the present political condition of foreign-born males who have been in the United States five years or over and who were 21 years of age or over at time of arrival in this country. TABLE 263.-Present political condition of foreign-born male employees who have been in the United States 5 years or over and who were 21 years of age or over at time of coming, by race of individual. (STUDY OF HOUSEHOLDS.) [By years in the United States is meant years since first arrival in the United States.] The extent to which foreign-born persons of non-English-speaking races, in the households studied, are able to speak English is set forth in the following series of tables. The first table presented shows, by sex and general nativity and race of individual, the percentage of persons 6 years of age or over who speak English. TABLE 264.-Per cent of persons 6 years of age or over who speak English, by sex and general nativity and race of individual. (STUDY OF HOUSEHOLDS.) [This table includes only non-English-speaking races with 40 or more persons reporting. The totals however, are for all non-English-speaking races.] Of the total number of persons who are at least 6 years of age, 56.3 per cent speak English. Of the native-born of foreign father, however, 96.5 per cent speak English, while of the foreign-born the proportion is only 47.2 per cent. There is, however, considerable difference in the proportion of the specified races who speak English. The greater proportion of the Germans, Hebrews, North Italians and Slovaks have that ability. Of the Polish, on the other hand, only 18.3 per cent speak English, the smallest proportion shown by any race. Uniformly a greater proportion of males speak English than of the females of the corresponding race or class. The most marked difference in the ability of the two sexes to speak English is among the North Italians and Polish. The South Italians show somewhat similar proportions of males and females who speak English. The following table makes possible à comparison of the relative proportion of the younger and older immigrants able to speak English. The table shows, by age at time of coming to the United States and race of individual, the per cent of foreign-born persons 6 years of age or over, in the households studied, who speak English. TABLE 265.—Per cent of foreign-born persons 6 years of age or over who speak English, by age at time of coming to the United States and race of individual. (STUDY OF HOUSEHOLDS.) [This table includes only non-English-speaking races with 40 or more persons reporting.. The total, however, is for all non-English-speaking races.] Of the group of foreign-born persons 6 years of age or over who were under 14 years of age at time of coming to the United States, 84.6 per cent speak English; of the group who were 14 or over, 38.4 speak English. Similarly, every race shows a greater proportion speaking English of those who were under 14 at time of coming than of those who were 14 or over. The South Italians show the most marked effect of age at time of coming on the extent to which English is spoken; of the group who were under 14, 78.9 speak English; of the group who were 14 or over, 15.8 per cent speak English. The progress made by persons of non-English-speaking races in acquiring ability to speak English after stated periods of residence in this country is exhibited by the table following, which shows, by years in the United States and race of individual, the per cent of foreign-born persons 6 years of age or over, in the households studied, who speak English. TABLE 266.-Per cent of foreign-born persons 6 years of age or over who speak English, by years in the United States and race of individual. (STUDY OF HOUSEHOLDS.) [By years in the United States is meant years since first arrival in the United States. This table includes only non-English-speaking races with 40 or more persons reporting. The total, however, is for all nonEnglish-speaking races.] Of the 1,913 individuals reporting in the above table, 23.3 per cent of those with a period of residence under five years, 55.2 per cent of those with a period of residence from five to nine years, and 76.6 per cent of those with a period of residence of ten years or over in the United States have ability to speak English. The Hebrew shows the largest proportion of those with a residence under five as well as from five to nine years, while the German shows the largest proportion of those with a residence of a period of ten years or over, who speak English. The Polish race shows the smallest proportion in each period of residence group. The proportion of each race with ability to speak English increases with the period of residence. |