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though they migrate from community to community, lose much time during the spring, summer, and autumn months, while in the winter they find little to do.

IN OTHER EMPLOYMENTS.

A few of the East Indians in California have found work in a pottery, and still another group were employed as common laborers in a stone quarry. In San Francisco personal data were secured from 17 East Indians who were engaged in the manufacture of tamales and the sale of them on the streets. They were Mohammedans and were not of those who had immigrated from British Columbia, but had been in the country four or five years and were of a higher type. These men were living in four groups and working in as many partnerships. They earned more than $30 per month per man. In some of the northern cities, also, some East Indians have owned peanut carts, but they have not been successful in business as peddlers.

SUMMARY.

From this review of the employment of East Indians in the Pacific Coast States it is evident that they are rarely employed at inside work. It is evident also that they are not employed in as large numbers as formerly in the lumber mills and that they have found little place in railroad work. In mining and smelting, the other industries of the Western States requiring many unskilled laborers, they have never been employed. The majority of those who came to this country from British Columbia have migrated south to California, while recently most of the direct immigration has been to that State. As a result, most of the East Indians in the West are now in that State, where the vast majority are engaged in seasonal handwork in various branches of agriculture. In only one or two instances have they been found working with a team. They migrate from ranch to ranch and from locality to locality, doing the most unskilled work, and, with few exceptions, at a lower rate of wages per day than the Japanese or any other race employed. They are usually regarded as dear at the price, and have been employed chiefly to supplement the Japanese, who have diminished in number.

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In looking for work the East Indians go about in " gangs " of from 3 to 50 members, under a leader or boss." The leader is one who can speak English, and acts as interpreter and carries on all dealings with an employer. These "gangs" are not as closely organized as the Japanese and Chinese gangs," for the East Indian appears to be more individualistic, and the "gang" system is largely due to the fact that the majority of them can not understand English, and so can not find work for themselves. Unlike the Japanese 66 bosses," ," the East Indian leaders do not get a commission out of the wages of their men, but they themselves work and expect slightly higher pay from the employer for acting as interpreters. Very often the large gangs send their leaders out alone to look for work, and often into remote districts, and the members follow when work is found. The leaders usually offer to supply an employer with as

many men as he wants, and then they draw upon other "gangs" for men if necessary. The individualistic tendencies of the East Indians are shown by the way in which they seek work in smaller groups, and even singly in the case of men who can speak some English, and also by the fact that some are located throughout the year on the same ranches in districts where they have gained a foothold.

In every community in which the East Indians have appeared there has been a strong prejudice against them and employers have been adverse to employing them. About 85 per cent are Sikhs, whose hair is long and who wear turbans, and their strange appearance is a handicap to them. Their success in finding employment has been due in most districts to a scarcity of other laborers. They are very persistent in looking for work, and many employers ascribe their employment to their frequent applications for work. In some places where they seemed to be desperate in their needs they have attempted to force employers to hire them and have entered the fields to begin work so that they had to be driven off.

CHAPTER IV.

AGE AND CONJUGAL CONDITION.

Personal data were secured from 474 East Indians. These reported their ages at time of coming to the United States as follows: Twentythree were under 18, 26 were between 18 and 20, 142 between 20 and 25, 120 between 25 and 30, 84 between 30 and 35, 45 between 35 and 40, 16 between 40 and 45, and 16 were 45 years of age or over. Thus it is seen that about three-fourths of the entire number were between 20 and 35 years of age. The reports of the Commissioner-General of Immigration give the ages of 3,535 at the time of entry as follows: TABLE 8.-Number of East Indians admitted to the United States during the period 1905-1909, by age groups.

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Over 96 per cent of those reported were between 14 and 44 years of age at the time of arrival in this country.

The conjugal condition and location of wife of the East Indians from whom the agent of the Commission secured data are shown in the following table:

TABLE 9.-Conjugal condition of male East Indians, and location of wife, by

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More than two-fifths of them are married, but all of their wives are abroad. Having no families in this country the East Indian men live in groups of from 2 to 50 members.

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