The Lid Off the Melting Pot.* UNSANITARY AND UNSAFE WORKING "Relative to the effect of recent immigration upon native American and older immigrant wageearners in the United States, it may be stated, in the first place, that the lack of industrial training and experience of the recent immigrant before coming to the United States, together with his illiteracy and inability to speak English, has had the effect of exposing the original employes to unsafe and unsanitary working conditions, or has led to the imposition of conditions of employment which the native American or older immigrant employes have considered unsatisfactory and in some cases unbearable. "When the older employes have found dangerous and unhealthy conditions prevailing in the mines and manufacturing establishments, and have protested, the recent immigrant employes, usually through ignorance of mining or other working methods, have manifested a willingness to accept the alleged unsatisfactory conditions. In a large number of cases the lack of training and experience of the southern and eastern European affects only his own safety. On the other hand, his ignorant acquiescence in dangerous and unsanitary working conditions may make the continuance of such conditions possible and become a menace to a part or the whole of an operating force of an untrained establishment. "In mining, the presence of an untrained employe may constitute an element of danger to the entire body of workmen. There seems to be a direct causal relation between the extensive employment of recent immigrants in American mines and the extraordinary increase within recent years in the number of mining accidents. It is an undisputed fact that the greatest number of accidents in bituminous coal mines arise from two causes: (1) the recklessness, and (2) the ignorance and inexperience of employes. When the lack of training of the recent immigrant abroad is considered in connection with the fact that he becomes a workman in the mines immediately upon his arrival in this country, and when it is recalled that a large proportion of the new arrivals are not only illiterate and unable to read any precautionary notices posted in the mines, but also unable to speak English, and consequently without ability to comprehend instructions intelligently, the inference is plain that the employment of recent immigrants has caused a deterioration in working conditions. HOW FOREIGN LABORERS LIVE. "Housing and living conditions vary little, or not at all, even among the various communities in the Middle West and Northwest. Freight cars, fitted up inside with from eight to ten bunks, are used as sleeping quarters. Separate cars are used as kitchens and as dining-rooms. The bunks in the sleeping cars have been roughly put together, four in either end of each car, leaving ample space in the middle even when two extra bunks are crowded in. There is usually a table in this clear space where the men play cards and sometimes eat instead of in the regular mess car. Even with ten men in one car, they can not be described, as crowded. "The kitchen car is fitted with a range, tables, an ice-chest, and numerous lockers in which the provisions are kept. The cook or cooks sleep here in one end of the car, and sometimes an interpreter is with them. The mess car is always next to the kitchen. Through its entire length, in the middle, runs a plain board table, a bench of equal length on either side, with lockers on the walls where the tableware is kept. "The camps are on sidings, ladders being r ́sed to the open doorways. So long as the work is within several miles of the camp, the car is not moved, the men traveling to and fro on hand-cars; but when necessary a switch engine appears and hauls the entire camp to the next siding, or switch, causing the men no other inconvenience than, in case of those who bake their own bread, the building of a new bake-oven-a small cave in an embankment or hillside often furnishing ample convenience. "Each gang is a racial unit, living in separate cars and usually in a separate camp. Sometimes Bulgarians and Croatians, Croatians and Rumanians and Italians, were found in the same camp, but it seemed that Greeks could not live peaceably with any other race. Croatians and Bulgarians, speaking practically the same language, fraternize readily; but Bulgarians and Rumanians must be kept apart from the Greeks, both of the former being secessionists from the Church of the Greek Patriarch, with tendencies anti fraternal in high degree. "Everywhere the men pay their own living expenses. The companies pay the wages of the cooks, equal to those of the laborers. Fuel, sometimes old ties, sometimes coal, sometimes both, is supplied free. The cooking ranges and the kitchen utensils are bought by the men. Theoretically, the men may buy their provisions from whom they please. The average amount put into the common living fund is from $6 to $10 a month. The Croatians seem to live most generously; the Greeks and Bulgarians most plainly. The reputation of the Croatians among the foremen for generous living may rest, however, more on their propensity to use liquor; for only they of all the races are not sober, though their sprees are periodical rather than continuous. But even the Bulgarians, said to be the most sober, have acquired the almost universal habit of beer drinking. "The houses occupied by laborers on construction work throughout the South are of cheap construction and built for only temporary use. They are about eight feet high from the floor to the eaves, fourteen feet wide, and from fourteen to From the "Immigration Problem," Funk & Wagnalls, New York. sixty feet long. They usually have a comb roof of about four feet pitch, which gives more air than the flat tops which are more rarely found. Bunks built one above the other, against the walls, serve as beds, while a stove in the center furnishes both cooking and heating accommodations. All bedding is supplied by the men, and consists in most cases of a pile of straw, obtained from a nearby farm, sometimes in a filthy case, but often lying loose in the bunk. "From twenty to thirty men occupy a bunk-house fifty feet long. Cooking is done on the stoves in the houses in winter; in summer out of doors, or in a little hut built by the men themselves. These huts built by the immigrants are usually of sod, placed in a frame of poles, and are either square with a flat top, or cone-shaped like an Indian tepee. Others are built of odd ends of planks, scraps of tar paper or tin. Some of the Italians build very attractive huts of discarded powder cans. By cutting the cans down the side seam, after the ends are knocked out, small rectangular blocks of tin are obtained, and by nailing these over a frame of boards, the appearance of a corrugated iron house is given. Where the work is double-tracking, box-cars placed on a temporary track near the work and fitted up as camp cars are used. These cars have a stove in the center, a double deck of berths at either end, and windows about eighteen inches square cut in either side. In the cases where a married man, usually a foreman, is among the immigrants, the house is of a better grade. Although built of the same material as the shanties, they are more closely built and are usually lined with paper. The general plan followed is a threeroom, one-story house, one room being used for cooking and dining and the remaining two as living and sleeping rooms. "The majority of the immigrants do their own cooking, each man for himself, or else they form groups of five to ten, when the men take it by turns to do the cooking for the others in the group. There are a few boarding places on the American plan, but these are rare, and are always where there is a foreign foreman with his family on the work. An occasional boarding group is found where all the men buy their own provisions, each man for himself, having it cooked by the woman who conducts the house, and who charges the men $2.50 for cooking and washing. This custom is found more widely among the Croatians. Of all the different methods, individual cooking is the most prevalent. "The cost of living is about $10 per man for the Croatians for a month, and the same for the Slovaks, and from $5 to $7 for the Italians. The Italians live mainly upon bread and macaroni and bologna sausage, which accounts for the extremely low cost of their maintenance. At their noon meal, on the work, a whole gang may be seen eating simply a loaf of bread and a pickle or a piece of bologna sausage. At night they cook a stew made of macaroni, tamales, and potatoes and a small scrap of meat. For breakfast they have bread and coffee and bologna sausage. When not working the majority of the Italians eat only two meals a day. The other foreign races eat meat for both supper and breakfast, in addition to a good deal of canned food." THE IMMIGRANT'S EARNINGS AND LIVING. "Another salient fact in connection with the recent immigrant labor supply has been the necessitous condition of the newcomers upon their arrival in American industrial communities. Immigrants from the south and east of Europe have usually had but a few dollars in their possession when their final destination in this country has been reached. During the past eight years the average amount per person among these immigrants has been about one-third as much as among immigrants from northern and western Europe. Consequently, finding it absolutely imperative to engage in work at once, they have not been in a position to take exception to wages or working conditions, but must obtain employment on the terms offered or suffer from actual want. "The standards of living of the recent industrial workers from the south and east of Europe have also been very low. Furthermore, the recent immigrants being usually single, or, if married, having left their wives abroad, have in large measure adopted a group instead of a family living arrangement, and thereby have reduced their cost of living to a point far below that of the American, or of the older immigrant in the same industry. The method of living often followed is that commonly known as the 'boarding-boss' system, which has already been described in considerable detail. "Under this general method of living, which prevails among the greater proportion of the immigrant households, the entire outlay for necessary living expenses of each adult member ranges from $9 to $15 each month. The additional expenditures of the recent immigrant wage-earners are small. Every effort has been made to save as much as possible. The entire life interest and activity of the average wage earner from southern and eastern Europe has seemed to revolve about three points: (1) To earn the largest possible amount under the existing conditions of work; (2) to live upon the basis of minimum cheapness, and (3) to save as much as possible. All living arrangements have been subordinated to the desire to reduce the cost of living to its lowest level. Comfort seems not to be considered." EARNINGS OF AMERICANS AND FOREIGNERS. "A study of more than 5,000 wage-earners in all sections of the country showed that the average daily earnings of native white Americans were $2.43 and of immigrants $1.68. "The highest average daily earnings of any race of southern and eastern Europe were shown by the North Italians, the members of this race earning on an average $1.86 each day, while no other recent immigrants had average earnings in excess of $1.59. The Irish of foreign birth averaged $2.33 per diem. "Very few southern and eastern Europeans, as contrasted with native white Americans and British and northern European immigrants, appeared in the higher classification of earnings. More than three tenths of the native white Americans and more than one-fourth of the Irish of foreign birth, as against only one-twentieth of the recent immigrant employes, earned $3 or more each day. About one-tenth of the native American and foreign-born Irish, and practically none of the recent immigrants, showed daily earnings in excess of $4. "Three-fifths of the recent immigrant laborers in the east, south, and south west, and more than four-fifths of those in the middle west and northwest, earned as much as $1.50 each. On the other hand, none of the southern and eastern Europeans in the middle west or northwest, only 7 per cent of those in the south and southwest, and 20 per cent of those in the eastern States, earned $2 or more each day." FOREIGN WORKERS' EFFECT ON WAGES. Immigration has checked increase of wages for the native-born American worker. "The low standards of the southern and eastern European, his ready acceptance of a low wage and existing working conditions, his lack of perma. nent interest in the occupation and community in which he has been employed, his attitude toward labor organizations, his slow progress toward assimilation, and his willingness seemingly to accept indefinitely without protest certain wages and conditions of employment, have rendered it extremely difficult for the older classes of employes to secure improvements in conditions or advancement in wages since the arrival in considerable numbers of southern and eastern European wage THE ARIZONA "RECALL" STORY IN A NUT SHELL.* People who regard Arizona as excessively "radical" and look upon her new constitution as "a zoological garden of legislative freaks," as did President Taft, and then extol the courage and wisdom of the revolutionary fathers, either have no historic sense or lack the saving grace of humor. The fight in Arizona for a form of government to meet the needs of the twentieth century, and that of the fathers to gain economic and political freedom from Great Britain is, in essence, one and the same thing. If you have a picture of "Signing the Declaration' on your library walls, you should have a copy of the Arizona constitution on the shelves. For a generation Arizona has been at the mercy of Federal Judges, Governors, and office holders, appointed from Washington at the dictation of the railroads and mining interests. The people were helpless and knew it. They were mercilessly exploited by Big Business-literally robbed-(there is no other word), political corruption was an accepted thing; the corporations ruled and the development of the Territory was impeded. With the chance to make a constitution and gain self-government through Statehood the hour of opportunity struck for the people. The Republican party, controlled by the interests, declared for "a safe and sane constitution"-which meant continued rule by themselves. The Democratic *Judson King in "Equity." party, to win, was forced by labor and by the whole situation to offset the power of money by the power of principles. They promised to give the people the constitution they wanted, containing the initiative, referendum, recall, direct election of Senators, a strong corporation commission, protection to labor, etc. The progressives won. They wrote the constitution they had pledged amidst a storm of abuse, ridicule, and all the power the local and national Republican machine could bring to bear. They adopted their constitution, 80 per cent voting "yes." They carried their fight to the National Congress and won. In one last effort to save themselves, the corporations induced President Taft to veto the admission of the State. The Recall of Judges was the pretext. The Arizona leaders changed their tactics. The progressive Senators sprung a filibuster, held up the biggest appropriation bill of the session, and literally forced the reactionaries to admit Arizona on condition that the Recall of Judges be eliminated. Senator Robert L. Owen made the filibuster speech; he was aided by Senators Jonathan Bourne, La Follette and others. Again Arizona progressives won. December 12, 1911, was set for the day to elect officers for the new State and vote down the Recall of Judges. The reactionary Republicans adopted a progressive platform and put forth a ticket composed of the very men who have most violently fought every move toward freedom the people had made. The progressive Democrats adopted a progressive platform and nominated progressive men. Under the slogan, "Put friends of the constitution in charge," they elected every State officer and forty-five out of fifty-four members of the Legislature. Both party platforms pledged absolutely to resubmit the Recall of Judges to the people "at the earliest possible moment." Talk with the citizens of Arizona, as I have done for the past few weeks, and you will be struck with the fact that they possess just as good common sense as the people of any other State, and that they have courage. They do not whine, whimper, nor cringe. They are mighty good Americans. They know what they have had. They know what they want. They are determined that the people of Arizona shall rule Arizona, and in their struggle for freedom, they have set an example of fighting ability to "free-born America" which should have a tonic effect upon the people of every State in this Union. Before you throw the constitution of Arizona out of the window, turn your portraits of the fathers to the wall. This young State is "up to snuff." At the State election, December 12, the judicial Recall was voted out of the constitution by an overwhelming majority in order to obtain Statehood. And at the same election a Legislature was elected pledged to resubmit the judicial Recall at a special election, to occur perhaps in May, at which time Arizona as a Sovereign State will vote the judicial Recall back into the constitution. And, between now and this probable May election, look out for some surprises. Arizona is "up to snuff." Maybe the President will be sorry he vetoed the judicial Recall, for by doing so he has given Arizona, as a sovereign State, occasion to do some other things in addition to inserting the judicial Recall in constitution. But wait and see. SAVINGS BANK LIFE INSURANCE-1911. Harry W. Kimball, Field Secretary Massachusetts Savings Insurance League, has given the AMERICAN FEDERATIONIST the following facts: Savings Bank Life Insurance is a new movement, only a little more than three years old, and only a small group of persons have been active in its propaganda. During the year 1911 there has been a gain of about $600,000 of insurance in force, the total amount at the present time being over $2,100,000, and a net gain of 1,842 in the number of policyholders, the present total exceeding 5,500. On August 1, 1911, the Berkshire County Savings Bank of Pittsfield, one of the strongest savings banks in Massachusetts, became the third to open an Insurance Department, awakening much interest in the movement in Western Massachusetts. Sixteen agencies have been established in Berkshire County. Thirteen savings banks have established public agencies for the Insurance Departments, six being established during 1911. Nearly 180 agencies have been established in factories for the benefit of employes, nearly sixty being established or arranged for during 1911. The manufacturers have also co-operated through the organization of mutual benefit associations providing for death benefits through savings bank life insurance policies. F. W. Bird & Son's (East Walpole) 300 members are insured for $100 each, the company contributing equally with the members; at the Charles K. Fox shoe factory, Haverhill, are 250 members, for $100 each, same payments. At the Logan, Swift & Brigham factory, a mutual benefit association for the women employes has a life insurance feature of $100 on each member, and the mutual benefit association of the Eaton, Crane & Pike Company, Pittsfield, has 400 policies for $100, issued by the Berkshire County Savings Bank, the employers in both cases making an annual contribution to the association funds. K. B. Miller of Pittsfield has also given to each employe who has been with him one year a $500 life policy, the premiums to be paid by him in future. The dividends for 1911 declared by the Insurance Departments of the Whitman Savings Bank and the People's Savings Bank of Brockton amount on DISTRICT AND GENERAL ORGANIZERS. Number Commissioned Organizers, American Federation of Labor, 1,647. District No. 1.-Eastern. Comprising the States of Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and the Province of New Brunswick, Canada. Organizers, John A. Flett, J. J. Cunningham, J. D. Pierce, P. F. Duffy, Frank H. McCarthy. the monthly premium policies in the first year to 8 per cent and in the fourth year to two full monthly premiums, or 16 per cent. This fourthyear dividend makes the cost of these policies from 30 to 35 per cent less than the weekly premium policies of the large industrial companies. The dividends on the annual premium policies, which are strictly intermediate, are increased from 60 to in some cases 100 per cent over the dividends of a year ago. These dividends make these annual premium policies not only cheaper than the intermediate policies of the industrial companies, but also cheaper, in most instances, than policies issued by the old-line companies. One just criticism of the industrial companies was the heavy lapse rate on their industrial business. The Savings Insurance Banks, through the co-operation of the agencies, have been able to reduce the lapse rate. A comparison of the amount of business lapsed in the Whitman and Brockton banks with the total amount of issued business during the year shows a lapse rate of 15 per cent. The percentage of lapse in the industrial business of the Metropolitan was 65 per cent and in the Prudential 78. Therefore, it seems to be well within the facts to say that the lapse rate of savings bank life insurance is only one-third to one quarter of that of the great industrial insurance companies. In one of the largest agencies for savings bank life insurance-that of the United Shoe Machinery Company, Beverly-the lapse rate covering a pe riod of over three years has been less than 6 per cent of the business. "Savings bank life insurance," writes Director Kimball, "has proved by this year's experience to be a rapidly growing form of public service in Massachusetts. Beyond any question the insurance is upon a sound and scientific basis. It is aimed to conduct the insurance business of the banks in such a manner that no unnecessary expense shall be incurred, and the interests of the policyholders shall be most carefully conserved. The amount of over-the-counter business at the agencies and at the banks is steadily increasing. The Savings Banks of Massachusetts are becoming more and more interested in the possibilities of this work, and other States are considering the adoption of similar legislation." District No. V.-Northwestern. Comprising the States of Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Manitoba. Organizers, Emmet T. Flood, John D. Chubbuck. District No. VI.-Southwestern. Comprising the States of Missouri, Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. Organizer, Sim A. Bramlette. District No. VII.-Inter-Mountain. Comprising the States of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Idaho. District No. VIII.-Pacific Coast. Comprising the States of Nevada, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California, and the Province of British Columbia. Organizers, C. O. Young, Jos. P. Sorensen. Porto Rico and Cuba.-Santiago Iglesias. WHAT OUR ORGANIZERS ARE DOING. FROM THE ATLANTIC TO THE PACIFIC. In this department is presented a comprehensive review of industrial conditions throughout the country. This includes: A statement by American Federation of Labor general and local organizers of labor conditions in their vicinity. Increases in wages, reduction of hours, or improved conditions gained without strikes. Unions organized during the last month. City ordinances or State laws passed favorable to labor. Strikes or lockouts; causes, results. A report of this sort is rather a formidable task when it is remembered that nearly 1,000 of the organizers are volunteers, doing the organizing work and writing their reports after the day's toil is finished in factory, mill, or mine. The matter herewith presented is valuable to all who take an intelligent interest in the industrial development of the country. It is accurate, varied, and comprehensive. The information comes from those familiar with the conditions of which they write. These organizers are themselves wage-workers. They participate in the struggles of the people for better conditions, help to win the victories, aid in securing legislation-in short, do the thousand and one things that go to round out the practical labor movement. Through an exchange of views in this department the wage workers in various sections of the country and the manifold branches of trade are kept in close touch with each other. Taken in connection with the reports from secretaries of international unions, this department gives a luminous vision of industrial advancement throughout the country. FROM NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL OFFICERS. Brick, Tile, and Terra Cotta Workers. Wm. Van Bodegraven.-The outlook in the clay industry is bright. We still have strike on in Galesburg, Ill., and hope for an early and favorable settlement. The men are standing firm. Carvers (Wood). Thos. J. Lodge.-Employment quiet in our line at this writing. A number of our local unions are contemplating change in working hours. We expended $150 in benefit for deceased member. Cement Workers. Henry Ullner.-Since last report we have chartered new unions in Cincinnati, Ohio; Detroit, Mich.; Dallas, Texas, and Worcester, Mass. Our local in Muskegon, Mich., expects to establish the eight-hour day and in Boston, Mass.. our members will make the effort to establish the Saturday halfholiday, as well as advance wages, to take effect May first. The extensive advertisements throughout the East and Middle West, of the World's Fair to be held in San Francisco, are bringing many men to this city. The Fair work has not yet started and these men only swell the ranks of the unemployed. They should not be deceived by the advertisements and should take heed of the conditions as stated by the San Francisco Building Trades Council and the Labor Council. Composition Roofers, Damp and Waterproof D. J. Ganley.-Wages and working conditions good in our trade. A two weeks' strike in Newark, N. J., obtained for our members an advance of 25 cents per day in wages. Employment good in our line. Cutting Die and Cutter Makers. Harry Reiser.-We have secured the fortyeight-hour week in Brockton, Haverhill, Lynn, Stoucham, and Baltimore. We hope to obtain the same improvement in a number of other cities. Our members in Haverhill and Brockton won the shorter workday through a month's strike. Employment fairly steady in our trade. Lathers. Ralph V. Brandt.-This is the dull season for our trade. We had expenditure of $400 in death benefits during the month. Machine Printers and Color Mixers. Chas. McCrory.-Trade conditions excellent. All members, practically, are steadily employed. Our trade has seen the necessity of providing a death benefit fund, which entitles à member's family $200 benefit upon his death. |