xistence, according to Secretary P. Lucca, since 1892. The memership has varied a great deal from year to year, but there are now 16 members whose sales through the "colony" amounted to between $40,000 and $50,000 in 1908. All the officers are Italians, and seem o carry on the business of the association very economically and fficiently. The secretary gets $40 a year for his services, and the total expense of printing and administration is less than $100 a year. The Elm Fruit Growers' Society was established in 1893 and is the parent of Elm Farmers' Club, organized in 1900 by a number of the younger men and the large growers who were dissatisfied with the methods of the old organization.

Together they include in their lists of members nearly all of the shippers from the stations of Elm, Waterford, Ancora, and Blue Anchor, a cluster of hamlets within the limits of the small-fruit section. The society has a membership of 63, of whom 19 are Italians. One of these Italians is the largest shipper in the society, his gross sales in 1908 being more than 16 per cent of all sales made by the organization. In general, however, the Italians are the small shippers, consigning about $200 worth of berries per member yearly.

The Elm Farmers' Club is much the stronger association. When it was organized in 1900, 17 of the 38 members, or 45 per cent, were Italians; in 1905 the membership was 44, of whom 28, or 64 per cent, were Italians; in 1908 the members numbered 61; 47, or 77 per cent, were Italians. The gross sales vary greatly, but the proportion of Italian members is greater than their proportion of the total sales. Gross sales for 1908 were nearly $83,000; of this amount the Italian shippers sold 69 per cent, or $57,000 worth. This club numbers on its list of members some of the very best Italian and non-Italian berry growers in the vicinity of Hammonton.

The two organizations at Elm justify their existence, since there are few or no agents of commission houses who buy there, and hence most of the berries shipped are consigned directly to commission men. At Hammonton the need for a shippers' organization of any kind is much less since 1900, when the commission men in the cities began to send agents to purchase fruit on the platform. The purposes, administration, methods of handling shipments, and redistribution of rebates are very similar in all these organizations, with the exception of the buying of fertilizer occasionally by the colony. They are all strictly shipping associations. They each choose and print for distribution a list of commission houses in New York, Philadelphia, Newark, Boston, etc., who are supposed to be reliable and who agree to return a rebate of 3 per cent of the gross sales from the 10 per cent selling commission paid them by the shipper. This 3 per cent rebate is put into the treasury and used during the year as a sinking fund for salaries, current and contingent expenses. Whatever remains at the close of the year, usually about 2 per cent on the gross sales, is distributed to the shippers pro rata, measured by the value of their respective shipments. The rebates to the Elm Farmers' Club aggregated $2,200 for 1908. If the commission men prove reliable-and one who proves unreliable is at once dropped from the list-this rebate, netting 2 per cent, represents a surplus which would otherwise go into the pockets of the agents of the commission houses.

The next advantage gained is the cooperative ice car. On Saturday it is often profitable to load a few cars and consign them to Boston, 48296°-VOL 21-11-9

Buffalo, or Pittsburg, where they arrive early Monday morning. The members hire a car, pay a man to furnish ice and ice the car at a fixed rate (about $17) per car. Enough of the members contribute to the shipment to load the car with 250 or 300 crates of berries. During the season of 1908 the Union Italian Colony shipped a total of 30 such ice cars, 21 going to Boston and 9 to Pittsburg.

There is strength in numbers, and the organizations find they can get satisfaction from the railroads and express companies much more quickly and more fully than individuals acting independently. The Italian officers complain that it is very hard to convince the "colony" that the members as a body should be taxed for the expenses of a suit to recover damages for losses on an ice car, for example, in which only a few members are financially interested. The officers are a president, secretary, treasurer, six directors, and sometimes a sales agent, elected for one year. In all the organizations one or more Italians are on the board of directors. The officers largely control the policies of the association. The Italian officers, especially, take a lively interest in all deliberations.

Not nearly all of the produce of the members is sold through the cooperative societies, but a much larger percentage of berry shipments is handled cooperatively at Elm station than at Hammonton. The greater part of the berries raised near Hammonton are sold directly to the commission agents at that place.

The freight agents at Hammonton informed the Commission's agent that 59,794 crates of berries and 375 barrels of wine were shipped from that point in 1908, which owing to a drought was a poor year for berries. Of the berry shipments, 20,900 crates went to Philadelphia, 13,620 to Jersey City, and 12,540 to Boston, while the wine was shipped to New York and Philadelphia.

These figures do not include large consignments of berries shipped from Elm by Hammonton growers, nor do they include some heavy shipments of sweet potatoes. Probably more than two-thirds of the above shipments came from Italian farmers.

PROPERTY OWNED.

The bulk of property owned by Italians at Hammonton is in real estate, the personal estate in most cases being small. The assessed valuation of real estate held by 368 Italians and of personal property held by 337 Italians, as recorded in the tax duplicates of Hammonton for 1908, are shown in the following table:

TABLE 29.- Valuations of Italian property as shown by the tax duplicate, 1908, Hammon

ton, N. J.

The table which follows presents the estimates of their own properties made by 50 owners from whom schedules were secured by the Commission. These estimates are noticeably higher than are the values fixed by the assessors, as shown in the table next preceding.

TABLE 30.-Estimated value of property now owned by 50 South Italians at Hammonton, N. J.

Both tables give erroneous conceptions of the true value, and there is no way of arriving at real values from the assessor's figures. Some assessments are less than one-half the real value; some are 90 per cent of the real value; perhaps as a general average three-fifths or two-thirds of the actual market value is listed on the town books.

In

In some instances improvements are taxed separately, although in the tables above these are included in the real estate values. general, the total of houses, barns, and sheds run from $350 to $1,000 per owner. Some houses are assessed as low as $200, usually $300 to $500. In most instances the assessments for improvements are not reported separately.

Personal valuations include household furniture, live stock, tools, implements, goods, or crops on hand, and bank stock. The ordinary personal assessment is $25, and represents the assessment of the Italian who owns a house, but keeps no horse or other live stock. The American who owns a house, but no stock, is usually assessed $50. Horses are assessed at $25 to $50 each. Not 7 per cent of the personal assessments are for more than $100. The large assessments represent owners of stores, shops, or enterprises in town.

There are 1,532 taxpayers listed on the tax duplicate for 1908. Four hundred and fifty of these, or 29 per cent, are of Italian origin. Eighty-two of these pay poll tax only, and about 30 pay taxes on personal property, but none on real estate-they are renters. estimated that the Italians own 20 per cent of the land and pay 16 per cent of the taxes on real estate and 10 per cent of the personalproperty tax.

These comparative statements are of more value than the absolute figures, but it is to be noted that a large percentage of Americans live in the village, where property is higher, and that a large percentage are engaged in business and have stocks of goods or capital invested in industrial enterprises. Were it possible to compare the values of the farming lands owned by Italians with that owned by Americans, the Italians would not suffer in the comparison.

As has been shown elsewhere in this report, not nearly all Italians are free from mortgages and unsecured debts. Of 50 individuals, 32 report indebtedness aggregating $21,350, or 13 per cent of the total value of property reported. This percentage of indebtedness is low, lower than would appear were the total indebtedness of the Italians in Hammonton tabulated. An Italian is usually able to make a good payment on a piece of land which he buys, out of his savings. Most of them build their houses on credit, by means of loans made through the building and loan associations. Some borrow money from the other Italians and some give notes for supplies bought at the stores, but a very large number have taken advantage of the opportunities offered by the loan associations.

There are two of these building and loan associations in Hammonton, and both are well established. The Workingman's Building and Loan Association, organized in 1877, had in 1909 almost 600 members, according to Secretary Doerfel; more than 250, or 42 per cent, are Italian stockholders. There is about $200,000 now out on loans and mortgages, of which the Italians have taken more than one-half. They have made good use of this association in the buying of land for twenty-five years, and very few have defaulted. There are no Italians on the board of directors.

The Hammonton Building and Loan Association was established in 1871. This association has about 500 stockholders, less than onethird of whom are Italians. The total loans in 1909 were in the neighborhood of $210,000. No Italians hold office in the association. In both of these associations the women hold shares with their husbands, and an increasing number of shares held by Italians is for investment. The average period of turnover has been eleven and one-half years.

The Italians have no difficulty in borrowing money. Frequently loans aggregating 75 per cent of the value of land and buildings can be negotiated with the building and loan associations. They are very prompt to meet obligations, and, if circumstances prevent prompt payment, they pay as soon as they get the money in hand. "Practically every bit of Italian paper is good," said a prominent money lender.

SAVINGS AND INVESTMENTS.

Something has already been said of investments. By utilizing the loan association, or even by hoarding money in out-of-the-way places, the Italian accumulates his earnings and invests them in land and houses. One of the characteristic ambitions of the Italian is to become a landowner. To become the proprietor of a little piece of ground and have a house of his own the Italian laborer will toil late and long, live on the poorest food, and save every penny. At first the Italians were suspicious of banks, as much because of ignorance as for any other reason, and the deposits to their credit were correspondingly small. There are two local banks. The People's Bank, now having a capital stock of $50,000, was established in 1887. At first no Italians deposited there; in 1890 two or three opened small accounts. There was in 1909, as shown by the bank statement, about $356,000 of deposits at the bank. Of this amount, 25 per cent, or $90,000, was credited to Italian depositors. Approxi

mately one-half was on time certificates drawing 3 per cent interest and one-half on demand accounts.

The Hammonton Loan and Trust Company is a new banking institution, incorporated December, 1908, with a capital of $100,000. (Some Italians call it the "Italian bank," possibly because the teller is a young Italian, a "home boy," son of a prominent Italian citizen, who was educated at a Philadelphia business college.) Up to June, 1909, the deposits amounted to $55,000; of this amount $20,000 was credited to Italian customers. Italian deposits are continually growing, and bid fair to equal or exceed the American deposits very soon. Demand accounts are growing in favor and an increasing number of Italian farmers do business by check.

THRIFT.

That the South Italians know how to work hard, to persevere, and to save their earnings is the universal testimony of all who know the Hammonton farmers. Story after story is told of men who came with nothing, worked at any and all sorts of employment, saved their earnings, and in time became independent owners. A glance at the tabular histories of representative farmers, set forth graphically in the typical family table at the end of this report, gives some idea of the ability of these people to ascend economically. Near Elm, an old well-improved community, the Americans tell of a dozen farms sold to Italians at high prices by owners who were unable to make a surplus. One of the best of these farms was bought by an Italian who came twenty years ago, and worked as laborer at 35 cents a day. He paid for the land, erected a fine house, added more land, and his estate is now worth $10,000 or more. One after another the old farms at Elm are passing into Italian hands. By thrift, economy, and indefatigable labor they are able to compete with the American owners, and to pay for high-priced farms within a few years.

It is a common observation that every Italian carries a big "roll of bills." "We never have to commit an Italian to jail because he can't pay his fine," said a justice of the peace. "Impose a fine, and the convicted man digs up a big wad of dirty bills and goes away free; I never knew it to fail." This propensity for carrying money on his person or hiding bills in his house is often unfortunate. Money is frequently burned when a house catches fire, and large sums are lost or stolen and never recovered.

The Italians very seldom need assistance from the poor relief funds of the town, and there have been few Italian paupers in Hammonton. Long-continued illness, sudden disaster, like a fire, or the failure of a crop before the owner is able to make a living from his farm, occasionally sickness and old age, are the chief causes which lead Italians to apply for town aid. The total poor funds expended in 1907 were $1,162; in 1908, $1,308. The Italians received less than their proportionate share of these funds in both years.

STANDARD OF LIVING.

It may be reiterated that every Italian seems to want a home of his own; and homes and houses of every degree of filth and squalor and in every stage of neatness and comfort may be found in and about