at some other where skilled labor was required. While the negro suffered a displacement in housing, yet the coming of the immigrant did not compete with negro labor in the mills, as labor of this class has not at any time been employed extensively in the industries.

THE EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN.

The industrial employment of women is another marked effect of the more recent immigration. The handkerchief manufacturing industry, which is one of the leading industries of the community, depends, almost entirely, upon the labor of immigrant women. this industry most of the work is done by machinery and the division of labor is such that each operative has but a single simple task to perform. Knowledge of English on the part of the workers is not necessary. Foreign labor is preferred because it is docile, cheap, and tractable. No organization exists and hence no strikes occur. Any number of hours of labor may be exacted, and as the labor is paid on the piecework system, no complaint is made when in the holiday seasons overtime work is required. No skill, aside from the knowledge of one or two simple operations, is required of the operative, and it is not necessary for her to exercise any thought. For these reasons the labor of immigrant women is constantly in demand and readily finds a market.

a

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The employment of women, however, has certain attendant results. One of these is a reduced birth rate. The infant mortality is also high. From the returns of the United States Census Office it appears that of 661 deaths reported for the community in 1904, 261, or 39.5 per cent, were of infants under 1 year, and 355, or 53.7 per cent, were of children under 5 years. In 1904 the death rate for the city was 19.5% for each thousand of the population One of the reasons for the high death rate among infants is that the women, against the advice of employers, continue to work in the mills until pregnancy has been far advanced. After the birth of a child, also, its nurture is often not properly looked to, malnutrition develops and death results. A second result of the employment of women in the textile establishments of the city has been a dearth of domestic labor. Owing to the more obviously desirable features which millwork offers to women, as for example, Saturday afternoon holidays, Sundays, and evenings free, few domestics can be found who will continue long in service, although wages offered are ample and board and room are included with the With the labor of women so constantly in demand another peculiar condition has arisen. In a number of cases the men, unable to obtain steady employment, remain at home and fill the rôle of housekeeper while the wives labor at mills. While this condition is not a permanent one, still it exists, and may be noted as a result. of the labor of women. The large number of unmarried girls who work in the mills has also made of the community a sort of marriage mart for the immigrant male from central Europe. From the anthracite mines of Pennsylvania and from the foundries, rolling mills and factories of the western part of the State come Slavs, Poles,

the

a United States Census Special Report "Mortality," 1900-1904, pp. 658, LXII and CII.

Magyars and Ruthenians in search of wives. After informal introductions a man who wishes to marry selects a girl, marries her, and returns with her to his occupation, or, as has sometimes happened, stays in the community until he has spent his savings, and then permits her to support him.

THE RELATION BETWEEN THE GROWTH OF THE COMMUNITY AND THE IMMIGRANT LABOR SUPPLY.

As immigrants have been coming steadily into the community since 1889, the city has grown rapidly in population and also in industrial wealth. Immigration and the expansion of industry have gone hand in hand. The industries of the community are varied. While worsteds, woolens and cotton goods predominate, other manufactures are also carried on. The manufacture of dress goods, rubber hose, belting, dyes, prints, cigars, tin cans, matches, wire cables, leather goods, silk machinery, waxed paper, compressed foods, and silk goods are some of the minor industries to which the unskilled workers may turn if a depression occurs in a major industry. This labor is cheaper than any to be found in the vicinity; it is not organized into unions; it is tractable. In all the industries in which the immigrant is employed the product turned out is a machine-made product and therefore little skill is required on the part of the workers. For their work the women receive from $4 to $8 a week, according to. the piece, while the wages of the men are slightly higher, ranging from $9 to $12. Except in the very lowest grades of labor the worker is fairly well paid for the work he or she completes.

The industrial growth of this community has been directly due to the creation of industries representing vast amounts of foreign and domestic capital, which in turn have been dependent on immigrant labor from Europe. In other words, capital and immigrant labor have, together, made industrial progress possible.

CHAPTER VI.

HOUSING AND LIVING CONDITIONS.

Rent in its relation to standard of living-Boarders and lodgers-Size of apartments occupied-Size of households-Congestion-[Text Tables 241 to 252 and General Tables 182 to 193].

RENT IN ITS RELATION TO STANDARD OF LIVING.

The rent payments of the households studied in Community D are chiefly significant in their bearing upon standard of living because of congestion within the households arising from the practice of crowding their apartments in order to reduce the per capita rent outlay. The first table presented in this connection, which immediately follows, shows, by general nativity and race of head of household, the average monthly rent paid per apartment, per room, and per

person.

TABLE 241.-Average rent per month, by general nativity and race of head of household. (STUDY OF HOUSEHOLDS.)

Of 575 households paying rent and reporting its amount, the preceding table shows that the average rent per apartment is $9.18; the average rent per room $2.39, and the average rent per person $1.67, per month. The households the heads of which are nativeborn of foreign father pay a higher average rent per apartment than do the households the heads of which are foreign-born; this is true also as regards the average rent per room and per person, but the

difference is not so great. This indicates that the households the heads of which are native-born of foreign father, occupy apartments of a larger number of rooms, and also contain fewer persons than the households the heads of which are foreign-born. The average rent per apartment paid by the households the heads of which are of each foreign race ranges from $13.56 for those the heads of which are English to $6.42 for those the heads of which are Polish; also the households the heads of which are of the same races show the highest and lowest average rent per room and per person.

The range in monthly rents for apartments is set forth in the following table, which shows, by general nativity and race of head of household, the percentage of households paying each specified rent per month per apartment:

TABLE 242.-Per cent of households paying each specified rent per month per apartment, by general nativity and race of head of household.

(STUDY OF HOUSEHOLDS.)

[This tables includes only races with 20 or more households reporting. The totals, however, are for all

races.]

The greater portion of the total number of households pay under $10 per month per apartment; 25.2 per cent pay under $7.50. The native-born of foreign father more commonly pay a higher rent per apartment than the foreign-born. Of the latter 71.7 per cent pay under $10. The greater proportion of the native-born of foreign father pay under $12.50. Low rents per apartment are most commonly paid by South Italians, of whom 69.1 per cent pay under $7.50 and 32.4 per cent under $5; comparatively high rent per apartment is most commonly paid by the English, of whom a smaller part pay under $12.50 than any other race. The Germans and Irish also show relatively small proportions paying under $12.50 as compared with the other races. The greater number of the specified races most commonly pay under $10 per month per apartment.

The table next presented shows, by general nativity and race of head of household, the per cent of households paying each specified rent per month per room.