented shows, by general nativity and race of head of household, the persons in households studied and persons for whom detailed information was secured.

TABLE 155.-Persons in households studied and persons for whom detailed information was secured, by general nativity and race of head of household.

Of the 3,688 persons in the 686 households studied in this locality, 90.9 per cent are in households the heads of which are foreign-born, 3 per cent in households the heads of which are native-born of foreign father, and the remaining proportion, a fraction over 6 per cent, in households the heads of which are native whites born of native father.