but rather of some external circumstances that in another generation may entirely disappear.

The reports of the parochial schools, as compared with the public schools, show certain interesting differences, especially as regards the race distribution of pupils in the different schools. For example, the children of foreign-born French-Canadian fathers form only 0.6 per cent. of the total of the public schools, while they are 4.5 per cent. of the total of the parochial schools. The children with foreign-born Hebrew fathers make 17.6 per cent. of the total in public schools and o.1 per cent. of those in the parochial schools. On the other hand, children with foreign-born Irish fathers make 4.8 per cent. of the total in public schools and 26.9 per cent. of those in the parochial schools. Generally speaking, of course, the races of the Roman Catholic religion have much larger numbers in the parochial schools than do the races with the Protestant religion or especially the Hebrews. In only five of the 24 cities does the same race rank first among foreign races in both the public and parochial schools. In Boston the Irish rank first in both kinds of schools; in Kansas City and Los Angeles, the Germans; in Manchester, New Hampshire, the French-Canadians; in New Orleans, the South Italians.

The report on students of higher educational institutions is of some interest, but of not so great value for the study of the immigration problem. In the colleges the percentage of native-born white children of native-born parents is much higher than in the public schools, as is of course to be expected, forming, in the institutions studied, 64 per cent. of the whole. A considerably larger proportion of the males than of the

females were foreign-born; 11.6 per cent. of the males, 5.4 per cent. of the females.

Some interesting figures are found in regard to the apparent tendency of certain races to enter special occupations. For example, among the male students, native-born of foreign fathers, 11.6 per cent. of those studying theology are Irish, 6.3 per cent. of those studying law, 3.7 per cent. of those in medicine; while the Hebrew students, male, native-born of foreign fathers, form 7.3 per cent. of those studying law and only 0.1 per cent. of those studying theology. Evidently the Irish are much more inclined toward the study of theology than the Hebrews.

On the whole, the study of the schools shows an extremely hopeful feature, the foreign-born, generally speaking, taking great interest in the schools which form the chief assimilative force among them.

Inasmuch as the welfare of our school children is so largely dependent upon the teachers, it is a matter of special interest to note the nativity and races of the teachers in the public schools. The number of teachers regarding whom information concerning races was secured was 49,067. Of that number 94.2 per cent. were native-born, but 42.8 per cent. of the entire number were native-born of foreign parents. Six of the foreign races were represented by more than one hundred teachers each, as follows:

The five races showing the largest number of teachers who were native-born of foreign father are as follows:

Irish, 8,723, forming 17.8 per cent. of the total number; German, 3,946, 8 per cent.; English, 2,294, 4.7 per cent.; Hebrew, 1,639, 3.3 per cent.; Scotch, I,IIO, 2.3 per cent.

A few of the cities investigated that show the largest proportion of foreign-born teachers are Duluth, with 10.4 per cent; Detroit, 9.5 per cent.; Chicago, 8.1 per cent.; New York, 7.9 per cent. The cities showing the largest proportion of teachers who were native-born with foreign father are: Shenandoah, 69.3 per cent.; Scranton, 59.7 per cent.; San Francisco, 57.0 per cent.; seven of the thirty cities showing more than one-half of the teachers as immigrants of the second generation. On the whole, however, it is interesting to note that in twenty-seven of these cities the teachers who were native-born white with a native-born father form a larger proportion of the total than do the teachers of any other race. In three cities-Shenandoah, Worcester and Scranton, the Irish of the second generation have the highest percentage. In seven of the thirty cities more than ten per cent. are German of the second generation; in eight more than a fourth of the teachers for whom information was secured are Irish of the second generation. As would be expected, the Germans predominate in the Middle West-Cincinnati, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Cleveland; the Irish in the East-Shenandoah, Worcester, Lowell, Fall River; but there is also one noteworthy exception, in San Francisco, where the Irish of the second generation form 28.2 per cent. of the teach

ers.

These figures, taken as a whole, are especially reassuring. Complaint has been made that in many instances the children are taught by foreign-born teachers whose knowledge of English is so imperfect that the children are sure to fail to acquire a satisfactory knowledge of the language which they should use with accuracy. Altho, doubtless, there are individual instances where this is the case, the figures given above show that inasmuch as less than 6 per cent. of the teachers are foreign-born, this can not be a factor so significant as is often imagined. Generally speaking, the native-born of foreign parents speak English with substantially the same accuracy as those nativeborn of native parents. In other regards there is no reason for believing that the equipment of either the foreign-born or of the native-born of foreign parents for the work of teaching is materially less satisfactory than that of the native-born.

ABILITY TO SPEAK ENGLISH

Inability to speak English, as a matter of fact, is the greatest obstacle to the proper distribution of the recent immigrant population. It causes segregation of the immigrant races in industrial towns and large cities, and prevents proper contact with American life. and institutions. Moreover, the recent immigrant, until he has acquired a knowledge of English, must remain in the ranks of unskilled labor, even if he has been a farmer or has had technical training abroad. As soon as a knowledge of English is obtained, not only standards of living change, but there also occurs a distribution and proper adjustment upon an industrial basis. This condition of affairs is quite plainly seen among members of races of southern and eastern

Europe who have had a long period of residence in this country.

There is a rapid advancement in the proportion of persons able to speak English corresponding to an increased period of residence in the United States. Of the total number of 211,000 immigrant wage-earners in mines and factories studied by the Immigration Commission who had been in this country less than five years, only 28.6 per cent. could speak English, as contrasted with 59.6 per cent. with a residence of five to nine years and 83.1 per cent. who had been in the United States ten years or over. The smallest proportion of employees able to speak English with a residence under five years were, in the order named, the Cuban, Portuguese, Bulgarian, Turkish, Ruthenian, Polish, Macedonian, Greek, Finnish, Lithuanian, South Italian, Russian and Rumanian races, all of which fall below the general showing for the total number of foreign-born wage-earners who have been here that length of time. Of the employees with a residence of five to nine years, the Cubans exhibited a percentage of only 15.2, and the Spaniards of 16.4, with ability to speak English, while the French-Canadians, South Italians, Montenegrins, Poles, Portuguese, and Ruthenians showed less than that for the average within this residence period. Of the employees who had been in the United States ten years or longer, the Cubans, Spaniards, Mexicans, Portuguese, South Italians, Servians, Syrians, Poles, French-Canadians and Magyars, all of whom had less than four-fifths of their number able to speak English, indicate, in the order mentioned, the least progress in this regard.

As regards the males from southern and eastern Europe with a residence of ten years or over, the