Scotch, Greek, or Bulgarian households. Both the Bulgarian and French having 5 and 6 persons per household show smaller proportions than are shown by households the heads of which are of any other race.

As regards those households having 7 and 8 persons, the Greeks with 28.1 per cent in the former and the Slovaks with 11.7 per cent in the latter show the largest proportions. The South Italians, with 2.6 per cent having 9 persons and 2.2 per cent having 10 or more persons, again show the smallest proportions, while the Bulgarians, with 18.5 and 29.6 per cent, respectively, show a much larger proportion in each instance than is shown by any other race. The French households alone, it will be noted, report no proportion having more than 7 persons per household. With 17.1 per cent of households consisting of 10 or more persons the Scotch show a proportion lower than the 29.6 per cent shown by the Bulgarians, but considerably above the proportions shown by households the heads of which were of any other race.

CONGESTION.

A further insight into the degree of congestion within the households studied and its effect upon living arrangements is afforded by the series of tables next submitted. The first table presented shows, by general nativity and race of head of household, the average number of persons in the households studied per apartment, per room, and per sleeping room:

TABLE 695.—Average number of persons per apartment, per room, and per sleeping room, by general nativity and race of head of household.

a Not including one household not reporting number of rooms.

Not including one household not reporting number of sleeping rooms.

The preceding table shows a higher degree of congestion in the foreign-born than in the native-born households, the former having a higher average number of persons per apartment, per room, and per sleeping room. For each 100 apartments the native-born show 355 persons as compared with 517 for the foreign-born, and 128

persons for each 100 rooms as compared with 188 for the foreignborn. In sleeping rooms, the native-born households have an average of 221 persons for each 100, while the foreign-born have 297 persons. The greatest degree of congestion is exhibited by the Bulgarian and Macedonian households, in the number of persons per apartment, per room, and per sleeping room. The Greeks and South Italians closely approach the degree of congestion of the Bulgarians and Macedonians in all rooms and in sleeping rooms only. The French households have the smallest average number of persons per room and per sleeping room. The native negro shows a smaller average number of persons per apartment and per sleeping room than is shown for the native white, but a higher average per room.

The range in the number of persons per room is shown, by general nativity and race of head of household, in the table next presented: TABLE 696.-Persons per room, by general nativity and race of head of household.

a Not computed, owing to small number involved.

Not including 1 household not reporting number of rooms.

This table, covering 660 households reporting complete data, shows an average of 1.76 persons per room. Of the foreign-born there are 1.88 persons per room as against 1.28 persons per room among the native-born. The average number of persons per room is slightly higher with the negro native-born of native father, than with the native-born white of native father, although neither averages 2 persons per room. Among the foreign-born races the Macedonians and Bulgarians, each with more than 3 persons per room, display the highest averages, while both Greeks and South Italians average more than 2 persons per room. All other races have over 1 person per room, but the averages of the French and English are lower than the others. Of the households having 1 or more persons per room, the Bulgarians and Greeks are first, with 100 per cent each, and all other races, excepting the French, show more than 90 per cent so housed. The Greeks and Bulgarians also show the greatest percentage of households with 2 or more persons per room, while the French show

only 6.8 per cent. Over 50 per cent of the South Italians are thus reported, while the Slovaks and Scotch come below that figure. It will be observed that the French and Scotch, both representatives of the older immigration, show lower averages than the other races throughout. Only two races, Greek and Bulgarian, have over 50 per cent of households with 3 or more persons per room. The South Italian has over 20 per cent and the Slovak comes a little below that mark, while the French and Scotch report a trifle over 2 per cent each. In the column showing the households with 4 or more persons per room, the Bulgarian still leads with 38.5 per cent, the Greek coming next, with 12.5 per cent, while the remaining races show a very slight percentage or, in the case of the French and Scotch, none at all.

The following table shows, by general nativity and race of head of household, the number of persons per sleeping room:

TABLE 697.-Persons per sleeping room, by general nativity and race of head of household. (STUDY OF HOUSEHOLDS.)

a Not computed, owing to small number involved.

Not including 1 household not reporting number of sleeping rooms.

The foregoing table shows the average number of persons per sleeping room to be 2.81. Of these households, 564 have 2 or more persons per sleeping room and a majority show 3 or more, while only 28, or 4.2 per cent, report as many as 6. The households whose heads were foreign-born report a much larger average number of persons in each sleeping room than do the native-born of native father. The percentage of households having 2 or more persons per sleeping room is seen to be the highest, or 100 per cent, among the foreignborn Bulgarians, followed by the Greeks, South Italians and Slovaks. Of those having 6 or more persons per sleeping room the percentage is comparatively high among the South Italians and Slovaks, while the Bulgarians, Scotch, and French have no households with this number per sleeping room.

The effect upon living arrangements by the congestion within the households is shown in the table next presented. It shows, by general nativity and race of head of household, the number and per cent of households regularly sleeping in all except each specified number of

rooms.

TABLE 698.-Number and per cent of households regularly sleeping in all except each specified number of rooms, by general nativity and race of head of household.

a Not computed, owing to small number involved.

Not including 1 household not reporting number of rooms.

As shown by this table, the average number of rooms per household is 2.74, and the average number of sleeping rooms for each household is 1.72. The percentage of households using all rooms except one to sleep in is very large, while 22.4 per cent use all rooms and only 17.4 per cent reserve two rooms for living purposes. The foreign-born show an average of 2.74 rooms per household, while the native-born negroes of native father report 2.67, and the native-born whites of native father a much higher average of 3.91 rooms per household. The foreign-born exhibit a very high percentage of households sleeping in all rooms, while the native-born negroes of native father show a low proportion.

A comparison of the different races of foreign birth shows the Scotch and English households to have a rather high average number of rooms per household, while the Greeks report the lowest average. The foreign-born Scotch, English, and North Italians, and the nativeborn whites of native father, exhibit larger average numbers of sleeping rooms per household than do the other races, while the South Italians exhibit the lowest. The percentage of households using all rooms for sleeping is very large among the Greeks and Bulgarians. A large proportion of households of Slovaks, South Italians, and French and native-born negroes have only one room in addition to sleeping rooms. A very small percentage of the Scotch households sleep in all rooms, and they present the largest percentage sleeping in all except two rooms.

CHAPTER VIII.

SALIENT CHARACTERISTICS.

Literacy-Conjugal condition-Visits abroad-Age classification of employees and members of their households-Criminality-[Text Tables 699 to 710 and General Tables 406 to 415].

LITERACY.

The immigrant iron and steel workers in the Birmingham district exhibit characteristics which are significant from the standpoint of industrial progress and efficiency, and which are also important in considering the general bearing of immigration upon American life and institutions. One of the facts of interest in connection with the population of recent immigrants is the high degree of illiteracy which prevails. The following table shows, by general nativity and race, the per cent of male iron and steel workers who are able to read and the per cent who are able to both read and write:

TABLE 699.-Per cent of male employees who read and per cent who read and write, by general nativity and race.

(STUDY OF EMPLOYEES.)

[This able includes only races with 40 or more males reporting. The totals, however, are for all races.]

Of the 5,424 male employees in this locality included in the preceding table, 80 per cent read and 78.8 per cent read and write. The native-born whites show 98.6 per cent of their number who read, as compared with 98.2 per cent of the native-born of foreign father,