118,777, or 54.85 per cent, were of the Italian, Slavic, and Hungarian

races.

The foregoing figures are presented in detail in the following table:

NUMBER AND PER CENT OF IMMIGRANTS OF ITALIAN, SLAVIC, AND HUNGARIAN BIRTH ADMITTED INTO THE UNITED STATES DURING THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1906.

[Compiled from Report of the Commissioner-General of Immigration for the year ended June 30, 1906, pages 29 to 33.]

A considerable number of the Italian, Slavic, and Hungarian immigrants had been engaged in agricultural pursuits in their native lands and had lived in scattered communities, removed from contact with great centers of population. This is shown in the following table for immigrants admitted from 1901 to 1906:

ITALIAN, SLAVIC, AND HUNGARIAN IMMIGRANTS ADMITTED FROM 1901 TO 1906 WHO WERE FARMERS OR FARM WORKERS BEFORE COMING TO THE UNITED STATES. [Compiled from the Peports of the Commissioner-General of Immigration.]

Of the 432,152 unskilled laborers of these races admitted to this country in 1906, 48.2 per cent, or 208,281, had been engaged in agricultural labor before coming here.

Of the 82,115 farmers and farm hands arriving in 1906 from Italy, 90.7 per cent were southern Italians, and but 7,634 were from northern Italy.

The great mass of the 9,611,003 persons in Italy in 1901 engaged in agricultural pursuits were southern Italians. This class of workers in southern Italy raised over 90 per cent of the cereal crops. In 1904, they produced 70 per cent of the wine product and 99 per cent of the olive oil.

In Austria in 1900, 13,709,204 persons of the total population of 26,150,708, or 52.4 per cent, were engaged in agriculture. In Hungary in 1900, 13,175,083 persons of the total population of 19,254,559, or 68.4 per cent, were engaged in agriculture, including in both countries forestry, sheep breeding, dairying, market gardening, etc.

Since the year 1900 the United States has secured from Italy, Hungary, and from the Slavic countries 559,598 men who had been farmers and farm hands in their native lands, but who have become a part of the unskilled laborers employed in the various industries of the United States since their arrival.

The wages paid to unskilled laborers in agriculture and in other industries in the countries from which these immigrants come are · extremely low, and the life of the laborer is one of continuous poverty. The common laborers' reasons for leaving their native countries may be summarized as follows: (1) Primary necessity; (2) to escape compulsory military service and other burdens; (3) to become selfsupporting. All three objects are overcome or attained, they assert, by coming to the United States.

After their arrival in the United States these immigrants do not seek employment in agriculture, partly because of the difficulties in the way of securing it, but mainly because of the higher rates of wages in other industries. In transportation, manufacturing, mining, and in building the demand for common labor has been very great.

The Italian laborers prefer railroad construction, tunnel building, grading, ditching, building excavation, and work in factory industries, while the Slavs and Hungarians seek the industries where the compensation is somewhat higher and the labor somewhat harderwhere strong men are required, as in the blast furnaces, iron and steel works, iron-ore handling, and anthracite and bituminous coal mining.

Other reasons why the Italian immigrant agricultural laborers do not seek American farm life are thus given by Italian authorities:

In spite of the fact that the great mass of the Italian population (in Italy) is engaged in agricultural pursuits, an unusual proportion of the inhabitants are congregated in towns. The Italian is no lover of the country; he dreads of all things an isolated dwelling. Landowners, farmers, and most of the laborers dwell together in their boroughs or hamlets, and the peasants have often a journey of several miles before they reach the fields intrusted to their care.

The following table shows for each race the number reported as having followed the various unskilled occupations before coming to the United States. Those reported as having no occupation (mostly women and children) are included:

IMMIGRATION OF UNSKILLED WORKERS OF THE ITALIAN, HUNGARIAN, AND SLAVIC RACES IN DETAIL, YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1906.

[Compiled from Report of the Commissioner-General of Immigration for the year ended June 30, 1906,

pages 28 to 33.]

There are many methods used in the employment and distribution of immigrants and of unskilled laborers. Most of the great industrial establishments have well-organized systems for registration and employment at offices within their own gates, where hiring is done directly and without the intervention of middlemen.

The labor employment agencies distribute but a small part of the total immigration. The New York City agencies distribute a maximum of about 70,000 men annually, and a large proportion of this is a redistribution including the movement of a number of American. citizens. The total number of immigrants in 1906 reporting the State of New York as their destination was 374,708. Of the more than one million immigrants admitted in 1906, 86,539 reported the State of Illinois as their destination, and were absorbed there. The Chicago immigrant labor agencies had but a small number of these to redistribute. In other great cities conditions were the same.

Distribution through labor agencies is the most expensive method. for the immigrant or other unskilled worker. The most effective as well as the least expensive means is through the international and domestic mail service. Through this channel reliable information as

to employment, wages, and location is given by the relative or friend in the United States to the intending immigrant before he leaves his native land. The relative or friend in the mine, factory, or work of construction knows if there is a shortage of labor or a place here for his relative or friend in Europe. The magnitude of the international mail and money-order business of the United States, together with the fact that the great mass of immigrants go unerringly to the States where wages are highest and their services in greatest demand, indicates the effectiveness of the system and the accuracy of the information.

The number of letters sent from the United States to foreign countries from the year 1900 to 1906, inclusive, was estimated by the superintendent of foreign mails to be 514,568,230, and the number received from foreign countries 282,857,558. In the same period, according to the annual reports on the transactions of the New York post-office, 12,304,485 money orders were sent to foreign countries, amounting to $239,367,047.56, and of these, 4,264,633 orders, amounting to $119,757,895.86, or 50.03 per cent of the total amount of money, were sent to Italy, Hungary, and Slavic countries. In these figures are revealed the most intelligent, sympathetic, and effective agencies of securing and distributing labor. Relatives and friends are the middlemen.

The intelligence of this international mail system and its immediate response to industrial conditions in the United States may be noted in the statistics of immigration. The immigration from Poland during the years of prosperity and depression in this country illustrates this response.

IMMIGRANTS FROM POLAND TO THE UNITED STATES, 1891 TO 1898 AND IN 1905. [Compiled from Report of the Commissioner-General of Immigration for the year ended June 30, 1905.]

a Number of Poles reported as coming from Russia.

These figures tell their own story. The year 1892, a most prosperous year, was followed in the fall of 1893 by an industrial depression which continued for a number of years. As a consequence Polish immigration was practically suspended during the years of depression.

The total number of unskilled laborers arriving in the United States during the year ending June 30, 1906, was 598,731, of which number 432,152 were Italians, Slavs, and Hungarians. These laborers were distributed from the ports of entry to all parts of the United States. The remarkable fact in this distribution was that 78.59 per cent of the total number, or 470,534, went direct from the steamships to the States of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Illinois.

It is notable that in 1900 there were living in the above-named States 1,380,462 foreign-born immigrants of the Italian, Slavic, and Hungarian races, or 73.2 per cent of the 1,885,896 persons of the same races in the United States, and six years later, in 1906, we find 640,474, or 86.55 per cent of the total immigrants of these races, going to the same seven States. The following table shows the number of immigrants of each race going to each of the seven States during the year ending June 30, 1906:

NUMBER OF ITALIAN, SLAVIC AND HUNGARIAN IMMIGRANTS GOING TO MASSACHUSETTS, CONNECTICUT, NEW JERSEY, NEW YORK, PENNSYLVANIA, OHIO, AND ILLINOIS DURING THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1906.

[Compiled from Report of the Commissioner-General of Immigration for the year ended June 30, 1906, pages 23 to 26.]