The preceding table shows that the average number of rooms per household is 4.97. The average number of sleeping rooms per household is 2.52. The households whose heads are native-born of foreign father show a higher average number of rooms than either the heads of which are native whites born of native father or households whose heads are foreign-born. The households whose heads are nativeborn of foreign father also show the highest average number of sleeping rooms. The households whose heads are Irish show the highest average number of rooms and sleeping rooms per household, and those whose heads are Greeks a lower average number of rooms and sleeping rooms than any of the households whose heads are of the different specified races. Of the 463 households studied 1.1 per cent use all rooms to sleep in, 21 per cent sleep in all except 1 room, and 31.1 per cent sleep in all except 2 rooms. The households the heads of which are foreign-born show the highest percentage using all rooms, and all except 1 room, to sleep in, followed in the latter classification by households the heads of which are native-born of foreign father. In households using all except 2 rooms to sleep in, those native-born of foreign father exceed the foreign-born. No households the heads of which are native whites born of native father or native-born of foreign father use all rooms for sleeping purposes. No households whose heads are Armenians, French Canadians, English, Irish, or Poles use all rooms to sleep in, and no households the heads of which are Irish use all except 1 room. The households whose heads are Greeks and Hebrews show the highest percentage sleeping in all rooms, and the households the heads of which are Lithuanians the highest percentage sleeping in all except 1 room. The households the heads of which are Hebrews show the highest percentage, sleeping in all except 2 rooms, and the households the heads of which are English the smallest per cent using all except 2 rooms to sleep in. CHAPTER XI. SALIENT CHARACTERISTICS. Literacy-Conjugal condition-Visits abroad-Age classification of employees and members of their households-Charity-[Text Tables 164 to 176 and General Tables 104 to 113]. LITERACY. The literacy of the employees of the shoe-manufacturing industry at Community A is indicated by the data presented in the following series of tables. These tables show not only the degree of literacy which prevails among the workers at the present time, but also the progress made by the foreign-born employees after their arrival in this country. The first table presented in this connection, which follows, shows, by sex and general nativity and race, the percentage of employees who are able to read and the per cent who are able both to read and to write. TABLE 164.-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.] Number reporting com- Per cent who read. Per cent who read and write. General nativity and race. Native-born of native father, Native-born of foreign father, Male. Female. Total. Male. Female. Total. Male. Female. Total. 1,072 630 1,702 99.8 99.8 99.8 99.8 99.8 99.8 father: Of the individuals in this locality, for whom information was secured, all who were native-born of foreign father, both males and females, and a larger proportion of those who were native-born of native father than of the foreign-born can read; all of the females native-born of foreign father, and a larger proportion of the females native-born of native father than of the foreign-born females, can both read and write. The proportion of males who both read and write is largest for the native-born of native father, second for the nativeborn of foreign father, and smallest for the foreign-born. Of the foreign-born, the North Italians and South Italians have the smallest proportion of males and the Greeks by far the smallest proportion of females who are able to read and to read and write. The following table shows, by sex and general nativity and race of individual, the percentage of persons 10 years of age or over, in the households studied, who read and the per cent who read and write: TABLE 165.-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.] Slightly more than 90 per cent of the total number of persons, data for whom are included in the above table, read and 87.3 per cent both read and write. The males show a larger proportion of persons who read and a larger proportion who read and write than do the females. All of the native-born persons, male and female, including the nativeborn of foreign father, both read and write. Of the foreign-born, 86 per cent read and 81.1 per cent read and write. Of the foreignborn, all of the English, both male and female, can both read and write. Of the foreign-born males who read, the Armenians, French Canadians, Hebrews, Irish, South Italians, and Syrians each show a proportion of between 90 and 100 per cent of the total number of males of each race. The Lithuanian race shows a smaller proportion of males who read than does any other foreign-born race. Excepting the French Canadians, English, and Lithuanians, each race shows a smaller proportion of females who read than of males. The Lithuanians show a smaller proportion of males who read and write than any other foreignborn race. They also show the smallest proportion of foreign-born females who read and write. The relation between literacy and period of residence in this country is indicated by the following table. The table shows the percentage of foreign-born persons 10 years of age or over who read and the per cent who read and write, by race of individual and years of residence in the United States: TABLE 166.-Per cent of foreign-born persons 10 years of age or over who read and per cent who read and write, by years in the United States and race of individual. (STUDY OF HOUSEHOLDS.) [By years in the United States is meant years since first arrival in the United States. This table includes only races with 40 or more persons reporting. The total, however, is for all foreign-born.] Of the 1,134 foreign-born persons, 10 years of age or over, included in the above table, 80.9 per cent of those with a period of residence in the United States of less than five years, 84.1 per cent of those with a period of residence of from five to nine years, and 93.5 per cent of those with a period of residence of ten years or over, can read. The proportion who both read and write is smaller in each instance than the proportion who read. Although the proportion of the total number who read, as well as the proportion who both read and write, increases with length of residence in the United States, certain races show a larger proportion of those with a period of residence of from five to nine years than of those with a period of residence of ten years or over. Among the Poles who read, and the French Canadians who read and write, the proportion of those with a period of residence of less than five years is larger than the proportion of those with a period of residence of ten years or over. The progress made by the younger immigrants, as compared with the older immigrants, is shown by the table next presented. This table indicates the percentage of foreign-born persons 10 years of age. or over, in the households studied, who read, and the per cent who both read and write, according to race of individual and age at time of coming to the United States. |