REPRESENTATIVE COMMUNITY B.

CHAPTER XIX.

INTRODUCTION.

Industrial significance of the community-Description of the community-Inducements and obstacles to immigration.-[Text Table 286].

INDUSTRIAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE COMMUNITY.

This community is only 10 miles distant from Community A, a branch line of railroad connecting the two towns. It is situated on the western slope of the Alleghenies, on the main line of a large railway system. Community B is engaged in mining practically the same kind of coal as is Community A, and its population, though somewhat more concentrated, is in round numbers the same as Community A. As contrasted, however, with Community A, Community B is strongly unionized. All the laborers and miners employed by the mining companies are members of the United Mine Workers of America, this organization meeting with full recognition from the operators and controlling the labor employed at the various mines. As a matter of fact, organized labor is probably as strongly intrenched in this community as in any in Pennsylvania. All of the eleven mines in the community have the union wage scale in force. The local organization of the United Mine Workers of America is large, having 1,400 members. Because of this fact, and by reason of its close proximity to Community A, in which there are no labor organizations, Community B affords a basis for comparative study.

DESCRIPTION OF THE COMMUNITY.

As is the case in almost all mining communities, Community B consists of an urban center with small semidetached settlements of mine workmen clustering around coal mines which are situated on the outskirts of the town proper or at a very short distance. The distribution of the population appears in the accompanying chart. The main settlement is found at the junction of the two small rivers shown on the map. The town proper occupies the lower slopes of the valleys drained by the two rivers and is at the junction of the streams and of the branch and main lines of the railroads. Surrounding the town itself and within a short walking distance of its limits are small semidetached mining communities represented on the map by the letters A, B, C, D. The climate is like that of western Pennsylvania in general, except for the fact that the river valleys are damp and foggy until about 9 o'clock in the morning.

INDUCEMENTS AND OBSTACLES TO IMMIGRATION.

Bituminous coal is practically the only product of the locality, and the gradual expansion of mining operations with the resultant demand for labor has been the main inducement to immigration. No satisfactory statistics are available regarding the extension of the industry, but the following figures, compiled from the report of the state mining inspector, throw light upon the development which took place during the period 1893 to 1902, and indicate the importance of the community from the standpoint of coal mining. About 300 more men than in the year 1902 are now employed in the mines.

The mountains surrounding the town are barren and rocky, so that practically no agriculture is carried on within the community. Farm land is found upon the bluffs extending back from the town. Mining has been carried on in the community for more than thirty years. The industry is now in the hands of four companies which employ about 1,400 men. The coal of the community is peculiarly suited for the transatlantic carrying trade and is in constant demand, thus enabling the operators to run the mines more regularly than is usually the case in bituminous coal-mining localities. The principal factor in the coming of the aliens to the community has been the presence of fellow-countrymen there, and it has been through a sort of social accretion that the foreign-born population has been gathered. It can scarcely be said that there are any obstacles which actually deter immigration. One of the most serious checks to the increase of the alien population is the difficulty, if not the impossibility, of settling within the town itself and thus enjoying the educational advantages present there. Local prejudice against all recent immigrants from southern and southeastern Europe who have settled in the community undoubtedly exists among the native-born. This antipathy, however, takes the form of an almost complete aloofness on the part of the Americans, rather than of active opposition.

CHAPTER XX.

POPULATION AND RACIAL DISPLACEMENTS.

Population-Racial distribution of the population-History of immigration to the community-[Text Tables 287 to 289].

POPULATION.

The population of the town proper, as given by the Twelfth Census, was 2,635, of which number 2,048 persons were native-born and 587 foreign-born. During the eight years subsequent to the census year, 1900 to 1908, the population more than doubled, careful estimates placing the total at 7,200 persons. The foreign-born persons in 1908 were estimated at 1,900 and the native-born, including 340 children native-born of foreign fathers, at 5,300 persons. In the census year the foreign population was 22.3 per cent of the total; in the year 1908 the foreign element was 26.4 per cent of the entire population. Within the borough proper there is an estimated population of 4,200; outside the borough limits the population in the semidetached mining communities is estimated at 3,000 persons. A careful estimate of the total foreign population of the community, by race, follows: TABLE 287.-Foreign population of Community B, by race, 1908.

The English-speaking elements in the population include, besides those of English-speaking races, Germans of the second generation and Germans of the first generation who have lived a long period of years in the United States, who are thoroughly Americanized, and almost all of whom are American citizens.

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RACIAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE POPULATION.

The English-speaking element forms the main body of the population of the town proper. In the semidetached mining communities are found almost all of the Polish, Slovak, Ruthenian, Lithuanian, and Flemish inhabitants, together with about one-third of the Italian and a few English-speaking residents.

HISTORY OF IMMIGRATION TO THE COMMUNITY.

Mines were first opened in the locality about the year 1876, and the history of immigration has coincided with the development of the mining industry. The period of greatest expansion in mining has been since the year 1900, and during the past eight years there have been greater additions to the population than in any previous period. The arrival of recent immigrant races before the close of the past decade was very slow and gradual. Community B, as a matter of fact, was one of the last towns in western Pennsylvania to use laborers from southern and southeastern Europe, and only employed men from these sections when other miners could not be secured during the years immediately following 1900.

Thirty years ago, at the time the mines were opened and the town started, native Americans and Scotch, English, Germans, and Welsh who were then in the community, were employed. For a period of eight years the field belonged exclusively to these races. The Irish

at that time began to settle in the neighborhood and gradually secured work in the mines. The Irish were followed in the course of two or three years by the French. About sixteen years ago a few scattered Slovaks began to appear in the community, and the next four years were the most marked period of Slavic immigration. During this period the Slovak and Polish races formed the bulk of the immigration. The next wave of immigration followed four years later, and was marked by the advent of Lithuanians and Ruthenians. A small number of Italians began to appear in the community about the year 1898. Two or three years later they secured work in the mines in large numbers. They were at first engaged in railroad construction and maintenance-of-way work near the town and gradually drifted into the mines. Data as to race were received from 838 mining employees in the community.

Of the total of 838 persons, 142 are native-born whites, 175 are persons native-born of foreign father, and 520 are foreign-born. It will be noted in the following tabulation of these persons by race that there is a considerable representation of native-born persons whose fathers were born in England, Ireland, Scotland, Germany, and Wales, as well as a small number whose fathers' country of birth was Austria-Hungary. There are also quite a number of foreignborn English, German, Irish, and Scotch. The presence of these races is proportionately not so large in other mining localities in Pennsylvania, and the large numbers are probably to be accounted for by the tendency on the part of these races to move to a locality controlled by organized labor. Of the more recent immigrants, the South Italians, Lithuanians, Poles, and Slovaks appear in greatest numbers. A significant feature of Community B as compared with

Community A is the absence of Magyars and the general preponderance of English-speaking or older elements in the population. Of the 520 persons of foreign birth, English, Irish, Welsh, Scotch, and Germans constitute a total of 180; and 152 out of a total of 175 persons native-born of foreign father are males whose fathers were born in England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, or Germany. The detailed showing for a total of 838 persons of all races furnishing information, which is representative of the racial composition of the mine workers in the community, is given below:

TABLE 288.-Number of male employees for whom information was secured, by general nativity and race.

Of the foreign-born employees in the mines of the community, 520 furnished data as to period of residence in the United States. Of this number, 27.1 per cent have been in the country under five years, 28.1 per cent between five and nine years, and 44.8 per cent ten years or over. Of the total foreign-born, 28.3 per cent reported a residence of more than twenty years. This group of old residents, 70.1 per cent of whom are English, Irish, Scotch, and Welsh, includes also 22 Slovaks of early immigration to the United States. The races with the largest proportion of their members showing recent arrival in the United States are the South Italian, Lithuanian, Polish, and Slovak.