same size was contented with $109.94, an English family with $107.19, and a Norwegian with $87.53;

(5) That an Austro-Hungarian family without children or with one child expended more for food than a Scotch family of the same size;

(6) That an Austro-Hungarian family with two children needed $117.22, while a native American family of the same size could exist on $95.24, and an English family on $105.86;

(7) That an Austro-Hungarian family with three children, expended $98.65 per one hundred units of consumption as compared with $85.00 expended by an average American family of the same size, and with $85.20 expended by an average English family;

(8) That an Austro-Hungarian family with four or five children, expended more than a Scotch family;

(9) That the Scotch were in every group inferior to the Russians;

(10) That English families with less than five children had a lower expenditure for food than Russian families of equal size.1

These budgets have been quoted here as the best evidence that has been collected on the comparative standards of living of native and foreign-born wage-earners. Still, large as the number of individual families included in the canvass of the Bureau of Labor may look at a superficial glance, it affords too narrow a foundation for nice distinctions. Food expenditures vary with the size and the income of the family, and with geographical location affecting the prices of food-stuffs. If the food expenditures are to be compared by nationality, under uniform conditions as to location, size of family, and income, some of the groups must be so minute as to preclude the possibility of any reliable generalizations. The last table commented upon may serve as an illustration; among the foreign nationalities, there is no group of more than seventeen

I

Eighteenth Annual Report of the Commission of Labor, p. 631, Table

VI E.

families, while most of the groups contain less than ten families, and twenty-one consist of only one family. Variations in individual cases, however, are very wide. The only conclusion that is warranted by such statistics as are available is a negative one, viz., that the existence of a race standard of living determining the rate of wages for every race is not proven. "The actual standard that prevails is set primarily by the wages paid and the prices charged."

E. Clothing

In no other respect is the assimilation of the immigrant accomplished so rapidly as in the matter of dress. The mandates of Herbert Spencer's "ceremonial government' cannot be disobeyed. "Many of the recent immigrants," says the Immigration Commission, "still have some articles of clothing which they brought with them from Europe. Most of their clothing, however, practically all, is made in this country and purchased by them here."2 The prices which the alien workman must pay in an American department store for shoes and clothes are fixed, not by his imported individual or racial psychology, but by the American manufacturer, the American railway manager, and the American department store proprietor, every one of them eager to make an American profit, in order to maintain an American standard of living for himself.

The Immigration Commission has secured the transcripts of store accounts, which show that immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe pay from $10.00 to $15.00 for a suit of clothes, from $3.00 to $3.25 for a pair of shoes, from sixty cents to $1.00 for an overshirt, from $2.00 to $3.10 for a suit of flannel underwear, $1.50 for a hat, etc.3 These prices are the same as advertised in Washington, D. C., Chapin, loc. cit., pp. 249-250.

2 Reports of the Immigration Commission, vol. 9, p. 81.

3 The following prices were paid by Southern and Eastern European workmen: "Shoes are purchased at prices ranging from $1.75 to $3.00, the former being for work and the latter for dress. Summer underwear

by the department stores and tailor shops, which are catering to the trade of government clerks.

The United States Bureau of Labor has published comparative statistics showing for each nationality the average annual expenditure for clothing. It can be seen at a glance that the expenditure for clothing among the native, as well as among the foreign-born, increases with the increase of their earnings. Whether, or not, the wage-earner's standard of living determines his wages, i. e., whether, or not, he is paid higher wages because he wears better clothes, it is self-evident that his ability to buy clothes is limited by his earnings. A comparison of race standards in the matter of clothing must therefore be made for workmen of the same earning capacity. Table 80 on page 267 follows the arrangement of Table 79.

It can be seen from Table 80 that in each of the income groups the variations of expenditure by race are confined within very narrow limits, the margin between the highest and lowest expenditure not exceeding $10.00 a year. It is evident that such a margin is too small to produce an appreciable effect upon the rate of wages."

...

(Ibid., p.

of the value of 50 cents per garment is generally used, and for cold weather flannels ranging in value from $1.00 to $1.50 per garment. From $10.00 to $12.00 is paid for a suit of dress clothes." 81.) The following detailed expenditures for clothing were transcribed from a store account: "Socks (two pairs), $.25; belt, $.25; collar and tie, $.35; pair of pants, $2.25; socks, $.10; overshirt, $1.00; suspenders, $.25; five pair socks, $.60; flannels, underwear, $3.10; rubbers, $.80; shoes, $3.25; suit of clothes, $11.70; hat, $1.50; suit of clothes, $12.00; shoes, $3.00; shirt, $.60; two pair socks, $.50; pair of pants, $3.25; suit of clothes, $15.00; two pair socks, $.20; hat, $1.50; watch, $1.25; pair of gloves, $.50; pair of shoes, $1.70; pair of shoes, $1.75." (Ibid., p. 84.) 1 Eighteenth Annual Report of the Commissioner of Labor, Table V,D. It must be borne in mind, that the numbers of families in each group being small, the variations may be due to differences in the size of the families, in geographical location, etc. Even the earnings may vary within each income group as much as $99.00 per year. Some allowance must be made for the inaccuracy of the figures, inasmuch as they are all mere estimates.

TABLE 80.

FOR CLOTHING IN NORMAL FAMILIES OF UNSKILLED

LABORERS, CLASSIFIED BY INCOME AND NATIVITY. '

EXPENDITURE

The expenses of a normal family for housing, food, and clothing amount in the aggregate to about three fourths of the total expenditure for all objects. The preceding analysis has shown that the variations of these principal items of a workingman's budget are not affected by race. Table 81 on page 268 points in the same direction. It can be seen from the comparative figures that the average wageearner's family of every nationality lives practically up to its income. A very small margin is left for savings. But while the native workman may save or spend at pleasure, the newly-arrived immigrant must save money.

"Before the immigrant can realize any return from his labor in the form of American wages, he must incur the following expense or indebtedness, for even if one or all costs are prepaid for him by relative, friend, or other person, he eventually pays them all by deductions from his wages or otherwise:

I

• Eighteenth Annual Report of the Commissioner of Labor, pp. 560-563. Ibid., p. 581, Table 5K.

2

TABLE 81.

SURPLUS OF INCOME OVER EXPENDITURE OF NORMAL FAMILIES;
CLASSIFIED BY COUNTRY OF BIRTH.'

1. Cost of preparation at his home in Europe for the journey.

2. Cost of transportation from his home to the European seaport.

3. Cost of emigrant head tax to his Government.

4.

Cost of immigrant head tax to the United States Government.

Cost of steamship transportation, European port to the United States.

6. Cost of labor agency for securing employment at port of entry, if used.

7. Cost of transportation, United States port of entry to place of employment.

8. Cost of living from port of entry to place of destination."2

The cost of items 3-5 and 7 is further on estimated at $40.00 for a single Italian, Slav, or Hungarian immigrant. If the immigrant has left wife and children in his native country, he must save money to pay their passage. In order to meet these demands the immigrant must curtail his expenses for the necessities of life. This is accomplished Eighteenth Annual Report of the Commissioner of Labor, p. 581, Tables V, J and K.

Bulletin of the Bureau of Labor, No. 72, pp. 411–412.