SALIENT CHARACTERISTICS.

Literacy-Conjugal condition-Visits abroad-Age classification of employees and members of their households-[Text Tables 91 to 108 and General Tables 39 to 48].

LITERACY.

The literacy of the immigrant labor supply is of importance in estimating the possibilities of the growth in efficiency of the foreign-born employees and the members of their households, and is also significant in its bearing upon the problem of their assimilation. In this connection the table and charts which immediately follow set forth the degree of general literacy found among employees of the slaughtering and meat-packing industry.

TABLE 91.-Per cent of employees who read and per cent who read and write, by sex and general nativity and race.

(STUDY OF EMPLOYEES.)

[This table includes only races with 80 or more persons reporting. The totals, however, are for all races.}

• Not computed, owing to small number involved.

The preceding table includes 39,614 males and 3,395 females, or a total of 43,009 persons. Over 90 per cent of both the males and females read, and over 90 per cent of the males and 87.7 per cent of the females both read and write. Less than 1 per cent of the nativeborn of native father, white, as well as of the native-born of foreign father, both males and females, as compared with over 10 per cent of the foreign-born, both males and females, can neither read nor writethe native-born negroes showing a smaller proportion than the foreign-born, and a larger proportion than the native-born whites, who are illiterate.

Of the males of each foreign-born race, the proportion who read ranges from 100 per cent, as shown by the Canadian other than French, Danish, Hebrew other than Russian, and Scotch, to 75.1 per cent, as shown by the South Italian, while the proportion who both read and write is either the same or only slightly smaller. Generally speaking, little difference is exhibited between the male and female members of the several races with regard to literacy, although in some instances the females show the larger proportion, and vice versa.

In the following table the general literacy of persons 10 years of age or over, in the households studied, is shown according to sex and general nativity and race of individual:

TABLE 92.-Per cent of persons 10 years of age or over who read and per cent who read and write, by sex and general nativity and race of individual.

(STUDY OF HOUSEHOLDS.)

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

Of 3,401 individuals, consisting of 1,856 males and 1,545 females, reporting complete data, 90.9 per cent can read, and 89.9 can both read and write. It is seen that the native-born of foreign father show a considerably larger per cent who can read and who can both read

and write than of the foreign-born, while a slightly less per cent of the native-born of foreign father than of the native-born of native father can read and write.. Of the foreign-born the English, Japanese, and Swedes are the only races where all the males and females are able to both read and write. The Croatians report the lowest per cent who can read and write, only 56.6 per cent of the females and 71.1 per cent of the males. Of the foreign-born races, the Irish and North Italians are the only ones where the per cent of females able to read and write is higher than that of males. With all other races except the English and Swedes, where the per cent is the same, the males have a slightly higher proportion than the females. the native-born of foreign father the Swedes are the only race where all the males and females can both read and write, while all the males of the native-born Bohemians and Moravians, Croatians and Irish, and all the females of the Poles and Germans can both read and write. It is seen that the native-born of foreign father as compared with the foreign-born of the same race show a higher proportion, with the exception of the Swedes, who can read and write, and in the case of the Poles and Croatians the per cent shows a marked difference in favor of the native-born.

Of

The following table shows the per cent of male employees who were able to read, according to locality and general nativity and race of individual:

TABLE 93.-Per cent of male employees who read, by locality and by general nativity and race.

(STUDY OF EMPLOYEES.)

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