COMMUNITY A.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTION.

General description-Inducements offered to immigrants-Obstacles to immigration— Local prejudice.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION.

Community A is located in western Pennsylvania on the Monongahela River, about 40 miles south of Pittsburg, in an important bituminous coal-mining region. Its most extensive industries are included in the glass-manufacturing group, although large quantities of coal are mined in the vicinity. Transportation facilities are furnished by two large railway systems, extensive electric lines, and several lines of river boats.

INDUCEMENTS OFFERED TO IMMIGRANTS.

The inducements which this community holds out to immigrants may be grouped into three classes:

(a) Inducements through available employment in the following enterprises: (1) Glass factories (chiefly in the unskilled occupations). (2) Shovel works, lumber yards, and breweries. (3) Bituminous coal mines. (4) Miscellaneous business.

(b) Inducements to immigrants from southeastern Europe, resulting from the policy of the larger plants in regard: (1) Increased use of machinery (effect of creating demand for cheap labor). (2) Failure to recognize labor unions.

(c) Inducements in lower cost of living in the community as compared with other localities nearer Pittsburg.

OBSTACLES TO IMMIGRATION.

The obstacles which the community places in the way of foreign immigration may be presented as follows:

(a) An obstacle to immigration, if the immigrants are considered as a component part of the total labor supply, exists in the policy of the larger glass companies of reducing the wages of unskilled labor to a point barely sufficient to attract the necessary labor from other localities in times of abundant supply.

(b) Obstacles to the coming Belgian, French, and German glass workers have resulted from (1) the introduction of machinery, and (2) the employment of the cheaper and unskilled labor from southern and eastern Europe.

(c) Obstacles to the coming southern European immigrants have been made evident in two ways (1) through an attitude on the part of

employers toward certain classes of immigrants-chiefly the South Italians partaking largely of the nature of prejudice, and (2) through a general hostility of the labor unions toward the southern European races, because the latter have supplied a much cheaper labor than was formerly employed.

LOCAL PREJUDICE.

No evidence of prejudice on the part of the native Americans toward the Germans, Belgians, French, Swedes, or other northern European races was encountered in the community. On the contrary, it was claimed by all persons interviewed that these races made good workmen and excellent citizens, and that they were a valuable addition to the community. On the other hand, the southern European races are regarded as of a more or less distinctly lower class, and expressions of contempt for them are frequently heard. The Slovaks and Russians are regarded as of the worst class of immigrants in the community. Business men regard them as unreliable; doctors, as being difficult to deal with; and the community at large, as being a necessary evil. There is a distinction in the community between the Northern and Southern Italians. The former are considered as better in every way than the other races from southern Europe, while the latter are regarded as on a par with, or even less desirable than, the Slovaks and Russians. This is a statement of sentiment on the part of residents, and not of employers, and reveals only a small degree of prejudice. The cosmopolitan nature and the newness of the town have prevented to a large extent the existence of any very sharp class distinctions, so that prejudice toward any one set or race of people has not as yet resulted in any appreciable degree. This tendency is tempered also by the fact that American employers and business men of American and northern European races are to a large extent dependent upon the southern European immigrants as laborers and customers.

CHAPTER II.

RACIAL DISPLACEMENTS.

History of immigration-Present population of the community-Reasons for employing immigrants-Methods of securing immigrant labor-[Text Table 124].

HISTORY OF IMMIGRATION.

The industrial history of Community A and the history of its glass industries are analogous. The community is almost entirely dependent upon the glass factories. The large majority of the population is held in the community only because of the employment obtainable in these establishments, while the remaining portion is present, due to the opportunity of rendering certain commercial and professional services, as, for example, merchants or physicians. The income of the community is governed by the wages paid in the glass plants, while the expenditures are regulated by the customs and habits of the various races and classes of people composing the population. The significance of the presence of races who send abroad a large proportion of their incomes is evident, although difficult to measure. The industrial history of the community may be divided into three periods, and most advantageously discussed in connection with the general causes which have influenced immigration. The history of immigration, the industrial history of the place, and the history of the glass factories in this community, have been made together, so to speak, and it is impossible to present one without presenting the other two. The causes which have influenced immigrants to settle in Community A, considered directly in connection with the history of the glass plants (which is, as has been said, the industrial history of the community), fall into groups peculiar to three periods, as follows: (1) The period of "hand" methods, during which time all labor was performed by hand-covering the years 1892-1898; (2) the period during which machinery was introduced, precipitating a break between the employers and the labor unions, and resulting in the employment of cheaper foreign labor-including the years 1898-1904, and (3) the period of "open" and nonunion shops in all of the larger establishments in the community, which has lasted from the year 1904 to the present time. Before considering these divisions an inspection of the table next submitted, which presents the length of time each immigrant race has been coming to Community A and the percentage of each race which entered the several industries and occupations, will be of interest.

TABLE 124.-Per cent of immigrants entering each specified class of work, by race.

During the first period of development, 1892-1898, immigration was composed almost exclusively of Belgians, English, Germans, and French. Previous to the passage of the federal contract labor law a number of Belgian, French, and English immigrants had been imported to Crystal City, Mo., and other important glass manufacturing centers, by the management of glass plants now under control of a large Pittsburg company. These immigrants, it is stated, were willing to leave their native countries because of the unfavorable conditions existing in them caused by the introduction of machinery and the labor troubles resulting from the attempts to break up the unions. When the plate glass company was established in Community A a large number of the immigrants were transferred from the centers to which they had been originally carried to supply a nucleus of skilled labor for the new plant. The skilled labor in the plant was increased in a short time by Americans and Germans, and the unskilled gangs recruited largely from the same races. It should be recalled that at this period the proportion of skilled labor was much larger than at the present time, due to the fact that all of the glassmaking processes were at that time carried on by hand. When the chimney and glassware plant was established a little later, the same conditions were encountered as in the plate-glass factory. During the second period machinery was introduced in the chimney and glassware and the plate-glass plants in 1898, and in the years immediately succeeding a conflict with the unions took place which resulted in "open" shops in the plate-glass company's works, and in a "closed" shop in the plant of the chimney and glassware company in 1904. The trouble between the glass companies and the unions resulted in the introduction of the southern European races as unskilled laborers and as machine operators to limited extent. During this period Slovaks, Russians, Italians, and Poles as unskilled laborers entered the plate-glass works to a large extent and to a lesser extent appeared in the other glass factories in the community. A break between the unions and the chimney and glassware company, which is the largest glass establishment in the community from the standpoint of the number of employees, occurred in the latter part of 1904, soon after the plant had been unionized, and completed the work of breaking down the union barriers to the employment of unskilled immigrant labor. Since 1904 the Slovak, Russian, and Italian population has therefore been considerably increased.