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Industrial Progress and Efficiency

As the period of residence increases, the industrial progress and efficiency of the immigrant is noticeable. Handicapped as the southern or eastern European is, however, by an absence of industrial training and experience and the inability to speak English, progress must needs be very slow. The greatest obstacle to a more rapid industrial advancement, as in the case of other lines of progress, lies in the fact that the recent immigrant can not speak English and, as a rule, is so isolated in his working and living arrangements, that he has little opportunity to acquire the language. In this connection his attitude toward the industry in which he is employed should also be considered. In general, it may be said that the southern and eastern European often does not intend to remain permanently in the country or at the work in which he is engaged. His primary object is to earn as much as possible within a limited period of time under the conditions of employment obtaining at the time he begins his work. He is not looking to advancement in the scale of occupations, or to gaining permanently a position in any branch of mining or of manufacturing. Consequently, industrial progress is an individual and not a racial phenomenon. Representatives of all the races of recent arrival in the United States are indeed found scattered through the higher and more remunerative occupations in the principal branches of mining and manufacturing. Very rarely, however, is a recent immigrant employed in a supervisory or administrative position of any importance. The great mass of foreign-born workmen remain in the ranks of unskilled, or semi-skilled, laborers. In cotton and woolen goods

manufacturing, in coal mining and other branches of industry, the southern and eastern European works in connection with machines, but these machines have eliminated the skill formerly required and the immigrants' duties are largely mechanical. From the standpoint of the general industrial situation it may be said that recent immigrant wage-earners as a whole have made substantial advancement in earning ability after a more or less extended period of residence, but the great majority remain in the unskilled occupations, and the comparatively few cases of marked industrial progress are a matter of individual effort and intelligence.

Naturalization and Interest in Public Affairs

The tendency toward the acquisition of citizenship and permanent residence by recent immigrants is not very marked and is largely dependent upon period of residence. A study of 68,942 males who had been in the United States five years and who were twenty-one years of age or over, was made by the Immigration Commission in connection with its industrial investigations, and may be considered representative of the recent alien population. Of this number, all of whom could have been citizens, exactly one-third were fully naturalized, and an additional 16 per cent. had secured first papers. In other words, a fraction less than 50 per cent. of these foreign-born employees had either become citizens or declared their intention to become such. On account of the difference in the length of time the various races have been coming to the United States, a comparison of the older with the more recent immigrants is hardly fair. It is best to separate the

races into two groups, one including all races of older immigration and the other all races of more recent immigration. When this is done, about seven-tenths of the older, as compared with about three-tenths of the more recent, are shown to be either fully naturalized or to have declared their intention to become so. Altho one race may show a much larger proportion fully naturalized than some other, this other race may and in some instances does show a much larger proportion with first papers. The only conclusion, therefore, to be drawn is that the one with the largest proportion fully naturalized was quicker than the other to appreciate the advantages to be gained by becoming citizens. This result in some instances is probably brought about by a closer association either with earlier arrivals of their own race who have become voters or with Americans.

This is perhaps better illustrated by the recent immigrants than by the older. For instance, among the races studied by the Immigration Commission, the Italians show 35 per cent. fully naturalized and only 10 per cent. additional holding first papers, while the Austrians have 22.1 per cent. fully naturalized, but an additional 31 per cent. holding first papers. Thus it will be seen that the Austrians in reality have manifested greater interest in American citizenship than have the Italians. For this reason it is considered best to combine the proportion of each race fully naturalized with the additional proportion having only first papers. By such a combination it will be seen that the interest in acquiring citizenship manifested by the more recent immigrant male industrial workers who had been in this country a sufficient length of time to apply for naturalization papers ranges as follows:

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As contrasted with the foregoing, the following proportions represent the situation among the older immigrants:

PERCENTAGE OF OLDER IMMIGRANTS NATURALIZED AND

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Of the total number of industrial workers studied by the Immigration Commission who had a residence of five years to nine years, only 6.2 per cent. were fully naturalized, as compared with a degree of citizenship of 56.9 per cent. of those with a period of residence of ten years or over. The Swedes, Irish and Finns exhibited the greatest interest in acquiring citizenship shortly after they were eligible. More than

three-fourths of the Bohemian and Moravian, Danish, German, Irish, Norwegian, Scotch, Swedish and Welsh races who had been in the United States ten years or longer had been fully naturalized. The lack of political or civic interest of southern and eastern Europeans on the other hand, is shown by the following percentages of fully naturalized representatives of some of the principal races with a residence of ten years or longer:

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Thrift among immigrants exhibits itself in two ways: in the accumulation of bank accounts, and in the purchase of homes or business property. Closely connected with the first is the remitting of funds to the old country.* Immigrants expecting to return to their former homes, those who have relatives there dependent upon them for support or who intend to bring relatives to this country, are in the habit of accumulating funds in the bank. On the other hand, races or individuals that have arrived at the stage where permanent settlement of the entire family in this country has been accomplished, are in the habit of investing their savings in homes and sometimes in business.

* See Chapter VII, Recent Immigrant Institutions.

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