PART II-GENERAL SURVEY OF THE AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT AND VEHICLE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY IN THE MIDDLE WEST.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTION.

Explanation of study-Employees for whom information was secured [Text Table 88 and General Table 54].

EXPLANATION OF STUDY.

The present section is a general statistical survey of the operating forces in the agricultural implement and vehicle manufacturing establishments of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin. To this discussion of the salient facts in connection with the employees of the industry has been an intensive study of a representative agricultural implement manufacturing community of the Middle West. Households the heads of which were employed in the industry were also investigated in other localities, and the results secured are shown in the tabulations for the industry as a whole, without regard for geographical distinctions.

EMPLOYEES FOR WHOM INFORMATION WAS SECURED.

A total of 21,903 employees are embraced in the tabulations for the general survey of the industry in the Middle Western States. The following table shows, by sex, the number and per cent of employees of each race for whom information was secured:

TABLE 88.-Employees of each race for whom information was secured, by sex.

TABLE 88.-Employees of each race for whom information was secured, by sex—Continued.

CHAPTER II.

RACIAL DISPLACEMENTS.

History of immigration-Period of residence in the United States of foreign-born employees-Racial classification of employees at the present time [Text Tables 89 and 90 and General Table 55].

HISTORY OF IMMIGRATION.

No statistics or other data are available to show in detail the racial movements to the agricultural implement and vehicle manufacturing establishments of the Middle West. In the discussion of the history of immigration to Community A will be found a representation of movements to a community employing a variety of races, with the Poles predominant. Moline, Ill., furnishes a type of a community which has grown up in connection with the industry, and to the population of which Scandinavian races have been the greatest contributors. These two localities are representative of the agricultural implement communities in the Middle West which have been built up by recent and past immigration. The only other type is that in which the native element has been predominant, such as Springfield, Ohio. The history of immigration to Moline follows:

Moline in 1908 supported an estimated population of about 26,700, 67.4 per cent of which was composed of Swedes. The most important industries in the town are agricultural implement and vehicle manufacturing plants, controlled by seven companies, which have been made the basis of the community investigation.

The estimated population in 1908 was divided among the several races and nationalities in the following proportion:

The Swedes practically dominate the city. Over 70 per cent of the business of the community-outside of the manufacturing plantsis owned and operated by them. In the year 1907 they paid 73 per cent of the residence tax. There is not a profession or a vocation represented in Moline in which the Swedes are not found. A conservative estimate is that 95 per cent of the Swedes are naturalized citizens of the United States. The remaining 5 per cent, it is said, hold no naturalization papers only because of the fact that they have not been in the country long enough to secure full papers. Belgians have been coming to Moline for the past twelve years and engaging in the unskilled labor in the manufacturing plants. Their immigration was the result of efforts on the part of the employers to provide an unskilled labor supply. At first there was an intense feeling against

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them by the older immigrants in the community, but it has worn itself out. At present a number of the Belgians are engaged in business; support two churches, and live for the most part in East Moline.

The Greeks first entered Moline about 1900 and engaged chiefly in the street trades, although a number of them are now found in the shops as unskilled laborers. In no instance is a Greek to be found in a skilled position in any of the industrial establishments. A large number of the younger Greeks attend the public schools, and it is reported by the school officials that they make very apt pupils, learning American manners and customs very rapidly. The Lithuanians and Poles, of whom there are about 200 in the community, are employed chiefly by one large establishment as polishers. The reason assigned for the employment of the Lithuanians and Poles so largely in this particular establishment is that the foreman of the polishing department is a Lithuanian, who has brought most of them to the community and given them work in his department, where they are performing their duties in a very satisfactory manner. While there are no Germans of recent immigration in Moline, a number of them are employed in the shops in the skilled occupations and as foremen. They were in the city when the manufacturing plants were started, and have gradually worked up until they now hold the most skilled posi tions in the several establishments.

No instance can be cited where one race has displaced another in any of the occupations unless the displacement was voluntary. The different employers state that as a rule it is impossible to keep a Swede as a common laborer, for the reason that if he is not advanced to a higher position within a reasonable length of time he will leave the employ of the company and seek employment elsewhere. For this reason it was found necessary to fill the positions where there was no chance for a promotion with Belgians and Greeks who are more willing to remain in a given occupation although there is no chance for promotion. Immigrants have never been brought into the com munity as strike breakers. They have settled in Moline because of the opportunities to secure employment, the majority of them coming in times of demand for unskilled labor. As one race has been advanced in the scale of occupations others have entered the city and taken their places, filling at the same time the vacancies caused by the expansion of the industries. The clerical forces of the different factories are composed largely of second-generation Swedes and Germans. A great many persons of these two races are graduates of the business colleges of Moline and Rock Island, Ill., and Davenport, Iowa.

The history of immigration to a number of representative estab lishments will also serve to exhibit more closely the racial movements and displacements which have occurred. The history of immigration to two large and typical establishments in the vicinity of Chicago is submitted below. Each establishment, in order to conceal its identity, is designated by a number.

HISTORY OF IMMIGRATION TO PLANT No. 1.

In 1880, when this plant was removed from without to within an urban center, in the Middle West, almost the entire force was made up of Americans, Germans, and Irish, with the Germans