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smelting, iron and steel manufacturing, iron-ore mining, slaughtering and meat packing, bituminous coal mining, leather manufacturing and oil refining. The Cuban and Spanish races are almost exclusively wageearners in cigar and tobacco factories. The Danish appear in the greatest number in collar and cuff manufacture. By far the largest proportions of the Dutch are employed in furniture factories, a considerable percentage also being found in silk dyeing and silk goods manufacturing establishments. The English and German wage-earners appear among the working forces of all the principal branches of industry, the largest proportions of the former race being engaged in the manufacture of gloves, woolen and worsted goods, copper mining and smelting, and the manufacture of cotton goods, while the Germans have the largest numbers in sugar refining, silk dyeing, leather manufacturing and in the manufacture of agricultural implements and vehicles. The Finns are chiefly employed in copper mining and smelting and in iron-ore mining on the Minnesota and Michigan ranges. The Greek race shows the largest number of representatives in leather and cotton goods manufacturing and in railroad and other construction work. Hebrews have by far the largest proportions engaged in making clothing. Relatively large numbers of this race are also found in glove and shoe factories.

North and South Italians are most extensively employed in silk dyeing, railroad and other construction work, iron-ore mining, bituminous coal mining and in clothing manufacturing. Larger or smaller proportions of Lithuanians appear in practically all of the principal branches of industry, the highest percentages of wage-earners of this race being engaged in sugar

refining, clothing and furniture manufacturing, in the making of agricultural implements and vehicles, in oil refining and bituminous coal mining. Magyars are also well distributed, the greatest numbers being found in iron and steel manufacturing, bituminous coal mining, agricultural implements, silk dyeing, and sugar refining. The Poles engage in all classes of industries, the largest proportions being employed in sugar refineries, agricultural implement and vehicle establishments, cotton mills, furniture factories, bituminous coal mines, slaughtering and meat packing, and leather manufacturing. The Portuguese are not wage-earners in any considerable numbers outside the cotton mills. The Rumanians, who appear in small numbers in several different industries, have their largest representation in railroad and other construction work and in iron and steel manufacturing. Russians are extensively engaged in sugar refining, slaughtering and meat packing, the manufacture of clothing and, in bituminous coal mining. The Slovak race is most largely employed in bituminous coal mining, oil refining, and iron and steel manufacturing. In the minor industries, foreign-born workmen are found in varying proportions. In small manufactures where skill and experience are required of employees, the native Americans and older immigrants from northern and western Europe predominate. Where machinery is used, southern and eastern Europeans have usually found a lodgment in the working forces. Sixty per cent. or more of the male portion of the operating forces in carpet, cutlery and tools, rope, twine and hemp, and zinc-smelting manufacturing establishments, as well as 50 to 60 per cent. in car building and repairing, foundry and machine-shop products,

and sewing-machine manufacturing, are of foreign birth.

Length of Residence of Immigrant Employees

Of the employees in twenty of the most important industries enumerated above, information concerning length of residence in the United States was secured for 290,923 foreign-born persons. Of that number, 116,466, or 40 per cent., had been in the United States. less than five years. Of the total number belonging to races coming from northern and western Europe and Canada, less than one-fifth had been in the United States less than five years, while of the employees of other races-almost entirely from southern and eastern Europe-slightly more than one-half had been in this country less than five years. About one-third of the foreign-born employees were of races from northern and western Europe and Canada, but of the immigrant employees who had been in the United States less than five years, only 14.3 per cent. were of these geographical areas.

Reason for the Employment of Southern and Eastern Europeans

The employment of recent immigrant wage-earners in the United States was originally due to the inability of the manufacturers and mine operators to secure other labor at the same wages in the face of the growing labor needs of the country. How far there was afterward a reversal of cause and effect, and to what extent the expansion of industry was stimulated by the availability of the recent immigrant labor sup

ply, can not be definitely stated. It is a matter of speculation and controversy, without any data at present upon which to base an approximate determination. Whatever may have been the opinion of employers as to the desirability of this class of labor, they found it necessary either to employ immigrant labor or delay industrial advancement. They chose the former course; and the present industrial situation is the result.

Occupations of Immigrants

It may be said, in general, that the recent immigrant wage-earners from the south and east of Europe are found on the lowest level of the industrial scale. Many members of the different races of recent arrival in the United States have advanced in the order of occupations, but these are rather cases of individual than of racial progress. Most of the newcomers have been without any training or experience abroad in manufacturing or mining, and have been employed in the common or unskilled labor of the different branches of industry in this country, or they have been given work to do in connection with machine processes which are largely automatic and which require no special training or apprenticeship. The one notable exception in this respect is furnished by the Russian and other Hebrews, the majority of whom have had some industrial or technical training before coming to the United States. As a consequence, they find employment chiefly in the hand trades, or enter into business in a small way after reaching this country. The only branches of manufacturing in which Russian and other Hebrews are extensively engaged are clothing, silk goods, boots and shoes, and gloves.

Weekly and Daily Earnings, According to Race, Age, Sex and Industry

The rates of pay and earnings, therefore, of southern and eastern European industrial workers, roughly correspond to the prevailing rates of remuneration and earnings of unskilled workmen. In some branches of mining and manufacturing they are paid on a piecerate basis, and consequently the most satisfactory exhibit of their industrial efficiency or earning ability may be presented in the shape of weekly earnings.* The following statement shows, by general nativity, the average weekly earnings of 220,390 male industrial workers, eighteen years of age or over, during a normal industrial week of 1909:

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It is seen that the average weekly earnings for the native-born white employees of native father or, in other words, native white Americans, were $14.37, as contrasted with $13.91 for those of native birth but of foreign father, and $11.92 for the total number of employees of foreign birth. The earnings of the British and northern European immigrants of former years are also higher than those of the newly arrived southern and eastern Europeans.

See Appendix C for a detailed presentation of earnings according to general nativity and race.

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