The degree of literacy which prevails among persons of foreign birth after designated periods of residence in this country may be seen from the table next presented, which shows, by years in the United States and race of individual, the percentage of foreign-born persons 10 years of age or over who read and percentage who read and write.

TABLE 56.-Per cent of foreign-born persons 10 years of age or over who read and per cent who read and write, by years in the United States and race of individual.

(STUDY OF HOUSEHOLDS.)

[By years in the United States is meant years since first arrival in the United States. This table includes only races with 40 or more persons reporting. The total, however, is for all foreign-born.]

In the above table over 90 per cent of the Swedes and English and the great majority of each of the other races, except the Croatians, report total literacy in each of the year groups. Of the Croatians 41.2 per cent of those under five years in this country can read and read and write, but the great majority in each of the other year groups are entirely literate.

It will be noted that, although the standards of literacy are quite high throughout, with the exception noted above the proportions of literates diminishes with years of residence in the United States in the case of each race except the Croatians and South Italians. For example all the English, Finns, and Slovenians and over 91 per cent of the Slovaks under five years in the United States can both read and write as compared with from 90.2 per cent to 73.3 per cent of the same races in the order given ten years or over here. Of the South Italians and Croatians, however, 72.7 per cent of the former and a slightly lower proportion of the latter five to nine years in this country can read and write, as compared with 63.2 per cent of the South Italians and 41.2 per cent of the Croatians in this country under five years.

The literacy of foreign-born persons according to their ages at the time of arrival in this country is contrasted in the table next presented. It shows, by age at time of coming to the United States and race of individual, the percentage of foreign-born persons ten years of age or over, in the households studied, who could read and the percentage who could read and write.

TABLE 57.-Per cent of foreign-born persons 10 years of age or over who read and per cent who read and write, by age at time of coming to the United States and race of individual.

(STUDY OF HOUSEHOLDS.)

[This table includes only races with 40 or more persons reporting. The total, however, is for all foreign

Of those persons who were under 14 years of age at time of coming to the United States, 93.8 per cent can read and both read and write, while of those who were 14 years of age or over at time of coming 79.8 per cent can read and 77.6 per cent can both read and write. Thus it will be seen that the percentage of illiteracy is not so great among those who were under 14 years of age as among those 14 years of age or over at time of coming to the United States.

It will be noted that the percentage of persons of each race under 14 years of age at time of coming to the United States who both read and write is identical with the per cent who read only-the English, Finns, and Swedes each reporting 100 per cent, as compared with 90 per cent of the Slovaks and 77.8 per cent of the South Italians. On the other hand, of those who were 14 years of age or over at time of coming to the United States, the Swedes, with 100 per cent who can read and 98.6 per cent who can both read and write, show the largest proportion, while the Croatians, with 48.3 per cent who read and both read and write, show the smallest proportion. With the exception of the South Italians and Croatians each race shows a proportion of those who were 14 years of age or over at time of coming to the United States in excess of the proportion shown in the total for all foreign-born persons.

CONJUGAL CONDITION.

The conjugal condition of the mine workers and members of their households is studied in the series of tabulations next submitted, the first of which shows, by general nativity and race, the percentage of male employees who were 20 years of age or over and who were in each conjugal condition.

TABLE 58.—Per cent of male employees 20 years of age or over in each conjugal condition, by general nativity and race.

(STUDY OF EMPLOYEES.)

[This table includes only races with 40 or more males reporting. The totals, however, are for all races.]

The preceding table shows that of 7,494 male employees who are 20 years of age or over, 40.2 per cent are single, 57.2 per cent are married, and 2.6 per cent are widowed. The employees who are native-born whites of native father and those who are native-born negroes of native father show a considerably higher per cent who are married than employees of foreign birth or of those who were native-born of foreign father. Employees who were negroes nativeborn of native father exhibit the highest percentage widowed, followed by the whites native-born of native father, the native-born of foreign father, and the foreign-born, in the order named. Of the employees native-born of foreign father, those whose fathers were born in England show the highest percentage married and widowed, while the employees of Irish birth show the smallest proportion married and no persons widowed. Of employees of foreign birth, Bulgarians, Slovaks, and French Canadians show over 70 per cent married as contrasted with only 26.2 per cent of Montenegrin employees in this conjugal condition. French Canadian and English employees show the highest percentage widowed and the Bulgarian, South Italian, Montenegrin, and Slovenian employees no persons widowed.

The table next submitted divides the totals of the one immediately preceding and shows, by age groups and general nativity and race, the percentage of male employees for whom information was secured who were in each conjugal condition.

TABLE 59.-Per cent of male employees in each conjugal condition, by age groups and general nativity and race.

(STUDY OF EMPLOYEES.)

[This table includes only races with 100 or more maies reporting. The totals, however, are for all races.]

Of the 7,494 males 20 years of age or over employed in the iron ore industry, 57.2 per cent are married, 40.2 per cent single, and 2.6 per cent widowed. The native-born of native father, both white and negro, shows the largest proportion married, the foreign-born and native-born of foreign father following in the order named. The position of the nativity groups is reversed as regards those who are single. The Croatian and North Italian are the only foreign-born races showing a larger proportion of their number single than married, and the English is the only foreign-born race showing as high as 5 per cent widowed.

Comparing the total number in each age group it is seen that the proportion who are single decreases and the proportion who are married, as well as the proportion who are widowed, increases with age. While this is true of the totals, the foreign-born and the native-born negroes are the only nativity divisions to which it applies, the nativeborn of native father, white, and the native-born of foreign father varying in that a larger proportion of those who are from 30 to 44 years of age than of either those who are from 20 to 29 years of age or those who are 45 years of age or over are married. The English, Polish, Slovak, and Swedish race groups each show a larger proportion of their number who are from 30 to 44 years of age than of either those who are from 20 to 29 years of age or those who are 45 years of age or over who are married. The same comparison made with regard to the total applies to each other race.

48290° -VOL 16-11-18

The following table shows, by sex, age groups, and by general nativity and race of individual, the percentage of persons in the households studied who were in each conjugal condition.

TABLE 60.—Per cent of persons in each conjugal condition, by sex, age groups, and by general nativity and race of individual.

(STUDY OF HOUSEHOLDS.)

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

In the preceding table, of the 543 persons studied, 92.1 per cent are married, a still larger proportion of the foreign-born, and but 46.2 per cent of the native-born of foreign father. Less than 2 per cent of either of the three classes are widowed. None of the Croatian, Finnish, or Swedish females, none of the Finnish males, and but 2.3