TABLE 12.-Race of male employees for whom information was secured, by locality; per cent distribution-Continued.

COMPARATIVE SCOPE OF THE INVESTIGATION.

The following table shows the number of employees for whom original data were secured, in its relation to the total number of employees in the localities studied:

TABLE 13.-Comparative scope of the investigation.

[Compiled from United States census special report, manufactures, 1905, Pt. IV, Table 2, pp. 5-6.]

a Compiled from the figures for 1905 for New York and Pennsylvania and the figures for 1900 for West Virginia. The figures for West Virginia are not given separately in the census report.

Compiled from the figures for 1905 for Alabama and from the figures for 1900 for Maryland. The figures for Maryland for 1905 are not given separately in the census report.

e Compiled from the figures for 1905 for New York, Pennsylvania, and Alabama, and from the figures for 1900 for West Virginia and Maryland. The figures for West Virginia and Maryland for 1905 are not given separately in the census report.

The most recent statistics, showing the total number of iron and steel workers in the territory studied, are supplied by the special reports of the United States Census Office for 1905.

19

It will be seen that the total number of employees in the three divisions studied was, at the time of the taking of the census, 210,211. Of these employees, 138,323 were in the East, 61,160 in the Middle West, and 10,728 in the South. On comparing these figures with the total number of employees for whom detailed information was secured it will be seen that original data were obtained for 47.5 per cent of the total number of employees in the East, for 19.5 per cent of those in the Middle West, for 77.6 of those in the South, and for 41 per cent of all employees in the three divisions. As a matter of fact, the number of employees for whom original information was secured is even larger than appears in the table. In addition to the investigation by means of the employee's schedule, represented by the figures given, a further study was made of employees in households. This study embraces 2,439 employees in the East, 420 in the Middle West, and 771 in the South, a total of 3,630 employees. The sum of these figures and figures indicating the numbers of employees studied in the course of the individual investigation does not represent the total number of the employees for whom information was secured. There was necessarily some duplication; a certain proportion of the employees studied in the households were doubtless again studied as individuals. It is certain, however, that all of the employees included in the latter study were not studied twice. For this reason the proportion of the total number of the employees for whom original information was secured is doubtless larger than is indicated by the percentages of the table.

It appears then that original data were secured for something over two-fifths of all the employees in the three divisions specified. In the Middle West the proportion was slightly less than one-fifth, but in the East it was nearly one-half, and in the South it was over three-fourths.

METHOD OF PRESENTING DATA COLLECTED.

In preparing the study of the industry the following divisions, for the reasons mentioned below, have been adopted in the discussion and presentation of the data:

1. Presentation of industry as a whole.-This part of the report affords a brief summary of the facts and conditions developed by the investigation.

2. Geographical areas. A division has been made following the distribution of the iron and steel industry in the United States, principally for the following reasons: (a) To show difference in working and other conditions in the different sections of the country; (b) to compare the status of the various races under different environments; (c) to exhibit relative inducements to immigration offered by different sections of the country.

3. Detailed reports on selected communities.-By selecting for intensive study representative communities connected with the iron and steel industry it has been thought (a) that a verification of the tendencies exhibited by the more extended tabulations might be had; (b) that direct effects of recent immigration upon American life and institutions, not covered by the statistical tables, might be presented; and (c) that more definite conclusions as to the economic effects of immigration might be reached.

CHAPTER II.

RACIAL DISPLACEMENTS.

History of immigration-Period of residence in the United States of foreign-born employees and members of their households-Racial classification of employees at the present time [Text Tables 14 to 23 and General Tables 4 and 5].

HISTORY OF IMMIGRATION.

It may be said in general that representatives of almost all races of recent and past immigration have been employed in the blast furnaces and iron and steel mills of the country corresponding to the period of their immigration to the United States. Prior to 1880 the iron and steel workers were exclusively of native stock or of races from Great Britain and northern Europe. During the early eighties a small number of eastern and southern Europeans entered the industry in Pennsylvania and the East. They gradually increased in numbers until 1890, after which year the employment of this class of immigrants became rapid and extensive. During the decade 1890 to 1900 the employment of the older immigrants from Great Britain and northern Europe also rapidly declined, as compared with former periods. No statistics are available as to the employment of the several races in the furnaces and mills, but the returns of the federal census as to the country of birth of iron and steel workers during the period 1880 to 1900 afford a general insight into the situation.

In 1900 a change was made in the census classification, and employees were reported by general nativity and by country of birth of parents instead of by country of birth, as in the two previous censuses. Data for 1900 are presented in the following table:

TABLE 14.-Number of male workers in the iron and steel industry in the United States, by nativity, 1900.

In ten years, from 1890 to 1900, the total number of employees of the industry increased from 142,585 to 290,724, a gain of over 100 per cent. The parents of a very large proportion of all employees were born in Germany, and the parents of a slightly smaller proportion were born in Ireland. There were also many individuals whose parents were born in England and Wales, in Poland, and in Sweden. Persons whose parents were born in Austria-Hungary, Italy, and Bohemia were present in considerable numbers. The figures of the table show that while there was no increase over 1890 in the proportion of foreign-born workers, the proportion of workers of southern and eastern European parentage, in this case equivalent to persons of southern and eastern European race, was very much larger in 1900 than in preceding census years. During the past ten years the labor for the blast furnaces and steel mills has been principally recruited from the races of southern and eastern Europe.a

The change in the composition of the working force in the ten years from 1880 to 1890 is indicated by the following table:

TABLE 15.-Number of male workers in the iron and steel industry in the United States, by nativity, 1890.

The classification of the above table indicates country of birth for the foreign-born and, in addition, general nativity of parents for the native-born. At the time the data were secured there were 142,585 employees of the industry, a gain of between 25,000 and 30,000 over the figures for 1880. Of the native whites 44,813 were of native parentage and 34,240 were of foreign parentage. The proportion of foreign-born was larger than in 1880. Individuals of Irish nativity still had the largest representation, followed by natives of Germany and of England and Wales. There was also a considerable proportion of individuals of Swedish and Norwegian, Canadian, Scotch, and Hungarian birth, and the number of individuals born in countries not specified was almost twice as large as in 1880. It is evident, from the figures of the table, that the working force was undergoing a gradual change in the direction of increase in the number of foreign-born employees and that, at the same time, the proportion of northern and western Europeans, in its relation to the total number of foreign-born, was growing less.

a For a detailed history of the racial movements to and racial displacements in the various sections, see Pt. II, Ch. II; Pt. III, Ch. II; and Pt. IV, Ch. II.