such immigrants that the Germans have won a place in the thought of the native American population which is not accorded the Slav or Hungarian; consequently if they possess a knowledge of the German language, as very many Slavs and Magyars from this region do, there is often a strong temptation to pose as Teutons. Some Magyars who do not understand a word of German nevertheless attend the German church in preference to the Croatian-Slovenian (there being no Magyar congregation). The term "Austrian," with its Teutonic implications, is the term these immigrants ordinarily use in giving an account of themselves, and they are so designated by the native population.

PERIOD OF RESIDENCE IN THE UNITED STATES OF FOREIGN-BORN EMPLOYEES AND MEMBERS OF THEIR HOUSEHOLDS.

The periods during which the different immigrant races arrived in Community C have been pointed out in the preceding section. Considerable additional light is shed upon the matter by the tables constructed from the data secured through the study of employees and households. The entire history of immigration to Community C is not of course exhibited by these tables, for some employees came to the community after working elsewhere in this country, although this is the exception rather than the rule. Similarly there has been a constant, although perhaps not large, emigration from the community to other industrial centers. This seems to have affected the Maygars who came earliest, and likewise the Poles who commenced coming to this vicinity in the eighties and promised for a time to acquire a permanent foothold. They were gradually outnumbered, however, by the southern Slavs, especially the Croatians, and so they drifted away to communities where their countrymen constituted a more significant fraction of the foreign population.

The following table shows by race the per cent of foreign-born male iron and steel workers who had been in the United States each specified number of years:

TABLE 413.-Per cent of foreign-born male employees in the United States each specified number of years, by race.

(STUDY OF EMPLOYEES.)

[By years in the United States is meant years since first arrival in the United States. No deduction is made for time spent abroad. This table includes only races with 40 or more males reporting. The total, however, is for all foreign-born.]

The foregoing table shows that, of 1,984 foreign-born male employees for whom information was obtained, 58.4 per cent had been in the United States under five years, and over 10 per cent had been here twenty years or over. The Irish have the fewest who have been here for the shorter period, and much the highest proportion of those who have been in the country twenty years or over. The Macedonians, Magyars, Servians, and Croatians have the highest proportions of those who have been here under five years and small proportions in each of the other residence periods.

The table next presented shows by race of individual the per cent of foreign-born persons, within the households studied, who had been in the United States each specified number of years.

TABLE 414.—Per cent of foreign-born persons in the United States each specified number of years, by race of individual.

(STUDY OF HOUSEHOLDS.)

[By years in the United States is meant years since first arrival in the United States. No deduction is made for time spent abroad. This table includes only races with 20 or more persons reporting. The total, however, is for all foreign-born.]

Of the total number of persons, 55.3 per cent have been in the United States under five years; 78.2 per cent under ten years; and 90.6 per cent under twenty years. Of the specified races, the English and the Irish show the longest residence in the United States. Of the English only 4.8 per cent have been here less than twenty years and none have been here less than ten. Only 2.4 per cent of the Irish have been here under ten and 21.4 per cent under twenty. As compared with other more recent immigrants, the South Italians, Slovaks, and Slovenians show smaller proportions in this country for each specified number of years. The Bulgarians are the most recent arrivals, 95.6 per cent having been here less than five years and the remainder less than ten. The Magyars and Servians, also, have been a comparatively short time in the United States. A larger proportion of the South Italians have been here between ten and twenty years than any other period.

RACIAL CLASSIFICATION OF EMPLOYEES AT THE PRESENT TIME.

The following table shows the number and per cent of male employees of each race for whom information was secured:

TABLE 415.-Male employees for whom information was secured, by general nativity and race.

In this locality 43.5 per cent of the male employees for whom information was secured are foreign-born, 7.4 per cent are native-born of foreign father, 44.9 per cent are native-born of native father, white, and 4.2 per cent native-born of native father, negro. Among the native-born of foreign father employees whose fathers were born in Germany have by far the largest representation. The principal races of the foreign-born are the Croatian, Servian, German, and Magyar, in the order mentioned.

THE INDUSTRIAL DEPRESSION OF 1907 AND 1908.

A remarkable episode in the history of recent immigration to Community C, is the series of events connected with the industrial depression beginning in the autumn of 1907, which produced very serious consequences among the foreign population. The steel company, like so many other industrial establishments, closed some departments entirely and put others upon part time. The aggregate effect of these changes upon the opportunity for employment may be gathered from figures showing the average daily working force for each month

from January, 1906, to November, 1908, inclusive. Such figures are presented in the statement which follows:

It will be seen that the earlier months of 1907 exceeded those even of 1906, and that by the summer of the former year a daily average, Sundays included, of nearly 8,000 men was kept busy. In November, 1907, the first sharp decline occurred, the average dropping to 5,319, and the following month to 4,101.

The

This contraction of the demand for labor bore with especial severity upon the unskilled laborers and in particular upon the immigrants, who had no trade or recourse upon which to rely at such a time. policy of the company seems to have been wherever possible to provide for the native employees and especially those with families. Some skilled American employees chose to remain idle in the hope that the mills would resume work in the near future, while others, less sanguine, were glad to turn to unskilled occupation at 12 to 15 cents an hour. It is worthy of note that while the yard-force superintendent was instructed to favor Americans in hiring new men, during the hard times, he had extremely few applications from natives out of work, and only 3 out of 113 men in that department at a given time were Americans.

When it became evident at the commencement of winter (1907) that work was likely to continue to be scarce and irregular, even for those fortunate enough to be employed at all, hundreds of more recent comers among the immigrants prepared for a return to their native lands. The approximate number of aliens of the leading races who left the community is as follows:

According to the statements made by officers of seventeen foreign societies the aggregate membership of these societies fell from 1,200 to 900 during the depression. This indicates that the greater part of those returning were not affiliated with benefit organizations, the larger part of whose membership seems to consist of the more intelligent and more firmly rooted immigrants who have begun to set up homes and relate themselves in a permanent way to the conditions of life in this country.

48296°-vol 8-11- -39

Returning to the estimates just made, and comparing with the order in which the various races have settled in the community, it will be noticed that it is the recently arrived races, with the smallest number of women and children and the smallest attachment to their new home, who contribute most heavily to the ranks of those returning to Europe. Thus, the Servians who left to the number of at least 900, included before the exodus only about 70 women, of whom perhaps 50 remained in the community. Almost the entire colony consisted of unmarried men or men whose families had been left in the old country. Men of this sort who were thrown out of employment and who had sufficient funds on hand to take them back were quick to make their departure.

Conditions among the Macedonians were very similar; they had arrived in the country even more recently than the Servians and Magyars. They were the last race to find employment before the beginning of the depression and the first to be laid off when employment failed. Thus little opportunity was afforded for the laying by of an adequate surplus, and, furthermore, so much of their savings had been sent out of the country that the long period of idleness bore upon them with peculiar severity. When relief measures were finally adopted suffering and disease had begun to affect them very seriously. Similarly, among the Croatians and other races, individuals who had been here the greatest length of time showed no inclination to return, while the more recent comers, with disposable capital in the form of bank accounts and with few and slight bonds of attachment to the community, lost little time in withdrawing their accounts and leaving the country. Approximately 1,000 such accounts were closed at the bank where the foreign population is in the habit of keeping its savings, and $150,000 was paid out to foreigners about to return to their former homes. Of course, there were many families and individuals so situated that there was no alternative but to remain even with the prospect of indefinite idleness before them. The result was an extremely low average income among all races. Assuming a very low rate of earnings-12 cents an hour-full time work for a year of 300 working days would yield an income ranging from $360 for men working sixty hours per week to $518 for those working eightyfour. In the place of these figures it was found that during the past year reported earnings averaged as follows:

$340

290

270

190

170

160

150

These figures, although approximate only, record the relative earnings of the various races for whom schedules have been written with a fair degree of exactness. It is probable that the amount of idleness has been somewhat exaggerated, in some cases, without any intention to misrepresent, and that the actual income for this reason has exceeded the figures given. At all events it is evident that the greater part of the foreign population of Community C was obliged to live upon meager sums during the twelve months preceding Decem