$67.22 on the average; the Scandinavian, $64.62; the German, $55.31; the Bohemian and Moravian, $41.32; the East Indian, $39.30; the North Italian, $28.99; the Greek, $23.43; the Finnish, $21.48; the Portuguese, $20.23; the Russian, $16.88; the South Italian, $16.50; the Slovak, $16.22; the Croatian and Slovenian, $14.67; and the Polish, $13.61.

The data presented in Chapters III, IV, V, and VI summarize the results of the investigation in so far as they relate directly to the economic phases of Japanese immigration. It remains to present data obtained bearing more directly upon the social and political phases of the problem.

CHAPTER VII.

SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CONSIDERATIONS.

The capacity of the Japanese for assimilation, the progress they have made toward assimilation, and the place they occupy in the community are indicated by their literacy, the effort made to acquire and their knowledge of the English language, the character of their reading, their position in political life, their relations with other races, their religious ideals, and related matters.

The number and percentage of the Japanese from whom personal data were obtained who can speak English is shown by sex, by economic groups, and by industry, and by years in the United States, in the following tables:

TABLE 52.-Ability to speak English of foreign-born Japanese, by sex, years in the United States, and industry.

WAGE-EARNERS.
MALE.

[By years in the United States is meant years since first arrival in the United States.]

TABLE 52.-Ability to speak English of foreign-born Japanese, by sex, years in the United States, and industry-Continued.

TABLE 53.-Per cent of foreign-born Japanese who speak English, by sex, years in the United States, and industry.

WAGE-EARNERS.
MALE.

[By years in the United States is meant years since first arrival in the United States.]

TABLE 53.-Per cent of foreign-born Japanese who speak English, by sex, years in the United States, and industry-Continued.

These tables bring to light certain contrasts between the different groups. The more important of these are: (1) The contrasts which are found between those who have been in the United States less than five years and those who have resided here a longer time; (2) those which are found between the sexes, the males invariably showing a larger percentage than the females of the same households, who speak English; (3) those which are found between the more successful who have become business men and farmers and those who are wage-earners; (4) those which are found between the farmers and the members of their households and the business men and the members of their households; and (5) those which are found between the wage-earners in laundries, fish canneries, and miscellaneous occupations, representing city classes on the one hand and the wageearners in the other industries on the other.

The contrasts pointed out are explained partly by the different classes represented in the different groups, partly by the possibility of association with the members of other races, and partly by the possibility of attendance at school. The "student class," which has been largely represented among the Japanese immigrants to the continental United States, is found chiefly in the city trades, in business, and in the canneries, which draw largely upon the city populations for seasonal labor during the summer months. The men so engaged, except in the fish canneries, also have more contact with white persons, and a large percentage of them have attended night schools for the study of English. The farm laborers, lumber-mill hands, coal miners, smelter employees, and railroad laborers on the other hand usually work in " gangs "under an interpreter, live apart from others, and have little opportunity to attend classes. These facts, together with the further fact that with the exception of farm laborers, the "student class " finds small representation among them, account for the difference shown between them and the other groups.

These same facts account for the slight differences found between the business men and the farmers. A knowledge of English is

almost necessary to rise to either class and to maintain that position; hence the differences between them and the wage-earners. The marked differences found between the females and the males of the same industrial and length-of-residence groups are explained partly by the fact that with a lower standard of education for the latter few of them belong to the student class, but more by the fact that they do not take employment as servants and do not come into much contact with white persons, and, not finding it urgent to know English in order to be successful, do not so frequently attend classes for the study of English. The differences are of interest chiefly, however, in indicating the conditions upon which progress in learning to speak English depends. A more important question relates to the progress made. This is in a way shown by the percentages who speak English among those who have resided here for different lengths of time. But progress is a relative matter, and must be shown by comparing the Japanese with other immigrants whose mother tongue is some other language than English. Inasmuch as the conditions imposed by work and residence are important a fact indicated by the contrasts between different groups of Japanesecomparisons between the Japanese and others should be limited to those engaged in the same industries.

The relative advance of the Japanese and Chinese is best shown by reference to the data gathered from agricultural laborers, while the mining of coal and the construction and maintenance of way departments of the electric and steam railroads offer the best field for comparison of the Japanese with the south and east Europeans and the Mexicans. In making comparisons between Japanese and others, however, it should be held in mind that a large number of the former have not immigrated directly from Japan, but first went to the Hawaiian Islands or to Canada. Those who first migrated to the Hawaiian Islands usually remained there from one to five years before coming to the continental United States, while those who came from Canada have frequently resided there for a few years. In both instances they have had some contact with English-speaking people, and this should have weight in drawing conclusions from a comparison of the Japanese with other races with regard to their progress in acquiring a knowledge of the English language. Another condition which would tend to make the apparent progress of the Japanese more rapid than that of other races is that many of the Japanese laborers have had high-school training before immigrating. Such an education includes instruction in English grammar, and thus provides the foundation for a rapid acquisition of our language after their arrival here. The members of no other race with which comparisons are made have had a similar advantage in their native land.

The contrast between the Japanese and the Chinese employed in agricultural pursuits is striking. Although 94.9 per cent of the Chinese from whom data were obtained have been in the United States 10 years or over, and the great majority 20 years or over, a smaller percentage of them than of the Japanese speak English, although 90.4 per cent of the latter have been here less than 10 years and 56.5 per cent less than 5 years. Indeed, of the Japanese who have resided in the United States less than 5 years, 58.8 per cent speak English, as opposed to 66.9 per cent of the Chinese who have been here 10 years or over. This wide difference between the two races is