attracted immigrant labor. It was also of a sober and reliable quality, for fares were high in those days, and it was only those who were seeking homes that came to the new town of Lowell. This foreign labor mingled with the native element and imbibed the best of its many admirable qualities. *

*

"As the industries developed, there was demand for men skilled in the art of calico printing, and a superior class of workmen accordingly came from England and from other countries to add their intelligent influence to the moral progress of the community * *

"The corporations were under necessity to provide food and shelter for those they employed. They adopted Mr. Lowell's plan so effectively instituted at Waltham, and built boarding and tenement houses. Over these a rigid supervision was maintained. The food in the former was required to be of a certain standard. The rules governing the conduct of those who lived in the boarding houses were rather strict, but they were wholesome."

One of the New England girls who worked in the Lowell mills during this period has givin an interesting account of the situation which existed during her employment. In writing of the methods by which the mill girls were secured, and the conditions under which they lived and worked, her description affords a pleasing contrast with the Lowell of the present."

"Troops of young girls came," she writes, "by stages and baggage wagons, men often being employed to go to other States and to Canada to collect them at so much per head and deliver them to the factories.

"A very curious sight these country girls presented to young eyes accustomed to a more modern style of things. When the large covered baggage wagon arrived in front of a block of the corporation they would descend from it, dressed in various and outlandish fashions, and with their arms brimful of bandboxes containing all their worldly goods. On each of these was sewed a card, on which one could read the old-fashioned New England name of the

owner

* * *

"Except in rare instances, the rights of the early mill girls were secure. They were subject to no extortion; if they did extra work they were always paid in full, and their own account of labor done by the piece was always accepted. They kept the figures and were paid accordingly. This was notably the case with the weavers and drawing-in girls. Though the hours of labor were long, they were not overworked; they were obliged to tend no more looms and frames than they could easily take care of, and they had plenty of time to sit and rest * * *

"Their life in the factory was made pleasant to them. In those days there was no need of advocating the doctrine of the proper relation between employer and employed * * *

"The knowledge of the antecedents of these operatives was the safeguard of their liberties. The majority of them were as well born as their 'overlookers,' if not better; and they were also far better educated

* *

*

a Bayles, Lowell: Past, Present, and Prospective, pp. 7–15.

"Those of the mill girls who had homes generally worked from eight to ten months in the year; the rest of the time was spent with parents or friends. A few taught school during the summer months * * * "The life in the boarding houses was very agreeable. These houses belonged to the corporation, and were usually kept by widows (mothers of mill girls) who were often the friends and advisors of their boarders * * *

"Each house was a village or community of itself. There fifty or sixty young women from different parts of New England met and lived together. When not at their work, by natural selection they sat in groups in their chambers, or in a corner of the large dining room, busy at some agreeable employment; or they wrote letters, read, studied, or sewed, for, as a rule, they were their own seamstresses and dressmakers."

Charles Dickens, during his tour of the United States visited Lowell and has recorded his observations in his American Notes. Concerning the American girl operatives and the impression they made upon him, he had the following to say: "

a

"These girls, as I have said, were all well dressed; and that phrase necessarily includes extreme cleanliness. They had serviceable bonnets, good warm cloaks and shawls, and were not above clogs and pattens. Moreover, there were places in the mill in which they could deposit these things without injury; and there were conveniences for washing. They were healthy in appearance, many of them remarkably so, and had the manners and deportment of young women; not of degraded brutes of burden * * *.

"The rooms in which they worked were as well ordered as themselves. In the windows of some there were green plants, which were trained to shade the glass; in all, there was as much fresh air, cleanliness, and comfort as the nature of the occupation would possibly admit of. Out of so large a number of females, many of whom were only then just verging upon womanhood, it may be reasonably supposed that some were delicate and fragile in appearance; no doubt there were. But I solemnly declare that, from all the crowd I saw in the different factories that day, I can not recall or separate one young face that gave me a painful impression; not one young girl whom, assuming it to be a matter of necessity that she should gain her daily bread by the labor of her hands, I would have removed from those works if I had had the power * * *.

"They reside in various boarding houses near at hand. The owners of the mills are particularly careful to allow no persons to enter upon the possession of these houses whose characters have not undergone the most searching and thorough inquiry. Any complaint that is made against them by the boarders, or by any one else, is fully investigated, and if good ground for complaint be shown to exist against them, they are removed, and their occupation is handed over to some more deserving person. There are a few children employed in these factories, but not many. The laws of the State forbid their working more than nine months in the year, and require that they be educated during the other three. For this purpose there are schools in Lowell, and there are churches and chapels of

a Charles Dickens, American Notes, 1841, pp. 56–57.

various persuasions, in which the young women may observe that form of worship in which they have been educated.

"I am now going to state three facts which will startle a large class of readers on this side of the Atlantic very much.

"Firstly, there is a joint stock piano in a great many of the boarding houses. Secondly, nearly all these young ladies subscribe to circulating libraries. Thirdly, they have got up among themselves a periodical."

The state of affairs and the operative class described above continued until about 1840, when the expansion of the industry exceeded the local labor resources and it became necessary to secure operatives from localities in this country outside of New England, as well as from Canada, Great Britain, and northern Europe.

Immigration to the industry from Canada and Great Britain was characteristic of the period 1840-1880. Members of the English, Irish, and Scotch races, as already mentioned, immigrated to the New England cotton-goods centers at an early date. Small numbers of skilled English operatives were secured from the British textilemanufacturing towns in the early history of the development of the industry in New England. Considerable numbers of Irish were also employed in the unskilled work in connection with the erection of the mills and the construction of the locks and canals in certain localities, such as Lowell, to furnish the necessary water power. Although both of these races gradually continued to come, the heavy immigration of the Irish did not set in until after 1840, and of the English until thirty years later. The Irish were employed in the mills in the largest numbers during the forties and fifties, and the English during the seventies; both races, however, continuing to seek work in the cotton mills in gradually diminishing numbers up to 1895. Although the Scotch and Germans were early settlers in the mill towns and have always been represented among the cotton-mill operatives, the extent to which these races have been employed in the industry has always been of comparatively small importance. By the year 1895 the immigration of all races from Great Britain and northern Europe to the cotton-goods manufacturing centers of the North Atlantic States had practically stopped.

As soon as the expansion of the cotton industry in New England rendered it necessary to go beyond the local labor supply, an attempt was made to secure operatives from Canada. Considerable numbers of French Canadians entered the mills during the fifties, but the heaviest immigration of this race was during the period of ten years following immediately upon the close of the civil war. During the next thirty-five years they continued to arrive in large numbers, but during the past decade small additions to the operating forces have been made by this race.

Since the year 1885, and especially during the past fifteen years, the operatives of the cotton mills have been mainly recruited from the races of southern and eastern Europe and from the Orient. There were very few representatives of these races in the mills before 1890. During the decade 1890-1900, however, the movement of races from the south and east of Europe set in rapidly. Immigration from Great Britain and northern Europe, as already noticed, had practically ceased, and from Canada was on a reduced basis as compared with

former years. Of the new immigrant operatives, the Greeks, Portuguese, and Bravas from the western islands, Poles, Russians, and Italians came in the largest numbers. During the past ten years the immigration of all the above-mentioned races has continued in undiminished proportions. Other races have also sought work in the cotton mills, the most important in point of numbers having been the Lithuanians, Hebrews, Syrians, Bulgarians, and Turks. At the present time immigration from the older sources has ceased or been reduced to unimportant proportions, and the races of recent immigration, so far as numbers are concerned, are rapidly attaining an ascendancy in the industry.

The Americans, who formerly composed the bulk of the cotton-mill operatives in the North Atlantic States, at the present time form only about one-fifth of the total number of the employees in the cotton mills, and are divided in about equal proportions between males and females. If the employees of the second generation of immigrant races, or, in other words, persons native-born of foreign father, be added to this pure American stock, or those native-born of native father, the total number of native-born operatives amount to about three-tenths of the operating forces of the North Atlantic mills. The remaining part of the operatives, or about seven-tenths, is composed of employees of foreign birth. Of the total foreign-born operatives, more than three-fifths are representatives of races of southern and eastern Europe and the Orient, the remaining two-fifths being composed mainly of English, Irish, and French Canadians, with a relatively small number of Scotch, Germans, Swedes, Dutch, and French. The French Canadians, among the foreign-born, are employed at present in greater proportions than any other race, the proportion of French Canadian cotton-mill operatives being about equal to, if not in excess of, the Americans. The English furnish about one-tenth and the Irish about one-twentieth of the total number of employees in the industry. Of the operatives from southern and eastern Europe, the Poles, Portuguese, and Greeks, in the order named, furnish the largest proportions, the total number of these races constituting more than one-fourth of the total number employed. More than thirty other races from southern and eastern Europe are also working in the cotton mills of the North Atlantic States; the North and South Italians, Lithuanians, Russians, and Bulgarians or Macedonians being numerically the most important. Several oriental races, including Turks, Persians, and Syrians, are also found in comparatively smail numbers. The larger part of the female employees at the present time are made up of English, Irish, and Canadian French operatives, both of the first and second generations, together with large proportions of Portuguese and Polish women. The American females, as already stated, form only about one-tenth of the total number of female operatives.

Fall River, New Bedford, and Lowell, Mass., Manchester, N. H., and other centers of the same sort, all have a large proportion of French Canadians, Manchester showing the highest percentage of employees of that race. Manchester has also the largest proportion of Polish operatives, although that race is well represented in the other three cities. The Irish and English, who are also employed

48296°-VOL 19-11-5

race.

extensively in all localities, have their largest representation in Lowell and New Bedford, Fall River being a close second in the case of each The Portuguese are employed in largest proportions in New Bedford and Fall River. Only an unimportant percentage of Greeks are working in Fall River and New Bedford, but in Manchester, N. H., the Greeks make up one-twentieth, and in Lowell more than one-sixth, of the total number of operatives. The other races are scattered in comparatively small numbers through all the localities, Fall River and Lowell having the largest number of races in their mills.

WOOLEN AND WORSTED GOODS MANUFACTURING ESTABLISHMENTS.

The racial movements to the woolen and worsted goods manufacturing establishments in New England may be well illustrated by history of immigration to Lawrence, Mass., a representative woolengoods manufacturing community.

The possibility of water power at what is now Lawrence, Mass., was discovered as early as 1837, but no attempt was made to develop it until eight years later. later. In 1845 a dam was constructed by a waterpower company at a cost of $250,000. A village was established in the same year, and by 1847 its population had increased from not more than 200 to 3,577 souls. The earliest of the mills, the predecessor of the present mill No. 2, was laid out in 1846. Others followed during the fifties and the sixties.

A local newspaper analyzed the population of the town in 1848 as follows:

This table is significant in that it shows what is borne out by later censuses that the large foreign-born population of the city is no new condition of things, but has existed continuously from the founding of the village.

Irish.-Irish population of Lawrence is as old as the city itself, there being no fewer than 1,200 of that race residing there within two years of the first settlement, which occurred in 1845. In 1848 the Irish numbered 2,139. In April, 1846, religious services were held in Catholic homes, and soon afterwards a wooden chapel was erected. At the present time the Irish population of the community-that is, the population of the Irish Catholic parishes-is about 21,000, or by far the largest racial element in the population of the city.

English and Scotch. About 1865 there occurred a heavy immigra tion of skilled textile workers from the counties of Yorkshire and Lancashire, England. A large number of English had entered the community previous to 1865, and in the decades which have followed additional emigration from the worsted districts of England has occurred as the worsted industry in this community has developed. During the past few years a number of English from the counties of Yorkshire and Lancashire have immigrated to the city as in the earlier days, but the numbers reached have not been very large. It is very difficult to estimate the English population at the present