represented by 100 or more women, the South Italian and Polish report the average earnings of women at work as less than $200. Of the South Italian women, 66.3 per cent are reported as earning less than $200 a year.

FAMILY INCOME.

The information relative to income was secured for the year ending with the agent's visit. This study is confined to selected families. Only those families are included whose incomes represent wages and not profits and whose financial arrangements are not complicated by the presence of other families within the home. From the comprehensive study made by city in the complete report on immigrants in cities only two tables are selected for presentation here. The first shows the per cent of families which have derived their income for the year, wholly or in part, from each of five specified

sources.

TABLE 39.-Per cent of families having an income within the year from husband, wife, children, boarders or lodgers, and other sources, by general nativity and race of head of family.

[This table includes only races with 20 or more families reporting. The totals, however, are for all races. Families are excluded which report income as "none."]

In 13 per cent of the families the husband contributes nothing to the family income. In 17.7 per cent of the families at least part of the income is earned by the wife, and in 26 per cent of the cases by the children. Over 30 per cent of the families keep boarders or lodgers. The foreign-born depend less on the earnings of the

wife than do the native-born of foreign father, but they derive more from the earnings of their children and from keeping boarders or lodgers. In the case of four immigrant races, the North Italians, Lithuanians, Magyars, and negroes, more than half the families receive income from boarders or lodgers. Two-fifths of the German and Irish families are helped by the children.

The next table classifies all husbands at work according to the amount of their earnings for the year. The data are presented in cumulative form.

TABLE 40.-Earnings per year of male heads of families, by general nativity and race of individual.

The earnings of the 5,825 male heads of families average $475 for the year covered by this study. The average earnings of the husbands of every race of native birth, except the negroes, is over $600. The average earnings of all foreign-born husbands is only $452. About three-fourths of the foreign-born, as contrasted with less than one-half of the native-born exclusive of negroes, earn less than $600, and about 45 per cent of all foreign-born husbands earn under $400. Among immigrants the highest incomes from earnings of husbands are those of the Swedes; the second highest are those of the Germans.

ASSIMILATION.

ABILITY TO SPEAK ENGLISH.

It will be seen from the following tables that the ability of the immigrant to speak English is largely dependent upon his age at the time of arrival in the United States and on the length of his residence in the United States. The first table shows the number and per cent of all male heads of households who can carry on conversation at least fairly well in the English language.

TABLE 41.-Number and per cent of male heads of households who speak English, by general nativity and race of individual.

[This table includes only non-English-speaking races.]

Less than one-half of the foreign-born male heads of households represented in this table speak English. In the following races this proportion falls below two-fifths; Bohemian and Moravian, North Italian, South Italian, Lithuanian, Magyar, Polish, and Servian. Among the Swedish only is the percentage high. Practically all of the native-born of foreign father speak English.

From the complete report on immigrants in cities it will be found that among most races the women are able to speak English in considerably lower proportions than the men; the almost universal employment of the men outside the home naturally increases their contact with English-speaking persons and their opportunities for acquiring the language.

In the table next presented ability to speak English is related to length of residence in the United States. The table includes only male heads of households.

TABLE 42.-Number and per cent of foreign-born male heads of households who speak English, by years in the United States and race of individual.

[This table includes only non-English-speaking races. By years in the United States is meant years since first arrival in the United States.]

Of 1,525 heads of households who have been in the United States less than five years, 318, or 20.9 per cent, speak English. The proportion among those who have been here from five to nine years is 37.6 per cent, while among those who have been here ten years or more it is nearly 60 per cent. All races show a marked increase in the ability to speak English with an increase in the length of residence in this country.

The next table relates ability to speak English to age at time of coming to the United States. The table includes only male heads. of households, who are classified according to whether they were under or over 14 years of age at the time of their arrival in this country.

TABLE 43.-Number and per cent of foreign-born male heads of households who speak English, by age at time of coming to the United States and race of individual.

[This table includes only non-English-speaking races.]

Nearly nine-tenths of the foreign-born male heads of households who were under 14 years of age at the time of coming to this country are able to speak English now, while of those who were 14 years or over at the time of coming, scarcely more than two-fifths can speak English. In the case of the Poles, four-fifths of those who were children under 14 when they came now speak English, while only a third of those who were older have learned to converse in the English tongue.

LITERACY.

The number and per cent of male heads of households who can read and the number and per cent who are able both to read and to write appear in the following table.

TABLE 44.-Number and per cent of male heads of households who read and who read and write, by general nativity and race of individual.

Out of a total of 8,944 reporting, 7,288, or 81.5 per cent, are able to read and 7,089, or 79.3 per cent, are able to read and write. Ninety-nine and a half per cent of the white persons who are nativeborn of native fathers are able to read and write. For the native-born of foreign father the percentage is also high for each race. Among the foreign-born the percentage who read and write falls as low as 54.6 for the South Italians, and is less than 80 for the Poles, Servians, Slovaks, and Lithuanians. Among the Bohemians and Moravians, Germans, and Swedes, on the contrary, the percentage