working forces of persons of the same type as those at first employed, and considerable numbers of the southern and eastern Europeans who have entered the territory have been trained miners or strong unionists. The greatest demoralization of the labor-union movement has occurred during the past ten years by the arrival in large numbers of inexperienced immigrants direct from the south and east of Europe.

At the time when the older employees in large numbers migrated from Pennsylvania to the Middle West, others went to the mines of the Southwest." Miners from Great Britain and Germany had already entered Oklahoma (then Indian Territory) mines as early as 1880, and after their numbers had been increased by the displaced trades-unionists of Pennsylvania and West Virginia, labor organizations were formed and demand was made for concessions from the operators. A long and bitter strike resulted in the early nineties, the settlement of which in many particulars was unfavorable to the labor leaders and the unions. As a consequence many of the English, Irish, Scotch, Welsh, and Germans left the mines of Oklahoma (then Indian Territory) and sought work in the Kansas coal fields. Since that time the coal mines of Kansas have been the stronghold of unionism in the Southwest and the greatest point of concentration for the mine workers from Great Britain and northern Europe. The effects of the increasing numbers of recent immigrants in Kansas and Oklahoma, however, during the past few years have begun to be strongly apparent. Segregation of the representatives of the old and the new immigration according to occupations has, as in the Middle West, been adopted in the southwestern fields. A slow but steady displacement has also been noticeable throughout the whole territory and is constantly brought to the attention by the departure of Americans and individual members of the English, Irish, Scotch, and Welsh races for the coal fields of New Mexico and for the coal and metal mines of Colorado. The native Americans and the children of the older immigrants have not been entering the Kansas and Oklahoma mines.

From the standpoint of the natives and the older immigrant employees, it therefore seems clearly apparent that the competition of recent immigrants has caused a gradual displacement, commencing in Pennsylvania and extending westward, until at the present time the representatives of the pioneer employees in the bituminous coal mining industry are making their last stand in the Southwest, and especially in Kansas, where they are gradually being weakened and are withdrawing to the newly opened fields of the West, to which the recent immigrant has not come in important numbers. Along with this displacement of the older employees in the different coalproducing areas has proceeded the elimination of a correspondingly large proportion from the industry and the development of such working and living conditions that the sons of natives and the second generation of immigrant races have to only a very small extent consented to enter the industry. On the other hand, as regards the pioneer employees and their descendants who have remained within the industry, two facts are noteworthy: (1) A small part, consisting of the inert, unambitious, thriftless element, have remained on the lower level of the scale of occupations where they are in open competition with the majority of the races of recent immigration, in

a See p. 505.

comparison with whom they are generally considered less efficient; and (2) the larger proportion of those remaining, including the most efficient and progressive element, have, as a result of the expansion of the industry, secured advancement to the more skilled and responsible positions or, as in the Middle West and Southwest, have largely entered the day or regularly paid occupations where they have little, if any, contact with recent immigrant employees. In the Pennsylvania mines, where the sharpest and longest competition has been felt, the displacements have been more extensive than in other coalmining districts. The employees of native and older immigrant stock are either at the top or at the bottom of the industrial scale, and recent immigrant mine workers have been employed in all occupations except the more skilled and responsible.

Another illustration of the effects of recent immigration upon the labor unions of industrial workers, which revolves primarily around the question of improved mechanical appliances, is furnished by the cotton goods manufacturing industry. The discussion of conditions which have developed in that industry follows.

LABOR ORGANIZATIONS IN THE COTTON GOODS MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY.

In the cotton goods manufacturing industry the fact that the American and older immigrant employees from Great Britain have entered the skilled occupations, as weaving and tending the slashers, and have been able to secure control of the immigrant employees before these were advanced to the skilled occupations, has prevented the complete disruption of labor organization in the industry. At present it is only in Fall River, Massachusetts, that the unions of the employees have any recognized standing, although the wage agreements made in Fall River dominate the rates of pay in the whole industry in the North Atlantic States. In Fall River five occupations are unionized the weavers, carders, mule spinners, slasher tenders, and loom fixers. Only about 9,000 of the total 30,000 operatives in that city belong to the labor organizations, but as the rates of pay in all occupations are adjusted to the rates received by the weavers, the unions have practically the unanimous support of the operatives. The strong unionist tendencies in Fall River are traceable to the influences of the early English immigrants, who formed the first organizations and who educated later comers to the tenets of unionism. The Irish have always been strong supporters of the labor organizations, and the French Canadians were trained to be so shortly after they entered the industry. The more recent immigrant employees from southern and eastern Europe and Asia, however, have been a constant menace to the labor organizations, and have been directly and indirectly instrumental in weakening the unions and threatening their disruption. The divergencies in language and the high degree of illiteracy and ignorance among the recent immigrant operatives have made the work of organization among them very difficult and expensive. The greatest difficulty against which the labor leaders have had to contend, however, has been the low living and working standards of the southern and eastern Europeans and their willingness to accept conditions of employment which the older employees consider unsatisfactory. The recent immigrants have also been reluctant to identify themselves with the

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unions and to pay the regular dues under normal conditions, thus preventing the labor organizations from accumulating large resources for use in strengthening their general conditions and in maintaining their position in time of strikes. Although the recent immigrants have not been used as strike breakers, they have taken advantage of labor difficulties and strikes to secure a foothold in the industry, and especially in the more skilled occupations. This was especially noticeable during the textile strike of 1903. Toward the conclusion of this strike-when the controversy had practically been gained by the mills, a large proportion of the operatives had resumed work, and the unions were hesitating relative to ordering a return to workthe southern and eastern Europeans entered the mills; and when the older employees finally applied for work they found recent immigrants occupying a large proportion of the skilled positions which, before the strike, had been exclusively held by the English, Irish, and French Canadians. The mill corporations, with keen foresight, had realized that by placing the recent immigrants in these positions they would break the strength of unionism for at least a generation, and the southern and eastern Europeans had been quick to see that the strike offered them an opportunity for an advancement in the industry which, in the regular order of affairs, would require a considerable period of years.

The pressure of the recent immigrant labor supply and its eagerness to advance in earning capacity made it possible for the employers to carry out their policy of undermining the unions' elements of strength and control in the industry. Since 1903, outside of Fall River, the labor organizations are without recognition and practically demoralized. Moreover, the advancement in large numbers of the southern and eastern Europeans to weaving, spinning, beaming, and similar occupations has tended to bring them into more direct competition with the Americans and older immigrant employees and to destroy the advantage which the latter class, who control and direct the unions, formerly possessed.

EFFECT OF THE EMPLOYMENT OF RECENT IMMIGRANTS UPON INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATION AND METHODS.

The only effect observable upon the organization of the operating forces of mines and manufacturing plants as the result of the extensive employment of recent immigrants has been the increase in the number of subordinate foremen in a great many industries. This situation might naturally be expected because of the fact that the wage-earners from southern and eastern Europe and Asia are of nonEnglish-speaking races and require a greater amount of supervision and direction than the native Americans and the older immigrants from Great Britain. As a matter of fact, in most instances the subordinate foremen referred to are usually little more than interpreters. The body of non-English-speaking employees is subdivided into smaller groups, which are placed under their direction in order to insure more ease in handling and a greater degree of efficiency.

From what has already been said relative to the lack of any industrial experience of the larger proportion of recent immigrant industrial workers it is clear that their employment has increased the liability to accidents and disease in mines and industrial establishments.

This situation is due to ignorance upon the part of recent immigrant wage-earners and their consequent willingness to accept dangerous working conditions and not to insist upon safety devices and proper methods of protection. In certain industries their ignorance also leads them to neglect the sanitary rules which have been formulated for the protection of themselves and their fellow-workmen.

In a large number of cases the lack of training and experience of the southern and eastern European affects only his own safety. On the other hand, his ignorant acquiescence in dangerous or insanitary working conditions may make the continuance of such conditions possible and, as a result, he may become a menace to a part or to the whole of an operating force of an industrial establishment. This fact in some industries largely accounts for the withdrawal of native Americans and the older immigrant employees from certain occupations in which the recent immigrant has become predominant. ́In the mining occupations the presence of an untrained employee may constitute an element of danger to the entire body of workmen. There seems to be a direct causal relation between the extensive employment of recent immigrants in American mines and the extraordinary increase within recent years in the number of mining accidents. This tendency may be illustrated by the character of recent immigration to the bituminous coal mines and in the increase in accidents, of both a fatal and a nonfatal character. It is an undisputed fact that the greater number of accidents in bituminous coal mines arises from two sets of causes: (1) The recklessness, and (2) the ignorance and inexperience, of employees. When the lack of training of the recent immigrant while abroad is considered in connection with the fact that he becomes an employee in the mines immediately on his arrival in this country, and when it is recalled that a large proportion of the new arrivals are not only illiterate and unable to read any precautionary notices posted in the mines, but also unable to speak English and consequently without ability to comprehend instructions intelligently, the inference is plain that a direct causal relation exists. between the employment of recent immigrants and the increase in the number of fatalities and accidents in the mines. No complete statistics have been compiled as to the connection between accidents and races at work, but the figures available clearly indicate the conclusion that there has been a direct connection between the employment of untrained foreigners and the prevalence of mining casualties." The mining inspectors of the several coal-producing States, the United States Geological Survey, and the older employees in the industry, also bear testimony in this respect to the effect of the employment of the southern and eastern European. The opinion of the Geological Survey is of special interest and may be briefly quoted:

Another important factor in the United States is to be found in the nationality of the miners. Most of the men are foreign-born, a large proportion of them are unable to understand English freely, and a still larger number are unable to read or write that language. Some of them are inexperienced and do not take proper precautions either for their own safety or for the safety of others. This becomes a most serious menace unless they are restrained by carefully enforced regulations.

a See Immigrants in Industries: Bituminous Coal Mining. Reports of the Immigration Commission, vols. 6 and 7. (S. Doc. No. 633, pt. 1, 61st Cong., 2d sess.) Bulletin 333 of the United States Geological Survey, entitled “Coal Mining Accidents: Their Causes and Prevention."

Another effect upon the personnel of the working forces resulting from recent immigration is seen in the fact that cheap immigrant male labor in some industries has been substituted for native and sometimes foreign born female labor. This condition of affairs has largely grown out of state legislation prohibiting night work of women and children, and the willingness of the southern and eastern European to accept low wages has made it possible to employ him in occupations formerly held by women and children. An illustration of this tendency may be found in the racial composition of the cotton mills in New England and of textile manufacturing establishments in other localities, and in the fact that Greeks are employed to do the night work in New England mills formerly done by women and children.

The recent immigrant, by his low standards and tractability, has also made the continuance of the so-called company store and house system possible and its adoption more extensive than would otherwise have been the case had he not been employed.

EFFECT OF THE EMPLOYMENT OF RECENT IMMIGRANTS UPON WORKING RELATIONS.

As has already been pointed out, there has been a sharp segregation of the native and older immigrant employees into distinct occupations in the mines and manufacturing establishments growing out of the employment of southern and eastern Europeans. This segregation also obtains, as already noted, in the case of living and business relations. The general attitude of the native-born industrial workers toward the recent immigrant is one of antipathy and superiority, but this attitude does not manifest itself except under special provocation. Normally the recent immigrant in the mines and manufacturing establishments is treated with indifference by the classes of older employees who are not directly associated with him. Practically the only cases of open hostility on the part of the native Americans and older immigrants from Great Britain and northern Europe toward the southern and eastern European, met with during the course of the general industrial study, arose from the unusual pressure of competition due to the curtailment of employment during the industrial depression of 1907-8. During that period the tendency of the recent immigrant to concentrate in localities where employment was available and to accept abnormal working conditions often led to acts of hostility or coercion upon the part of the native American and older immigrant wage-earners.

EFFECT OF THE EMPLOYMENT OF RECENT IMMIGRANTS UPON WAGES AND HOURS OF WORK.

It has not appeared in the industries covered by this investigation of manufactures and mining that it is usual for employers to engage immigrants at wages actually lower than those prevailing at the time in the industry where they are employed, whatever the ultimate tendency of the large immigration may be. It is hardly open to doubt, however, that the availability of the large supply of recent immigrant labor prevented the increase in wages which otherwise would have resulted during recent years from the increased demand

a See pp. 496 and 536.