The following table and its accompanying chart show, by race, the per cent of foreign-born male employees of non-English-speaking races studied who were able to speak English:

TABLE 124.-Per cent of foreign-born male employees who speak English, by race.

(STUDY OF EMPLOYEES.)

[This table includes only non-English-speaking races with 40 or more males reporting. The total, however, is for all non-English-speaking races.]

Information was obtained in this industry for 42,117 foreign-born male employees, of which number more than one-half, or 51.8 per cent, speak English.

As a general proposition it may be stated that a much larger proportion of those born in northern than in southern or southeastern Europe speak English. As regards those races whose proportions with ability to speak English are in excess of the proportion shown in the total for all employees, it will be noted that the Norwegians, with 99 per cent, show a slightly larger proportion than do the Swedes or Danes, and a considerably larger proportion than is shown by the Germans or French, the last named reporting 83.9 per cent. Following the French are the Dutch, who show a slightly larger proportion with ability to speak English than do the Hebrews, other than Russian. Of those reporting proportions with ability to speak English below that shown in the total, the Lithuanians, with 50.3 per cent, show a slightly larger proportion than do the Finns, South Italians, or Croatians, and a very much larger proportion than the Bulgarians or Macedonians, the last two named reporting 19.3 and 12.9 per cent, respectively.

The table next presented shows, by locality, sex, and general nativity and race of individual, the percentage of persons 6 years of age or over, in the households studied, who were able to speak English:

TABLE 125.-Per cent of persons 6 years of age or over who speak English, by locality, by sex, and by general nativity and race of individual.

(STUDY OF HOUSEHOLDS.)

[This table includes only non-English-speaking races with 40 or more persons reporting in each of two or more localities. The totals, however, are for all non-English-speaking races.]

a Community A and Community B are included in the Pittsburg district.
Not computed, owing to small number involved.

The totals of this table show that 37.7 per cent of the males and 37.5 per cent of the females speak English. In each locality in the East the proportion of males who were able to speak English is higher than that in either the Middle West or in the South. Community D in New York and Community C in Pennsylvania show over 50 per cent of males who speak English, the Pittsburg district slightly over 40 per cent, the South slightly over 30 per cent, while the Middle West exhibits only 13.2 per cent of males who were able to speak the English language. Females show a higher percentage of their number speaking English in the Middle West and South than do the males, while in each locality in the East males have larger proportion with English-speaking ability than do the females. The highest percentage of females who can speak English is found in Community C of the East, followed, in the order named, by the South, the Pittsburg district and Community D of the East, and the Middle West, the latter having a considerably smaller per cent who can speak English than have any of the other localities.

In every locality where persons both native-born of foreign father and foreign-born are represented, the former show a very much higher percentage of males and females who can speak English than do the latter. In the Birmingham district, and the Pittsburg district and Community C of the East, males native-born of foreign father exhibit over 90 per cent of their number who are able to speak English as contrasted with less than 50 per cent of the foreign-born males in the same localities. In all localities except Community D of the East, females native-born of foreign father show over 80 per cent who are able to speak English as contrasted with less than 31 per cent in each locality of foreign-born females.

Of the persons native-born of foreign father, the Slovaks exhibit a higher percentage of both males and females able to speak English than do the South Italians. Of the foreign-born only one race, the Bulgarians, have a higher percentage of females than males who speak English, the males of that race showing less than 10 per cent in each locality so reported. In Community E of the Middle West, the Magyars, in the Birmingham district of the South, the Slovaks, and in the Pittsburg district of the East, the Germans, show the highest percentage of both males and females who can speak English. In Community C of the East, South Italians have the highest percentage of males and Germans the highest percentage of females who are able to speak English. The total industry shows the Germans with the highest percentage of persons speaking English and the Bulgarians the lowest among the males and the Servians the lowest among the females.

The table next presented shows, by locality and by race, the percentage of foreign-born male employees of non-English-speaking races studied who had acquired the ability to speak English:

TABLE 126.-Per cent of foreign-born male employees who speak English, by locality and

by race.

(STUDY OF EMPLOYEES.)

[This table includes only non-English-speaking races with 40 or more males reporting in each of two or more localities. The total, however, is for all non-English-speaking races.]

Of the total number in each locality, a larger proportion of the foreign-born males of non-English-speaking races in the East than of those in the Middle West, and a larger proportion of those in the Middle West than of those in the South, are able to speak English. Of the races reporting in each of the three localities, the Bulgarian, Greek, and Lithuanian races show the largest proportion in the East and the smallest proportion in the South who have acquired the ability to speak English. The North Italian, Polish, Russian, and Slovak races each exhibit the largest proportion in the Middle West and the smallest proportion in the South, the German the largest proportion in the South and the smallest in the Middle West, and the Swedish race the largest proportion in the South and the smallest in the East, who are able to speak English. Of those reporting in sufficient numbers for computation, in the East and Middle West only, each race, except the Bohemian and Moravian and Croatian, shows a larger proportion in the former locality who are able to speak English. The South Italian race, which is represented in the East and South only, has the largest proportion of males able to speak English in the former section.

The following table shows, by age at time of coming to the United States and race of individual, the percentage of foreign-born persons of non-English-speaking races in the households studied who were 6 years of age or over and who were able to speak English.

TABLE 127.-Per cent of foreign-born persons 6 years of age or over who speak English, by age at time of coming to the United States and race of individual.

(STUDY OF HOUSEHOLDS.)

[This table includes only non-English-speaking races with 40 or more persons reporting. The total, however, is for all non-English-speaking races.]

Of those persons who came to the United States when they were under 14 years of age, 72.9 per cent are able to speak English. The corresponding proportion of those who were 14 years old or over is only 24.1 per cent. Every race, moreover, has a much greater proportion speaking English among those who were under 14 at the time of their arrival than in the other age group.