Lapas attēli
PDF
ePub

TABULATION of data.

Where sufficient farm schedules were obtained in one community the data secured were tabulated in text tables and inserted in the body of the reports. No general tables of the strictly agricultural data were made, and no percentage tables. The principal reason for the omission of general tables and percentages is the small number of schedules obtained in any community, and the impossibility of securing arithmetical averages, by race, covering a sufficient number of comparable instances to be of any real value; for the data were gathered from farms operated under a very wide variety of conditions, natural and social, and from almost every form of agriculture. It is obviously impossible to present in figures the "average Italian farm" as shown by a dozen market gardens in Rhode Island, 20 fruit farms in Connecticut, 100 truck and berry farms in New Jersey, 25 grain and stock farms in Wisconsin, the same number of cotton farms, fruit plantations, and strawberry plots in the South. same is true of aggregates and other quantitative data.

The

In

Wherever possible a "typical family" table is presented showing the actual economic biographies, present financial condition, and farm incomes (the average of two years) of 6 to 12 farm families in each immigrant rural group, as gleaned from the schedules. some instances certain large farm expenditures and the supplementary income of the farm family from outside sources are appended. For some purposes the typical tables are the most valuable tables in the report.

A number of tabulations of agricultural data gathered in the larger communities, chiefly economic, were made. These tables include a general financial summary; place of birth and race of immigrants; previous location abroad and in the United States; occupation before coming to present location; occupation in locality previous to purchase; value of property brought to the locality; size of farm and condition of land first rented or purchased; supplemental income until living could be made from the land; price paid for first purchases; acreage, condition, and value of land now owned or rented; net value of personal property and real estate; comparative table showing net property bought, property now owned, and years since first purchase; crops produced, acreage, and value per farm; classified values of products produced and sold; classification of live stock on farm-kind, number, and value; farm expenditures for labor, fertilizer, feed and forage, and rent, classified by values, expended annually. All these tables are for a limited number of families as nearly typical of the agriculture of their respective communities as possible, but too few upon which to base accurate quantitative generalizations.

The most unsatisfactory data are those with regard to farm income. All of the schedules contained inquiries concerning crops and other products produced and sold. In some cases inquiry was made concerning farm expenditures, especially for labor, fertilizer, and feed for live stock. Because data with regard to expenditures were not secured in all cases and because it was not possible to accurately measure the amount of produce consumed on farms, no table of surplus, deficit, or net annual income of any value whatever could be made from the agricultural data secured in the East or South.

The table of crops produced in nearly all instances where the family lived in whole or in large part from the produce of their farms is somewhat short of the mark. No adequate account of the milk, butter, eggs, poultry, meat, and vegetables consumed by the farm family during the year could be obtained without organizing a much more extensive form of inquiry and investigation than was possible. The individual tables are discussed in the specific community accounts. The recorded sales of commercial crops sold in bulk are approximately correct, but small sales at odd times, produce bartered or exchanged at country stores, and even sales of milk or poultry are frequently estimates only.

Values of land, improvements, and equipment are subject to individual correction. In a general way they are high for Hebrews, rather low for the Poles, and partly high and partly too low in case of the Italians. By rather careful checking the agents were usually able to secure approximations not very wide of the mark, but actual market values probably were obtained in comparatively few instances. In general, property values were checked with assessments and estimates of real-estate men, and in a given community the errors probably cancel. Individual valuations, however, are not all true.

The reports of individual communities are not of equal weight or detail. This was inevitable under the limitations of the investigation. In some communities only a short time could be spent. This was particularly true in some of the southern colonies. Some colonies merited less attention than others and in some information was more readily secured. Certain colonies are type colonies. Others differ only in minor detail and deserve less attention.

Despite the lack of detail concerning certain settlements, the individual reports, give a much more accurate and illuminating characterization of the immigrants than any summarized tables could give, and a number of them throw a good deal of light on immigrant farming in special subindustries. If any one fact more than another has been impressed upon the investigating agents of the Commission, it is the futility of endeavoring to interpret conditions as a whole, or of making any far-reaching generalizations; hence a series of monographic studies, while falling short in finished simplicity, definition, and extended analysis, are more sharp and truthful in detail, and if somewhat confused, perhaps, are more significant and valuable than any summarized account could be, and serve better to elucidate the complexity of relations in which the immigrant stands to American rural life.

GENERAL SOCIOLOGICAL SURVEY.

In the following tables data for the total number of immigrants engaged in agriculture for whom detailed information was secured are presented. The data from which these tables were compiled were collected from a number of scattered groups of immigrants in widely separated localities and engaged in various forms of agriculture. No locality is represented by more than 50 households, and the tables are therefore significant only of the racial tendencies of the immigrants who have entered agriculture and can not well be used as a basis for fixed conclusions.

The table first submitted shows the number of persons for whom detailed information was secured, by sex and general nativity and race of individual:

TABLE 3.-Persons for whom detailed information was secured, by sex and general nativity and race of individual.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][subsumed][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

• Less than 0.05 per cent.

In the preceding table it is seen that data were obtained for 5,017 persons, 2,708 of whom were males and 2,309 females. Of the total number 3.3 per cent were native-born of native father, White, 53 per cent were native-born of foreign father, and 43.8 per cent were foreignborn. The higher percentages of the persons tabulated were of the Italian, Polish, and Hebrew races, which aggregate 42.8 per cent of the native-born of foreign father and 33.5 per cent of the foreignborn, or 76.3 per cent of the total. Poles show the largest percentage of native-born of foreign father, followed by South Italians, North Italians, and Hebrews, in the order mentioned. Among the foreignborn the same races lead, though in different order. Including native-born of foreign father, Bohemians and Moravians constitute 3.9 per cent, Slovaks 2.7 per cent, Japanese 2.4 per cent, and Portuguese 2.3 per cent of the total. Foreign-born Japanese, Poles, and South Italians show larger numbers of males than of females, while Hebrews and Slovaks show slightly larger numbers of females than of males.

The table next submitted shows the number of persons within each age group, by sex and by general nativity and race of head of household, instead of individual.

TABLE 4.—Per cent of persons within each age group, by sex and by general nativity and race of head of household.

[This table includes only races with 80 or more persons reporting. The totals, however, are for all races.]

[blocks in formation]
« iepriekšējāTurpināt »