CHAPTER II. RACIAL DISPLACEMENTS. History of immigration-Period of residence in the United States of foreign-born employees-Racial classification of employees at the present time-[Text Tables 9 to 16 and General Table 2]. HISTORY OF IMMIGRATION. No statistics are available as to the history of immigration within recent years to the cigar and tobacco factories, but the returns of the Federal Census relative to the country of birth or parentage of the operatives afford an insight into the racial movements to the industry. In the table which immediately follows it is seen that the greater number of employees in the industry in the year 1880 were native Americans or immigrants from northern Europe and Great Britain. TABLE 9.-Number of cigar and tobacco workers in the United States, by countries of birth, 1880. During the decade 1880-1890 the number of German employees greatly increased and a considerable number of English and French Canadians also entered the industry. Small numbers of southern and eastern Europeans also began to enter the cigar and cigarette factories. This condition of affairs is set forth in the following table, which shows the general nativity and country of birth of employees in the year 1890. TABLE 10.-Number of cigar and tobacco workers in the United States, by general nativity and country of birth, 1890. After the year 1890 the number of German employees continued to increase, while the entrance of southern and eastern European immigrants into the industry began to assume large proportions. This fact is shown in the large representation of persons of German, Austria-Hungarian, Polish, and Italian parentage in the table which immediately follows and which shows the general nativity and country of birth of parents of cigar and tobacco factory operatives in the year 1900. TABLE 11.-Number of cigar and tobacco workers in the United States, by general nativity and country of birth of parents, 1900. During the past ten years the tendencies which became operative in the decade 1890-1900 still obtain. Recent immigrants from the south and east of Europe in constantly increasing numbers have found employment in the industry. The ordinary movements to the factories on the part of these races have also been stimulated by the conscious policy of the manufacturers in establishing new factories in communities where immigrant labor of this class-especially that of women and girls-is available. PERIOD OF RESIDENCE IN THE UNITED STATES OF FOREIGN-BORN EMPLOYEES. A further insight into the racial movements to the cigar industry may be had from the following series of tables, which set forth the period of residence in the United States of the foreign-born employees and the members of their households. Length of residence in this country and period of employment in the industry are not necessarily identical but they approximate each other sufficiently to indicate the character of recent and past immigration to the cigar and tobacco factories. The first table submitted, which immediately follows, shows by sex and race the percentage of foreign-born employees who had been in the United States each specified number of years. TABLE 12.-Per cent of foreign-born employees in the United States under 1 year, 1 year, 2 years, etc., by sex and race. (STUDY OF EMPLOYEES.) [By years in the United States is meant years since first arrival in the United States. No deduction is made for time spent abroad. This table includes only races with 80 or more persons reporting. The total, however, is for all foreign-born.] Bohemian and Moravian. 64 Cuban. 528 936 Magyar. Polish.. Russian.. Slovak. Spanish.. Total.. 153 184 129 3.1 .0 4.7 9.4 7.8 15.6 10.9 25.0 23.4 4.9 3.4 11.0 8.1 11.7 25.2 12.1 10.6 12.9 75 2.7 2.7 10.7 6.7 1.3 13.3 16.0 21.3 25.3 280 4.6 6.8 15.4 7.1 5.7 8.2 6.8 17.1 22 27.3 9.1 40.9 .0 4.5 13.6 117 2.6 4.3 15.4 24.8 7.7 25.6 167 4.2 4.8 3.0 7.2 .6 13.8 157 5.7 7.6 6.4 14.6 7.6 29.9 3.1 3.8 12.0 12.8 10.0 32.9 435 22.8 16.3 32.4 14.7 6.2 7.1 613 12.4 5.9 19.9 20.1 12.4 18.6 4.1 2.0 8.5 11.8 19.6 17.0 26.8 10.5 17.9 15.2 25.5 16.8 9.8 10.3 2.7 8.5 12.4 22.5 12.4 7.8 24.8 4.7 4.7 28.2 .0 .0 4.5 .9 Information was secured concerning 11,825 employees, of whom 7,552 are males and 4,273 females. Of the male employees 7.1 per cent have been in the United States under one year, 5 per cent from one to two years, 10.6 per cent from two to three years, 8.4 per cent from three to four years, and 10.5 per cent from four to five years. The proportion of males who have been in the United States under one year is largest for the Greeks and Magyars, in the order mentioned; the proportion of males who have been here from one to two years is largest for the Magyars, Greeks, Bohemians and Moravians, Russians, and North Italians, in the order mentioned; and the proportion of males who have been here from two to three years is largest for the Magyars and Greeks, in the order mentioned. The Russians, Greeks, Slovaks, and Poles, in the order mentioned, have the largest proportion of males who have been here from three to four years, and the Magyars, Russian Hebrews, South Italians, Cubans, and Poles, in the order mentioned, have the largest proportion of males who have been here from four to five years. Of the females for whom information was secured, 9.3 per cent have been in this country under one year, 7.1 per cent have been here from one to two years, 16.7 per cent have been here from two to three year, 13.4 per cent have been here from three to four years, and 8.9 per cent have been here from four to five years. As in the case of the males, the Greeks and Magyars, in the order mentioned, have the largest proportion of persons who have been here under one year. The proportion of females who have been in the United States from one to two years is largest for the Magyars, Slovaks, and Spaniards, in the order mentioned; the proportion of females who have been here from two to three years is largest for the Greeks, Magyars, Slovaks, and Spaniards, in the order mentioned; and the proportion of females who have been here from three to four years is largest for the Russian Hebrews and Poles, in the order mentioned. The Russians, Poles, and Cubans have the largest and the Irish and English the smallest proportion of females who have been in the United States from four to five years. The following table and accompanying charts put forward the same data as the table immediately preceding, but in a somewhat more condensed form, all employees with a period of residence of less than five years being included in one group. TABLE 13.-Per cent of foreign-born employees in the United States each specified number of years, by sex and race. (STUDY OF EMPLOYEES.) [By years in the United States is meant years since first arrival in the United States. No deduction is made for time spent abroad. This table includes only races with 80 or more persons reporting. The total, however, is for all foreign-born.] |