CONJUGAL CONDITION.

A detailed discussion has already been offered with respect to the immigrant housewife and the living conditions which prevail in immigrant and other households in bituminous localities. The point has also been noted that a large proportion of mine employees of foreign birth are living as boarders or lodgers in the different households studied. In the same connection, a question of large interest arises as to the conjugal condition of these inmates of boarding and lodging houses, as well as the question of the general conjugal conditions which prevail among immigrant mine workers. The question has an important bearing upon any conclusion regarding the salient characteristics of the immigrant labor supply, as well as upon the determination of the tendencies of different races towards permanent settlement and assimilation. In answering these questions, the following tables will be found to be of value. The first exhibits the conjugal condition of male employees 20 years of age or over by general nativity and race.

TABLE 226.-Per cent of male employees 20 years of age or over in each conjugal condition, 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.]

Considering all males 20 years of age or over in the coal industry, it is seen that over two-thirds (68.9 per cent) are married and less than 1 per cent are widowed. As between the native and foreign born, the latter show a larger proportion married and a smaller proportion widowed than the former. Among the foreign-born, over 75 per cent each of the Bohemians and Moravians, Dutch, English, Germans, Greeks, Roumanians, Ruthenians, Scotch, and Slovaks are married. It is of interest to note that the proportion reported single by the Welsh is the lowest shown. On the other hand, the highest proportion of single males, 50 per cent, is shown by the Lithuanians, while the Italians not specified, North Italians, Slovenians, and Croatians follow, with proportions ranging from 48.9 to 40 per cent. As regards the widowed of the foreign-born races, it is worthy of note that the races of older immigration show much larger proportions than do the more recent immigrants. This is also true of the second generation of these races. Öf the persons native-born of foreign father, the smallest proportion married, or 34.1 per cent, is shown by those whose fathers were born in Austria-Hungary. The largest proportion, or 72.9 per cent, is shown for the Welsh. The proportion of native whites who are married, 72.8 per cent, is lower than that of many of the foreign-born races.

Information as to conjugal condition was obtained from 43,798 individual employees. In this connection the table next presented shows the per cent of males in each conjugal condition, by age groups and general nativity and race.

48296°-VOL 6-11-29

Upon information secured from 43,798 males, it will be seen that of this number 42.1 per cent are from 20 to 29 years of age, and of these more than one-half, or 56.5 per cent, are single and 43.2 per cent are married. Little difference in conjugal condition exists between the native and foreign born, each reporting more than onehalf of their number unmarried. Among the foreign-born in six instances only are the proportions of married males in this group in excess of 50 per cent the proportions of these six races ranging from 56 per cent, as shown by the Slovaks, to 50.4 per cent, as shown by the English. The races showing proportions between these two, in the order named, are the Roumanian, Ruthenian, Bohemian and Moravian, and Welsh. The Lithuanians and Swedes each report a small proportion (27.3 per cent) of married persons. The per cent widowed in this age group is so small as to require no comment.

Passing on to the second group, which includes those from 30 to 44 years of age, the proportion married shows a gain over the preceding group. As between the foreign and native born, however, it will be seen that the former shows a larger gain than the latter, the foreign-born having 87.4 per cent married, as compared with 43 per cent in the preceding age group; while the native-born in the second group show 82.1 per cent, as compared with 44.1 per cent in the group 20 to 29 years of age. Of all races reporting, the Ruthenians, with 99.1 per cent, show the largest proportion married. This is the only race reporting less than 1 per cent of its number single, and is one of four which report none of their number widowed. Following the Ruthenians are the Slovaks, Magyars, Bohemians and Moravians, and Roumanians, each of whom report over nine-tenths of their number married. The foreign-born Irish, on the other hand, report the smallest proportion married, or 64.3 per cent.

Among those 45 years of age or over, the Russians show a larger proportion married and a smaller proportion single than any other race, the percentages being 97.9 per cent married and 2.1 per cent single. The Welsh, on the other hand, show the smallest proportion married, or 75.9 per cent, and the largest proportion widowed, 14.9 per cent. The most interesting feature of this age group is the large proportion of the older immigrant races, as compared with the more recent who are widowed. From this table two essential facts are apparent: (1) That, upon the whole, the largest proportions marry between 30 and 44 years of age; and (2) that where a gain in the proportions married is shown by those 45 years of age or over, this gain is, to a material extent, offset by an increase in the percentage widowed.

The table next presented exhibits the conjugal condition of both males and females in the households studied, by age groups and by general nativity and race of individual.

TABLE 228.-Per cent of persons in each conjugal condition, by sex and age groups, and by general nativity and race of individual.