From the preceding table it will be seen that of the 1,890 foreign-born male employees concerning whom information was obtained in this locality, 54.4 per cent speak English; 97.3 per cent of those who were under 14 years of age at time of coming to the United States now speak English as compared with only 52.7 per cent of those who were 14 years of age or over when they arrived in this country. As regards those who were under 14 years of age at the time of coming to the United States, the Germans report 100 per cent who speak English.

The following table shows the per cent of foreign-born iron and steel employees who speak English, according to period of residence in the United States and race:

TABLE 484.-Per cent of foreign-born male employees who speak English, by years in the United States, and race.

(STUDY OF EMPLOYEES.)

[By years in the United States is meant years since first arrival in the United States. This table includes only non-English-speaking races with 100 or more males reporting. The total, however, is for all nonEnglish-speaking races.]

From the above table it will be seen that of the 1890 foreign-born male employees for whom information was obtained in this locality, 54.4 per cent speak English. Of these employees with ability to speak English the Germans report a considerably larger proportion than the Croatians or Servians and a very much larger proportion than the Magyars. Among those who have been in this country under five years and from five to nine years the Germans report the largest proportion and the Magyars the smallest proportion with ability to speak English, the difference in the proportions being much less marked among those who have been in the United States from five to nine years than of those with less than five years' residence. Of those who have been in the United States ten years or over the Servians alone report 100 per cent with ability to speak English, while the Magyars report only 54.5 per cent. Only a very small proportion of the Germans and Croatians with this period of residence are unable to speak English.

GENERAL INFLUENCES FOR AND AGAINST AMERICANIZATION.

In affecting the relative standing of the leading races in regard to Americanization, length of residence in the country is a most important factor. First of all should be placed the British races and the earlier group of German immigrants who are now seldom thought of as "foreigners." Of those considered as such, the Slovenian, Italian, and Polish immigrants have made the greatest progress in the acquisition of American ways.

American conveniences are beginning to find their way into the homes of members of these races longest resident in the United States. The Poles, having no church of their own, attend the English-speaking Roman Catholic Church and hence come in contact with natives. The Italian colony being small and located on the edge of the native section of the town has become more or less Americanized. Many Slovenians and Croatians are becoming assimilated. The HungarianGermans and Magyars come next in order. Although recent comers to the United States, and slow in acquiring the English language, the Magyars give promise of a rather more rapid assimilation than do the Servians or the Croatians. The use of the German language by many of the Magyars offers a point of contact with the great GermanAmerican public. The Servians and Bulgarians are the most alien of all the races in the community; unlike the Roman Catholics among the Slavish races, they come in contact with no American ecclesiastical influences, the Servian Church being almost altogether an alien institution. Through their use of the Russian alphabet, they are likewise restricted to the reading of books and papers printed in these characters. This again tends to intellectual isolation.

More important than this summary statement is some further discussion of the causes favoring and opposing the Americanization of foreigners.

1. Among influences favorable to assimilation the public school should, as already pointed out, be given first place. American ideas and ideals and American speech are its chief contributions. Perhaps most valuable of all is the sense of companionship with Americans which foreign children quickly acquire in the intimacy of the play ground and the recitation room. Since the recent establishment of parochial schools in the town, the attendance of Slav children in the lower grades has been considerably reduced. This apparently has a slightly retarding effect upon the process of Americanization, for among exclusively foreign children the wholesome and democratic intercourse of natives and aliens of every class and creed and race is obviously impossible.

2. The economic and social advantages arising from the adoption of American ways and speech appeal to the self-interest of the alien. His English-speaking countrymen make more rapid progress in every sort of undertaking than those still unable to converse with natives. He sees, or, more accurately, he should see, how every one from corner storekeeper to justice of the peace has taken advantage of his ignorance to defraud him.

3. A third influence consists in the example set by American or Americanized fellow-workmen who by their independence and selfrespect show the alien a new standard in these matters. He begins to feel that he is a man from before whom the customary barriers of class may in time be removed.

4. A fourth influence favoring assimilation is the touch with American political and public questions which the immigrant press furnishes. While a very large number of families are without a periodical of any sort-due to their illiteracy, poverty, or indifferencenevertheless over thirty different periodicals published in foreign languages are subscribed for by the German, Magyar, Slovenian, Croatian, Servian, Italian, and Slovak population of the community.

Causes hindering the Americanization of the immigrants of Community C are as follows:

1. The segregation of the foreign population in quarters where they have only limited contact with Americans. The fact that a large proportion of the men live in crowded boarding-houses leads them to seek no further for companionship than the buildings in which they are housed.

On the west side of the city there are a number of coffee houses modeled exactly in their operation after similar institutions in European countries. These are places of social resort where the men of the Balkan States come together (the Croatian being less frequent in attendance) to discuss affairs in the old country and to enjoy themselves. Coffee and tea are served at a cost of three cents per cup. Small cakes, cider, cigarettes, and tobacco are also sold. These houses serve as racial headquarters and it is through them that the labor agent, seeking to secure laborers, comes in contact with the population. Through the coffee-house keeper, or the local labor agent who makes his headquarters at the coffee house and oftentimes lodges there, the demand for labor, whether local or from the outside, is communicated to the men and arrangements made to satisfy it. These coffee houses also serve to keep alive Old World habits and customs and to prevent contact and acquaintance on the part of the alien population with American language and institutions.

The isolation of the men is broken to some extent by their employment, but for the women there is not even this meager opportunity for intercourse with natives. Remaining at home to take care of the children and cook for the boarders, they might almost as well be upon their fathers' little farms in Hungary, so far as receiving the stimulus of American influence is concerned.

2. A second obstacle is the studied aloofness of the native population. In the absence of points of contact with the better sort of Americans, however, it must not be supposed that a similar indifference prevails among the base or mercenary of native birth. Numerous agencies are provided by which a sort of pseudoassimilation with the worst in American life is going on.

3. Final mention should be made of the great difficulty presented by the character of the immigrants themselves. Not only are they aliens, but the majority of them are country people as well. Unacquainted with town life, to say nothing of town life in America, often imperfectly educated or entirely ignorant, and arrived at an age when the lack of early training is resulting in mature stupidity or stolidity, it is evident that the task of transforming them into "intelligent citizens" is formidable.

COMMUNITY D.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTION.

Industrial significance of the community-Description of the locality-Inducements to immigration-Households studied-Members of households for whom detailed information was secured-Employees for whom information was secured-[Text Tables 485 to 489 and General Tables 262 to 264].

INDUSTRIAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE COMMUNITY.

The federal census for 1900 placed the population of Community D at 5,363, no classification as to race or country of birth of inhabitants being made. Most of these early inhabitants were either laborers who were employed in railroad repair and construction work, or persons who had employment in the adjoining city. Until ten years ago, this community was a country town with no industries whatever, and was sustained only by a small rural population. In 1901, a large steel company erected a plant in the community, and immediately there was an influx of people (both native and immigrant) seeking and securing employment. The steel plant referred to is very extensive and, when business conditions are normal, it employs approximately 5,000 men. In 1902, another steel company erected a plant in this community, and while this second establishment is not so large as that first mentioned it has a large business and employs about 500 men. The community is chiefly significant, therefore, in that it represents the growth of a large industrial population within recent years in connection with iron and steel establishments, made up principally of races of recent immigration to the United States. This latter fact becomes evident when the racial composition of the locality in 1907, a year of normal activity, is considered. The estimated racial distribution of the population of the community for 1907 follows:

The three steel plants located in Community D may be designated, for the purposes of this study, as Companies 1, 2, and 3.

Company 1 operates 7 blast furnaces. The following table shows the years in which furnaces were built, and may be accepted as an accurate outline of the industrial growth of the community. The furnaces of company 1 are described as follows:

Coke is the fuel used in these furnaces; the ore is Lake Superior and the product Bessemer pig iron. The annual capacity of all 7 furnaces is 1,080,000 tons. The molten metal from these furnaces is used in the Bessemer converters and open-hearth furnaces of the company. Gas from the blast furnaces is largely used for power purposes. The steel works consist of Bessemer and open-hearth steel works, rail mills, plate mill, etc. The Bessemer department, built in 1902-3, consists of four 10 gross ton acid Bessemer converters and 8 iron and 4 spiegel cupolas. The product is ingots and castings, and the annual capacity 845,000 tons.

The other mills of company 1 are described as follows:

Company 2 operates two furnaces, each 80 by 20, and built during the period 1902-1904. Lake Superior ore, partly mined by this company, is used. The product is foundry pig iron, and the annual capacity 225,000 tons.

Company 3 operates one furnace, erected in 1906. Four hot-blast stoves are also operated. Coke is used as fuel and the ore comes from the Mesabi Range. The product of this company is basic pig iron, with an annual capacity of 150,000 tons.

Considering these three companies together, the grand total product of rolling mills and steel works in this community is as follows: