FAILURE OF NATIVE-BORN TO ENTER THE INDUSTRY.

Another noteworthy tendency is seen in the fact that the racial displacement has occurred not only through the departure from the industry of the former employees, but also through the refusal of their children to enter the industry and the attitude of the parents themselves, who frequently discourage it. Only the less ambitious, less intelligent, and less thrifty of the second generation enter the mines. The others seek different work. The significance of this. tendency becomes evident from a comparison of the number of children of native-born and foreign-born miners who are engaged in occupations other than mining. In the study of selected families, households were covered in Pennsylvania in which there were 59 males 16 years or over native-born of native father, 114 native-born of foreign father, and 1,975 foreign-born. In connection with these figures it is profitable to note what proportion of the three classes engaged in mining coal and what proportion in other occupations, as throwing an interesting light upon the effects of immigration.

TABLE 221.-Per cent of males 16 years of age or over engaged in bituminous coal mining, by general nativity and race of individual.

(STUDY OF HOUSEHOLDS.)

[This table includes only races with 20 or more males reporting. The totals, however, are for all races.]

The head of each household is a coal miner or engaged in work at the mines. It will be recalled that only about 5 per cent of the native households keep boarders or lodgers, and it is to be inferred, therefore, that the males in excess of the number of heads are in most cases the children of the head of the household. If this assumption be true, it is significant that 13.6 per cent of males of native birth and native parents are engaged in other occupations

than coal mining, as compared with less than 1 per cent of foreignborn males 16 years of age or over. It is true that the proportion of children among the foreign-born is smaller than among the nativeborn, and the percentage of boarders larger, but the tendency of native-born males to engage in occupations other than coal mining seems to be quite marked and is indicative of a tendency on the part of the children to go into work other than mining.

Of the total native-born, more than 20 per cent are in occupations other than coal mining. The conclusion from the limited data at hand, therefore, seems to be that while the foreign-born males of more than 16 years, whenever employed, work in the mines, the persons native-born of native father, together with the second generation immigrants, are not entering the mines exclusively, but to the extent of one-fifth are engaged in other occupations. This inference from the data gathered from families bears out in a large measure the experience of the coal operators, who state that the nativeborn and the second generation immigrants are not entering the mines in the same numbers as formerly and that the industry is receiving a constantly decreasing number of employees of these classes.

There exists a prejudice against recent immigrants, which also operates to an important extent in the displacement of former employees. Many Americans, English, Germans, Scotch, Irish, and Welsh did not and do not desire to be associated in the mines with the recent immigrant, and the feeling has become prevalent that a sort of reproach attaches to an intimate working relation with the foreigner. The races of former immigration have, therefore, left the industry and have entered other work which, in the popular phrase of the coal regions, is not "a Hunkey's job." This tendency is quite apparent also in the segregation of the natives and older immigrants by occupations in the mines. By reference to the preceding tables, exhibiting occupations by races, it will be seen that few recent immigrants are engaged in occupations outside of the digging and loading of coal, while the shift or day forces are almost entirely filled by the natives and foreigners of older immigration. Another phase of the same tendency is also observed in unionized localities where there is usually a segregation of races by mines. The general feeling throughout the mining region that it is a reproach or degradation to be in the same occupation or line of work as the recent immigrant, seems to have been one of the strongest forces toward the displacement of the older employees either from the industry or from certain occupations within the industry. Some of the employees displaced as miners have been promoted to higher positions which were opened to them through the expansion of the business. Their numbers are relatively small, however, and the majority of those displaced have gone into manufacturing plants and shops in the region, into street railways and trolley service, or into business for themselves. Some emigrated to mining fields in the Middle West or Southwest. The process has been gradual but effective.

The relatively small number of American miners who remain in the industry must accept unfavorable conditions of employment and life. To a greater or less degree the standard of safety in the mine is set

by the demands of the ignorant and inexperienced immigrant, not by the more intelligent American, and the standard of life is decided by those conditions which will be accepted by the same recent immigrant. In short; in order to live and work in the coal-mining industry, the American must compete with the recent immigrant, who, as a rule, acquiesces in the living and working conditions existing in the coal region. It is noteworthy in this connection to observe that the greatest number of employees of the English-speaking races are found in those plants which are nearer cities, where the workmen are free to live and trade where they please, and where they do not have to accept the immigrants' standards beyond wages, hours, and conditions of work. It is significant also that throughout the region, and especially in the districts where the employees are unorganized, the superintendents, foremen, and general managers of mining companies state that the Americans, English, Irish, German, and Scotch who will work in the mines are generally a thriftless class. They are considered inferior to the recent immigrants, and in a great many instances this must undoubtedly be true.

Another effect of recent immigration has been to check the immigration of the English, Irish, Scotch, and Germans to the industry. As already noted in the history of immigration, these races were coming in large numbers during the decade 1880 to 1890, at the time of the rapid expansion of the industry, but began to decline toward the end of this period and practically stopped about 1893 or 1894. There can be no question but that the immigration of the Slovaks, Poles, Magyars, and other races operated to prevent the further coming of these older immigrants to the industry, precisely as it operated to drive out of the industry those already employed, together with the native Americans. There was no incentive for the English or German miner to migrate to the bituminous regions of Pennsylvania and compete with the Slovaks, Croatians, and Italians.

CHAPTER IX.

SALIENT CHARACTERISTICS.

Literacy-Conjugal condition—Visits abroad—Age classification of employees and members of their households.-[Text Tables 222 to 233 and General Tables 82 to 91].

LITERACY.

It is important to note the high rate of illiteracy which is characteristic of the greater number of races of recent immigration. This situation is of significance not only from the standpoint of industrial efficiency but also in its social and political aspects.

The following table, which is the result of a study of 48,747 employees, exhibits the general literacy of bituminous mine workers in Pennsylvania, showing the per cent who read and the per cent who read and write.

TABLE 222.-Per cent of male employees who read and per cent who read and write, by general nativity and race.

(STUDY OF EMPLOYEES.)

[This table includes only races with 40 or more males reporting. The totals, however, are for all races.]