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RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF DIFFERENT SOURCES OF FAMILY INCOME.

The following table shows, by general nativity and race of head of family, the per cent of total annual family income from husband, wife, children, boarders or lodgers, and other sources:

TABLE 155.-Per cent of total family income within the year from husband, wife, children, boarders or lodgers, and other sources, by general nativity and race of head of family.

(STUDY OF HOUSEHOLDS.)

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

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From information secured in this locality, as presented in the above table, it appears that the earnings of husband and the contributions of children are the principal sources of income shown by the total number of families. A much larger proportion of the total income is derived from the earnings of husband than from the contributions of children, while the proportion derived from the earnings of wife, payments of boarders or fodgers, and other sources is extremely small. The proportion of the total yearly income derived from the earnings of husband is much larger, and that derived from the contributions of children much smaller, among the native-born than among the foreign-born families.

The North Italians, closely followed by the Slovaks, derive the largest per cent of total yearly income from earnings of husband. In the order in which they derive the largest per cent of total yearly income from earnings of husband, the English, Poles, Germans, Bohemians and Moravians, and Swedes follow the Slovak, while the Irish, who obtain 51 per cent of their total yearly income from this source, report the smallest proportion. The Irish derive from the contributions of children a considerably larger proportion of their total yearly family income than any other race; the North Italians report the smallest proportion from this source. The North Italians, Poles, Slovaks and Swedes receive no part of their total annual family

income, and the Bohemians and Moravians, English, Germans, and Irish, each less than 1 per cent from the earnings of wives.

From the payments of boarders or lodgers, the North Italians derive a larger per cent of their total income than any other race, while no part of the income of the English, Irish, or Swedes is derived from this source.

Each race, it will be noted, receives a small per cent of the annual family income from sources not specified in the foregoing table, the Slovaks, closely followed by the Poles and Bohemians and Moravians, reporting the largest proportion, while the smallest proportion, or 0.8 per cent, is reported by the North Italians.

CHAPTER IV.

WORKING CONDITIONS.

Hours of work-Regularity of employment-The immigrant and organized laborLabor controversies [Text Tables 156 and 157 and General Table 78].

HOURS OF WORK.

The regular hours of work in the Chicago slaughtering and meatpacking establishments are ten per day and sixty per week, subject, however, to variation according to conditions.

REGULARITY OF EMPLOYMENT.

The regularity of employment fluctuates according to seasonal demands for meat and canned products and other conditions already discussed. In this connection the following table shows by general nativity and race of individual months worked during the past year by males in the households studied who were 16 years of age or over. TABLE 156.-Months worked during the past year by males 16 years of age or over employed away from home, 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.]

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Of the total number reporting in the above table, 58.8 per cent worked twelve months, 80.3 per cent nine months or over, 96.6 per cent six months or over, and 99.8 per cent three months or over. A

a See Part I, Chap. IV. p. 85, on regularity of employment.

comparison of native-born of foreign father with foreign-born shows the per cent of the former working twelve months or nine months or over to be higher than that of the latter. Foreign-born shows a slightly larger proportion who worked six months or over and nativeborn of foreign father only a slightly higher per cent who worked three months or over. Of the native-born of foreign father, Bohemians and Moravians had a larger proportion with steady work for the whole year than Poles, each race showing 100 per cent who worked three months or over.

Of the foreign-born races, Swedish and North Italian show a much higher per cent working the full 12 months than the other races, German, English, Irish, Slovak, Polish, and Bohemian and Moravian following in the order mentioned, the last three races mentioned showing under 50 per cent who worked the full year. North Italians show 100 per cent who worked nine months or over; Swedes, English, Poles, Germans, Irish, Bohemians and Moravians, and Slovaks follow as named. Swedes, English, Poles, and North Italians show all individuals working six months or over; Germans, Bohemians and Moravians, Irish, and Slovaks follow as mentioned, the last-named race showing a comparatively low per cent. All races shown in the table except Germans show 100 per cent working three months or over.

THE IMMIGRANT AND ORGANIZED LABOR.

The following table shows by general nativity and race of individual the extent of affiliation with trade unions of males in the households studied in Chicago who were 21 years of age or over working for wages:

TABLE 157.-Affiliation with trade unions of males 21 years of age or over who are working for wages, by general nativity and race of individual.

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The table shows that of 392 males working for wages, 6.6 per cent are affiliated with trade unions, the total native-born reporting a higher per cent than the foreign-born, while the native-born of foreign father report a smaller proportion.

Of the foreign-born races reporting certain proportions affiliated with trade unions the large proportion of North Italians, as compared with the proportions of the other races, stands out most prominently. Following the North Italians, with a proportion considerably larger than the Irish and very much greater than either the Germans or the Bohemians and Moravians, are the English. None of the Poles, Slovaks, or Swedes are affiliated with trade unions.

LABOR CONTROVERSIES.

There have been four strikes of importance among the Chicago operatives during the past twenty-five years. The first strike of 1886 was called on May 3 and was of short duration, lasting only about one hour and a half. This strike was started by the Bohemians, and centered on a demand for shorter working hours. On the morning of May 3, 1886, when the butchers were ready for their daily task, the Bohemians, who at that time were employed as common laborers, separated themselves from the rest of the force and refused to work. Upon inquiry as to the reason for this refusal, it was ascertained that the Bohemians wanted an eight-hour day. This situation was explained to the officials, who refused to comply with the demand with the result that the employees went out on strike. At the expiration of the time above mentioned, however, they had gained their point of an eight-hour day for all employees and returned to work. The second strike, occurring in November of the same year, was the result of a demand on the part of the several companies that the men return to the ten-hour day. This the men refused to do. After being out two weeks, and with the situation well in hand, the men were ordered to return to work by a labor official of high rank and authority. It is contended that but for the order to return to work from this official, who was not familiar with the situation, the strike could have been won by the men. In addition to a return to the ten-hour day, another outgrowth of this strike was the change made by the companies in paying their employees from a day and week basis to an hour rate.

The third strike to occur in this industry was generally known as a "sympathetic strike," and this occurred in 1894 at the time of the Chicago railroad strike. It is admitted by those who at that time. were employed in the industry, and who supposedly struck in sympathy with the railroad men, that the employees of the packing houses considered it a good time to even up old scores and to renew their demands, which feeling had as much to do with the strike as anything else. This strike is said to have lasted about nine weeks. It would, perhaps, be more correct to say that there were, in reality, two strikes in 1904, but as such a short time intervened and as the two were so closely related there was practically only one strike. This was the result of the labor organizations attempting to secure a uniform wage of 20 cents per hour for unskilled labor throughout the country. At the time this strike was called, on July 12, 1904, unskilled laborers in

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