the Russian. All of the North Italians, South Italians, Lithuanians, and Magyars, and 99.5 per cent of the Poles earn under $1,000 as against 97.1 per cent of the Germans and Russians. Only 8.6 per cent of the Russians earn $600 or over as compared with 40 per cent for the Germans. Of the Russians 57.1 per cent earn under $400 as compared with 11.4 per cent for the Germans. Of the Lithuanians 25.7 per cent earn between $600 and $1,000, as do 19.6 per cent of the North Italians. Of the Poles, 1.1 per cent earn under $200, 33.9 per cent under $400, 87.6 per cent under $600 and 99.5 per cent under $1,000.

ANNUAL FAMILY INCOME.

The following table compiled from data secured from 230 foreign families, shows, by general nativity and race of head of family, the average annual family income as well as the range of annual incomes:

TABLE 502.-Per cent of families having a total yearly income of each specified amount, by general nativity and race of head of family.

(STUDY OF HOUSEHOLDS.)

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

The average family income for all races as shown by the above table is $699 per year. The South Italians, with 54 families showing on the average only $582 each, are the earners of the smallest amounts. The Magyars make a very favorable showing, averaging $774 per family, and the Poles, with $663, earn a smaller amount. The comparison of the races as to earning capacity is further and more forcibly brought out by the figures appearing in the columns showing the approximately specified amounts received by each family during the year.

Of the 230 families only four received as much as $1,500. The Italians, Magyars, and Poles do not show a single family earning $1,500 or over. It is also important to note that 24.1 per cent of the Magyars have an income of more than $1,000 annually. The South Italians have 42.6 per cent of their families with an income under $500 yearly, which is a larger percentage in this class than is shown by any other race.

WIVES AT WORK.

The yearly earnings of the heads of families having been presented together with the exhibit of the annual incomes of families whose heads were employed in bituminous coal mining, the question arises as to what measures are taken to augment the family income by supplementing the earnings of the heads. In partial answer to this question the following table is submitted. It shows the tendency on the part of the wives of the employees in the coal and coke industries of the South to engage in gainful occupations.

TABLE 503.-Wives at work, by general nativity and race of head of family.

The number of families, as shown by the above table, is 230, and the number of wives 229. The table shows the wives of one German and four South Italians to be engaged in gainful occupations. The occupations of boarding-house keeper and lodginghouse keeper have not been considered gainful occupations for purposes of this table. It should be recalled that one of the distinctive features of the coal and coke industries is the fact that in the great majority of instances the employees are compelled by the very nature of their work to live in small and isolated communities. Coal mines are seldom located in or near considerable towns. Mine work can be done only by men. The manufacturing establishments of the cities and towns which employ so large a number of immigrant women are too far distant to be accessible to the wives of the mine workers. For these continuance in the home or entrance into domestic service are then the only alternatives. All the communities of the South, from which the data for the table were secured, are of the type described. It will have been noted that the proportionate number of married women at work is very small, being slightly over 2 per cent of the total. This small percentage of employment is due, in all probability, to the lack of opportunity of employment.

ANNUAL EARNINGS OF FEMALES 18 YEARS OF AGE OR OVER IN THE HOUSEHOLDS STUDIED.

The total number of females in the households studied who were 18 years of age or over and who were annually earning specified amounts is shown in the following table:

TABLE 504.— Yearly earnings (approximate) of females 18 years of age or over, by general nativity and race of individual.

RELATION BETWEEN THE EARNINGS OF HUSBANDS AND THE PRACTICE OF WIVES OF KEEPING BOARDERS OR LODGERS.

At this point it is important to point out the relation between the keeping of boarders or lodgers and the earnings of the heads of the families. In the following tables the proportion of the families of employees in the coal industry in the South in which the wife takes boarders or lodgers, or has employment, is shown according to the earnings of husband and the general nativity and race of the head of the family:

TABLE 505.-Number of families in which wife has employment or keeps boarders or lodgers, by yearly earnings of husband and by general nativity and race of head of family.

TABLE 506.-Per cent of families in which wife has employment or keeps boarders or lodgers, by yearly earnings of husband and by general nativity and race of head of family.

(STUDY OF HOUSEHOLDS.)

This table includes only races with 20 or more selected families reporting. The total, however, is for all races. For selection of families, see p. 284.]

Referring to the total of the preceding tables it is found that 24.9 per cent of the men earn $600 or over, and 56.1 per cent of the wives of this class contribute to the family support; 48.5 per cent of the men earn from $400 to $600, and 69.4 per cent of the wives contribute; and 26.6 per cent of the men earn less than $400, and 70.5 per cent of the women of this group contribute to the family income. As regards the several races, it is seen that of the husbands earning $600 or more, the wives of the North and South Italians, Lithuanians, and Slovaks all contribute to the support of the family. Sixty per cent of the Polish women do likewise, as well as 53.8 per cent of the Magyars. The earnings of no man of English birth reported are under $600.

Of the husbands earning less than $400, all the wives of the Lithuanians and North Italians contribute. Moreover, 70 per cent of the Magyars, 68.8 per cent of the South Italians, and 66.7 per cent of the Polish wives whose husbands earn under $400 contribute to the family income. No German reported has earnings of this lowest class.

The most common yearly wage lies between $400 and $600, 48.5 per cent of the men having an income within these amounts. The percentages of wives contributing to the family support vary more in this division than in the others. The South Italian with 75.9 per cent ranks first, followed by the North Italian with 75 per cent, Polish 71.4 per cent, Magyar 64 per cent, German 57.1 per cent, and Slovak 55.6 per cent.

Of the three races most widely represented the South Italian women are reported as sharing most commonly in the support of their families, their percentage of 77.8 being followed by 67.9 per cent of the Poles and 63.8 of the Magyars.

SOURCES OF FAMILY INCOME.

In the two tables next presented the sources of family income are shown.

The table immediately following exhibits the per cent of families having an income from husband, wife, children, boarders or lodgers, and other sources, by general nativity and race of head of family:

TABLE 507.-Per cent of families having an 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 total, however, is for all races.]

Of 230 families in this locality from whom information was obtained all have an income from earnings of husband, 63.9 per cent from payments of boarders or lodgers, 12.2 per cent from contributions of children, 2.2 per cent from earnings of wife, and 1.3 per cent from other sources. Of the three races the South Italians alone report a proportion of families having an income from earnings of wives, the proportion receiving an income from this source amounting to 7.4 per cent. The Magyars report a considerably larger proportion, 20.7 per cent, of families receiving contributions from children than do the other races. As regards those receiving an income from boarders or lodgers, there is little difference in the proportions of the several races, the proportions ranging from 70.4 per cent of the South Italians to 63.8 per cent of the Magyars; while of those families having an income from other sources, the Magyars and Poles each show less than 2 per cent.

The following table shows the source of family income in detail, by general nativity and race of head of family:

TABLE 508.-Source of family income in detail, by general nativity and race of head of

family.

(STUDY OF HOUSEHOLDS.)

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