enced and ambitious American, English, Irish, Scotch, and Welsh employees to find positions elsewhere. Furthermore, the period of development in coal mining and coke manufacturing was also a period of great expansion in manufacturing industries in Pennsylvania, so that for the intelligent and ambitious American, German, English, Irish, or Scotch employee there were abundant opportunities to secure either lucrative positions in other mining fields, or more pleasant or better paid work in shops and factories near home. This resulted in a double demand for labor in the mining industry. There was first that demand which came from expansionthe opening of new mines, and the extension of the older workings; second, the demand which resulted from the exodus of former operatives from the industry. These former operatives were influenced to leave by the fact that there were opportunities to secure work which paid as well or better than mining, that this work was often more agreeable and less dangerous, and that it freed them from association with aliens of different speech, customs, and manners. The employment of recent immigrants, therefore, increased the opportunities for the employment of more workers of the same races for the reason it accelerated the departure of the former operatives. There were also other reasons why the mining companies, after they had had some experience with recent immigrants, were quite willing to employ the Slovaks, Poles, Magyars, Croatians, Italians, and other races. The pioneer operatives were, in many cases, members of the trades unions, and were constantly demanding better wages and working conditions. When the first of the recent immigrants had been employed, it was observed that they were more easily satisfied with wages and living conditions, that they did not know anything about labor organizations, and that since they could not speak the English language, they were difficult to organize and at the same time could not easily communicate their discontent, or act as a body upon any grievances. Consequently, when the rapid development of the early eighties led to a great demand for labor, the companies were willing to receive the races of recent immigration, because they had found them tractable and less inclined to give trouble than the older immigrant races. Moreover, these races while they were less efficient than the older and experienced miners, had been found to be very industrious and regular in their work.

CHAPTER V.

HOUSING AND LIVING CONDITIONS.

Systems of domestic economy-General housing and living conditions-Rent in its relation to standard of living-Boarders and lodgers-Size of apartments occupiedSize of households studied-Congestion-[Text Tables 201 to 213 and General Tables 70 to 81.]

SYSTEMS OF DOMESTIC ECONOMY.

The methods of domestic economy which prevail in the immigrant households of the mine workers may be classified under two general headings: (1) The family, and (2) the boarding group. The family life needs no detailed discussion. In practically all the boarding groups there are one or more families, but the conditions are such that independent family life can scarcely be said to exist, and the distinguishing features are those of the group. The boarding groups may be subdivided into two general classes. The first of these is conducted on the ordinary American plan, by which the boarder pays a fixed sum for board, lodging, and washing. Few such groups exist among the recent immigrants, but when they are found the rates are from $15 to $18 per month. The second of the boarding systems is that commonly known as the boarding boss system, under which each lodger pays a fixed sum, usually from $2 to $3 per month, for lodging, washing, and cooking, the individual members of the group sharing the cost of food. There are numerous variations of this general plan. Where the boarding boss has few or no children and there are several boarders, no additional charge is borne by him for the wife's food. If there are several children in the family or few boarders in the group, the boss usually pays two shares for the wife and children. This is a matter that is settled by bargain among the members. Sometimes each boarder buys his own food separately and the boss's wife cooks it for him, but this is not the usual custom. Frequently, however, the men buy separately the lunch they take with them into the mine, and share only the cost of breakfast and supper.

In some instances a sort of combination of the American and the boarding boss system is found-that is, lodging, cooking, washing, and bread and coffee are furnished at $6 per month, and the boarders share the meat and other food bills on the usual plan. In one case the straight American plan was followed at $9 per month, except that each boarder bought his own lunch. This practice, however, is also unusual. Neither the American plan nor any modification of this plan is common. Some form of the boarding boss system is the prevailing arrangement.

GENERAL HOUSING AND LIVING CONDITIONS.

In order that the housing conditions in the mining localities may be better understood, three typical mining villages have been selected and are described from this standpoint in some detail below. These small representative mining villages may be designated, for purposes of presentation and comparison, as Villages I, II, and III.

VILLAGE I.

This village is located near a city of several thousand inhabitants. Probably 90 per cent of the employees of the mining company occupy company houses. The houses are two-story, double, frame buildings. Each house has two apartments of four rooms each, two rooms on the first floor and two on the second. The rent is $7 per month for each apartment. A very few immigrants live in homes of their own in the adjoining city, and several more rent dwellings there.

The formation of separate racial colonies does not occur in the company village, owing to the fact that the houses are rented as they become vacant and, in renting, no attention is paid to the race of the tenant. This sometimes results in an Italian household occupying one side of a double house, while the adjoining apartment is occupied by a Slovak or a Magyar household. Length of residence in the United States seems to have had little effect in bettering the housing conditions of immigrants. This is chiefly due to the fact that all the company houses are of the same type and rent for the same amount, and consequently leave but little choice to the tenant.

Household furnishing shows little betterment with length of time in the United States. Those families which have been most recently formed usually have the best furniture, especially if the husband and wife have lived in this country for some time prior to marriage. The boarding houses are generally shabbily furnished, and their belongings are more or less worn and dilapidated. The rooms are much more tidy where there are no boarders.

Twenty-five households, consisting of 11 Slovak, 6 Polish, 5 Magyar, 1 North Italian, and 2 South Italian, were studied in detail. Of the 25, 7 were keeping either boarders or lodgers. In the community the boarding system which most prevails is the "boarding boss" plan, the usual price being $2 per month for lodging, washing, and cooking, although in 1 Polish home it was $3, and in 1 Slovak house $2.50. The food was bought either by each boarder or by the housewife, and charged at the store on the book of each individual boarder. The American boarding plan was found to prevail among the Magyars, the rate per month ranging from $7 to $7.50. No American boarding houses are located in this village, so that it is impossible to make any cost comparisons. In this village water is piped into nearly all the houses, the remainder being supplied from outside hydrants. Stoves are used for heat and oil lamps for light. The village has surface drainage. Dry toilets with ground vaults are used. Yards and grounds are neglected, and the whole place is untidy and unclean.

VILLAGE II.

This village is a mining town of approximately 800 inhabitants, and is about 1 mile from the county seat of the county in which it is located.

The employees of the coal-mining company are divided among the different races, approximately as follows:

Practically all Slovak, Polish, Negro, Italian, Magyar, and Russian families occupy company houses. Very few persons of the other races enumerated live in company houses, the majority residing in the adjacent city or its suburbs.

This distinction in housing is due largely to the difference in occupation and earning capacity. The races enumerated as living in company houses are employed largely as pick miners and coke drawers, with a small proportion employed in such occupations as oven levelers, timbermen, drivers, ash carters, and lamp cleaners. The majority of the persons of the other races in the locality are skilled employees, such as machinists, electricians, firemen, masons, and teamsters.

The employees living in the city or its environs occupy better houses and live in better surroundings than are provided in the village. Those living in the city have the benefit of its water, light, and sanitary systems, while those living in the village have the company water only, and dry closets with no provision for sewerage. The houses in the village are rented without the slightest regard to the race of the tenants, which, of course, tends to prevent segregation of races. The company houses are two-story, double, frame structures; each side consists of an apartment of 4 rooms, 2 on each floor. In several houses visited, 2 families were found occupying 1 apartment, 1 family on each floor. The company village is not incorporated, and there are no municipal regulations regarding housing and sanitation to be observed. The only effort of the company in this direction is to urge the immigrants to use lime freely, which they seem to do. The houses are untidy. Officials of the company assert that the immigrants with longer residence in the United States improve their housing conditions so far as cleanliness and neatness are concerned. This assertion was not borne out by the investigation in the locality. The immigrant boarding houses are usually in untidy condition, the dirt and disorder increasing with the number of boarders. One room is frequently used as a combination kitchen, dining room, and bathroom. When the men come in from their work in the evening a tub containing a few inches of water is placed on the floor, and, stripped to the waist, each man kneels over the tub and washes himself. As many as 8 or 10 men will wash in the same water. The housewife washes the back of each man, and in the intervals attends to the cooking. Those first completing their toilets take their places at the table and begin their meal, while others are washing. The boarding systems do not differ materially from those found in Village I. Under the boarding boss plan the rate for lodging, laundry and cooking is $2 per month when the lodger furnishes his own bed, and $2.50 when the bed is furnished by the boarding boss. In a majority of the boarding houses visited, especially among the Poles, the cost of food for the entire household was divided proportionately, each boarder paying one share and the boarding boss paying one, one and a half, or two shares, according to the size of his immediate family. This payment for food is in addition to the charge for lodging, washing, and cooking. In the immigrant boarding house where the American plan is followed, the usual rate for board, lodging, and washing is from $15 to $18 a month. The usual price in American houses is $20 a month. The immigrant boarding boss system is never foundi