for sleeping, while Germans show 8.3 per cent using all except 1 room to sleep in, as contrasted with no Irish households using all except 1 room; German households also report a higher per cent using all except 2 rooms to sleep in than Irish households. Of the foreign-born races Irish report the highest average number of rooms per household and Slovaks the lowest. The Turks report the highest average number of sleeping rooms per household and Slovaks the lowest. Polish and Slovak households alone report a certain percentage sleeping in all rooms. Slovaks also show a much higher percentage of households using all except 1 room for sleeping than the other races given, while Irish report no households using all except 1 room for sleeping. The Turks report a considerably higher per cent than the other races using all except 2 rooms to sleep in while Irish show the smallest proportions.

CHAPTER VI.

SALIENT CHARACTERISTICS.

Literacy-Conjugal condition-Visits abroad-Age classification of employees and members of their households-[Text Tables 63 to 74 and General Tables 39 to 48].

LITERACY.

As regards the literacy of employees in the leather industry and members of their households, the series of tabulations which follows not only sets forth the degree of literacy which prevails among them at the present time, but also indicates the elements of progress evidenced by the foreign-born after their arrival in this country. The first table presented, which immediately follows, shows, by general nativity and race of individual, the percentage of employees who were able to read and the percentage who were able to both read and write.

TABLE 63.-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.]

79

Information was obtained in this industry for 12,657 employees, of which number 90.9 per cent read and 88.7 per cent both read and write. The males report 90.6 and the females 94.9 per cent who can read, while 88.5 per cent of the males and 91.3 per cent of the females can both read and write. It will be noted that a smaller proportion of males and females among the foreign-born can both read and write than can read only. Both males and females among the native-born of foreign father show only a slightly smaller proportion who can read and write than who can read only. The native whites born of native father show a slightly smaller proportion of males who can read and write than who can read only, whereas all the females can read and write.

Among the foreign-born males who read only, the Swedes, followed by the Irish, Germans, Slovenians, Russian Hebrews, Magyars, and Greeks, show proportions in excess of the figures shown in the total for all foreign-born males. The Slovaks, Lithuanians, Croatians, Poles, Russians, North Italians, and South Italians show proportions below that shown in the total for all foreign-born males, the proportions of these races ranging from 84.3 per cent of the Slovaks to 69.8 per cent of the South Italians. Considering the females, it will be noted that all Germans, Irish, and North Italians, and 95.1 per cent of the Slovenians can read; the proportion of Slovenians with ability to read only being in excess of that shown by the Poles, Lithuanians, and Croatians. On the other hand, the Magyars, with 78.6 per cent, show a considerably larger proportion than the Russians, a much larger proportion than the South Italians, who in turn report a very much larger proportion with ability to read only than do the Greeks, the small proportion of Greek females with this ability being in striking contrast with the proportions of females of other races. Comparing the males who can both read and write, it will be noted that, with the exception of the Lithuanians, who show a much smaller proportion, each race reports only a slightly smaller proportion of males who can both read and write than who can read only. With the exception of the Slovenians, Russians, Magyars, Poles, and Lithuanians, each race shows a proportion of females with ability to both read and write identical with the proportion able to read only. As regards the native-born of foreign father, it will be noted that, with the exception of a small proportion of Irish, who are unable to both read and write, there is no illiteracy among the females, while among the males each race shows a small proportion unable to read or to read and write.

The table next presented shows, by sex and general nativity and race of individual, the percentage of persons in the households studied 10 years of age or over who could read and percentage who could read and write.

TABLE 64.-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.]

The preceding table shows that of 1,525 persons 10 years of age or over, 62.2 per cent can read and 59.4 per cent can read and write. Of the males, 51.3 per cent can read and 50.1 per cent can both read and write. Of the females, 85.2 per cent can read and 78.9 per cent can read and write. The persons who are native whites born of native father show a higher percentage of literates than persons who are native-born of foreign father and a considerably higher percentage who can read and write than persons of foreign birth. Among the persons who are native whites born of native father, 100 per cent of the males and 99 per cent of the females can read and write; among persons who are native-born of foreign father, 99.3 per cent of the males and 98.4 per cent of the females can read and write; of persons who are foreign-born, only 38.7 per cent of the males can read and 37.2 per cent can both read and write; of the females of foreign birth, 73.6 per cent can read and 61.9 per cent can read and write. Among the persons who are native-born of foreign father, all of the Germans can read and write. While a somewhat smaller proportion of the Irish have this ability, it is noticeable that a slightly higher percentage of the females than of the males of that race can read and write. Among the persons of foreign birth the Germans show the greatest degree of literacy, 100 per cent being able to read and a somewhat smaller percentage being able to both read and write. The Irish and the Slovaks show a considerably smaller proportion than the Germans who can read and write, while the proportion of the South Italians and the Poles having this ability is considerably lower than that of the two races last named. The Turks show only 4.3 per cent of persons who can read and write. The Germans, South Italians, Poles, and Slovaks show a smaller percentage of females than of males who can read and write, while the proportion