CHAPTER IV.

SALIENT CHARACTERISTICS.

Literacy-Conjugal condition-Visits abroad-Age classification of employees [Text Tables 164 to 170 and General Tables 115 to 119].

LITERACY.

The general literacy of the employees of this industry in this locality is exhibited by the following table, which shows, by sex and general nativity and race, the percentage of employees who read and the percentage who read and write.

TABLE 164.-Per cent of employees who read and per cent who read and write, by sex and general nativity and race.

(STUDY OF EMPLOYEES.)

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

Number reporting com-
plete data.

Per cent who read.

Per cent who read and write.

General nativity and race.

Native-born of native father,
White...
Native-born of foreign father,
by country of birth of

Male. Female. Total. Male. Female. Total. Male. Female. Total.

1,406

27 1,433 99.8

100.0 99.8 99.6

100.0

99.7

father.

Of 4,822 persons employed in the manufacture of agricultural implements in the East, 92.8 per cent read, and 91.9 per cent read and write. Of the 4,578 males, the proportion who read, or both read and write, is slightly higher than the proportion of the total number of both males and females. Of the foreign-born, 86.1 per cent of the males and 75.5 per cent of the females read, as compared with over 99 per cent of the native-born, of either native or foreign father, males, and all of the native-born of native father, and 97 per cent of the

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native-born of foreign father, females-only a slight difference being shown between the proportions who read and who both read and write. Over 95 per cent of the French Canadians, Canadians other than French, English, Germans, and Irish, as compared with less than 85 per cent of the North Italians, South Italians, Poles, Ruthenians, or Slovaks, read. The proportion of each race who both read and write is either the same or only slightly smaller than the proportion who read.

CONJUGAL CONDITION.

The conjugal condition of employees is indicated in the table next submitted, which shows, by sex and general nativity and race, the percentage of employees 20 years of age or over in each conjugal condition.

TABLE 165.-Per cent of employees 20 years of age or over in each conjugal condition, by sex and general nativity and race.

(STUDY OF EMPLOYEES.)

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

1

TABLE 165.-Per cent of employees 20 years of age or over in each conjugal condition, by sex and general nativity and racee-Continued.

Of 4,332 persons 20 years of age or over employed in the manufacture of agricultural implements in the East, 63.9 per cent are married, 32.5 per cent single, and 3.6 per cent widowed. A difference of less than 10 per cent is shown between the proportions of each nativity group who are either single or married-less than 5 per cent of each being widowed. In no instance does a race of foreign birth show a larger proportion single than married, or as high as 10 per cent widowed. Of the total number of males and females it is seen that the proportion of the former who are married is decidedly larger than the proportion who are single-the reverse being true as regards the females.

The table next presented shows, by sex, age groups, and by general nativity and race, the percentage of employees in each conjugal condition.

TABLE 166.-Per cent of employees in each conjugal condition, by sex, age groups, and by general nativity and race.

(STUDY OF EMPLOYEES.)

(This table includes only races with 200 or more persons reporting. The totals, however, are for all races.]

Upon information obtained for 4,332 employees of this industry 20 years of age or over, it will be seen that by far the largest proportion, or 63.9 per cent, are married and that 32.5 per cent are single. Of those from 20 to 29 years of age, 60.4 per cent are single and 39 per cent married, while of those from 30 to 44 years of age and 45 years of age or over 18.2 per cent are single and 78.4 per cent married and 6.7 per cent single and 84 per cent married, respectively. The foreignborn, native-born of foreign father, and native white born of native father show proportions in each conjugal condition in each age group that vary only slightly from the proportions shown in the total. Among males it will be noted that the proportions of foreign-born, native-born of foreign father, and native-born of native father, white, in each conjugal condition in each age group are very nearly the same as those shown in the totals for all employees in each age group. Among the foreign-born males from 20 to 29 years of age, the Irish show a considerably larger proportion single and consequently a considerably smaller proportion married than do the South Italians or Poles. The reverse is true of the Irish and Poles from 30 to 44 years of age, the South Italians showing a much smaller proportion single and a much larger proportion married than that shown by the Irish. Among those 45 years of age or over all South Italians are married, as compared with 92.9 per cent of the Poles and 77.5 per cent of the Irish-the Irish alone in this age group reporting a proportion widowed, while the proportions of Irish and Poles who are single are very nearly the same. Among the native-born of foreign father it will be noted that, with the exception of a considerably smaller proportion single of those whose fathers were born in Germany than in Ireland and consequently a considerably larger proportion married among those from 30 to 44 years of age, the proportions of those whose fathers were born in Germany or Ireland in each conjugal condition in each age group vary little one from the other. Comparing the females, it will be seen that of those from 20 to 29 years of age the differences in the proportions single and married of the foreign-born Poles and the second generation Irish are most marked the former reporting 59.2 per cent single and 39.4 per cent married, as compared with 90.9 and 9.1 per cent, respectively, of the latter. The proportion of the latter single, it will be noted, is decidedly in excess of the proportion married and slightly in excess of the proportion shown for the native-born of native father, white. Of the Poles from 30 to 44 years of age the proportion married amounts to 70 per cent, while the proportion single and widowed amounts to 10 and 20 per cent, respectively. The totals shown in the preceding table are but a combination of those for the males and females, and while the proportions in each conjugal condition in each age group vary slightly from the proportions shown for the males, the relative position of the various races remains practically the same as if the males alone were considered.

The most significant fact in connection with the conjugal condition of foreign-born employees is the location of the wives of the married males. The table following shows, by race of husband, the percentage of foreign-born husbands who report wife in the United States and the percentage who report wife abroad.