ber, 1908. In many cases families eked out their income by taking boarders, but even this sometimes proved disastrous, for boarders in many cases, due to idleness, proved a burden rather than a help, while in other cases they left after successfully eluding payment for board received.

For a time the merchants carried the foreign population by extending credit to the boarding-house keepers, but the volume of this credit became so large ultimately that the merchants were unable to continue this policy longer. They had in a great many instances to refuse further credit, and consequently many people were left without any means of support. They were unable to secure work, and the possibility of starvation soon showed itself. Even after a system of relief was devised many persons subsisted on bread and water alone. In a number of cases persons who had been living in this way were taken sick and, not having much power of resistance, quickly suc

cumbed to disease.

The suffering among both native and foreign working people became so serious by the latter part of January, 1908, that a relief committee was organized to devise measures of assistance. At first attention was confined to native families, but the need among the immigrants living in the West Side, or fifth ward, district became so imperative that on March 3, 1908, 512 tickets for daily rations of soup and bread were issued.

A report of this committee covering the earlier period of its work shows the following measures taken: From January 25 to March 9, 1908, 188 orders on twelve stores and 54 orders on the directors of the poor of the county were issued; 126 families were thus aided with food and fuel at a cost of about $312. This aid was extended largely to English-speaking people. This order system was followed in March by the establishment of a soup house. During the first week 17 barrels of soup, 6 of coffee, and 3,150 pounds of bread were distributed among the almost starving immigrants of the fifth ward. The work thus commenced continued with one brief interruption until the 6th of June. The accounts of the committee show that from March 3 to 19, 3,763 loaves of bread were given out and during a later period-April 21 to June 6-6,952 loaves.

The following table shows the extent to which the various races received relief:

The bread furnished by the relief committee was baked at the Macedonian bakery. The committee furnished flour and the Macedonian proprietor baked and distributed the bread. The situation was finally much relieved, at least so far as the Macedonians were concerned, by the deporting of 190 aliens, most of them BulgarianMacedonians. This action on the part of the Immigration Service was taken on the ground that their coming was an instance of solicited and induced immigration under promise of work. It is noteworthy that only the most recently arrived races who had failed to acquire sufficient surplus either to leave or to remain self-supporting-were driven to seek aid from the free soup houses. It must not be supposed, however, that the others did not suffer privation if not actual want during the twelve months through which the depression had spread itself. On every hand there were decreased incomes, due to fewer boarders, more irregular work, when work was to be obtained at all, and a lower standard of living. A few boarding groups were met with among the Macedonians and Servians, the boarders being still obliged in August and September, 1908, to restrict themselves to an outlay of only $4.50 and $5 a month for food.

Families that formerly occupied an entire house accommodating from 10 to 30 lodgers were compelled to sublet a portion of the house or to move to a smaller dwelling. The effect upon rents was of course marked. In the largest foreign section of the town, the east side, rents declined in many cases 40 per cent. Houses formerly bringing $19 yielded only $7 or $8. On the west side, where practically all of the relief work was carried on, some property owners were forced simply to cease the collection of rents, and in such cases with little prospect or indeed intention of collecting arrears." Immigrant merchants who sold on credit were seriously embarrassed by the departure of aliens and by the poverty of those who remained. The Macedonian who baked the bread furnished by the relief committee is said to have had $1,500 in uncollected bills and to a considerable extent uncollectable accounts outstanding for bread furnished to aliens unable to pay for it at the time that the relief committee took hold of the situation. A merchant in the Magyar section of town at one time had $2,000 due him for provisions sold on credit and extremely poor prospects of collecting even half of the amount.

The American family whose income is cut from $600 to $300 is unwilling to lower its standard of living, even if it were possible, to a $300 level, and instead it runs into debt to the extent of perhaps $200 or draws upon savings to that amount if they are of a sort to be readily made use of.

race.

One of the remarkable facts brought to light is that the Macedonians who remained in the country seem to have succeeded better in laying by some small savings during the depression than almost any other This was in spite of the fact that as a race they are not regarded as desirable employees by some departments of the steel company, and consequently have not had as good opportunities for securing work as most of the other races. Their ability to save seems to be due to their low standard of living, their extreme frugality, and their temperance. The Germans and Slovenians are likewise less fre

a In January, 1909, there were 58 vacant houses out of a total of 185 in an almost exclusively foreign section of the west side.

quently in debt than are the Croatians, Servians, and Roumanians. A most conspicuous consequence of the hard times was the falling off in the amount of money sent to Europe. The figures for both 1907 and 1908 will be found in a subsequent chapter. A final remark should be made regarding the effect of the depression upon crime in the community. Both justices of the peace agree that not only the reduction of the foreign population by the recent exodus, but inability of those who remained, on account of scanty earnings, to purchase liquor as freely as formerly had resulted in a marked decrease of the number of violations of the law, most of which are the consequence of the intemperate use of liquor.

RACE SUBSTITUTION IN THE STEEL WORKS.

The history of immigration to Community C thus reveals in common with that of immigration to other industrial centers, the gradual substitution of the races of southern and southeastern Europe for those of western and northern Europe.

An inspection of the wage scale paid by the steel company during the past eighteen years the period marked by the coming of the immigrants in greatest numbers-reveals the fact that wages have risen and fallen in good and bad times equally for skilled labor, largely free from direct immigrant competition, and for unskilled labor, now largely performed by immigrants. It is not apparent that the coming of the immigrants has materially affected the hours of labor. With regard to wages, however, it can not be doubted that if immigration had been impossible during these years labor would have acquired a scarcity value perhaps 50 per cent in excess of its present reward; that is to say, if none but native laborers had been available it has been estimated by two officials of the company that the wages of unskilled labor at the present time would be in the neighborhood of 18 cents an hour instead of 12.

This tendency was evident for a time in 1906 and 1907, when, owing to the unusual demand for laborers to work upon the new open-hearth plant, the wages of unskilled labor rose to 13 and even to 15 cents an hour. This rate was paid by both the street-railway company and the steel company.

The Americans and Irish and many of the Germans who performed much of the unskilled labor at the steel company twenty and thirty years ago have gradually withdrawn from such pursuits until few remain. In the railroad-repair and dump departments not a single American was found employed at the time of the inquiry. Of 113 men in the general labor department only 3 were Americans. On the other hand, the preponderance of Americans, Irish, English, and Germans in the skilled occupations is still very great, as a glance at the returns for such departments as the frog and switch, bridge and construction, machine shop, and blacksmith shop will show. Not only has there been an upward movement in the scale of occupations among the English-speaking population, but there has been an outward movement as well, into skilled and semiskilled occupations outside of the steel works, such as carpentry, railroading, and work as conductor or motorman upon the street railways. The compe

a See page 646 et seq.

tition for "English-speaking" and skilled positions has been rendered more keen by the exodus of natives from the unskilled occupations; immigration thus becoming the occasion of indirect competition in the skilled occupations.

The negroes seem to have shared in this movement, for they are no longer found in any numbers in the labor gangs. Only 2 out of 113 men in the general labor force at the time of the inquiry were

negroes.

In brief, then, it may be said that the immigrant from southeastern Europe has inherited the province of unskilled labor in the steel works, and the American, Irish, German, and negro laborers have been pushed upward and outward into other and, in general, better paying occupations, in which at the present time immigrant workmen constitute an exceedingly small minority. No women find employment in the works, and the number of boys under 16 is exceedingly small and does not appear to be the result of immigration. It is probable that the number of workmen of Austrian or Italian birth or parentage will increase in the skilled occupations, and in proportion as this takes place the tendency for the children of native-born employees to seek technical, clerical, and commercial occupations, even in some cases at a financial loss, will probably be strengthened.

METHODS EMPLOYED TO SECURE IMMIGRANT LABOR.

In general the steel company has found a sufficient labor force constantly drifting to it from Europe or from other communities of this and adjacent commonwealths. Elsewhere in this report a full discussion of the interesting process by which foreign villages are in part transported and set down around American industrial centers will be found." In general it may be said that the letters and oral reports of pioneer immigrants account in the main for the stream of foreigners drawn to Community C.

The steel company usually leaves the question of securing alien labor to its foreign foremen or sends its demand for so many laborers to a boarding-house boss. In times of scarcity of labor or when the demand can not be satisfied by the local supply through the operation of the regular system the steel company sends some of its foremen to New York or Boston to secure alien labor through the agencies there. In only one instance has the steel company taken active steps to secure accessions to its labor force from outside of the city. When the new open-hearth furnace was being constructed it was found necessary to send men to New York City to employ bricklayers-30 Italians being secured-and other laborers to come to the community, the local supply of labor being inadequate to the unusual demand resulting from the extensions and improvements then in process of making.

Frequently positions are secured by the immigrants indirectly by correspondence with friends in this country. A man in Macedonia or Bulgaria may write to a friend concerning the possibility of obtaining work. The friend answers, describing the opportunities existing, and on the prospects as thus put forward a great many of all nationalities come from Europe.

a See page 593.

There is not much doubt that certain foreigners who have been in the community quite a time or who speak English act as labor agents or intermediaries between the employer and the laborer. They are not only in possession of information as to the prospects of securing work, but railroad and other contractors write them that they need so many laborers or send agents to them with a certain demand for labor. The local men speak to their countrymen and others of the work offered and persuade them to accept positions. Of course it is evident that they receive fees for this service from the contractor or the visiting labor agent. The labor which leaves to go into other work under conditions of this kind is usually furnished with transportation, and it is due to this activity of labor agents that so many of the aliens, especially the Macedonians and Italians, move out of the community to the South and other sections during the summer, to engage in railroad construction and other work.

It is also true that in many cases the labor agents referred to above, who are usually the proprietors of coffeehouses, small stores, and other businesses, are the agencies through which the immigrants are persuaded to come to this country. An alien, for example, receives a letter from one of his countrymen about the opportunities for securing work, and this letter is referred to the coffeehouse keeper or the storekeeper for his advice and for a reply. He, if conditions warrant, advises the intending immigrant to come to the United States, and, in many cases, his store or coffeehouse is given upon the steamship manifest as the point of destination of the incoming alien. In many cases the alien corresponds directly with the coffeehouse proprietor or storekeeper before he starts for the United States. When the alien arrives he is cared for by his correspondent, taken to his friends, or work is secured for him. While the evidence is not conclusive, there is little doubt that the proprietor of the coffeehouse or the store receives a fee for these services from the alien and the contractor or employer. Moreover, if the alien makes his home in the community, as the majority do, the labor agent, if engaged in any mercantile pursuit, secures the profits arising from their patronage of his establishment. In some cases the services are performed without any direct charge.

Boarding-house bosses also act in large measure as agents for the men living in the houses over which they have charge, and the men pay them a fee for finding places for them. In some cases the boarding-house boss is also a foreman. This is especially true of the Croatians who, as pointed out before, have been a long time in this country and who, consequently, have largely absorbed the positions of foreign foremen. The laborer desires to live in the house of a foreign foreman because the foreman hires the alien labor under him and controls a number of good jobs. The positions of foreman and boarding-house boss can, therefore, be profitably worked together. The foreman who is a boarding-house boss has no trouble in filling his house with good paying boarders who will pay him for jobs. The amount which is usually paid by the alien for a place is $2, although it is often as high as $5.