CHAPTER IV.

WORKING CONDITIONS.

Regularity of employment-The immigrant and organized labor-[Text Tables 32 and 33 and General Table 19].

REGULARITY OF EMPLOYMENT.

The regularity of employment, as well as the relative industries of the employees of the several races and nativity groups, is exhibited by the table which appears below and which shows, by general nativity and race of individual, the months worked during the past year by males in the households studied who were 16 years of age or over.

TABLE 32.-Months worked during the past year by males 16 years of age or over employed away from home, by general nativity and race of individual.

(STUDY OF HOUSEHOLDS.)

[This table includes only races with 20 or more males reporting. The totals, however, are for all races.]

It appears from the above table that of the males for whom information was secured almost all worked at least six months during the year, that 98.7 per cent worked nine months or over, and that 93.5 per cent worked twelve months. The proportion of males who worked nine months or over and twelve months, respectively, is larger for the native-born of foreign father than for the foreign-born. Of the foreign-born, all the Magyars and Norwegians and a larger

proportion of the Poles and Finns than of the individuals of any other race worked twelve months during the year. The proportion of males who worked nine months or over is smallest for the Croatians and Finns.

THE IMMIGRANT AND ORGANIZED LABOR.

The small extent to which the mine workers are members of labor organizations is set forth in the following table, which shows, by general nativity and race of individual, the affiliation with trade unions of males, in the households studied, who were 21 years of age

or over.

As can be seen from the table below, of 635 males 21 years of age or over employed in the copper-mining industry only two are affiliated with labor unions-one Norwegian and one Pole:

TABLE 33.-Affiliation with trade unions of males 21 years of age or over who are working for wages, by general nativity and race of individual.

CHAPTER V.

HOUSING AND LIVING CONDITIONS.

Rent in its relation to standard of living-Boarders and lodgers-Size of apartments occupied-Size of households studied-Congestion [Text Tables 34 to 46 and General Tables 20 to 31].

RENT IN ITS RELATION TO STANDARD OF LIVING.

The monthly rent payments of the households the heads of which were copper mining and smelting operators are chiefly significant in their bearing upon the standard of living of the employees, owing to the practice of crowding persons in the apartments in order to reduce the per capita rent. This condition is disclosed by the following series of tables, the first of which shows, by general nativity and race of head of household, the average rent per month per apartment, per room, and per person:

TABLE 34.-Average rent per month, by general nativity and race of head of household. (STUDY OF HOUSEHOLDS.)

The total number of households pay an average rent per month of $6.21 per apartment, $1.33 per room, and $1.13 per sleeping room. These figures closely reflect the rent per month paid by foreign-born households, all but 11 of the 310 households being of that class. The households of the native-born of native father average a higher rent

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per apartment and per sleeping room than the households of the foreign-born, but a lower rent per room than the latter. Of the specified races the Croatian, German, Norwegian, and Swedish pay a higher rent per apartment than the native-born of native father. Excepting the French Canadian, English, and Irish each specified race averages a higher rent per room than the native-born of native father. The North Italian, however, is the only race averaging a higher rent per sleeping room than the native-born of native father. A relatively low average rent per apartment per room and per sleeping room is paid by the French Canadian, English, and Polish. A relatively high rent in each particular is paid by the Croatians.

The following table exhibits the range in payments by showing the percentage of households paying each specified rent per month per apartment, according to general nativity and race of head of household:

TABLE 35.-Per cent of households paying each specified rent per month per apartment, by general nativity and race of head of household.

(STUDY OF HOUSEHOLDS.)

[This table include sonly races with 20 or more households reporting. The totals, however, are for all races.]

Of the households for which information was secured almost all pay a rental of less than $12.50 per month per apartment, 93.5 per cent pay under $10, 78.4 per cent pay under $7.50, and only 13.2 per cent pay under $5. The proportion of households paying under $5 per month is largest for the Finns and Irish, while the English, Finns, and North Italians have the largest and the Croatians and Swedes the smallest proportion of households paying under $7.50.

The next table presented shows, by general nativity and race of head of household, the percentage of households paying each specified rent per month per room.

TABLE 36.-Per cent of households paying each specified rent per month per room, by general nativity and race of head of household.

(STUDY OF HOUSEHOLDS.)

[This table includes only races with 20 or more households reporting. The totals, however, are for all races.]

Per cent paying

a Not computed, owing to small number involved.

pay less

The greater proportion of the total number of households than $2 per month per room; 21.9 per cent pay less than $1. These figures reflect the rent per room paid by the foreign-born households, since all but 11 of the 310 households are of that class. Low rent per room is most general among the English, 72 per cent of whom pay under $1 per month and 96 per cent under $2. The greater proportion of the Croatians and North Italians pay under $3 per month per room, relatively high rent per room being most general among the former. The remaining specified races most commonly pay under $2. The per cent of households paying each specified rent per month per person is shown by the following table, according to general nativity and race of head of household:

TABLE 37.-Per cent of households paying each specified rent per month per person, by general nativity and race of head of household.

(STUDY OF HOUSEHOLDS.)

[This table includes only races with 20 or more households reporting. The totals, however, are for all races.]

Per cent paying

Under $1. Under $2. Under $3. Under $4.