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unattractive and uninviting, and often unsanitary and dangerous to the community as a whole. Very little interest in his surroundings is evinced by the recent immigrant. The duties of the immigrant housewife are so arduous and so numerous that she has but little time to keep the living and sleeping quarters in a cleanly condition. The presence of a large number of boarders and lodgers also tends to make this impossible. Consequently the houses are dirty, as a rule badly kept, and there is little privacy or independent family life. As a rule, there are no water or sanitary appliances in the house.

TYPES OF IMMIGRANT HOUSEHOLDS

Space is not available to enter into detailed descriptions of immigrant households. As a concrete illustration, however, of the living conditions which prevail among recent immigrant households, two composite and representative cases may be described: (1)' a household in an industrial locality conducted by a family with one or more children; and (2) a boarding group composed entirely of males. The first type of household usually occupies a four-room apartment. The rear room on the first floor is used as a kitchen and living and dining-room for the family and its boarders and lodgers. It is equipped with an ordinary cheap cooking-range, a plain table and simple cooking and eating utensils. Sometimes there is running water and a sink, but usually water must be carried from an outside source. In this room the household, which may consist of twelve to twenty adults and children, cook and eat. All the laundry work for the entire household is done in this room. It is also used as a general living and loafing-room.

The front room on the ground floor is the sleepingroom of the head of the household and his wife and children. It contains all their personal effects, which are very meager. Almost all of the available floor space is occupied by beds or cots for the family, and clothing is hung on nails around the walls.

The two rooms upstairs are given over to boarders and lodgers. Their furniture consists of beds or cots, seating facilities, so far as they exist, being afforded by the beds or trunks of the boarders. Usually four men sleep in each room, the only limitation upon the number in each room being the available space for placing beds or cots. Working or other clothes are hung about the walls on hooks or nails. In some instances the rooms are occupied by two sets of lodgers, the men who work during the day using the beds at night while the night-workers occupy the same beds during the day. Household conditions throughout are usually very dirty and unattractive.

In the case of the second general type of immigrant industrial households, composed entirely of males, the general arrangement is the same, except that all rooms are used for sleeping purposes. Groups of this character usually consist of four to eight men occupying one to two rooms, four men sleeping in a room. The rooms are used indiscriminately for general living purposes. The furniture usually consists wholly of beds and cots and a small stove for heating and cooking. The different members of the group take turns in doing the cooking and the housework. It is hardly necessary to say that, as unsatisfactory as are the conditions in the first class of households, the conditions in the group just described are much worse.

IX

THE STATUS OF IMMIGRANTS IN INDUSTRIES

Radical changes have come about within recent years in the racial make-up of the operating forces of American mines and manufacturing establishments. Native Americans and immigrant employees from Great Britain and northern Europe have, to a large extent, especially in the unskilled occupations, been displaced by recent immigrants from southern and eastern Europe and the Orient. The employment of recent immigrant races has been rendered possible by the development of new processes and mechanical inventions which, in a large measure, have eliminated the elements of skill formerly required of American wage-earners.

Racial Classification of Industrial Workers

A recent investigation by the Federal Government, including within its scope about three-fourths of a million industrial workers, has disclosed the extent to which the different races are employed in American mines and factories.*

* See Report of the United States Immigration Commission (18 volumes), entitled, "Immigrants in Industries." The investigation upon which this report is based was conducted during the last half of 1908, and the first half of the year 1909. The results of the investigation were not affected by the industrial depression which followed the financial breakdown of November, 1907. In the case of the study of families or individuals whose incomes had been impaired by the depression, an allowance was made, and normal earnings and incomes secured. The same method was followed in making inquiries as to housing and living conditions. In this connection, if the investigation were influenced by the industrial depression, the result would be a more favorable showing for the recent immigrant, for the reason that a large proportion had returned to their native countries, and thus lessened the degree of congestion which would normally obtain. The data received from 700,000 employees were practically all obtained during the first half of 1909, and are representative of normal conditions. For a full account of the history and scope of the investigation, see "The Industrial Investigations of the United States Immigration Commission," Journal of Political Economy, July, 1910.

Of the total number of 619,595 industrial workers included in this study, 346,203, or more than onehalf, were of foreign birth. It was found that only one-fifth of the total number of wage-earners in twenty-one of the principal branches of industry were native white Americans, while almost three-fifths were of foreign birth; 17 per cent. were industrial workers of the second generation, or of native birth but of foreign father, and 5 per cent. were native negroes. About 30 per cent. of all the females, as contrasted with only 14 per cent. of the men, are native-born of foreign father. Of the total number of wage-earners of foreign birth and of the immigration of former years, the Germans form the largest proportion, followed by the French-Canadians, English, Irish, Swedes, Scotch, French and Welsh, in the order named. Of the races of recent arrival in the United States, the largest proportion of wage-earners is furnished by the Poles, the representation of this race being almost one-tenth of the entire operating forces of the principal industries of the country. The race next most extensively employed is the Slovak, followed by the South Italian, which race, in turn, is closely followed by the North Italian. The Magyar, Lithuanian and Croatian races appear in the next largest proportions. Altogether, fifty-six distinct races appeared in the working forces of the mines and manufacturing establishments included in the recent comprehensive inquiry of the Immigration Commission. Thirty-seven of these races were of the south and east of Europe or of the Orient. Almost onehalf of all the wage-earners were from southern and eastern European countries.

The proportion of foreign-born among the opera

ting forces of the principal branches of manufacturing and mining were as follows: more than one-half of the iron and steel workers, employees of oil refineries, slaughtering and meat-packing establishments, furniture factories, leather tanneries and finishing establishments and woolen and worsted goods and cottonmill operatives; about two-fifths of the glass workers; one-third of the silk-mill operatives, glove-factory employees and cigar and tobacco makers; seven-tenths of men and women garment makers; more than onefourth of the boot and shoe factory operatives; fourfifths of the wage-earners in sugar refineries.

The native-born white Americans, or native-born whites of native father, are employed most extensively in the manufacture of cigars and tobacco, collars and cuffs, glass, gloves, and shoes. Only a small proportion, ranging from one-tenth to one-fifth of the wage-earners in the other leading branches of industry in the country, are native white Americans. The native negroes have their largest numbers of wage-earners in cigar and tobacco manufacturing, bituminous coal mining, construction work, and ironore mining of the Southern States; considerable proportions are also engaged in the slaughtering and meat-packing industry. The wage-earners of the second generation, or of native birth of foreign father, have about the same racial distribution according to industries as the native-born whites of native father.

French-Canadians are principally employed in the manufacture of cotton goods, woolen and worsted goods, in copper mining and smelting, and in the manufacture of shoes and collars and cuffs. The Croatians are found in the largest proportions in railroad and other construction work, copper mining and

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