pations, such as fruit vending, junk dealing and organ grinding. In the large cities, the women and girls have pushed their way into the needle and textile trades, superseding the Jews in some cases; in others being superseded by the Portuguese. The Italians not only make a living for themselves here, but send much money to Italy, where they intend to return some day, and where many actually do go.

SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF ITALIANS

The Italian has brought many problems to America, not the least of which is the Black Hand. He is quarrelsome, revengeful, and illiterate. He lives as no American would be willing to live, but he is industrious and mentally alert, and would doubtless respond to rational efforts in his behalf. At the present time, as was noted before, the Italian government is not anxious for more emigration, and is seeking information concerning economic opportunities in immigrant receiving countries before allowing any to leave home. The spirit of such an attempt at co-operation is good, and is, at bottom, a recognition of the international problems involved. For some years, Italians came here at the rate of over half a million a year.

THE SLAVS

Another populous group of the New Immigration includes the Slavic peoples, of whom we have about four millionIllinois, Pennsylvania and New York having about four hundred thousand each.

The Slavs as we know them represent a number of political divisions and different groups of people including Polish, Russian, Czecho-Slovakian, Croatian, Slovenian, Ruthenian, or Ukrainian, Moravian, Bulgarian, Montenegrin, Dalmatian, Bosnian, Herzogovinian and such related groups as the Lithuanian, Finnish, Roumanian, Latvian and Esthonian. All of these names with the exception of Russian and Polish mean little to the average American. The term Slav itself does not

convey much meaning, except in those regions where Slavic peoples have settled, although the Slavs comprise one-fourth of the total population of Europe. The Slavs were Asiatic originally but are now spread over various European countries, a fact which occasioned much confusion during the World War, since they showed a tendency to segregate along racial rather than national lines.

The Slavs in the United States are for the most part extremely illiterate. They are mainly unskilled laborers, and are found in mines and steel mills, stock yards and sugar beet fields and seem to have no fear of extra-hazardous jobs anywhere. They accept these with a sullen stolidity that never ceases to excite surprise among the native born. The position of woman among the Slavs is low; she works hard and is often brutally treated. The proportion of men among these immigrants is very large, a condition which usually results in unfortunate moral standards. The Slavic people among our immigrants are good workers, but bound by ignorance and superstition to such an extent that they have not proved readily assimilable. The Poles are the most numerous, constituting about one-tenth of the operating forces of the principal industries in the country. Next in numbers are the Russians. These two groups have been the victims of vicious oppression at home and have shown some of the excesses of a new found freedom here. The shifting of political boundaries by the Treaty of Versailles has resulted in new national claims for certain of the Slavs, and it is doubtful if these will be as eager to migrate as formerly, and there may not be the same economic need for migration.

JEWISH IMMIGRANTS

Like the Slavs, the Jews come from many European countries, and have contributed about three million to our population, but it is more difficult to enumerate the Jews with accuracy because their race is never co-terminus with any

Jenks and Lauck: The Immigration Problem, p. 148.

national boundaries. They are listed upon arrival as of the country from which they emigrated, and enter as Germans, Austrians, Poles or Russians. In fact, to many Americans, Russian means Jew. This, however, is of little significance in studying the Jews because they are easily discoverable through racial traits and physical characteristics. The Jews in America are practically all found in our great cities. The occupations to which they have been habituated for centuries are urban, and they have seemingly become immune to some of the ill effects of congested population. For centuries the Jews have had a virtual monopoly of garment making in Russia. They have followed this trade in other European centres also. It is, therefore, not surprising to find them garment makers in the New World. Although the Italians have been crowding the Jews in the manufacture of women's wear, the latter still make practically all the men's clothes made in New York City which is the centre of the clothing industry in this country. They not only make clothing, but buy and sell it as well.

About a third of the Jews in the United States are in New York where they constitute one-fifth of the entire population, and make of that metropolis the most populous Jewish city in the world. Whole districts in New York are entirely Jewish. But even though swarming in Ghettos, the Jews give evidence of industry and thrift, and are ambitious for the welfare of their children. Alien in religion as well as in tongue, the Jew finds adaptation to this country hard at first. But with the adoption of the English language, the tendency seems to be away from orthodox Jewry.

Intellectual keenness is an admirable characteristic of the Jews; they excel in school, and many rise to positions of importance. They better their own status more rapidly than any other racial group of the New Immigrants. While some Jews came to this country in early days and did notable work

"Bogardus: Americanization, p. 163.

6

Burton J. Hendrick: The Jews in America, 1923.

in nation building, the great influx was after 1882, when they were driven from Russia by renewed hostile legislation. They endured unbelievably cruel persecution before seeking an asylum in the New World, and they have not always received the consideration they had a right to expect in a land of freedom. As was emphasized in the preceding discussion of the Orientals, racial prejudices are strong and, when coupled with economic competition, are often virulent. Nearly one-third of the Jews in the world are now in America.

THE GREEKS

The Greeks form a large group of the incomers from Southern Europe. They have been coming since 1894, and supplied twenty-eight thousand during the year which ended June 1921. The Greeks furnish an example of the practical absorption of an occupation by an immigrant race. This is boot-blacking which the Greek has made his own, having driven out the Negro and others by his better business methods. Small business enterprises seem to thrive under the Greeks. They are willing to work very long hours and utilize the service of children. This is particularly true in shoeshining "parlors" where young boys can do the work as well as men, and there is never a dearth of boys since they can always be brought over on one pretext or another. The ways of the Greeks are known to native Americans who are wholly uninformed about other immigrant groups with whom they have no personal contact. The Slav who slaves in mines or tends blast furnaces does not from the nature of his work project himself into the consciousness of those whom he serves as does the Greek. While the number of Greeks in the United States is not great, they are widely distributed, and colonies of considerable size are found in the largest cities.

Other national groups, large or small, may be studied to advantage. In great industrial centres, the population is miscellaneous and offers numerous points of contact.

STATISTICAL STUDY OF IMMIGRANT GROUP

Herewith is presented by way of illustration, a brief study' of 132 foreign born workmen engaged in factory processes. The information covers causes of immigration and literacy in the group:

The primary cause for migration of every one of them was economic conditions in their own countries. However, the immediate causes given were as follows:

"Letters Home" and money sent by friends or relatives in America to purchase tickets.

'Made by Mr. Fred Fitzgerald of Festus, Mo.