CHAPTER VI.

SOCIOLOGICAL DATA.

Of these 79 East Indians in Washington and Oregon, 31 sent money abroad, in all $4,320, or an average of $139.35 each during the year 1908. Deducting this amount from the total amount reported as surplus by 36 mentioned above leaves $1,130 in the United States or a surplus of $31.40 for each of the 36. Of the 79, 62 reported that they owned no property whatever, and of the remainder, 10 owned less than $100. The work in the sawmills is quite regular throughout the year, but the above data show the insecurity of these men when thrown out of work.

The position of the East Indians engaged in agricultural work is still more precarious, as the work is generally seasonal and they have greater difficulty in finding such work. While the East Indians from whom personal data were secured showed an average saving per individual of $21 per month, it must be noted that as a rule this rate only applies for a part of the year. They, as a class, are out of work a considerable part of the year, partly because of the seasonal character of the work and partly because of the general aversion to employing them. It must also be noted that almost all of the savings are immediately sent to India, leaving them nothing to live on in case of unemployment. In the winter of 1907-8 the East Indians in northern California were desperate and in great distress. They were assisted by money sent to them by the British consul-general. During that winter the East Indians suffered a great deal, but by spring the local prejudice had so far subsided that some of the ranchers in the surrounding country employed them. In spite of their poverty these East Indians, for the eight months ending July, 1908, had sent money to India. During that period (through the Marysville post-office) over $34,000 had thus been sent.

The poverty and peculiar character and position of the East Indians is likely to make them a public charge at any time. That many of their groups have not already been thrown upon the public during the winter months is due largely to the fact that few of them speak English, so that consequently they live apart from white persons, to whom their condition does not become known. As yet the only apparent effect of their destitution has been to make them desperate and persistent in demanding employment.

The object of the East Indians in coming to the United States has been to accumulate enough money to enable them to return to their native land and live well. Two thousand dollars is the goal of many. Of 31 mill hands who sent money to India, 18 sent to wives, 9 to parents, 3 to brothers, and 1 for "investment." This money sent to relatives is probably partly for their support, but

principally it forms the fund which they set out to accumulate when they came to the United States. On coming to the United States they practically all intended to return to India within a few years. According to the personal data secured from 79 in Washington and Oregon, 36 expressed an intention to return to India, 6 intended to remain permanently in the United States, while 37 were in doubt as to what they would eventually do. Like the immigrants of many other races who have changed their intentions after living in the United States, it appears likely that the East Indians in large numbers will decide to remain in this country, especially since they are now meeting with greater success in finding work. This seems the more likely since a few of the East Indians have already taken out their first papers. Many courts have refused to naturalize East Indians, but there are others which admit them to citizenship. The Bureau of Naturalization has instructed federal attorneys to oppose the granting of naturalization to Hindus or East Indians," but in so far as known no case directly involving the right of East Indians to become naturalized citizens of this country has been decided by the courts. Recently the United States circuit court of appeals in the southern district of New York (180 Fed. Rep., 695) rendered a decision holding that a Parsee a native of Indiawas eligible for citizenship, but the court made a clear distinction between the Parsees and the Hindus.

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Something has already been said concerning the literacy of the East Indian immigrants. The following table shows the number of those for whom personal data were obtained who are able to read and write their native language and to speak and to read and write English.

TABLE 14.-Ability of foreign-born male East Indians 10 years of age or over to read and write their native language and to speak, read, and write English, by industry.

From this table it will be seen that only 45.7 per cent of the East Indians investigated by the agent of the Commission can read and write their native language. The reports of the CommissionerGeneral of Immigration for the years 1905-1909 (see Table 5, pp. 327 and 328) show 1,664 out of 3,535 as unable to read and write. In other words, 47.1 per cent were illiterate. That the CommissionerGeneral's report should show a small percentage of illiterates is due to the fact that the nonimmigrant aliens included in those reports are usually literate.

Of 473 from whom data were obtained, 33 had been in the United States less than one year, 117 had been here one year, 218 had been here two years, 94 three years, 7 four years, 2 from five to nine years,

and 2 twenty years or over. Of 472 of these, 195, or 41.4 per cent, speak English to some extent. Forty could read and 36 could both read and write English. These data can not be used, however, to show capacity on the part of the East Indians for rapid assimilation, for some of them had learned English in their native schools, others in the British army, and still others in Canada, where a large percentage of them had resided before coming to the United States. The East Indians found working in mills and other manufacturing industries have the largest percentage who speak English.

The East Indians on the Pacific coast are almost universally regarded as the least desirable race of immigrants thus far admitted to the United States. In point of desirability they are placed far below the Japanese, Chinese, and other oriental races found in the Western States. The white workingmen regard them as a menace just as the previous unrestricted immigration of Japanese and Chinese was. They accept low wages and threaten to undermine the position of white men in such occupations as they are capable of entering. Experience so far has shown them that at the same wages they can not compete with white men, for they are generally the least efficient race employed, but they accept employment at low wages, and if they were admitted in large numbers might seriously affect the wages of the members of other races in those industries in which men of low efficiency can be employed. At present, as has been indicated, many employers discriminate against them even to the point of not employing them at any wage, yet they find a certain amount of favor among the employing classes (1) because they work for low wages at a time when the wages of the other orientals are rapidly rising because of the restriction placed upon their immigration to the United States, (2) because they migrate from place to place and are available for seasonable work, and (3) because they board themselves and are provided with any necessary lodging at little

expense.