PART III.-THE EAST INDIANS ON THE PACIFIC COAST. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. Agents of the Commission made an investigation of East Indian immigrants in California, Oregon, and Washington. Data were secured for 36 groups including 159 members and from 395 other men found at work on farms and elsewhere. Information was obtained from the members of the 36 groups with reference to their occupations, wages, cost of living, housing, and related matters. Information was secured with reference to still other matters from 79 of the members of 24 of these groups. Corresponding data relative to most points of interest were obtained from the 395 from whom individual schedules were obtained. The number of these latter schedules is not so large or so well distributed by industries as desired because those employed as section hands on the railroad and in lumber mills could not be reached by the agents in person, and it was found impossible to secure the data otherwise because of the inability of the majority of these immigrants to read and write English, and because of the disinclination of the foremen under whom they worked to devote the time necessary to secure the desired information and to record it. Personal data were secured, however, from 474 East Indians. These are 15 per cent or more of the total number in the United States at the time the investigation was conducted. Inasmuch as practically all of these immigrants are engaged in common labor and are of the same class, the data secured are believed to show the essential facts with a fair degree of accuracy. 323 CHAPTER II. SETTLEMENT AND PROGRESS OF EAST INDIANS IN PACIFIC COAST STATES. The East Indians in the Pacific coast States include Sikhs, Mohammedans, and Afghans (who are also of the Mohammedan faith). They are all known as "Hindus," though, strictly speaking, they are not all of the Hindu caste. There are at present about 5,000 East Indians of the working class in the United States. The census of 1900 does not specify by race the number of East Indians in the United States at that time, but it gives a total (exclusive of Hawaii and Alaska) of 2,050 persons born in India, and it is probable that the greater part of these were East Indians. The following table, compiled from the annual reports of the Commissioner-General of Immigration for the years 1900-1910, shows the number of East Indian immigrants admitted during the past eleven years. TABLE 1.-Number of East Indians admitted and departed during the years 1900 to 1910. a Previous to 1908 no record of departures was kept. The distinction between immigrant and nonimmigrant aliens was first made in 1909, and the basis of the classification is thus explained: "In making the classification the following rule is observed: Arriving aliens whose permanent domicile has been outside of the United States who intend to reside permanently in the United States are classed as immigrant aliens; departing aliens whose permanent residence has been in the United States who intend to reside permanently abroad are classed as emigrant aliens; all alien residents of the United States making a temporary trip abroad, and all aliens residing abroad and making a temporary trip to the United States are classed as nonimmigrant aliens on the inward journey and nonemigrant on the outward " (p. 9, Report Commissioner-General of Immigration, 1909). For July, 1909, to March, 1910, inclusive. This table shows that the immigration of East Indians in more than small numbers has been very recent, and it also shows how rapidly the number admitted has been increasing. In 1900, 9 were admitted to the United States, in 1904, 258, and in 1908, 1,710. The |