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diff --git a/41291-0.txt b/41291-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2620a77 --- /dev/null +++ b/41291-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10676 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41291 *** + +NEW HOMES FOR OLD + + + * * * * * + + _Americanization Studies_ + + + SCHOOLING OF THE IMMIGRANT. + Frank V. Thompson, Supt. of Public Schools, Boston + + AMERICA VIA THE NEIGHBORHOOD. + John Daniels + + OLD WORLD TRAITS TRANSPLANTED. + Robert E. Park, Professorial Lecturer, University of Chicago + Herbert A. Miller, Professor of Sociology, Oberlin College + + A STAKE IN THE LAND. + Peter A. Speek, in charge, Slavic Section, Library of Congress + + IMMIGRANT HEALTH AND THE COMMUNITY. + Michael M. Davis, Jr., Director, Boston Dispensary + + NEW HOMES FOR OLD. + Sophonisba P. Breckinridge, Professor of Social Economy, + University of Chicago + + ADJUSTING IMMIGRANT AND INDUSTRY. (In preparation) + William M. Leiserson, Chairman, Labor Adjustment Boards, + Rochester and New York + + THE IMMIGRANT PRESS AND ITS CONTROL. (In preparation) + Robert E. Park, Professorial Lecturer, University of Chicago + + THE IMMIGRANT'S DAY IN COURT. (In preparation) + Kate Holladay Claghorn, Instructor in Social Research, + New York School of Social Work + + AMERICANS BY CHOICE. (In preparation) + John P. Gavit, Vice-President, New York _Evening Post_ + + SUMMARY. (In preparation) + Allen T. Burns, Director, Studies in Methods of Americanization + + _Harper & Brothers Publishers_ + + * * * * * + + +[Illustration: THE COMING OF NEW AMERICAN HOME MAKERS] + + + + + AMERICANIZATION STUDIES + ALLEN T. BURNS, DIRECTOR + + + NEW HOMES FOR OLD + + + BY + + S. P. BRECKINRIDGE + + PROFESSOR OF SOCIAL ECONOMY + UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO + + + [Illustration] + + + HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS + NEW YORK AND LONDON + 1921 + + * * * * * + + + NEW HOMES FOR OLD + + Copyright, 1921, by Harper & Brothers + Printed in the United States of America + + * * * * * + + +PUBLISHER'S NOTE + + +The material in this volume was gathered by the Division of Adjustment +of Homes and Family Life of Studies in Methods of Americanization. + +Americanization in this study has been considered as the union of +native and foreign born in all the most fundamental relationships and +activities of our national life. For Americanization is the uniting of +new with native-born Americans in fuller common understanding and +appreciation to secure by means of self-government the highest welfare +of all. Such Americanization should perpetuate no unchangeable +political, domestic, and economic regime delivered once for all to the +fathers, but a growing and broadening national life, inclusive of the +best wherever found. With all our rich heritages, Americanism will +develop best through a mutual giving and taking of contributions from +both newer and older Americans in the interest of the commonweal. This +study has followed such an understanding of Americanization. + + + + +FOREWORD + + +This volume is the result of studies in methods of Americanization +prepared through funds furnished by the Carnegie Corporation of New +York. It arose out of the fact that constant applications were being +made to the Corporation for contributions to the work of numerous +agencies engaged in various forms of social activity intended to +extend among the people of the United States the knowledge of their +government and the obligations to it. The trustees felt that a study +which should set forth, not theories of social betterment, but a +description of the methods of the various agencies engaged in such +work, would be of distinct value to the cause itself and to the +public. + +The outcome of the study is contained in eleven volumes on the +following subjects: Schooling of the Immigrant; The Press; Adjustment +of Homes and Family Life; Legal Protection and Correction; Health +Standards and Care; Naturalization and Political Life; Industrial and +Economic Amalgamation; Treatment of Immigrant Heritages; Neighborhood +Agencies and Organization; Rural Developments; and Summary. The entire +study has been carried out under the general direction of Mr. Allen +T. Burns. Each volume appears in the name of the author who had +immediate charge of the particular field it is intended to cover. + +Upon the invitation of the Carnegie Corporation a committee consisting +of the late Theodore Roosevelt, Prof. John Graham Brooks, Dr. John M. +Glenn, and Mr. John A. Voll has acted in an advisory capacity to the +director. An editorial committee consisting of Dr. Talcott Williams, +Dr. Raymond B. Fosdick, and Dr. Edwin F. Gay has read and criticized +the manuscripts. To both of these committees the trustees of the +Carnegie Corporation are much indebted. + +The purpose of the report is to give as clear a notion as possible of +the methods of the agencies actually at work in this field and not to +propose theories for dealing with the complicated questions involved. + + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS + + + PAGE + + Publisher's Note v + + Foreword vii + + Table of Contents ix + + List of Tables xiii + + List of Illustrations xv + + Introduction xvii + + CHAPTER + I. FINDING THE NEW HOME 1 + The First Adjustments 1 + Homes Studied 6 + Dissolving Barriers 14 + + II. FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS 19 + Separated Families 20 + Keeping Boarders 23 + The Man Without a Family 27 + The Single Woman 29 + The Migrant Family 32 + From Farming to Industry 34 + The Wage-earning Mother 39 + Changed Duties of a Mother 43 + Paternal Authority Passing 47 + + III. THE CARE OF THE HOUSE 54 + New Housekeeping Conditions 54 + Demands of American Cookery 58 + Water Supply Essential 60 + Overcrowding Hampers the Housewife 62 + Women Work Outside the Home 65 + Housing Improvement 66 + Government Building Loans 75 + Instruction in Sanitation 80 + + IV. PROBLEMS OF SAVING 85 + Present and Future Needs 85 + Unfamiliarity with Money 88 + Irregularity of Income 91 + Reserves for Misfortunes 92 + The Cost of Weddings 98 + Christenings and Fête Days 103 + Buying Property 105 + Building and Loan Associations 109 + Postal Savings Banks 111 + Account Keeping 115 + + V. THE NEGLECTED ART OF SPENDING 117 + The Company Store 119 + Shopping Habits 122 + Modification of Diets 130 + Furniture on the Installment Plan 134 + New Fashions and Old Clothes 135 + Training Needed 138 + Co-operation in Spending 141 + + VI. THE CARE OF THE CHILDREN 149 + The Unpreparedness of the Immigrant Mother 150 + Breakdown of Parental Authority 153 + Learning to Play 157 + Parents and Education 159 + Following School Progress 163 + The Revolt of Older Children 169 + Relations of Boys and Girls 174 + The Juvenile Court 181 + + VII. IMMIGRANT ORGANIZATIONS AND FAMILY PROBLEMS 187 + Safety in Racial Affiliations 188 + Local Benefit Societies 192 + National Croatian Organizations 196 + Care of Croatian Orphans 199 + Organizations of Poles 201 + Polish Women's Work 203 + Lithuanian Woman's Alliance 209 + Ukrainian Beginnings 215 + Growth of National Organizations 218 + + VIII. AGENCIES OF ADJUSTMENT 222 + Immigrant Protective League 223 + A National Reception Committee 227 + The Public School 230 + The Home Teacher 236 + Settlement Classes 238 + Co-operation of Agencies 240 + International Institutes 243 + Training for Service 248 + Home Economics Work 254 + Government Grants in England 263 + The Lesson for the United States 266 + Mothers' Assistants 268 + Recreational Agencies 272 + + IX. FAMILY CASE WORK 277 + The Language Difficulty 280 + Standards of Living 286 + Visiting Housekeepers 289 + Knowledge of Backgrounds 298 + Training Facilities Needed 301 + The Transient Family 304 + Need for National Agency 307 + + APPENDIX 313 + Principal Racial Organizations 313 + Czech 313 + Danish 314 + Dutch 315 + Finnish 315 + German 316 + Hungarian 317 + Italian 318 + Jewish 319 + Jugoslav 324 + Lithuanian 326 + Polish 327 + Russian 329 + Slovak 330 + Swedish 331 + Ukrainian 331 + Menus of Foreign Born 333 + Bohemian 333 + Croatian 335 + Italian 335 + Slovenian 340 + + INDEX 343 + + + + +LIST OF TABLES + + + TABLE PAGE + I. Number and Per Cent of Families Carrying Life + Insurance and Average Amount of Policy + According to Nativity of Head of Family 94 + + II. Number and Per Cent of Immigrant Home + Owners in Different Chicago Districts 107 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + The Coming of New American Home Makers _Frontispiece_ + + A Railroad Camp for Immigrant Workers in a + Prosperous Suburban Community, 1920 _Facing p._ 4 + + An Immigrant Railway Worker Lives in this + Car with His Wife, Six Children, and Three + Dogs " 4 + + Even a Boarding House of Eighteen Boarders + in Five Rooms is More Cheerful than a + Labor Camp for Men Alone " 24 + + Almost at the End of the Journey " 32 + + Floor Plan of Houses in Poland _Page_ 55 + + This Pump Supplies Water to Four Families _Facing p._ 60 + + A Community Housing Plan _Page_ 73 + + Italians Have Their Own Financial Center and + Labor Market in Boston _Facing p._ 110 + + It's a Long Way from This Elaborate Czecho-Slovak + Costume to the Modern American + Styles " 136 + + A Slovak Mother, Newly Arrived " 150 + + Immigrant Children Acquiring Individual Initiative + in a Montessori Class at Hull House " 160 + + Who Will Welcome Them? " 192 + + Lithuanian Mothers Have Come to a Settlement + Class " 238 + + A Case-work Agency Found Four Girls and + Eighteen Men Boarding with This Polish + Family in Four Rooms " 288 + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +The following study is the result of effort on the part of several +persons. Miss Helen R. Wright, formerly research assistant of the +Chicago School of Civics and member of the staff of the Massachusetts +Immigration Commission of 1914, had much to do with the planning of +the inquiry, the framing of such schedules as were used, and the +organization of certain portions of the information gathered. Through +Miss Laura Hood, long time a resident of the Chicago Commons, it +proved to be possible to obtain many intimate views with reference to +the more subtle questions of family adjustment in the groups that are +of special interest in such an inquiry as this. + +Certain questions of uniformity in method and style of presentation +were determined by the editorial staff of the Study of Methods of +Americanization. For the final drafting of a considerable portion of +the study, especially in the earlier chapters, the members of this +editorial staff are responsible, though the writer is glad to +acknowledge full responsibility for all conclusions drawn or +recommendations offered. + + SOPHONISBA P. BRECKINRIDGE. + + _April_ 15, 1921. + + + + +NEW HOMES FOR OLD + + + + +I + +FINDING THE NEW HOME + + +The great westward tide of immigration has again begun to rise. +Annually to the ports of entry and to the great inland centers of +distribution come thousands of immigrant families, strange men and +women with young children, unattached girls, and vigorous, simple +lads. With few exceptions no provision by native Americans has been +made for their reception in their new places of residence. Communities +of kindly-intentioned persons, because of their lack of imagination +and their indifference, have allowed the old, the young, the mother, +and infant to come in by back ways, at any hour of day or night. +Frequently they have been received only by uncomprehending or +indifferent railroad officials or oversolicitous exploiters. + + +THE FIRST ADJUSTMENTS + +It is not strange that in most American communities there is no habit +of community hospitality. Communities are in themselves transitory +and fluid. Many of the native born have as yet become only partially +adjusted to their physical and social environment. At least the +childhood of most of our older generation was spent under the +influence of those who had either migrated or immigrated. "_Nous +marchons tous._" We are all "pilgrims and strangers." Some have come +sooner, and some have come later, and except for the colored people +and those in territory acquired in 1848 and in 1898, all have a common +memory of having come deliberately either _from_ something worse or +_to_ something better. All have come from where they were into what +was a far country. + +While the earlier arrivals are making their own adjustments, there are +knocking at their gates strangers from a more distant country speaking +a foreign tongue, accustomed to totally different ways of living and +working. Their reception, however, need not be an impossible task. On +their arrival they are formally admitted, and information as to their +origin and destination must be supplied. Methods could be devised for +receiving them in such a way as to make them feel at ease, and for +interpreting to them the changed surroundings in which they must find +a home and a job in the shortest possible time. + +If discomfort and confusion were the only distress into which the +strange group fell, the situation might be only humiliating to our +generous and hospitable spirit and could be easily remedied. But the +consequences of failure to exercise hospitality at the beginning +endure in lack of understanding on the part of both groups. The +immigrant fails to find natural and normal ways of sharing in the life +of the community, and becomes skeptical as to the sincerity of +perfectly well-meaning, but uninformed, professions on the part of the +older residents. Spiritual barriers as definite, if not as easily +perceived, as the geographical boundaries of the "colonies" formed in +the different sections of our cities, develop. + +This is often true in connection with the foreign-born men and +tragically more true of the women. One Italian woman in Herrin, +Illinois, for example, who had lived nineteen years in this country, +told an investigator for this study that she had never received an +American into her home as a guest, because no American had ever come +in that spirit. A Russian woman had lived in Chicago for nine years +and had, so far as she knew, not become acquainted with any Americans. +Several instances were found in which efforts have been put forward to +secure the united effort of the whole community, and yet large groups +of immigrants have remained substantially unaware of these efforts and +were entirely untouched by them. + +There are several other attitudes, too, that have perhaps blinded some +to the need of provision for community hospitality. One attitude might +be characterized as that of the "self-made man." Hardship may have +either of two different effects. In one person it will develop +sympathy, compassion, and a desire to safeguard others from similar +suffering. In others it may lead to a certain callous disregard of +other people--a belief that if one has been able to surmount the +difficulties others should likewise be able. If not, so much the +worse. This kind of harshness characterizes the attitude of some of +those immigrants who have come at earlier dates toward those who have +come later. + +[Illustration: A RAILROAD CAMP FOR IMMIGRANT WORKERS IN A PROSPEROUS +SUBURBAN COMMUNITY, 1920] + +[Illustration: AN IMMIGRANT RAILWAY WORKER LIVES IN THIS CAR WITH HIS +WIFE, SIX CHILDREN, AND THREE DOGS] + +It is like the occasional successful woman who is indifferent to the +general disadvantages of her sex, and to the negro who makes for +himself a brilliant place and argues that color is no handicap. In +talking to women about bringing up their children, it was a +significant fact that some of the women who had had no trouble with +their own children said that where there is trouble it is the fault of +the parents. The following comment, for example, was on the schedule +of Mrs. D., a Polish woman who has been in this country since 1894, +and has three children, aged twenty-five, twelve, and six. "If a child +is not good, Mrs. D. blames his mother, who does not know how to +take care of children. She thinks they are too ignorant." + +There is also the sense of racial, national, or class superiorities. +The virtue of the Anglo-Saxon civilization is assumed; the old, as +against the new immigration, is valued. There are many who crave the +satisfaction of "looking down" on some one, and it makes life simpler +if whole groups--"Dagoes," "Hunkies," "Polacks," what you will--can be +regarded as of a different race or group, so that neither one's +heartstrings nor one's conscience need be affected by their needs. The +difficulty is increased by a similar tendency of immigrants to assume +the superiority of their people and culture and so hold aloof from the +new life. This assumption of superiority on both sides tends to hinder +rather than to further mutual understanding. + +Clearly, if we are to build up a united and wholesome national life, +such attitudes of aloofness as have persisted will have to be +abandoned. If that life is to be enriched and varied--not monotonous +and mechanical--the lowly and the simple, as well as the great and the +mighty, must be able to make their contribution. This contribution can +become possible, not as the result of any compulsory scheme, but of +conditions favoring noble, generous, and sympathetic living. The +family is an institution based on the affection of the parents and +their self-sacrifice for the life and future of their children. Of +all institutions it exemplifies the power of co-operative effort, and +demands sympathetic and patient understanding. This is perhaps +especially true of the foreign-born family. + +This discussion of the family problems of the foreign-born groups in +relation to the development of a national consciousness and a national +unity is based on the belief that no attempts at compulsory adjustment +can in the nature of things be successful. Sometimes the interests of +the common good and of the weaker groups demand for their own +protection the temporary exercise of compulsion, but the real solution +lies in policies grounded in social justice and guided by social +intelligence. + + +HOMES STUDIED + +The material in this study is of a qualitative sort. No attempt has +been made to organize a statistical study. The problems of family life +do not lend themselves to the statistical method except at great cost +of time and money. + +A large body of data with reference to conditions existing during the +decade just prior to the Great War, exists in the reports of several +special government investigations, especially the report of the United +States Immigration Commission, that of the United States Bureau of +Labor relating to conditions surrounding women and child wage +earners, and that of the British Board of Trade on the "Cost of Living +in American Towns." The regular publications of certain government +bureaus, especially the United States Children's Bureau, the Bureau of +Home Economics in the United States Department of Agriculture, and the +United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, were found useful. These +publications have been studied so far as they discuss the problem of +family life. Their contents are presented only in illustration or in +confirmation of statements made. + +The material collected is of two kinds. First, there are facts dealing +with the different agencies organized to help in solving these +problems. This information was gathered largely by correspondence. +Questionnaires were sent to case-work agencies dealing with family +problems, which are members of the American Association for Social +Work with Families and Home Service Bureaus of various Red Cross +Chapters, asking their methods for attacking these difficulties and +their advice as to the best methods worked out. The supervisors of +Home Economics under the Federal Board for Vocational Education were +asked to what extent they had included foreign-born housewives in +their program and the special plans that had been worked out for them; +the International Institutes of the Young Women's Christian +Association were asked to describe their work with married women. + +The methods of certain agencies in Chicago--the United Charities, the +Immigrants' Protective League, some of the settlements--were studied +more carefully through interviews with their workers and through a +study of individual records. Officers of the national racial +organizations were interviewed about their work on family problems. In +addition to these a limited number of co-operative stores in Illinois +were studied. Mining communities in Illinois, Pennsylvania, and West +Virginia were visited, as well as certain of the newer housing +projects, such as Yorkship Village in New Jersey, Hilton Village in +Virginia, Bridgeport, Connecticut, Lowell and North Billerica, +Massachusetts and several towns in New Mexico. + +The government investigations already referred to had made certain +needs of the foreign born very clear. It seemed unnecessary to go over +that ground again, but it was necessary to know whether those needs +still existed. An attempt was made to learn this through interviews +with leaders of various national groups and by obtaining schedules +from a limited number of selected families. A word should be said as +to the information obtained from these sources. The leaders selected +were, in the first instance, men and women whose leadership in their +own group had been recognized by election to important offices in +their national organizations. These men and women then frequently +suggested others whose position was not so well defined to an +outsider, but whose opinion was valued by members of the group. + +Most of the persons interviewed were able to speak English readily. +They were people who were close enough to the great mass of immigrants +to be familiar with their problems, their needs, their shortcomings, +and their abilities, and at the same time were sufficiently removed +from the problems to be able to view them objectively. Some were +persons of more educational and cultural background than the majority +of immigrants, some of them had been born in this country or had come +when they were young children; but there were more who came to this +country from the same Old-World conditions as the majority of their +countrymen and had worked their way through the same hard conditions. +They were probably exceptional in their native ability. + +No attempt was made to fill out a questionnaire from these interviews. +An outline was prepared of points to be covered, but frequently no +attempt was made to adhere to the outline. Rather, these persons were +encouraged to talk on the family problems in which they were most +interested, and to which they had given most thought--to enable us to +see them as they saw them with their knowledge of the Old-World +background from which their people had come. They were also asked to +suggest possible ways of meeting the more pressing needs of their +people. + +Adequate expression can never be given to the obligation under which +those busy men and women who gave so generously and graciously their +time and their thoughts have placed us. Our very great indebtedness to +them is acknowledged, as without their aid this study in the present +form would have been impossible. The demand made upon them could be +justified only by the hope that the contacts thus established may +prove in some slight degree profitable to them if only in giving them +assurance that there are those to whom their problems are of real +interest. + +The women from whom family schedules were obtained were slightly +different, and the information sought from them was obtained in a +different way. They were for the most part women who did not speak +English well enough to carry on an extended conversation in it. While +they were not very recent immigrants and hence were not going through +the first difficulties of adjustment, most of them were women who had +not yet worked their way through to the same place reached by the +women with whom the more general interviews were had. They were, in +general, very simple people, too absorbed with working out their +problems to have had much time for reflection. We asked them to tell +us of their early experiences and difficulties as they recalled them, +and of their present ways of treating some of the problems. This +information was taken in schedule form. + +Not enough schedules were obtained to be of statistical value--there +were only ninety in all--but the families chosen are believed to be +more or less typical. They were selected with the advice of leaders of +their group or were known to our foreign-speaking investigators, who +had a wide acquaintance in several groups. That is, we have tried so +far as possible to see the problem with the persons, if not through +the eyes of the persons whose fellow countrymen we wished to know. + +We do not mean to suggest that other and very important groups might +not have been studied, but we tried to learn of others; and sometimes +because we could not find the clew, sometimes for lack of time, it +proved impossible to go farther. We feel that we have obtained an +insight into the situation among the Polish in Chicago and in Rolling +Prairie, Indiana; the Lithuanians, Bohemians, Slovaks, Croatians, +Slovenians, nonfamily Mexicans, Russians--both family and +nonfamily--and Italians in Chicago; Italians in Herrin and Freeman, +Illinois, and Canonsburg and Washington, Pennsylvania; and the +Ukrainians in Chicago and in Sun, West Virginia. + +Besides the large body of evidence with reference to these groups, we +have suggestions from many interested and kindly persons of other +groups. The Magyars and the Rumanians, particularly, we should have +liked to know better, and we have had most suggestive interviews with +certain of their leaders. We were not able, however, to follow the +leads they gave, and therefore do not claim to speak for them, except +to express the feeling of the need for greater understanding and +appreciation. + +With reference to those groups discussed, it should be noted that +some, such as the Polish, Bohemian, Lithuanian, Italian, are among the +largest of the great foreign colonies in Chicago, the growth of a +long-continued immigration. They live in the different sections of the +city, in crowded tenement districts, or in more recently developed +neighborhoods for whose growth they are responsible. The Croatian and +Ukrainian groups are newer groups, and are therefore poorer. The +Croatians are moving into houses which the Bohemians are vacating. In +the Russian and Mexican groups we have the current evidence that the +old problem of the nonfamily man is still with us. + +The Poles in Rolling Prairie, Indiana, are a prosperous farming +community living in modern farmhouses with yards and orchards. There +are women still alive who can tell of the earlier days, when just +after their arrival they lived in one-room houses made of logs and +plastered with mud. Then they helped their husbands to fell trees and +clear the land. Like other pioneer women, these women have contributed +to the "winning of the West." The grandmothers tell of these things. +The mothers remember when, during the winter, the children went to +school for a few months, they were laughed at because of their meager +lunches, their queer homemade clothes, and their foreign speech. The +young people now go to school at least as long as the law requires and +sometimes through high school. + +The mining towns in Illinois and Pennsylvania need not be described. +Their general features are familiar. Although extended information +with reference to the life of the various groups was not obtained, +mention will be made of certain facts that are of importance to this +study. + +While the numbers are not great, it is hoped that certain methods may +be worked out for approach to the problems of the groups studied, that +will prove suggestive in attacking the problems of other groups not +included here. No two groups are alike; but the experience with one or +with several may develop the open-minded, humble, objective attitude +of mind and that democratic habit of approach that will unlock the +doorway into the life of the others and exhibit both the points at +which community action may be desirable and the direction such action +should take. + + +DISSOLVING BARRIERS + +The purpose of this book is to help in the adjustment of immigrant +family life in this country. The immigrant will feel America to be his +own land largely to the extent that he feels his American home to be +as much his home as was his native hearth. To define what makes a home +is harder even than to achieve one. Perhaps more than any other human +institution the home is a development, the result and component of +innumerable adjustments. This growth comes about largely +spontaneously, without conscious effort on the part of its members, +except that of living together as happily as possible. + +There is among most housewives, whether native or foreign born, a +certain complacency about housekeeping and bringing up children. +Housekeeping is supposed to come by nature, and few women of any +station in life are trained to be homemakers and mothers. The native +born, in part consciously through their own choice and in part blindly +moved by forces they do not understand, have been gradually moving +away from the old tradition of subordination on the part of the wife +and of strict and unquestioning obedience of children. In the general +American atmosphere there are suggestions of a different tradition. + +In the old country the mother knew what standards she was to maintain +and, moreover, had the backing of a homogeneous group to help her. In +this country she is a stranger, neither certain of herself nor sure +whether to try to maintain the standards of her home or those that +seem to prevail here. As a matter of fact, these difficulties are +usually surmounted, so that by the time the foreign-born housewife has +lived here long enough to raise her family she has learned to care for +her home as systematically and intelligently as most of her +native-born neighbors, who have not had her difficulties. Sometimes +they have learned from the members of the group who have been here +longer; and sometimes they have learned by going into the more +comfortable American homes as domestic servants. + +In the American domestic evolution a scientific and deliberate factor +has been introduced. Students of family life have conducted inquiries +into domestic practices, needs, and resources, and applied the +researches of physiologists, chemists, economists, and architects. The +result has been the discovery of certain standards and requirements +for wholesome family life. It must be admitted that the attempt at +formulation of standards for family life encounters difficulties not +found in the field of education or of health, where the presence and +service of the expert are fairly widely recognized. For many reasons +the subject of the _minima_ of sound family life has been more +recently attacked and is, in the nature of things, more difficult of +analysis and especially of formal study. The impossibility, for +example, of applying to many aspects of the family problem the +laboratory methods of study or of examining many of the questions in a +dispassionate and objective manner, must retard the scientific +treatment of the subject. + +There are, however, some aspects of family life with reference to +which there may be said to be fairly general agreement in theory if +not in practice in the United States. The content of an adequate food +allowance is generally agreed upon by the students of nutrition, and +the cost and special features of an adequate diet for any group at any +time and place can therefore be described and discussed. In the matter +of laying the responsibility for support of the family on the husband +and father, at least to the extent of enabling the children to enjoy +seven years of school life and fourteen years free from wage-paid work +and the resulting exploitation, there is wide agreement embodied in +legislation. + +Such standards are becoming gradually adopted and incorporated into +domestic life through the slow processes of suggestion, imitation, and +neighborly talks already mentioned. While the slow establishment of +social standards is required for a complete and adequate adjustment of +family life on the basis of specialists' discoveries, many systematic +and formal efforts can be made which will forward and accelerate the +process. These efforts can help to remove the feeling of strangeness, +perhaps the greatest obstacle in adjusting home life; they should seek +to connect with the appreciations and sense of need already felt by +the women who are to be influenced. + +There is necessity for thorough inquiry into what are the points of +contact in these problems for immigrant women; what are their present +customs and standards in which the specialists' knowledge can be +planted with the prospect of a promising combination of seed and soil. +This study indicates how great is the need of search for the +possibilities of just such organic connections. Pending such further +studies, this report can do two things: + +First, it can exhibit, so far as possible, the difficulties +encountered by foreign-born families in attaining in their family +relationships such satisfaction as would constitute a genuine feeling +of hominess, and make the immigrant home an integral part of the +domestic development in this country. + +Second, the report can suggest the deliberate and systematic methods +which can be effective in introducing the immigrant family and +specialists' standards to each other. The services of social agencies +have been largely in this field, and it is hoped that they may find in +this book lines for increased usefulness. Incidentally, evidence will +be presented to show that, in allowing many of these difficulties to +develop or to remain, the community suffers real loss, and it is hoped +that in the following chapters suggestion will be found of ways by +which some of these difficulties may be overcome and some of the waste +resulting from their continued existence be eliminated. + + + + +II + +FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS + + +It is impossible to discuss the problems of adjustment of the family +life of the immigrant to life in this country without taking notice of +several factors that complicate the problem. There is first the +disorganization in family life that is incident to the migration +itself. The members of most of the families that come to this country +are peasants who are almost forced to emigrate by the fact that the +land they own will not support the entire family as the children grow +up and establish families of their own. + +There was, for example, among the families visited for this study, a +family from the Russian Ukraine. The man's father was a peasant farmer +with six acres of land and a large family of children. The income from +this small property was supplemented by hiring out as laborers on the +large estates near by. As the boys grew up they left home. Two had +already come to America when the father of this family left in 1910. +At the time he left there were thirteen people trying to get their +living from six acres of land. + +Another family from the same country were trying to live on the income +from the farm of the man's father, who had four acres of land and five +sons. + + +SEPARATED FAMILIES + +In such families, and even in less extreme cases, it is evident that +the cash needed for the emigration of the whole family is difficult to +secure. It often happens, therefore, that the family does not emigrate +as a group, but one member--usually the man--goes ahead, and sends for +the rest as soon as he has earned enough to pay their passage. It is +then some time, usually from two to four years and occasionally +longer, before he is able to send for his family. + +One Ukrainian man interviewed in this study came in 1906, leaving his +wife and four children in the old country. He had difficulty in +finding work he could do, wandered from place to place, never staying +long in one place, and it was eight years before he had saved enough +to send for his family. Another man, a Slovenian, came in 1904, and +was here seven years before he sent his wife money enough so she could +follow him. + +Separations of this kind are often destructive of the old family +relationships. What they mean in suffering to the wife left behind has +been revealed by some of the letters of husbands and wives in a +collection of letters in _The Polish Peasant_,[1] especially in the +Borkowski series. These are letters written by Teofila Borkowski in +Warsaw, to her husband, Wladek Borkowski, in America, between the +years 1893 and 1912. During the early years the letters usually +thanked him for a gift of money and referred to the time when she +should join him in America. "I shall now count the days and weeks. May +our Lord God grant it to happen as soon as possible, for I am terribly +worried," she wrote in 1894. + +As time goes on the intervals between the gifts grew longer, and she +writes imploring him to send money if he is able, as she is in +desperate need of it. In 1896 she had been ill and in the hospital. +"When I left the hospital I did not know what to do with myself, +without money and almost without roof ... so I begged her and promised +I would pay her when you send some money" (p. 353). And in 1897 she +wrote: + + For God's sake what does it mean that you don't answer?... + For I don't think that you could have forgotten me + totally.... Answer me as soon as possible, and send me + anything you can. For if I were not in need I should never + annoy you, but our Lord God is the best witness how terribly + hard it is for me to live. Those few rubles which you sent me + a few times are only enough to pay the rent for some + months.... As to board, clothes, and shoes, they are earned + with such a difficulty that you have surely no idea. And I + must eat every day. There are mostly days in my present + situation when I have one small roll and a pot of tea for + the whole day, and I must live so. And this has lasted almost + five years since you left (p. 353). + +She is pathetically grateful when money is sent. Thus in 1899 she +writes: + + I received your letter, with twenty rubles and three + photographs, for which I send you a hearty "God reward!" I + bear it always in my heart and thought and I always repeat it + to everybody that you were good and generous, and you are so + up to the present (p. 358). + +Her sufferings are not confined to financial worries and lack of a +place to eat and sleep. There is apparently a loss of social prestige +and a falling off of friends. The letters also show what was evidently +a real affection for her husband, and that at times his silence was +even worse than his failure to send money. Thus in 1905, when the +money and the letters were very irregular, she writes a letter (p. +362) in which no reference is made to her economic situation. After +asking if he received her last letter, she continues: + + It is true, dear Wladek, that you have not so much time, but + my dear, write me sometimes a few words; you will cause me + great comfort. For I read your letter like a prayer, because + for me, dear Wladek, our Lord God is the first and you the + second. Don't be angry if I bore you with my letters, but it + is for me a great comfort to be able to speak with you at + least through this paper. + +Her financial situation grows steadily worse, and in 1912 she writes +that she is "already barefooted and naked." The series closes with a +letter from a friend stating that she is ill and in the hospital, "not +so dangerously sick, but suffering very much ... and very weak from +bad nutrition and continuous sorrows." He closes: "And please write a +little more affectionately. Only do it soon, for it will be the best +medicine for your wife, at least for her heart" (p. 368). + + +KEEPING BOARDERS + +The life of the man who has come ahead has been made the subject of +special study from time to time,[2] especially with regard to the +housing conditions in which he lives--as a lodger or a member of a +nonfamily group of men. It has been shown in all these studies that +whatever the plan worked out, he adapts himself either to a life of +intimate familiarity with women and children not his own, or to a life +in which children and women have little part. + +In connection with the present study, the living conditions of some of +the Mexicans and Russians in Chicago were studied. As in the past, the +men were found living in one of the following ways: as a lodger in the +family group, as a boarder paying a fixed sum for room and board, or +as a member of a group of men attempting to do their own housekeeping. +The Mexicans studied included 207 men, of whom 197, or 95 per cent, +are unmarried. The Russians included 112 men, of whom 65, or 58 per +cent, had wives in Russia. It is interesting to note that 136 of the +207 Mexican men were boarding, usually with a Mexican family, 37 were +lodgers, and 34 were doing co-operative housekeeping. Among the +Russians, on the other hand, there were 25 doing co-operative +housekeeping, and 85 living with family groups, of whom only a few +paid a fixed sum for room and board, while the others paid a fixed +rate for lodging and the food bill depended on the food that was +consumed. + +[Illustration: EVEN A BOARDING HOUSE OF EIGHTEEN BOARDERS IN FIVE +ROOMS IS MORE CHEERFUL THAN A LABOR CAMP FOR MEN ALONE] + +Four variations were found in the method of paying for food: (1) The +landlady buys all the food for the group and her family on one +account. The total bill is divided by the number of boarders plus the +head of the family, the wife and children getting their food as +partial compensation for her services. (2) Each lodger has his own +account book, in which is entered only the meat purchased for him. He +pays this account himself. The other food purchased is entered in the +landlady's book, and divided in the same manner as before. (3) Each +lodger has his own account and buys what he wants. Instead of paying +for what he has bought, he pays his share of the total food bought +during the week. (4) Each lodger has his own account, the family +has its own, and each pays his own. + +Whatever expedient is adopted as a substitute for normal family life, +the result is unsatisfactory. The men studied almost without exception +preferred living as boarders with a family group, if possible. This +preference is easily understood, as it meant less work for the men, +who, in co-operative groups, had to do women's work as well as their +own, and it also seemed a closer approximation to normal living. For +the sake of these advantages they were willing to put up with housing +conditions that were worse than those of the men who tried +co-operative housekeeping. Thus 56 per cent of the Russian men in +co-operative groups had the four hundred cubic feet of air per man +that is required by law, and only 35 per cent of those living with +family groups had this requirement. + +The presence of a lodger in the family, moreover, is attended with +great discomfort to the family. He is given the best accommodations +the house affords and the family crowds into what is left. Thus, in +the family groups with whom the Russians were living, only 18 per cent +of the adult members of the family had the four hundred cubic feet of +air required by the city ordinance for a person over twelve, as +compared with 35 per cent of the boarders or lodgers, and forty of the +fifty-three children in the groups were deprived of the two hundred +cubic feet of air space that is prescribed for them. + +The people with whom we have conferred in this study have said again +and again that the lodger in a family meant restriction and +deprivation for the family, and especially for the children. One +Lithuanian woman who came to this country when she was two years old, +says she well remembers the "utter misery" of her childhood, due to +the lodgers. They were given all the beds and any other sleeping +arrangements that could be contrived, and the children slept on the +floor in any corner. Their sleep was often disturbed by people moving +about. Sometimes they were wakened and sent to the saloon to get beer +for a group of lodgers who sat up late playing cards and drinking. She +remembers, too, the constant quarreling over the food bill, and thinks +that is very common. + +The complicated system by which the accounts are kept, to which +attention has already been called, makes suspicion on the part of the +lodger only too easy. Several people have spoken of the unsteady +character of the lodger and the practice of staying up late, drinking. +One of the women interviewed said that the family life was much +easier, now that it was no longer necessary to keep lodgers, for when +there were lodgers in the house they always had beer, and her husband +would drink with them. Other people have spoken of the women drinking +with the lodgers, and it was said that anyone who read the +foreign-language newspapers would see many such advertisements as: "I +am left alone with my three children; my wife has gone off with a +lodger. Anyone having information, please communicate with..." + + +THE MAN WITHOUT A FAMILY + +Life in a men's co-operative housekeeping establishment is usually +more difficult, for upon them falls the burden of maintaining +cleanliness in the household, and in many cases preparing their own +meals. Some of the Mexican men visited at nine o'clock in the evening +were preparing food for the next day's lunch. An important +consideration here is the high cost of living under such conditions. +The immigrant woman may not be a skillful buyer, but the immigrant man +is evidently a most extravagant one. Among the Mexicans, for example, +it was found that the men living in co-operative groups paid +practically as much for the food which they themselves prepared as the +men living in boarding houses paid for board and room. Their food cost +seven to eight dollars per man per week. + +These studies showed the same lack of opportunities for wholesome +recreation and for meeting nice girls, as well as the same +restlessness of the men as did earlier studies. This was especially +noticeable among the Mexicans, who spoke with longing of their Mexican +dances that lasted two days and were held almost every week-end, and +of the band concerts to which they could often go. No matter how poor +their furniture, most of them had one or two musical instruments which +they played, and usually there was one phonograph for the group. They +found these poor substitutes for group music, where they could have +not only the music but the social time. + +In brief, these studies of nonfamily men in 1919 show that the problem +of adequate housing and some form of normal social life for the men +who come ahead of their families is a recurring one. The nationality +of the group changes as one immigration wave succeeds another. With +the change in nationality come minor changes in the needs and desires +of the group, but the main problem remains the same. It should never +be forgotten that the impressions these men receive during their early +life in the United States form the basis of their judgment concerning +American life. Moreover, the life they lead during this period of +separation from their families must inevitably affect their family +relationships when family life is re-established, whether it be in +this country or in the country from which they come. + +The first national recognition of the needs of the men was evident in +the plans of the United States Housing Corporation.[3] These provided +for separate lodging houses for men, where each man had a room of his +own, with an adequate amount of air space, and where bathing and +toilet facilities were provided. Recreational needs were met by having +a smoking room, reading room, and billiard room in each house, and, +unless provided elsewhere in the community, bowling alleys in the +basement. It has been repeatedly emphasized to us that the men would +not be satisfied unless a lodging house for them were run by some one +who could speak their language, knew their national tastes, and could +understand their problems. The availability of houses of this type to +the immigrant men in nonfamily groups would depend to a great extent +on their administration, but it is apparent that such a housing plan +is not impossible of attainment. + + +THE SINGLE WOMAN + +It is not always the man who comes alone to this country. Often the +girl comes in advance of the others and sends money back to bring over +her parents and younger brothers and sisters. Attention has been +called again and again to the hazards for the girl thrown on her own +resources in a strange country among people she does not know, whose +language she does not understand.[4] + +She has, in fact, the same problem to solve as the man who has come +alone, but she is further hampered both by economic and social +handicaps. She is probably from a country where the life of a woman +has been protected and circumscribed, and to find herself in a country +where the conditions and status of women are freer, makes both for +confusion and complications. A false step is of more serious +consequence to her than to a man, and without guidance and assistance +she may sometimes take this in ignorance or thoughtlessness. + +Equally changed are her living conditions here. She has the same ways +of living open to her that are open to the man--boarding or lodging +with a family group or setting up a co-operative household with a +group of girls. The girl living in the latter way does not have as +many difficulties as the man in the same situation, for women are used +to doing housework. Yet if men find it too difficult to be both wage +earners and housekeepers, it is surely too hard for girls. + +If, on the other hand, the girl finds lodging with a family group, +life is not much easier, for she is expected to help with the +household tasks, even though she is charged as much as the man +lodger, who usually is exempt from any household responsibility. The +inevitable assumption that any extra tasks of housework or sewing +should fall to the women may make for a disproportionately long and +tedious day for the woman lodger. The compensation of having the +protection and sociability of a family group may thus be outweighed by +the burden of overwork. Added to this, the prevalent necessity of +overcrowding the households with boarders, puts a hardship upon women +that often is not felt by men. + +The need of providing adequate and safe lodging for the girl away from +home has been felt in many places and by numerous organizations. Too +often facilities have appealed only to the native born or thoroughly +initiated immigrant girl. The International Institute of the Young +Women's Christian Association has helped immigrants to find suitable +homes. This has local branches in more than thirty cities, many of +which are helping to meet the housing problems of the immigrant girls. + +The government, in its housing projects, provided accommodations for +the single girls similar to those provided for single men. They built +boarding houses for from seventy-five to a hundred and fifty girls, +with separate rooms and adequate toilet and bathing facilities. Each +floor had a matron's office, so placed as to overlook the entrance +and access to the sleeping quarters, and there was either a reception +parlor or alcove for every twenty women, or a large parlor with +furniture arranged for privacy in conversation. An assembly hall was +provided with movable partitions and set stage. Kitchenette, sitting +room, and sewing room were provided on at least alternate floors, and +the building contained an infirmary and laundry for the use of the +girls.[5] + +Information is not at hand as to whether any of these houses were used +by groups of immigrant girls. Similar houses could, however, easily be +made useful for them if care were taken to put them in charge of some +one who understood the problems of the foreign-born girl. More +desirable still are projects undertaken by groups of foreign-born +women themselves.[6] In this way the problems and tastes of the +different nationality groups are taken into consideration, confidence +and co-operation on the part of the girls more easily won, and an +independent and ultimately self-directed plan will be realized. + +[Illustration: ALMOST AT THE END OF THE JOURNEY] + + +THE MIGRANT FAMILY + +Even when all the family has reached this country the problems of +migration have not always ended. Many families do not establish a +permanent home in the first place in which they settle, but move from +place to place, and in each place there is a new set of conditions to +which to adjust themselves. Of the ninety families visited in Chicago +for this study, information on this point was obtained from only +forty-two. Nineteen of these came directly to Chicago, but +twenty-three had lived in other places. Five of them had been in the +Pennsylvania mining district around Pittsburgh, two had been in North +Dakota on a farm, two had been in a New Jersey manufacturing town, and +the others had been at widely different places in other cities--New +York, Philadelphia, Galveston, Texas, Boston--in small towns in the +Middle West, and on plantations in Louisiana. + +Some had moved several times. A Polish family, for example, had lived +first in Boston, then in New York City, then somewhere in Canada, +before they finally settled in Chicago. Another Ukrainian family, from +Galicia, lived first in one mining town in Pennsylvania, then in +another in the same state, and later moved to Chicago. The mother, who +is a very intelligent woman, described her first impression of America +when she, with her four children, arrived in the little mining town. +She said that immigrants were living there, everything was dirty and +ugly, and she was shocked by the number of drunken men and women she +saw on the streets, "having not been accustomed to see them in the old +country." She wished to return immediately and did not even want to +unpack her belongings. For a whole year she lived amid these squalid +surroundings, until her husband got work in another town where +conditions seemed a little better. + +Sometimes these changes mean family separations, as the man again goes +ahead, as he did in coming to this country. The experience of a Polish +family is typical. When the family first came to this country they +went to Iron Mountain, Michigan, where the father worked in the ore +mines until he lost his health. Then a sister of his wife, who was +living in South Chicago, invited him to visit her family, and offered +to get work for him in the steel mills. He came, living with his +sister-in-law, and after a few months obtained work in the mills. Then +the mother and children followed him. + + +FROM FARMING TO INDUSTRY + +Another fact to which attention should be called is the adjustment in +family life required by contact with the modern industrial system. +Some of the immigrant groups come from countries more developed in an +industrial way than others, but none of the newer groups come from any +country in which the factory system has become so prevalent as in the +United States. In the old country the family still exercised +productive functions as a unit. It had access to tillable land, and +was an essential part of an industrial system that is still +organically related to the stage of development of the country. It +had, therefore, within itself, the sources of self-support and +self-determination. The civilization of which it was a part may be a +declining civilization; but the conditions of life were those to which +the wife and mother were accustomed. She took them for granted, felt +at home among them, and was not conscious of being overwhelmed by +them. + +In the modern American industrial community, however, the family as a +whole is generally divorced from land. It is not a unit in relation to +the industrial organization, but in its productive function is usually +broken up by it. For the family must live, and yet its income is +dependent, not upon its size nor the volume of its needs, but upon the +wage-earning capacity of the man under the prevailing system of +bargaining. That the resulting income has often been wholly +inadequate, even according to the modest standards set by dietetic +experts and by social investigators, is testified to by an enormous +body of data gathered during the decade preceding the Great War.[7] + +It is unnecessary to review these studies in detail, but attention may +be called to the findings of the Immigration Commission. Of the +foreign-born male heads of households studied, 4,506, or 34.1 per +cent, earned less than four hundred dollars a year at a time when +dietetic experts agreed that five hundred dollars was a minimum below +which it was dangerous for families to fall. Seventy per cent earned +less than six hundred dollars. + +These figures may be said to come from "far away and long ago," but +while there has not been time for widespread inquiry, there is a +considerable body of evidence indicating that the same condition +prevails to-day. Wages have increased greatly during the war, but with +the increase in prices there is doubt as to whether real wages have +increased or decreased. Certainly the increase has been irregular and +uneven, affecting the workers in some industries much more than in +others. + +The New York State Industrial Commission made a study of the average +weekly earnings of labor in the factories of the state. They found +that between June, 1914, and June, 1918, wages had increased 64 per +cent.[8] The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics made a study of +food. Taking the year 1913 as the base, or 100, wages in 1907 were 92 +and the retail prices of food, 82, and in 1918 wages were 130 and food +168. That is, the price of food increased much more rapidly than the +average union wage scale between 1907 and 1918.[9] + +As a result of these low earnings, the wife and children in many +immigrant families have been forced into the industrial field and even +then the resulting incomes have often been inadequate. The Immigration +Commission found that almost one third of the foreign-born families +studied had a total family income of under five hundred dollars, and +almost two thirds had incomes less than seven hundred and fifty +dollars. + +Not only is the family income often inadequate and composite, but +precarious and uncertain. The need for food is a regularly recurring +need; the demand for labor may be seasonal, periodically interrupted, +and in time of crisis wholly uncertain. + +Although child labor laws have been enacted in many states and by the +United States Congress, they are comparatively recent. Their absence +in earlier years has had its inevitable effect on many foreign born. +Many of the leaders in the immigrant groups who came here when they +were still children, tell of stopping school and going to work. One +Lithuanian woman, who is among the more prosperous of the group in +Chicago, said that she stopped school when she was twelve, and went to +work in a fruit-packing concern, working ten hours a day and earning +five dollars a week, which she gave to her father. Another worked as a +cash girl in a downtown store at the age of thirteen. Similarly, in +one of the Russian families now living in Chicago, the girls were +fourteen and nine when they came to this country and settled in a New +Jersey town. The older was sent to work at once, and the younger a +year later. Now, after nine years in this country, neither girl can +speak English. + +The present laws are not always efficiently enforced, and the child of +the foreign born suffers especially from such failure to enforce the +law. In one of the mining communities of Illinois, visited in the +spring of 1919, Italian boys as young as twelve were found working in +the mines. In New Mexico, children of twelve and ten, and even +younger, were taken out of school each year in the spring to go with +their fathers to work on other men's farms or to herd sheep. Our +investigator was impressed, in Rolling Prairie, with the need of +including agriculture among the occupations from which young children +are prohibited as wage earners. + + +THE WAGE-EARNING MOTHER + +Of the mother's work, notice must be taken. People interviewed in this +study were almost unanimously of the opinion that immigrant women were +adding to the family income in many cases. If the children are too +young to be left alone, the father's inadequate income is supplemented +by taking lodgers. Too often, however, the mother works outside the +home for wages. + +Indeed, a number of people were of the opinion that the employment of +women has increased during the war. Among the more recently arrived +Bohemians, for example, it was said that mothers of small children +were going to work as never before, because taking lodgers was not +possible, as single men have not been coming in such large numbers +since the war. The older settlers felt that they must take advantage +of the relatively high wages offered women to make payments on +property. Lithuanian observers say that partly because of prejudice +against it, Lithuanian married women have not gone out of their homes +to work until recently. With the war, the increased cost of living, +the higher wages offered to women, and the appeal that was made to +their patriotism, many women had gone into industry, especially to +work in "the yards." Ukrainian and Slovenian women are also said to be +working in large numbers, but Croatian women are still said to stay in +their homes and contribute to the income by taking lodgers. + +In addition to this testimony, which was obtained from leaders of the +national groups, there is also the information obtained from +individual families. Of the ninety women from whom information was +obtained in Chicago, twenty were working outside their homes and +twenty-four had lodgers at the time of the study. When it is +remembered that these families were those who have worked their way +through the first difficulties, these figures become doubly +significant. + +There is, for example, a Ukrainian family from the Russian Ukraine. It +consists of the parents and four children between the ages of three +and fifteen. Ever since the family came to the United States they have +had one or more lodgers to help them pay the rent. At present they +have three men paying four dollars a month each; and as the father, +who had been working in the stockyards for nineteen dollars a week, +was discharged two months ago, the wife has been working in a spring +factory to support the family. + +Then there is a Polish family, composed of the parents and four +children under fourteen, two of them children of the man by a former +wife. The father has been in this country since 1894, but his wife +has been here only since 1910. For two years after their marriage the +wife worked at night, scrubbing from 6.30 to 9.30 p.m., and received +twenty-four dollars a month. Then there was an interval while her +children were babies, during which she did not work, but the family +lived on the earnings of the father. For the last two years, however, +his work has been slack, first because of a strike, and later due to +an industrial depression in his trade, and the mother is again at +work, this time in a tailor shop, earning ten dollars a week. + +The effect of the mother's work in decreasing the child's chances for +life has been made clear by the studies of the Children's Bureau in +Johnstown,[10] Montclair,[11] and Manchester,[12] in all of which a +higher rate of infant mortality was shown for children of mothers +gainfully employed. + +The effect of the mother's work on the family relationship and the +home life of the family group is, of course, not measurable in +absolute terms. The leaders of the various national groups, however, +have repeatedly emphasized the fact that the absence of the women from +the home has created entirely new problems in the family life. They +have pointed out that while the peasant women have been accustomed to +work in the fields in the old country, their work did not take them +away from their homes as the work in this country does. If they were +away there was usually some older woman to take care of the children. +Here the work of the mother frequently results in neglect of the +children and the home. + +In recognition of this fact attempts have been made to solve the +problem. Among Slovenians it was customary, before the war made it +impossible, to send the children back to the old country to their +grandmothers to be cared for. One priest said he had seen women taking +as many as twelve children to a single village. The Ukrainians in +Chicago have talked of establishing a day nursery to look after their +children, but the people are poor, and it has not been possible to +raise the money. In the meantime children are not sent to the day +nurseries already established, but are commonly taken to neighbors, +some of whom are paid for taking care of ten or twelve children. This +arrangement constitutes a violation of the city ordinance requiring +day nurseries to be licensed, but is evidently a violation quite +unconsciously committed by both parties to the transaction. + +A group of nonworking Lithuanian women heard that neglected children +were reported to the settlement in the neighborhood. One of the women +investigated, and found many children locked in houses for the day, +with coffee and bread for lunch. One child, too small to shift for +himself, was found with his day's supply of food tied around his neck. +The women decided to open a nursery in charge of a Lithuanian woman +who would be able to speak to the children in their own language, as +few children below school age spoke English. The original plans were +to accommodate ten or twelve children, but as soon as the nursery +opened there were so many women wanting to leave their children there +that it took as many as thirty children. The nursery was maintained +for about eighteen months, and was then closed because of the +difficulty of raising the necessary funds. + +Some such plan must be developed that takes care of the foreign-born +mother's work if she is forced to supplement the family's income +outside of the home. The organization of family life that has grown up +parallel with the industrial system assumes her presence in the home. +When misfortune makes this impossible some provision for caring for +the children must be found. + + +CHANGED DUTIES OF A MOTHER + +Another changed condition in the life in this country is that the +family group is usually what the sociologist calls the "marriage" +group, as distinguished from the "familial" group, which is generally +found in the old country. The grandmothers and maiden aunts, who were +part of the group in the old country, and who shared with the mother +all the work of the household, are not with them in this country. The +older women are seldom brought on the long journey, and the maiden +aunt is either employed in the factory system, or she sets up a house +of her own, so that in any event her assistance in the work of the +household can no longer be relied on. It is perhaps the grandmother +that is missed the more, because it was to her that the mother of a +family was wont to turn for advice as well as assistance. + +This decrease in the number of people in the household is not +compensated for by the diminution in the amount of work, which is +another fact of changed conditions. For in this country the housewife +no longer spins and weaves, or even, as a rule, makes the cloth into +clothing. She does not work in the fields, or care for the garden or +the farm animals, all of which she was expected to do in the old +country. The loss of the older women in the group, however, means that +what tasks are left must all be done by her. + +The duties of the housewife may not be as many, but the work they +involve may be more. This is true, for example, in the matter of +feeding the family. In Lithuania soup was the fare three times daily, +and there were only a few variations in kind. Here the family soon +demands meat, coffee, and other things that are different from the +food she has cooked in the old country.... Occasionally the situation +is further complicated by the insistence of dietetic experts that the +immigrant mother cannot feed her family intelligently unless she has +some knowledge of food values. In other words, the work of the +housewife was easy in the old country because it was well done--if it +was done in the way her mother did it--and conformed to the standards +that she knew. It could thus become a matter of routine that did not +involve the expenditure of nervous energy. Here, on the other hand, +she must conform to standards that are constantly changing, and must +learn to do things in a way her mother never dreamed of doing them. +And there is the new and difficult task of planning the use of the +family income, which takes on a new and unfamiliar form. + +In spite of all that has been taken out of the home the duties of the +housewife remain manifold and various. She is responsible for the care +of the house, for the selection and preparation of food, for spending +the part of the income devoted to present needs, and for planning and +sharing in the sacrifices thought necessary to provide against future +needs. She must both bear and rear her children. The responsibilities +and satisfactions of her relationship with her husband are too often +last in the list of her daily preoccupations, but by no means least in +importance, if one of the essentials of a home is to be maintained. + +The enumeration of the tasks of any wife and mother throws into relief +the difficulties of the foreign-born mother. The all too frequent +cases where homes are deprived of her presence emphasize how +indispensable she is. All case-work agencies have had to grapple with +the problem of families suffering this deprivation. It is these +motherless families that make us realize how many tasks and +responsibilities fall to the lot of the mother. + +There was a motherless Russian family, consisting of the father and +six children, the oldest a girl of thirteen and the youngest a +five-month-old boy. For a time the family tried to get along without +asking advice of an outside agency. The baby was placed with friends, +and the thirteen-year-old girl stopped school to care for the +five-room flat and the other four children. In a short time the family +with whom the baby was placed wanted to adopt him, and refused to keep +him longer on any other condition. At this time the Immigrant's +Protective League was appealed to for help in placing the baby where +he would not have to be given for adoption. They found the father +making a pathetic attempt to keep the home and children clean, and +the oldest girl, Marya, trying hard to take her mother's place. The +best plan they were able to work out for the family was institutional +care for the youngest two children, nursery care outside of school +hours for the next two, and the two oldest left to take care of +themselves, although given lunch at the school. Marya, of course, was +sent back to school, and she and her father share the housekeeping. + + +PATERNAL AUTHORITY PASSING + +A third change should be taken into account. There is a marked +difference between the general position of women and children in +relation to the authority of the husband and father in this country +and that in the old country. It is indicated in both general opinion +and express statutory amendment in this country, although not in the +so-called common law. The latter, in common with practice in the +native lands of immigrants, provided that marriage gave the husband +the right to determine where the domicile should be, the right +"reasonably to discipline" wife and children, the right to claim her +services and to appropriate her earnings and those of the children, +the right to take any personal property (except "_paraphernalia_" and +"_pin money_") she might have in full ownership, the right to manage +any land she might become entitled to, and the right to enjoy the +custody of the children, regardless of the maintenance of his +conjugal fidelity, in the absence of such obscene and drunken conduct +on his part as would be obviously demoralizing to the young child. + +There existed no adequate provision for enforcing the father's +performance of either conjugal or parental obligations, and the result +has been the development of two bodies of legislative change. One of +these has granted to the wife certain rights as against the husband, +on the theory that the wife retains her separate existence after +marriage and should retain rights of individual action. The other body +of statutes imposes on the man the duty of support, making abandonment +or refusal to support punishable by fine or imprisonment, or both. + +The theory of this legislation is that the support of wife and +children is to be a legally enforceable duty, which may rightly be +laid upon the man because of his special interest and special ability. +Moreover, through the establishment of the juvenile court, the +community has undertaken, not only to say that support must be given, +but to set a standard of "proper parental care" below which family +groups are not to be allowed to sink and still remain independent and +intact. By creating the juvenile probation staff, an official +assistant parent is provided. In the same way, by authorizing +commitment of children to institutions, the dissolution of the home +that falls persistently to too low a standard is made possible. + +The common law, as accepted in the various states, was not entirely +uniform, but it was substantially the universal family law; now the +states differ widely in the body of statutory enactments developed in +this field. All have some laws recognizing the claims of children to +have their home conditions scrutinized--though they may have no +express juvenile-court law, all recognize to some extent the separate +existence of the married women--though only twenty-one have given the +mother substantial rights as against the father over their children, +and they all recognize the parent's duty to secure the child's +attendance at school, and have imposed some limitation on the parent's +right to set his young child to work. In other words, in all the +states the idea of the separate existence of the wife and of the +interest of the community in the kind of care given the child has been +embodied in legislation. + +These statutes have been enacted by legislatures composed largely, if +not exclusively, of men, and register the general change in the +community attitude toward the family group. An unlimited autocracy is +gradually becoming what might now be termed a constitutional +democracy. But the law of the jurisdictions from which most of the +immigrant groups come, undoubtedly represents a theory of family +relationship not widely different from that underlying the common law. +The South Italian group, in which the right of the father to +discipline wife and daughter is passed on to the son, may represent an +extreme survival of the patriarchal idea; but almost all the +foreign-born groups hold to the dominion of man over woman, and of +parents over children. + +Immigrant groups evidence their realization of the changed conditions +in different ways. Among the Ukrainians in Chicago, for example, it is +said that, whereas in the old country the men kept complete control of +the little money that came in, here they very generally turn it all +over to their wives. Some of them have laughed, and said that America +was the "women's country." Among other groups, notably the Jugo-Slav +and the Italian, there is said to be a general attempt to keep the +women repressed and in much the same position they held in the old +country. Sometimes the woman perceives the difference in the situation +more quickly than her husband. Then if he attempts to retain the old +authorities in form and in spirit, she may submit or else she may +gradually lead him to an understanding. But she may not understand and +yet may rebel and carry her difficulty to the case-work agency. + +One of the settlements in Chicago is said to have become very +unpopular with the men in its neighborhood, as it has the reputation +of breaking up families, because women who have been ill treated by +their husbands have gone to the settlement to complain, and have there +been given help in taking their complaints to court. + +The Immigrant's Protective League in Chicago receives many complaints +from women who have learned that their husbands have not the right to +beat them or their children. One Lithuanian woman, who had been in +this country six years, came to the league with the statement that her +husband often threw her and their eight-year-old son out of the house +in the middle of the night. Another Lithuanian woman living in one of +the suburbs took her three children and came to Chicago to her +sisters, because her husband abused her, called her vile names, and +beat her. When the husband was interviewed he agreed not to do so +again, and his family returned to him. + +Of course, the theory underlying even the feminist "married woman's +property laws" included not only her enjoyment of rights, but her +exercise of legal responsibility; but the restrained exercise of newly +acquired freedom is evidence of high social and personal development. +And the women in the foreign-born groups come from the country, the +village, the small town. They have had little education, their days +have been filled with work, so that there has been little time for +reflection, they come from a simple situation in which there was +little temptation to do wrong. They find here, on the other hand, a +situation which is complex in the extreme, and in which there are +elements that tend to make matters especially difficult for women. + +Attention has already been called to the confusion created by the +lodger in the home and the special temptation to the woman to desert +her husband for the lodger. The relative scarcity of women in the +group, the presence of large numbers of men who cannot enter a legal +marriage relationship because they have wives in the old country, the +spiritual separation that often results from physical separation +caused by the man's coming ahead to prepare a place--all these are +undoubtedly factors that enter in to make difficult the wise use of +her freedom. Native endowment, moral as well as physical and mental, +varies among these women as among other women. Confronted with this +confused and difficult situation, the change from the old sanctions, +the old safeguards, even the old legal obligations, is difficult. + +It is inevitable that a few will find themselves unequal to the task +of readjusting their lives. The father of one family came to the +Immigrant's Protective League in Chicago, asking help because his wife +had turned him out of his home. He said that she drank and was +immoral. Instead of caring for the home and the two-year-old child, +she spent her time behind the bar in her brother's saloon, having "a +good time" with the customers. She had deserted six weeks before, but +he had found her and had had her in the Court of Domestic Relations, +where he had been persuaded to take her back. He said she was still +drinking and still neglecting the child. Shortly after asking the help +of the league, the father ran away, taking with him the child whom the +mother left alone in the house while she went to the "movies." + +The women who assert themselves in their new rights are in a small +minority. A young Polish woman complains that the women of her group +are too submissive even in this country, and "bear beatings just as +their mothers did in the old country." In the great majority of +foreign-born families, as in all families, the question of the legal +rights of the woman is never raised. The habits and attitudes formed +under the old system of law and customs are carried over into the life +in the new country, and are changed so gradually and imperceptibly +that no apparent friction is caused in the family group. Moreover, in +many cases where the woman perceives her changed position she is able +to make her husband see it too, and she herself is able to work her +way through to a new understanding. It is interesting to note that the +women of the foreign-born groups who have worked their way through are +now bending their energies toward helping the women who have not yet +started. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Thomas and Znaniecki, _The Polish Peasant_, vol. ii, pp. 298-455. + +[2] See _Report of U. S. Immigration Commission_, vol. viii, pp. +662-664. Also _Report of Massachusetts Immigration Commission_, 1914, +pp. 64-69. Also "Studies in Chicago Housing Conditions," _American +Journal of Sociology_, vol. xvi, no. 2 (September, 1910), pp. 145-170. + +[3] United States Department of Labor, _Report of United States +Housing Corporation_, vol. ii, p. 507. + +[4] See Annual Reports of the Immigrants' Protective League, 1909-18; +Massachusetts Immigration Commission, 1914, pp. 58-64; Abbott, Grace, +_The Immigrant and the Community_, pp. 55, 56, and 68 fol. + +[5] _Report of the United States Housing Corporation_, vol. ii, p. +508. + +[6] See John Daniels, _America via the Neighborhood_, chap. iii. + +[7] See among other studies Chapin, _The Standard of Living Among +Workingmen's Families in New York City_ (Russell Sage Foundation +Publication, 1909), p. 234; Byington, _Homestead, the Households of a +Mill Town_ (Russell Sage Foundation Publication, 1910), p. 105; +Kennedy and others, _Wages and Family Budgets in the Chicago Stock +Yards District_ (University of Chicago Settlement, 1914), pp. 78-79; +_Eighteenth Annual Report of the U. S. Commissioner of Labor_; U. S. +Bureau of Labor, _Report on Condition of Woman and Child Wage Earners +in the United States_, vol. xvi, "Family Budgets of Typical +Cotton-mill Workers," pp. 142, 250; _Report of the U. S. Immigration +Commission_, vol. xix, p. 223. + +[8] _United States Bureau of Labor Monthly Review_, July, 1919, p. 48. + +[9] _Ibid._, March, 1919, p. 119. + +[10] "Infant Mortality, Results of a Field Study in Johnstown, +Pennsylvania," U. S. Children's Bureau Publication No. 9. + +[11] "Infant Mortality, A Study of Infant Mortality in a Suburban +Community," U. S. Children's Bureau Publication No. 11. + +[12] "Infant Mortality, Results of a Field Study in Manchester, New +Hampshire," U. S. Children's Bureau Publication No. 20. + + + + +III + +THE CARE OF THE HOUSE + + +The work that the housewife must do in the care of the house is the +maintenance of such standards of cleanliness and order as are to +prevail. It includes the daily routine tasks of bedmaking, cooking, +sweeping, dusting, dishwashing, disposing of waste, and the heavier +work of washing, ironing, and periodic cleanings. + + +NEW HOUSEKEEPING CONDITIONS + +The foreign-born housewife finds this work particularly difficult for +many reasons. In the first place, housekeeping in the country from +which she came was done under such different conditions that it here +becomes almost a new problem in which her experience in the old +country may prove of little use. The extent to which this is true +varies from group to group. To understand the problems of any +particular group, careful study should be made of the living +conditions and housekeeping practices in the country from which it +came. + +Some of the women with whom we have conferred have described +housekeeping as they knew it in the old country. These descriptions +are suggestive of the character of the change and the difficulties +involved. Mrs. P., a Polish woman from Posen, for example, said that: + + Houses in the village in which she lived were made of clay, + with thatched roofs, clay floors, and about ten feet high. + They were made in rows, for four families or two families, + with one outer door opening from a hall into which the doors + from all the dwellings opened. Each dwelling had one small + window, and a fireplace. Water was out of doors. In the + four-family house there were two chimneys. The outside door + did not open into the road. + +[Illustration: FLOOR PLAN OF HOUSES IN POLAND] + + The floors were covered with sand, and new sand was put on + when the room was cleaned. The fireplace had a hook from + which hung the kettle, and in one corner was the oven, a + little place set off by a board covered with clay. Walls were + whitewashed. Mrs. P. said that the housework is much more + difficult in this country, with the cleaning of woodwork, + washing windows, care of curtains, carpets, and dishes, and + more elaborate cooking. In the old country the family washing + was done only once a month, except in cases where there were + small children. Then it was done weekly; and if the family + lacked sufficient clothing, the washing had to be done + oftener. There the meal was one dish, from which the entire + family ate; here there is a variety of food and each person + has his own plate and eating utensils, so that even the + dishwashing is a greater task. In coming to this country many + women do not see that the windows need washing or that the + woodwork should be cleaned, etc. + + The beds were made of boards covered with straw, not as a + straw mattress. Sheets were laid over the straw to make it + softer. Each person had two pillows, very large and full, so + that they sleep in a "half sitting" position. Feather beds + are used for warmth, and no quilts or blankets were known in + the old country. + +Lithuanian women, likewise, have pointed out that at home most of the +women worked in the fields, and that what housekeeping was done was of +the simplest kind. The peasant house consisted of two rooms, one of +which was used only on state occasions, a visit from the priest, a +wedding, christening, or a funeral. In summer no one sleeps in the +house, but all sleep out of doors in the hay; in winter, women with +small children sleep inside, but the others sleep in the granary. +Feather beds are, in these circumstances, a real necessity. Thus the +bed that is found in this country is unknown in Lithuania, and the +women naturally do not know how to care for one. They not only do not +realize the need of airing it, turning the mattress, and changing the +bedding, but do not even know how to make it up properly. + +Other processes of housekeeping--dishwashing, scrubbing, and +washing--prove equally difficult, and it is said that most of the +women do things in the hardest possible way, chiefly because the +processes are different here and they lack the technique to do their +work in the easier way. Naturally, too, when work in the fields has +occupied most of their time, they lack also habits of order and +routine in their household tasks. + +The Italian women, especially those from southern Italy and Sicily, +have also spoken of their difficulties in housekeeping under new +conditions. In Italy the houses, even of the relatively well-to-do +peasants, were two-room affairs with earthen floors and little +furniture. The women had little time to give to the care of the house, +and its comfort and order were not considered important. + +The experience in doing the family washing is said to typify the +change. In Italy washing is done once a month, or at most, once a +fortnight, in the poorer families. Clothes are placed in a great vat +or tub of cold water, covered with a cloth on which is sprinkled wood +ashes, and allowed to stand overnight. In the morning they are taken +to a stream or fountain, and washed in running water. They are dried +on trees and bushes in the bright, Italian sunlight. Such methods of +laundry work do not teach the women anything about washing in this +country, and they are said to make difficult work of it in many cases. +They learn that clothes are boiled here, but they do not know which +clothes to boil and which to wash without boiling; and as a result +they often boil all sorts of clothing, colored and white, together. In +Italy washing is a social function; here it is a task for each +individual woman. + + +DEMANDS OF AMERICAN COOKERY + +Cooking in this country varies in difficulty in the different national +groups. In the case of the Lithuanians and Poles, for example, the +old-country cooking is simple and easily done. Among others it is a +fine art, requiring much time and skill. The Italian cooking, of +course, is well known, as is also the Hungarian. Among the Bohemians +and Croatians, too, the housewives are proverbially good cooks and +spend long hours over the preparation of food. Croatian women in this +country are said to regard American cookery with scorn. They say that +Croatian women do not expect to get a meal in less than two or three +hours, while here all the emphasis is on foods that can be prepared in +twenty or thirty minutes. + +It is not always easy to transplant this art of cookery, even if the +women had time to practice it here as they did at home. The materials +can usually be obtained, although often at a considerable expense, but +the equipment with which they cook and the stoves on which they cook +are entirely different. The Italian women, for example, cannot bake +their bread in the ovens of the stoves that they use here. Tomato +paste, for example, is used in great quantities by Italian families, +and is made at home by drying the tomatoes in the open air. When an +attempt is made to do this in almost any large city the tomatoes get +not only the sunshine, but the soot and dirt of the city. The more +particular Italians here will not make tomato paste outdoors, but +large numbers of Italian families continue to make it, as can be seen +by a walk through any Italian district in late August or early +September. + +In general, in the groups in which cooking was highly developed, a +great deal of time was devoted to the preparation of food. If the +housewife wishes to reduce her work in this country, she finds that +some of the ingredients which make our cooking simpler are unknown to +her. The Bohemians, for example, do not know how to use baking powder, +and the same is true of the women in Lithuanian, Polish, and Russian +groups, where the art of cooking is less developed. + +With this lack of experience in housekeeping under comparable +conditions, the foreign-born housewife finds the transition to +housekeeping in this country difficult at best. As a matter of fact, +however, the circumstances under which she must make the change are +often of the worst. She is expected to maintain standards of +cleanliness and sanitary housekeeping that have developed with modern +systems of plumbing and facilities for the disposal of waste that are +not always to be found in the districts in which she lives. Even a +skillful housewife finds housekeeping difficult in such houses as are +usually occupied by recently arrived immigrants. + + +WATER SUPPLY ESSENTIAL + +In the first place, there is the question of water supply. Cleanliness +of house, clothing, and even of person is extremely difficult in a +modern industrial community, without an adequate supply of hot and +cold water within the dwelling. We are, however, very far from +realizing this condition. In some cities[13] the law requires that +there shall be a sink with running water in every dwelling, but in +other cities even this minimum is not required. The United States +Immigration Commission, for example, found that 1,413 households out +of 8,651 foreign-born households studied in seven large cities, shared +their water supply with other families. Conditions have improved in +this respect during the last decade, but it is a great handicap to +efficient housekeeping if water has to be carried any distance. +Further inconvenience results if running hot water is not available, +which is too often the case in the homes of the foreign born. + +[Illustration: THIS PUMP SUPPLIES WATER TO FOUR FAMILIES] + +Cleanliness is also dependent, in part, upon the facilities for the +disposition of human waste, the convenient and accessible toilet +connected with a sewer system. These facilities are lacking in many +immigrant neighborhoods, as has been repeatedly shown in various +housing investigations. For example, in a Slovak district in the +Twentieth Ward, Chicago, 80 per cent of the families were using +toilets located in the cellar, yard, or under the sidewalk, and in +many cases sharing such toilets with other families. One yard toilet +was used by five families, consisting of twenty-eight persons.[14] The +danger to health, and the lack of privacy, that such toilet +accommodations mean have been often emphasized. In addition, it +enormously increases the work of the housewife and makes cleanliness +difficult, if not impossible. + +There is also the question of heating and lighting the house. Whenever +light is provided by the oil lamp, it must be filled and cleaned; and +when heat is provided by the coal stove, it means that the housewife +must keep the fires going and dispose of the inevitable dirt and +ashes. In the old country the provision of fuel was part of the +woman's duties; and in this country, as coal is so expensive, many +women feel they must continue this function. Here this means picking +up fuel wherever it can be found--in dump heaps and along the railroad +tracks. A leading Bohemian politician said that he often thought, as +he saw women prominent in Bohemian society, "Well, times have changed +since you used to pick up coal along the railroad tracks." + + +OVERCROWDING HAMPERS THE HOUSEWIFE + +The influence of overcrowding on the work of the housewife must also +be considered in connection with housekeeping in immigrant households. +That overcrowding exists has been pointed out again and again. +Ordinances have been framed to try to prevent it, but it has +persisted. In the studies of Chicago housing a large percentage of the +bedrooms have always been found illegally occupied. The per cent of +the rooms so occupied varied from 30 in one Italian district to 72 in +the Slavic district around the steel mills. The United States +Immigration Commission found, for example, that 5,305, or 35.1 per +cent, of the families studied in industrial centers used all rooms but +one for sleeping, and another 771 families used even the kitchen. + +Crowding means denial of opportunity for skillful and artistic +performance of tasks. "A place for everything and everything in its +place," suggests appropriate assignment of articles of use to their +proper niches, corners, and shelves. One room for everything except +sleeping--cooking, washing, caring for the children, catching a breath +for the moment--means no repose, no calm, no opportunity for planning +that order which is the law of the well-governed home. Yet there is +abundant evidence that many families have had to live in just such +conditions. + +The housework for the foreign-born housewife is often complicated by +other factors. One is the practice to which reference has been already +made of taking lodgers to supplement the father's wages. In discussing +this subject from the point of view of the lodger, it has been pointed +out that the practice with reference to the taking of boarders and +lodgers varies in different places and among different groups. The +amounts paid were not noted there, but they become important when +considered together with the service asked of the housewife. Usually +the boarder or lodger pays a fixed monthly sum--from $2 to $3.50, or, +more rarely, $4 a month--for lodging, cleaning, washing, and cooking; +his food is secured separately, the account being entered in a +grocery book and settled at regular intervals. + +Sometimes the lodger does his own buying, but the more common custom +is to have the housewife do it. Occasionally he does his own cooking, +in which case payment for lodging secures him the right to use the +stove. More rarely, as in some of the Mexican families visited in +Chicago in 1919, he is a regular boarder, paying a weekly sum for room +and board. + +Just what keeping lodgers means in adding to the duties of the +housewife can be seen from the following description of the work of +the Serbo-Croatian women in Johnstown, Pennsylvania:[15] + + The wife, without extra charge, makes up the beds, does the + washing and ironing, and buys and prepares the food for all + the lodgers. Usually she gets everything on credit, and the + lodgers pay their respective shares biweekly. These + conditions exist to some extent among other foreigners, but + are not so prevalent among other nationalities in Johnstown + as among the Serbo-Croatians. + + In a workingman's family, it is sometimes said, the woman's + working day is two hours longer than the man's. But if this + statement is correct in general, the augmentation stated is + insufficient in these abnormal homes, where the women are + required to have many meals and dinner buckets ready at + irregular hours to accommodate men working on different + shifts. + + The Serbo-Croatian women who, more than any of the others, do + all this work, are big, handsome, and graceful, proud and + reckless of their strength. During the progress of the + investigation, in the winter months, they were frequently + seen walking about the yards and courts, in bare feet, on the + snow and ice-covered ground, hanging up clothes or carrying + water into the house from a yard hydrant. + + +WOMEN WORK OUTSIDE THE HOME + +Another factor that renders housekeeping difficult is the necessity of +doing wage-paid work outside the home, to which reference has already +been made. Women interviewed have repeatedly emphasized the +difficulties that this practice creates in connection with the +housekeeping. + +A recent study of children of working mothers, soon to be published by +the United States Children's Bureau, carried on at the Chicago School +of Civics and Philanthropy, obtained the testimony of the mothers as +to the difficulties involved. This study showed that in many cases the +household duties could not be performed at the proper time; 60 women, +for example, of the 109 reporting on this question, said that they did +not make their beds until night; 105 said their dishes were not washed +after each meal, but in 41 cases were washed in the mornings, and in +56 not until night. Three washed them in the morning if they had time, +and five left them for the children, after school. + +Many women who worked outside the home did their housekeeping without +assistance from other members of the family. This meant that they had +to get up early in the morning and frequently work late at night at +laundry or cleaning; 49 women, for example, washed in the evening; 25 +washed either Saturday, Sunday, or evenings. + + +HOUSING IMPROVEMENT + +Enough has probably been said to show that the work of caring for the +house under the conditions existing in most immigrant neighborhoods, +is unnecessarily difficult for the foreign-born housewife. The most +obvious point at which these burdens might be lightened so that the +housewife could have time for other duties, would appear to be through +improvement of housing. With an awakened realization of this fact, +both on the part of the foreign-born woman herself and the community +of which she is an inevitable part, will come the solution of these +difficulties. A protest, however inarticulate or indirectly expressed +by her, will find its response in a growing realization that plans for +improvement must be developed. + +The several housing projects that have already been offered are +suggestive of the problems and possibilities along this line rather +than useful as hard-and-fast solutions. They not only meet the needs +of the more inadequate immigrant housing conditions, but provide +improvement upon most native-born conditions. In this connection +interest naturally centers on the war-time housing projects of the +United States government, on the experiment of the Massachusetts +Homestead Commission at Lowell, and on certain enterprises carried out +by so-called limited dividend companies. The first two are especially +interesting, in that they recognize that supplying houses to the +workers is not a function that can be wholly left to private +initiative. + +It is not possible to discuss these projects in detail, nor is it +necessary.[16] It is sufficient to consider them here with reference +to the contributions they might make in helping the immigrant +housewife. In the first place, they provide for a toilet and a bath in +every house, and a supply of running water that is both adequate and +convenient. In the matter of kitchen equipment there is an attempt to +provide some of the conveniences. Both provide a sink and set +wash-tubs equipped with covers. They must be set at a minimum of +thirty-six inches from the floor in the United States plans. Both make +provision for gas to be used for cooking, although the coal stove is +accepted. The kitchens in the Massachusetts houses are also provided +with kitchen cabinets, with shelves under the sink, and with a drain +for the refrigerator. + +In other ways also consideration for the housewife is evidenced. +Electricity is urged for lighting, passages through which furniture +would not go are avoided, the size of the living room is adapted to +the sizes of the most commonly purchased rugs, etc. Study of the +Massachusetts plans reveals other interesting features, such as the +care given to the location of the bathroom and the attention to the +size of the doors, so that the mother at work in her kitchen can watch +the children at play in other rooms. + +Both projects are interesting also in that they realize the necessity +of a "front room" or parlor, and prescribe a minimum number of +bedrooms--three in the Massachusetts, and two in the United States +experiment. Both require closets in every bedroom wide enough to +receive the men's garments on hangers, and rooms of such size that the +bed can stand free of the wall and out of a draught. It is evident +that the plans for houses in both projects provide very definite +improvements in the matter of the conveniences to which the immigrant +is not accustomed in the houses at present available to him. + +Some limitations, however, become apparent by comparing them with the +recommendations of the Women's Subcommittee of the Ministry of +Reconstruction Advisory Council, England. That committee emphasizes +the importance of electricity for lighting, and urges "that a cheap +supply of electricity for domestic purposes should be made available +with the least possible delay." The American plans agree that +electricity is the preferred lighting, but gas is accepted by the +United States government, although not by the Massachusetts plan. +There is no suggestion of developing a cheaper supply of electricity. + +The English women also suggest the desirability of a central heating +plant as a measure that would lessen the work of the household, afford +economies in fuel, and render a hot-water supply readily available. +They urge, therefore, further experimentation with central heating. +The American plans have no suggestions to make at this point, but +accept the coal stove or the separate furnace in the higher-priced +houses as the means of heating. While they provide for hot water, no +suggestions are made as to how this is to be supplied. It is +presumably done by a tank attached to the range, which means that hot +water is not available when there is no fire in the range; that is, in +summer and during the night. It should also be noted that these plans +make no suggestions for co-operative use of any of the equipment of +the household. + +There is another point at which the architects and builders failed to +take sufficient notice of the problem of lightening the women's +work--namely, in their attitude toward the separate family home as +compared with the multiple family dwelling. The Massachusetts +Commission was, by the terms of the Act creating it, limited to the +provision of one or two-family houses; the United States government +standards were definitely against the building occupied in whole or in +part by three or more families. + + Tenement and apartment houses are considered generally + undesirable, and will be accepted only in cities where, + because of high land values, it is clearly demonstrated that + single and two-family houses cannot be economically provided, + or where there is insistent demand for this type of multiple + housing. + +This judgment, however, has by no means met with universal approval. +Those architects who think in terms of the woman's time and strength +consider the merits of the group and of the multiple house. For +example, those who planned the Black Rock Apartment House Group in +Bridgeport, Connecticut, the open-stairway dwellings, the John Jay +dwellings on East Seventy-seventh Street, New York City, and the +Erwin, Tennessee, development, maintain that the advantages of the +separate house in privacy, independence, and access to land can be +secured by the multiple arrangement. Not only can economies in the use +of the land be practiced, but protection and assistance for the women +and children can be obtained, and there is the possibility of devices +for convenient and collective performance of many tasks. + +It is unnecessary to review the arguments for the one or for the +other. It is evident that the group house, and perhaps the multiple +house, offer such inducements in the economy of space and the +possibility of assigning areas of land to definite and anticipated +uses, that their further adaptation to family needs must be +contemplated. It is generally assumed that the family group wants the +separate house. The question of interest for this study is one of the +desire of the immigrant groups in this respect. Their preference +should be an indispensable element in the formulation of housing +standards. + +There is not, however, a great deal of evidence on this subject. The +fact that immigrants live in the city in the congested districts may +only indicate that they have had no choice in the matter. Most of the +officers of certain immigrant building and loan associations +interviewed for this study thought there was a preference for the +single-family dwelling when it could be afforded. That also is the +belief of the investigators in this study, who think that the use of +multiple houses indicates not the immigrants' desires, but their +acceptance of what is before them, and that the dream of almost every +immigrant family is to have a house of its own, to which is attached a +little garden. + +How far the desire for the separate house is confused with the desire +for the garden would be difficult to say. It is certain, however, +that in general the immigrant has known only one way to have the +garden, and that was by having a separate house. There is universal +agreement that especially the foreign-born family desires access to +land for whose cultivation they may be responsible, and whose produce +both in food and in flowers they may enjoy. Recently, however, certain +architects have been interested in working out plans by which this +advantage might be retained for dwellers in group or tenement houses. +They have pointed out that one advantage of the group and multiple +house is the setting free of spaces to be more skillfully adapted to +the size and composition of the family. + +Attention may be called to certain devices that are urged by +experienced architects in the matter of the use of land. For example, +in the Morgan Park, Minnesota, development of the Illinois Steel +Company, the architects have developed interesting plans in connection +with their low-cost houses. These are all group houses, with a front +space opening on an attractively planned street. At the rear of the +house is a latticed porch--a small area graveled, but not grassed--and +then the alley. Across the alley is the rear garden, which may thus be +fenced in and kept separate from the house lot. + +[Illustration: A COMMUNITY PLAN SUBMITTED BY MILO HASTINGS IN THE +AMERICAN HOUSING COMPETITION, 1919, SHOWING THE U VARIATIONS, THE BACK +SERVICE STREET, THE PROVISION FOR REAR GARDENS, AND THE OPEN AREAS ON +WHICH ALL THE HOUSES WILL FRONT + +(Reprinted by permission from the Journal of the American Institute of +Architects, June, 1919)] + +Interesting suggestions on this point are to be found in the two +articles, to which prizes were given by the American Institute of +Architects in the June and July, 1919, numbers of their journal. There +is much experimentation yet to be done, as the question of the +separate house with its separate plot of ground is by no means a +settled one. It is particularly desirable that the interest of the +foreign born be enlisted, both that they may contribute to the +solution of the question and that they may become acquainted with all +the possibilities of access to the land which are being worked out. + +In spite of some defects and the need for further experimentation +along the lines suggested above, there is no doubt that the projects +of Massachusetts and of the Federal government mark a very real +advance. The most pressing need is to construct a sufficient number of +these houses so that they may be available for immigrant groups. One +means of doing this is by the employer's building houses for the +workers to buy or to rent. Although this has sometimes been found to +help solve the housing situation, factors may enter that limit its +usefulness. The industrial relationships between employer and employee +may be such that subsidy for housing by employer would hinder rather +than help. Where a community is largely comprised of one industry it +may be very unwise for the industry to go so far toward the control of +community affairs. Labor unrest in the northern iron ranges can be +traced in part to such company provision of housing and sanitation. + +The limited dividend company, organized not for profit, and operating +under the careful supervision of a governmental department, is another +solution. This agency has been particularly successful in +Massachusetts under the stimulus as well as under the supervision of +the Massachusetts Homestead Commission, and is undoubtedly capable of +further development. + + +GOVERNMENT BUILDING LOANS + +Another possibility is that the local or state government advance the +money and enable the worker to buy his own home. That is the plan +adopted by the Massachusetts Homestead Commission in its experiment at +Lowell. It is also one of the policies adopted by the Canadian +government, which will loan money to provincial governments to be +advanced for building houses on land owned (a) by the provincial or +municipal government, (b) by the limited dividend company, (c) by the +workman himself. This latter plan would probably commend itself most +readily to the foreign-speaking groups. + +Direct loans by the local government to the worker are advocated in +the careful and thorough plan worked out by Mrs. E. E. Wood.[17] One +suggestion is a proposed amendment to the Postal Savings Law, +authorizing loans from postal savings deposits to workers with annual +incomes not in excess of twelve hundred dollars. The investigation of +the application is to be in the hands of the nearest local housing +board. A suggested amendment to the Farm Loan Act is that housing +loans be made by the Farm Loan Board on the same terms on which farm +loans are now authorized. It is interesting to note that this plan +contemplates the continued activity of the building and loan +associations with which the foreign born are already familiar. It +suggests that the first loan be given by the government and the +association be content with a second mortgage, receiving in return the +greater stability that is secured from a transaction carried on under +governmental supervision. + +According to Mrs. Wood's report, before 1915, 700,000 houses had been +built or acquired in the United States through the aid of building and +loan associations.[18] She thinks that the moderately paid wage +earner, but not the unskilled worker, was benefited. This conclusion +is disputed by officers of four building and loan associations in +Chicago interviewed in connection with this study. That the +associations reach the foreign-speaking groups seems to be evident +from the names in the Annual Report of the auditor of the state of +Illinois for 1918. The Bohemians had the largest number of societies, +and the Poles were second. The Italians alone of the large national +groups were unrepresented. + +Mrs. Wood's plan also calls for a national housing commission in the +Department of Labor, to be created under congressional act, with +organization and powers analogous to those exercised by the Federal +Board for Vocational Education. For the use of this commission it is +proposed that a fund be created by the issue of bonds, from which +loans could be made to certain designated agencies for the clearance +of congested areas and the increase of housing facilities. + +The Federal legislation is to be supplemented according to Mrs. Wood's +plan by state legislation, including: + +1. A restrictive housing law, a constructive housing law, and a Town +Planning Act. This plan contemplates a state commission on housing and +town planning through which the Federal aid for the state would be +made available; to which should be intrusted the responsibility of +investigating and approving or disapproving housing schemes proposed +by local agencies and associations. + +2. A state fund similar to the Federal fund is proposed, and definite +suggestions for its use are worked out. For the local authorities, +local housing and town-planning boards, probably with the county as +the basis of organization, are proposed. + +This housing fund, composed of the Federal fund, the state fund, and +in some cases local funds, is to be used to make loans to +municipalities, housing organizations that are not organized for +profit, limited dividend companies, co-operative associations, or even +employers. The plan contemplates that the lowest paid wage earners, +among whom are numbered a large per cent of the foreign born, should +continue to rent; but the landlord should not be a private individual +seeking to make profit from providing the workers with shelter. + +The plan also takes note of the plan for co-partnership ownership +adopted by the United States Housing Corporation. The main features of +this arrangement are: + +1. Ownership vested in a local board of trustees bound to operate the +property in the interest of the tenants and until the property is +fully amortized in the interest of the government. + +2. Formation of a tenants' association to which all residents of three +months are eligible on payment of small yearly dues. This association +to elect a tenants' council to act as directors of the association, to +confer with the board of trustees, and to carry out such duties as +trustees direct. + +3. Any tenant may become a co-partner by applying for bonds to the +amount of 25 per cent of the value of his dwelling, and accompanying +his application with a cash subscription of one half per cent of this. + +4. Tenant co-partners are given a voice in the management by the right +to elect trustees, the number increasing with the amount of +subscriptions to bonds. + +5. Tenant co-partners granted remission of one month's rent a year. + +6. Tenant co-partners leaving or desiring to discontinue as +co-partners have the right to sell their bonds to trustees at par. + +Mr. A. C. Comey, the author of the plan, says of it:[19] + + Such a co-partnership scheme as this will present to workmen + a unique opportunity for saving, for not only will they get + as high a rate of interest as a safe investment justifies, + but they will be to a large degree custodians of their own + security and will thus be able to protect their investments + in much the same way as actual home owners. On the other hand + they will avoid most of the pitfalls of home owning, such as + loss through deterioration of a neighborhood, forced sales in + case of departure, and inability to realize on assets locked + up in private homes. Moreover, they will tend to develop a + high degree of community spirit, usually so lacking among + apartment dwellers, and thus take more interest in public + affairs and become better citizens generally. + +These are advantages which it would be especially desirable for the +foreign-born groups, as many of them have experienced the pitfalls of +home ownership. It is a complicated system and would have to be +explained in detail to the various groups. The medium for such +explanations is at hand in the foreign-language press and in the +immigrant societies, and the effort that it would involve is surely +worth making. It should also be noted that it is not so complicated a +system as the land tenure in many of the countries from which the +immigrants come. + + +INSTRUCTION IN SANITATION + +The subject of housing reform as a means of easing the housewife's +task was considered first, as it is useless to talk of helping her in +her work until she is given some of the conveniences with which to +work. It is evident, however, that that is not all that is necessary +for the foreign-born housewife. She is not accustomed to the use of a +house of the size contemplated by the proposed plans--the Italians, +Lithuanians, Poles, Russians, Hungarians, and doubtless others have +known only the one and two-room house--and there is always the +possibility that, given more rooms, they may be used to take in more +lodgers. Such was the case, for example, in the relatively adequate +houses provided by the United States Steel Corporation at Gary. + +It is not necessary, however, to use the method of that corporation, +and turn out of the houses persons who need instruction in the use of +the house. Persuasion and instruction in the uses of the special +features of the house could have been tried. It might have been +possible for the rent collector or a sanitary inspector with a social +point of view to establish friendly relations on their regular visits +to the families. With confidence gained and tact displayed, much in +the way of education could be accomplished. To construct houses so +that each room can serve one and only one purpose would in part meet +the difficulties. Above all, patience and a realization of the +difficulties that the foreign-born housewife meets, are essential. + +A point on which some architects lay special stress in the structure +of low-cost houses is the devotion of the entire first floor to +cooking and living uses--not sleeping. That is, the living room, +dining room, and kitchen are either combined or so open into each +other that no temptation is offered to close off part for sleeping +purposes. The bedrooms are then on the second floor, each room having +only one door, and the bathroom and the storage space are slightly +elevated above the second and offer no temptation to be used for +purposes other than those for which they are designed. If, then, +families inexperienced in the use of modern accommodations come into +the community, they may perhaps be helped to an understanding of +modern devices by the experience of living in houses arranged in this +way. + +Both the rent collector, if it be a case of tenancy, and the building +official, if it be a case of ownership, should not only understand the +principles of sanitation and hygiene, but should understand the people +they serve. To render the best service to immigrant groups, such +officials must speak the language of the group and understand +something of its peculiarities. They should, in fact, be public +assistant housekeepers, through whose assistance the gradual and +voluntary initiation of our foreign-born neighbors into community life +can take place. New standards of efficiency and new amenities can be +developed. Our community life might, then, be freed from the old +physical dangers connected with human adjustment to physical +surroundings, and take on new dignities suitable to a democratic and +adequate life for the whole people. + +There remain the difficulties described at the beginning of the +chapter, which come from the fact that the processes of the work of +caring for the house are different in this country from those in the +country from which the foreign-born housewives came. These +difficulties are not so easy to solve as those of housing. They are +undoubtedly surmounted as time goes on, but it is a gradual process. +Many forces are at work. Necessity is probably the primary one. The +foreign-born woman early learns to use American cooking utensils and +fuel because they are all she can get. She has to feed her family with +the only food the store at the corner furnishes. American furniture +and furnishings soon attract her attention, and she is curious as to +their purposes and uses. + +In part, the foreign-born housewives have learned from one another; +that is, from the members of the group who have been here longer; and +in part they have learned by going into the more comfortable American +homes as domestic servants. Those who have done the latter are, +usually, the girls who come alone or the elder daughters of the +family. In some communities, such as a Bohemian community near Dallas, +Texas, it is said to be well understood that the girl will learn +domestic science by a kind of apprenticeship in the home of her +employer. When she has learned what she thinks sufficient, she leaves +to practice in her own home and to show her family how things should +be done. The limitations and difficulties of domestic service for the +inexperienced immigrant have been well set forth in the reports of +various protective societies.[20] But the foreign-born women with +whom we have conferred in this study have repeatedly emphasized the +advantages that come from being shown how to do housework under the +conditions in this country. Yet women of the "new" immigrant groups +enter domestic service much less than those from the "old" ones. + +In the end, no doubt, many foreign-born housewives have learned to +care for their homes and raise their families as systematically as +their American neighbors, who have had fewer difficulties to contend +with. It is, however, a wasteful system which leaves the instruction +of the immigrant housewife to the chance instruction she can gain from +fellow countrywomen who have themselves learned only imperfectly. If +the community only realized what the difficulties were for the +housewife from a different civilization, it would undoubtedly stretch +out a friendly and helping hand to assist her over the first rough +path. Whatever form this help takes, it must be offered in the spirit +of friendly co-operation, and not of didactic superiority, if the +desired result is to be gained. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[13] Details may be secured from the National Housing Association, 105 +East Twenty-second Street, New York City. + +[14] Chicago Housing Studies, _American Journal of Sociology_, vol. +xx, p. 154. + +[15] Children's Bureau Publication No. 9, "Infant Mortality, +Johnstown, Pennsylvania," p. 29. + +[16] See Edith Elmer Wood, _The Housing of the Unskilled Wage Earner_; +_Report of Massachusetts Homestead Commission_; _Reports of United +States Housing Corporation_. + +[17] Edith Elmer Wood, _Housing of the Unskilled Wage Earner_, chap. +viii. + +[18] Edith Elmer Wood, _Housing of the Unskilled Wage Earner_, p. 233. + +[19] _Survey_, June 28, 1919. + +[20] See _Annual Report of the Immigrants' Protective League, +1910-1911_, and Abbott, _The Immigrant and the Community_, chap. v, +"The Special Problems of the Immigrant Girl." + + + + +IV + +PROBLEMS OF SAVING + + +There has been in the past much harsh and thoughtless criticism of the +foreign-born groups, because of the extent to which they have seemed +able and willing to subordinate present necessities and enjoyments to +provide for certain future contingencies. + + +PRESENT AND FUTURE NEEDS + +Many of those who come to this country are in debt for their passage. +Others have left near relatives at home who must be helped to come +over. Some have come, intending to establish themselves and to be +married here. Some expect to take back a part of their earnings to +better the condition of those left behind. Their coming, whether to +stay permanently or to return, often does not relieve them of their +obligations to the group in the old country. + +One of the strongest impressions that the reader gets from the letters +in _The Polish Peasant_ is that of the frequency with which relatives +in the old country ask for money from the one who has gone ahead. It +is not only his wife and children, or aged parents, that ask for +money, but all the members of the wider familial group, and sometimes +even friends with no claim on the score of kinship. + +The purposes for which they ask money are various; in the Borek +series, for example, a son of the family is asked to send money +because the family is in debt and has taxes to pay; to send money for +the dowry of his sister; for a forge; for a sewing machine, and for a +phonograph. He is also told that if he sends money home it will not be +wasted, but will be put out at interest. Other claims for money are +put forward in other series, possibly the most common one being a +request for a steamship ticket. The letters show clearly that it is +customary to send money for fête days, "name days," or birthdays, +Christmas, Easter, and other occasions. A failure to do so brings +reproach coupled with a reminder that others who had gone from the +village had sent money. In the Wrobelski series the family ask money +from the member in this country for a new church at home. Every Sunday +the priest reads aloud the names of those who have contributed. It +therefore seems to the immigrant imperative that from his present +earnings certain amounts shall be set aside. + +When the first hard times are past and the members of the immediate +family are reunited, there comes the reaction to the experience of +depending on the money wage. There arises the fear of disaster growing +out of interruption of the income, or misfortune involving especially +heavy expenditure. + +The United States Treasury Department in its "Thrift" campaign lays +down the doctrine _save first_ and _spend afterward_.[21] This is what +the members of the foreign-born groups have long been doing, and +probably this policy is the only possible basis for a rational use of +one's resources. Yet doing this gives rise to comment on the "low +standard of life." And thrift often seems to border on miserliness. + +Indeed, the problem is by no means so simple as the use of the +categorical imperative would indicate. The whole question of deciding +between the claims of the present and of the future is a very +difficult one. The economist gives us little definite help. He lays +down the so-called "rule of uses" and tells the housewife so to apply +her resources that the utility extracted from any unit may be at least +as great as if that unit were applied elsewhere. Now the foreign-born +housewife, like other housewives, has certain resources of money and +time and strength, and these she wishes to distribute wisely. But she +labors under many disadvantages, of which it is only fair to take +notice. + + +UNFAMILIARITY WITH MONEY + +In the first place, her income is in an unfamiliar form. There is +first the fact that the money units are strange to her. A woman who +recently came over, being called on to make an unexpected payment, +handed her purse to a fellow traveler, asking that the required amount +be taken out. In the second place, for many there is the difficulty +growing out of the exclusive dependence upon money payments, when +before there were both money and the products of the land. + +The fact should always be kept in mind that, to the extent to which +the foreign born are from rural districts, they have the difficulty +experienced by all who are forced to adjust themselves to an economy +built on money, as distinguished from an economy built on kind. In the +country where things are grown, there is little opportunity for +acquiring a sense of money values. + +It is then peculiarly difficult to value in terms of the new measure +those articles with which one has been especially familiar under the +old economy. For example, when vegetables and fruits have been enjoyed +without estimating their value, it is difficult to judge their value +in money. While meat was before thought out of reach, it may be +purchased at exorbitant rates under the new circumstances, because one +has no idea of how much it should cost. Evidence as to this kind of +difficulty is found among all groups. It takes the form, sometimes, of +apparent parsimony, sometimes of reckless and wasteful buying. + +The Lithuanians seem, for example, to experience difficulties of this +kind everywhere. The small farmer in Lithuania was accustomed to an +irregular cash income at harvest time. Sometimes it carried over from +one year to another, while young stock was growing. He had little need +of money except for extraordinary expenses, such as those for farm +machinery, or building. The local store, which was usually +co-operative, carried only such imported articles as salt, sugar, +spices, tea, and coffee. All other foods were produced at home or +secured through neighborly exchange. All the clothing for the family +was of home manufacture, even to the cloth. If a boy were sent to +school in the nearest large town, his board was paid with poultry and +dairy products. + +The tenant laborer had house rent free, a garden, a cow, a few pigs, +and all the poultry he cared to raise, in addition to the yearly wage +of from 125 to 150 rubles a year. + +Other farm laborers had board and clothing in addition to their wage +of 25 rubles a year. Women received 3 rubles a year for farm labor, +in addition to board and all ordinary clothing. The food provided by +the farmers was coarse and monotonous, but it was plentiful and +nourishing. Laborers were housed in two-room log or board houses, with +thatched roofs; farm workers without families slept in the farmer's +granaries and ate at a common table. + +To the inexperienced peasant the daily wage of $1.50 and $2 in the +United States seemed ample, but it was not long after the family +arrived before it was found inadequate. The situation becomes still +more confusing if employment is seasonal and irregular. In Lithuania, +contracts were made by the year and unemployment was unknown. Through +apprehension they begin to adopt a low standard of living in order to +economize, a practice now common in many Lithuanian communities in +this country. They have never paid rent in their native country, so +one of their first instincts is to economize at that point in the new +country by taking lodgers. + +Among other national groups there are evidences of the same +difficulties. Bohemian women, it is said, buy recklessly at first, +spending money for jewelry and all sorts of things they see for sale +in the neighborhood stores. Ukrainian women control the expenditure of +the family income here, but in the village life in Galicia they never +had much money to spend; the table was supplied from the farm, +clothing was of home manufacture, furniture was seldom bought. They +are, therefore, when they first come, little fitted by previous +experience for wise expenditure of the family income. + + +IRREGULARITY OF INCOME + +To these difficulties are added those connected with the uncertainty +and irregularity of wage payments and with the length of intervals +recurring between these payments. The ways in which periods of +unemployment and consequent cessation of income are met are +illustrated by the following experiences described by those with whom +we have conferred. + +The story of how the mother or children have gone out to work, of how +boarders have been taken into the home, savings have been spent, money +has been borrowed from friends, or charity has been accepted, occurs +over and over in the experience of all the national groups. A +Ukrainian mother tells how she and the older children at various times +have worked during the father's unemployment. A few years ago, when it +lasted for two years, she was no longer strong enough to work, and +they sold their home in order to keep the children in school. + +Another Ukrainian family has of late depended upon the earnings of the +children and savings, but there have been times when they had nothing +in the house but water, and could not buy food. A Polish mother +borrowed money of the Jewish grocer when her savings were gone and her +earnings insufficient. One Bohemian family had to draw on their +savings in the building and loan association during a year of +unemployment. + + +RESERVES FOR MISFORTUNES + +It is easy, then, to understand how out of the most meager present +income some provision for possible disasters will be attempted. The +urgency of this claim of the future explains the fact that the +possession of a balance at the end of the year constitutes no evidence +that the income for the year has either been adequate or been regarded +as adequate. The social investigator has found savings taken from the +most inadequate incomes; and judgment has been sometimes passed on the +"low standard of life" of the immigrant, when a moment's sympathetic +consideration of the problem would have discovered the explanation in +the ever-present fear of being caught unprepared. + +The occasions for which this provision is made are, to be sure, not +all of the nature of an unexpected disaster; they are, often, the +ordinary events of life. There is, first, the constant possibility of +sickness and of death. After the establishment of the family group, +these perhaps make the first claim on the family's savings. The fear +of these events may be so great that even the well-being of the +children in the present may be sacrificed. For example, a Polish widow +with two children, who was being supported by the United Charities in +Chicago, was found to have a bank account of $192.57 which she had +saved from her allowance of $3 a week in addition to her rent. When +the visitor talked with her about it, she explained that she was +afraid of dying and leaving her children unprovided for, and that her +husband had always told her to put away part of her income. + +While the need for providing for dependents is thus felt, most wage +earners realize that they cannot during their own lifetime lay aside +enough money to provide for their children. The most that they can do +is to provide some life insurance. Even this, in most cases, must be +entirely inadequate, since the premiums mean a great drain on the +family's resources. + +In a study of 3,048 families in Chicago, the Illinois Health Insurance +Commission found that 81.9 per cent of all the families carried some +kind of life insurance. The average amount of the policy, however, was +only $419.24. The following table shows for the various nationalities +in the group the per cent carrying insurance and the average amount of +the policy.[22] + + TABLE I + + NUMBER AND PER CENT OF FAMILIES CARRYING LIFE INSURANCE, + AND AVERAGE AMOUNT OF POLICY ACCORDING TO NATIVITY + OF HEAD OF FAMILY + + ================================================================= + | TOTAL | PER CENT | AVERAGE + NATIVITY OR RACE OF HEAD OF | NUMBER OF | WITH LIFE | AMOUNT + FAMILY | FAMILIES | INSURANCE | OF POLICY + -----------------------------|-----------|-----------|----------- + All families | 3,048 | 81.9 | $419.24 + | | | + United States, colored | 274 | 93.8 | 201.48 + Bohemian | 243 | 88.9 | 577.58 + Polish | 522 | 88.5 | 353.48 + Irish | 129 | 88.4 | 510.72 + United States, white | 644 | 85.2 | 535.56 + German | 240 | 85.0 | 416.49 + Lithuanian | 117 | 79.5 | 170.38 + Scandinavian | 232 | 75.4 | 401.58 + Other | 225 | 75.1 | 410.96 + Jewish | 218 | 63.8 | 465.09 + Italian | 204 | 57.8 | 403.94 + ================================================================= + +It is interesting to note that the Bohemians are among the national +groups showing the largest per cent (88.9) of families having +life-insurance policies. They also show the largest average policy +($577.58) of any national groups, including the native-born white. + +The method by which this particular provision is made is often through +the fraternal order, the benefit society, and the form of commercial +insurance known as industrial insurance. The fraternal orders that are +used by foreign-born groups are usually societies of their own +national group, such as the Polish National Alliance, the Croatian +League of Illinois, the Lithuanian National Alliance. They differ +from the benefit societies, such as the Czecho-Slav Workingman, the +Znanie Russian Club, and the Congrega di Maria Virgine del Monte +Carmelo, in that the fraternal orders are organized under the state +laws governing fraternal insurance societies, are incorporated, and +usually have a more than local membership. Most of the benefit +societies are small local societies without national affiliation, +often not observing good insurance principles and without the needed +succession of young lives. + +These types of insurance were made the subject of special study by the +Illinois Health Insurance Commission of 1919. The judgment of the +Health Commission as to the value of these organizations is, that the +fraternal societies, although they are democratic, co-operative, and +nonprofit-seeking organizations, thus being particularly attractive to +wage earners, are often not on an actuarially sound basis.[23] The +benefit societies of the foreign born present an even more precarious +means of providing for future needs.[24] Sooner or later they find +that the dues must be increased, their membership declines, and the +period of decay sets in. + +Industrial insurance provides a safer method than either of these, but +it presents a number of other disadvantages.[25] The policies are +usually small, sufficient only for burial expenses, and the rates are +relatively high because of the bad risk among the wage earners, and +especially because of the expense of weekly collections. Here, as +everywhere, the poor who must buy in small quantities get relatively +less for what they pay. + +It is often urged against industrial insurance that it makes no real +provision for dependents, and merely pays for a somewhat elaborate +funeral. It must be borne in mind that the funeral, however modest, is +an expense that often places the family in debt, and that even the +thriftless will try to make some provision for it. The following +expense account of the funeral of a Polish man is typical of the +accounts received during this inquiry, and exhibits no unusual +expenditure when compared with American customs: + + Embalming $ 11.00 + Casket 65.00 + Crape and gloves 2.50 + Candles 3.00 + Hearse 11.00 + Carriage 9.00 + Grave 12.00 + Outside box 6.00 + + Total $119.50 + +It is a matter of common knowledge that unscrupulous undertakers often +obtain possession of the insurance policy and make the charge for the +funeral equal to the whole amount. This may, in part, explain the +criticism that the funerals in foreign-born families are often +unnecessarily expensive. An Italian woman interviewed, the president +of one benefit society and a member of four others, speaks of going to +buy a casket at the time of the death of a friend during the influenza +epidemic. The cheap, wooden casket cost $150. The next day, when she +went with another friend to the same undertaker, the casket which had +been $150 cost $175. She could not understand how such prices could be +allowed, and exclaimed, "The government regulates prices of flour and +sugar, and why not such things as the cost of coffins in times like +these!" + +There may also be expenses connected with the service itself. In some +churches the tolling of the bells must be paid for by the mourners, +and sometimes it is the poorest who will insist that the bells be +tolled the longest. In a church in South Chicago it is said that the +parishioners paid for the chimes with the definite understanding that +the bell-tolling at funerals should no longer be a special charge. The +need of provision against sickness and death is keenly felt in every +immigrant community. One of the older women, who had been frequently +called into the homes in cases of sickness and death, said that in +sickness there was never money for the doctor, or night clothes, or +bedding, and in case of death never enough of anything. + + +THE COST OF WEDDINGS + +After providing for sickness and death, a family must lay aside the +sum necessary to secure an advantageous marriage for the daughter, and +to meet her family's share of the wedding. Similarly, the young man +anticipates marriage as a natural development in his life. It is +interesting to consider the share of the cost borne by the girl's +family and that borne by the young man, and to notice also certain +customs connected with the wedding itself that contribute toward the +expense. + +The customs connected with weddings which have grown up in the old +country may, when transplanted, mean an expense which seems entirely +out of proportion to the family's economic status, especially when +American customs are added to those of the native country. An Italian +woman says that weddings were, as a rule, much simpler in Italy than +in the United States. There a maid of honor and "other frills," such +as automobiles, flowers, and jewelry, were unknown. A large feast, +usually of two days' duration, was customary, and is continued here, +even in a city. A hall must be rented for the dance, and when food +prices are high the cost is enormous. + +To avoid the expense of renting a hall which would cost $100 for six +hours, a recent Italian wedding reception in Chicago was held in the +butcher shop owned by a cousin of the bridegroom. The living rooms in +the rear were used for the dinner, and the shop itself became the +ballroom. The floor was crowded, and the children had to be turned out +into the street to play, but the enjoyment of the party was evidently +not at all lessened by the somewhat incongruous surroundings. The fact +that there is near by not only a great settlement where a comfortable +hall might have been available, but likewise a park house similarly +equipped, is perhaps indicative of a failure of these institutions to +meet the very needs of the neighborhood they are designed to serve. + +It is an Italian custom for the father of the bride and the father of +the bridegroom to share the expense of the feast, although the +bridegroom sometimes pays for the music and the hall, and the bride's +family furnish the food. An Italian pastry dealer says that the amount +spent for pastries varies from $15 to $120, and an equal amount is +spent in home baking. For well-to-do families the expenditures may be +much larger; for example, one family recently spent $200 for pastry +alone. + +There is, however, a feature of the wedding feast which reduces the +cost to the family. It is customary, when the party is assembled +after the wedding, for the bride to be placed on a "throne," and the +guests place their presents of money in her lap. Money is usually +given, although useful articles for the home are sometimes included. +The greater the number of guests invited perhaps the lower the net +cost of the ceremony. + +The other principal expense of the Italian bride's family is for the +bridal linen and the girl's underwear. These, of course, vary with the +circumstances of the family. These articles are usually the +accumulation of several years. + +The bridegroom pays the other costs. He buys not only the household +furniture and his clothing, but the wedding ring, earrings, a gift for +the bride, and some of her clothing. If the girl is poor he may even +buy her underwear and the linens. It is said that these things often +cost all the bridegroom's savings, and that the couple start married +life with nothing saved for emergencies. The expense of the bridegroom +in a recent Italian wedding in Chicago was $2,000. + +It is the custom for the man to buy for the bride a complete costume +for two days--the wedding day and the eighth day--when the newly +married couple return the calls of the wedding guests. An Italian +saleslady in a store in the Italian district says that the amount +usually spent on the bride's clothes is $200 or $250. The very least +spent in these days is $100, and the outfit may cost as much as $500. +When the family is a recently arrived one, the man usually accompanies +the girl or her mother to the store and pays the bills on the spot. + +Among other groups as well as among the Italians it seems to be +customary for the bridegroom to bear part of the expense of the +wedding and of the bride's outfit. The Polish bridegroom often gives +$50 to the bride, and she buys her clothes, linens, and the food for +the feast. The Russian girl gives a white handkerchief to the groom, +and he pays for her dress. + +Another item in the expenses of a wedding is the cost of photographs. +It is the custom in most foreign-born groups to have large +photographs, not only of the bride and groom, but of the whole wedding +party. The Polish people also have another picture of the bridesmaid +taken with the best man. These photographs cost as much as $30 a dozen +and at a higher rate if less than a dozen are ordered. The number +ordered depends on the economic condition of the family, but the +minimum is six of each. The pictures of the bridal party are the +largest and most expensive and are usually given only to the immediate +family and the attendants. The smaller pictures of the bride and groom +are given to all the friends and relatives, especially those in the +old country. This is an important means of keeping up the connection +with those at home. An enlarged and colored copy framed in an ornate +gilt frame is usually ordered for the newly married couple, and is an +added expense. + +The cost of automobiles is also important. The bridal party, and +sometimes the guests whom it is desired to honor, are taken to the +church, then to the photographer's, and then to the hall where the +feast and dance are held. Sometimes as many as six automobiles are +observed drawn up in front of one of the little photographers' shops +in an immigrant district. + +Many people seem to think that the festivities among the foreign born +are becoming simpler. The extravagance is perhaps again a question of +the transition to a money economy. The ceremony in the old country was +an occasion for great celebration, with feasting and dancing for +several days, but was perhaps not expensive when the necessary +articles were produced at home or received in exchange for home +products. Here the immigrant family does not at first realize the real +value of the money which seems so plentiful, and the old customs are +not only carried out, but elaborated because of the added feeling of +prosperity. + +In many ways the old customs are now being modified. Among the Polish, +for instance, the guests used to give presents of money, practically +buying a dance with the bride. The custom has been frequently abused +here, as the men have divided their gifts into small parts and +demanded many dances with the bride, often causing her to dance so +much as to cause serious fatigue. For this reason we heard of one +bride who simply "walked with the plate" instead of dancing. Another +story is told of a wedding in a Polish community, at which the men +threw dollars at a plate. The one who was successful in breaking the +plate might dance with the bride. + +This Polish custom of giving money gifts offsets to a large extent the +cost of the wedding. Among three Polish families visited, one whose +wedding cost $200 collected $60; another spent $150 and collected +$160; and a third spent $200 and collected $300. But this custom, too, +tends to disappear in the second generation. A young Russian couple, +for instance, were opposed to a regular collection, but the parents, +who consider it the blessing to their daughter, could not resist each +leaving a ten-dollar bill as they left. The young people were +embarrassed, but the other guests quickly followed the suggestion, and +$100 was collected. + + +CHRISTENINGS AND FÊTE DAYS + +This naïve solicitation of gifts is also practiced on the occasion of +the christening of the infant. An unmarried godmother may be preferred +because, having no children of her own, she is more able to make +handsome gifts at the time and to continue her contributions. One +young Russian girl, whose marriage with the father of her unborn child +was arranged by a social worker, asked the new friend to serve as +godmother, and then expected an outfit for the infant in christening +robes, little veils, and other articles, costing about $75. + +Observers interested in customs in immigrant districts say that the +custom of soliciting gifts at christenings was modified during the +war. Among Polish families, for example, each guest used to make a +present in money to the child who was christened. During the last few +years it has become more and more customary for the collection to be +taken for the benefit of Polish war orphans. The amount collected is +then announced in the paper and serves as a source of prestige to the +family. + +There are also numerous fête days and religious celebrations which +call for special expenditure. It is impossible to consider all these +here, but attention should be called to an important event in the +religious life; namely, the occasion of the first communion. The +expenses for the confirmation of a boy are not great. He usually has a +new suit and wears a flower in his buttonhole. He must have beads, +prayer book, and, if he is Polish, a candle. + +One little Polish girl who made her first communion in the summer of +1919 had an outfit that cost her $30. This did not represent the +entire cost, as she had several parts of the outfit given to her; her +godmother made the dress, although the little girl herself furnished +the material; the veil with the wreath of flowers was given her by a +nun who had taken an interest in her, and the candle, which it is +still customary in Polish churches to carry, was given by a cousin who +is a nun. She had to buy the material for her dress, white slippers, +stockings, and long white gloves, beads, flowers, and photographs. If +she had herself borne all the expense, a minimum estimate of the cost +would be $50. + + +BUYING PROPERTY + +A third motive for saving is the desire for home ownership or for +acquiring land. There is no doubt that to own a home of their own is +the desire of most immigrant families. Many of them come from +countries where the ownership of land carries with it a degree of +social prestige that is unknown in more highly developed communities +of the modern industrial civilization. + +Representatives of the Bohemians, Lithuanians, Poles, and Italians +have all emphasized the fact that their people want to own their own +homes, and bend every energy toward this end, so that the whole family +often works in order that first payments may be made or later payments +kept up. The Croatians, Slovaks, Hungarians, and Slovenians are also +said to be buying houses, although, as they are newer groups, they +have not yet done so to the same extent as the other groups. The +Serbians, Rumanians, Bulgarians, and Russians in Chicago are, on the +other hand, said to be planning to return in large numbers to the old +homes in Europe, and hence are not interested in buying property in +this country. Their feeling for the land and their desire to own their +homes in the country in which they decide to settle is said to be as +strong as in the other groups. + +The longing for home ownership was apparent in the family schedules we +obtained, and in studies of housing conditions[26] in certain +districts of Chicago we find additional evidence of the immigrants' +desire to own their own homes, and the way in which this desire leads +many to buy, even in the congested districts of the city. The +following table gives the number and the percentage of home owners in +eight selected districts. It will be noted that the percentage of +owners varied from eight in one of the most congested Italian +districts known as "Little Sicily," to twenty-four in the Lithuanian +district. + +The strength of the desire for homes can also be measured by the +sacrifices which many of the families make to enable them to acquire +property. It means in some cases the sacrifice of the children's +education, the crowding of the home with lodgers, or the mother's +going out to work. In fact, immigrant leaders interviewed seem to +think that women's entrance into industry during the war was largely +due to the desire to own their own homes. After the title to the house +is acquired, it is often crowded with other tenants to help finish the +payments. + + TABLE II + + NUMBER AND PER CENT OF IMMIGRANT HOME OWNERS IN DIFFERENT + CHICAGO DISTRICTS + + ================================================================ + | | NUMBER | + DISTRICT | TOTAL | OF | PER + |FAMILIES| OWNERS | CENT + --------------------------------------|--------|--------|------- + Bohemians--10th Ward | 295 | 36 | 12 + Polish--16th Ward | 2,785 | 355 | 13 + Italian--"Lower North" Side | 1,462 | 119 | 8 + Italian--19th Ward | 1,936 | 208 | 9 + Polish and other Slav--South Chicago | 545 | 100 | 18 + Lithuanian--4th Ward | 1,009 | 241 | 24 + Slovak--20th Ward | 869 | 148 | 17 + Polish, Lithuanian, other Slavic--29th| | | + Ward, Stockyards District | 1,616 | 298 | 18 + ================================================================ + +The housing studies in Chicago furnish many illustrations of this +sacrifice.[27] For example, among the Lithuanians in the Fourth Ward, +there was a landlord who lived in three cellar rooms so low that a +person more than five feet eight inches tall could not stand upright +in them. The kitchen, a fair-sized room with windows on the +street--though its gray-painted wooden walls and ceiling served well +to accentuate the absence of sunlight, was merely gloomy, but the +other two rooms were both small and dark, with tiny lot-line windows +only four square feet in area. In one of these rooms, 564 cubic feet +in contents, the father and one child slept; the other, which +contained only 443 cubic feet, was the bedroom of the mother and two +children. One of the highly colored holy pictures common among the +Lithuanians and Poles, though it hung right by the window, was an +indistinguishable blur. + +The agency through which the purchase is made may be either the +real-estate dealer of the same national group, or, more commonly, the +building and loan association. The real-estate agents to whom the +foreign-speaking immigrants go are like the steamship agents, the +immigrant bankers, the keepers of special shops. Those who are honest +and intelligent render invaluable services; those who wish to exploit +have the same opportunity of doing so that is taken advantage of by +the shyster lawyer, the quack doctor, the sharp dealer of any kind who +speaks the language and preys upon his fellow countrymen. Reference +has been made in an earlier chapter to the services rendered by the +building and loan associations in enabling the foreign born to obtain +homes. They also render services in providing the means for safe +investment for those with only small sums to invest. + + +BUILDING AND LOAN ASSOCIATIONS + +These societies are frequently organized along national lines. For +example, among those listed in 1893 by the United States Commissioner +of Labor[28] are the Bohemian Building and Loan, organized February 1, +1886; the Bohemian California Homestead (February 15, 1892); the +Bohemian National Building Loan and Homestead (January 30, 1888); the +Bohemian Workingmen's Loan and Homestead (April 20, 1890); the Ceska +Koruna Homestead (May 6, 1892); the King Kazimer the Great Building +and Loan (January 27, 1886); the King Mieczyslaus the First National +Building Loan and Savings Bank (June 3, 1889); King Zigsmund the First +Building and Loan (April 15, 1891). December 1, 1918, there were 681 +such organizations in Illinois; 255 of these were in Chicago and the +majority were conducted and patronized by the foreign born. + +The following is briefly the method by which the building and loan +associations perform the two services of providing for investment and +lending money on homes:[29] + + The stockholder or member pays a stipulated minimum sum, say + one dollar, when he takes his membership, and buys a share of + stock. He then continues to pay a like sum each month until + the aggregate of sums paid, augmented by the profits, amounts + to the maturing value of the stock, usually $200, and at this + time the stockholder is entitled to the full maturing value + of the share, and surrenders the same. + + A shareholder who desires to build a house and has secured a + lot for that purpose, may borrow money from the association + of which he is a member. Suppose a man who has secured his + lot wishes to borrow $1,000 for the erection of a house. He + must be the holder of five shares in his association, each + share having as its maturing value $200. His five shares, + therefore, when matured, would be worth $1,000, the amount of + money which he desires to borrow.... In a building and loan + association the money is put up at auction, usually in open + meeting on the night or at the time of the payment of dues. + Those who wish to borrow bid a premium above the regular rate + of interest charged, and the one who bids the highest premium + is awarded the loan. The man who wishes to build his house, + therefore, and desires to borrow $1,000, must have five + shares of stock in his association, must bid the highest + premium, and then the $1,000 will be loaned to him. To secure + this $1,000 he gives the association a mortgage on his + property and pledges his five shares of stock. To cancel this + debt he is constantly paying his monthly or semimonthly dues, + until such time as the constant payment of dues, plus the + accumulation of profits through compounded interest, matures + the shares at $200 each. At this time, then, he surrenders + his shares, and the debt upon his property is canceled. + +[Illustration: ITALIANS HAVE THEIR OWN FINANCIAL CENTER AND LABOR +MARKET IN BOSTON] + +In some cases the sums paid are fifty or even twenty-five cents a +week, and the shares may be $100 instead of $200. Among some groups +shares are taken in the name of each of the children, and the +investment constitutes an educational fund. There are those, +however, for whom the building and loan has not provided adequate +opportunity for deposit and safe investment. It is probable that the +building and loan has proved most efficient for the income group +$1,500-$1,800. For the group below that, home ownership is for the +time impossible. As a device for saving, for both the lower and higher +income groups, who come from countries familiar with similar devices, +the postal savings banks are supposed to offer efficient, honest, and +convenient service. + + +POSTAL SAVINGS BANKS + +These banks were established under an act that went into effect June +25, 1910. Under this law, as amended May 18, 1916, persons over ten +years of age may deposit any amount, providing the balance to the +credit of one depositor does not exceed $1,000. Two per cent interest +is paid on deposits, and there is provision for exchange of deposits +for United States bonds of small denominations. + +The facilities thus provided were immediately taken advantage of by +the foreign-born groups, and the postal savings banks became almost +banks for the foreign born. That is, in September, 1916, 375,000, or +80 per cent, of the total number of depositors were persons of foreign +birth, and they owned 75 per cent of the deposits. In proportion to +population the deposits were in 1916 about eleven times as great as +those of the native born (due allowance being made for the age of the +two population groups). The Greeks, Italians, Russians, and +Hungarians, all coming from countries in which there are postal +savings arrangements, found it especially easy to make use of them. + +The department felt, however, that the facilities could be greatly +extended, even among the foreign born. Therefore, circulars describing +the organization, methods, and advantages were distributed. They were +written in the following languages: English, Bohemian, Bulgarian, +Chinese, Croatian, Danish, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, +Italian, Japanese, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, +Ruthenian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, and Yiddish. + +In spite of the fact that this system is characterized not only by +security, but also by certain democratic and convenient features +especially serviceable to many foreign born, there are certain +limitations to which Professor Kemmerer has called attention in the +following statement: + + As a matter of fact, the interest rate paid is so low that it + makes a very weak appeal to the class of people who deposit + in the postal savings banks. Their motive is primarily + security. The government is now realizing large profits from + the postal savings system--for 1916 the estimated profit was + $481,816--and this profit is coming from a class of people in + the community, the thrifty poor, from whom it is bad social + policy to take it. Of course it would be administratively + impracticable to pay interest to depositors on average daily + balances--no savings banks do that. Would it be expecting too + much, however, to ask for our postal savings depositors the + allowances of interest on half yearly or even quarterly + balances? Moreover, is it unreasonable to ask the Board of + Trustees, in view of the nomadic character of our + foreign-born population which patronizes the postal savings + system most, to devise a simple system of transfer by which a + depositor who is changing his place of residence may transfer + his postal savings account without forfeiting his accumulated + but yet undue interest?[30] + +Not only should the postal savings bank law be amended, rendering it +more flexible and more attractive, but there should also be enacted in +those states in which no such legislation is yet on the statute books, +laws regulating the conduct of banks, steamship companies, and all +agencies receiving deposits or otherwise performing banking functions. + +It is clear that the foreign born, during the early years of their +residence in the United States, encounter all the difficulties of +others whose incomes are inadequate and precarious, and are also the +easy victims of special forms of exploitation. In addition, they find +themselves unfamiliar with the standards and customs connected with +the great events of family life. In the matter of weddings and +funerals and other ceremonial occasions there is no reason to expect +them to be wiser, more economical, and farsighted than the native-born +group. + +In the adjustment between future and present needs, foreign-born +housewives need, as most housewives need, instruction in the art of +spending, in the selection of food and clothing, and the variety of +demands for which provision must be deliberately made in a modern +industrial community. In an earlier and simpler situation provision +for these needs was made without conscious effort. + +In this connection it is interesting to note that the "Thrift +Leaflets" prepared by the United States Department of Agriculture and +the Department of the Treasury for the war saving stamps thrift +campaign, urged care in the use of articles and dealt with prevention +of waste rather than with saving. Obviously, if goods were more +carefully used, more could be saved and invested in the securities +thus being indirectly urged. It is conceivable, however, that wise use +may mean the purchase of better food, the selection of more +satisfactory clothing, and the enjoyment of better housing, rather +than investment in government or any other securities. The thrift +campaigns of the United States Treasury proposed standards of saving +only for those receiving an income of $1,200 or more, with the +exception of unmarried persons earning as much as $780. + + +ACCOUNT KEEPING + +The basis of sound saving or spending is the account book, carefully +kept over an interval of time, allowing comparison between the outlay +and enjoyment as experienced at different periods. Such account books +are being urged by the extension departments of the state agricultural +colleges in co-operation with the Departments of Agriculture. + +Most account books that have been so far devised are, however, quite +difficult and uninteresting, even for the American housewife, +demanding classifications of items which require too much time and +consideration. An account book on a weekly basis, providing very +simple divisions of the expenditures of the household, and giving +space also for the personal expenses of the various members of the +family, has been published by the Committee on Household Budgets of +the American Home Economics Association.[31] + +These books could be easily issued in different languages and be made +available for the foreign-born housewife. She, like all housewives, +would be benefited by seeing what she is spending her money for. It +would lead to a definite planning of her expenditures. By this means +it could be suggested that things may have changed in value for her in +the new country. Old wants are replaced by new ones, and a new system +of saving and spending might be worked out. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[21] Haskins, _How Other People Get Ahead_, Savings Division, United +States Treasury Department, p. 4. + +[22] _Report of the Health Insurance Commission of Illinois_, p. 223. + +[23] _Report of the Health Insurance Commission of the State of +Illinois_, pp. 443-483. + +[24] _Ibid._, pp. 523-532. + +[25] _Ibid._, pp. 483-497. + +[26] Chicago Housing Conditions, _American Journal of Sociology_, vol. +xvi, p. 433; vol. xvii, pp. 1, 145; vol. xviii, p. 509; vol. xx, pp. +145, 289; vol. xxi, p. 185. + +[27] Chicago Housing Conditions, ix, "The Lithuanians in the Fourth +Ward," _American Journal of Sociology_, vol. xx, p. 296. + +[28] _Ninth Annual Report of the United States Commissioner of Labor +on Building and Loan Associations_, p. 56. + +[29] _Ibid._, pp. 12-13. + +[30] Kemmerer, _Postal Savings Banks_, pp. 100-104. + +[31] _Thrift by Household Accounting and Weekly Cash Record Forms_, +published by the Committee on Household Budgets, American Home +Economics Association, 1211 Cathedral Street, Baltimore, Maryland. + + + + +V + +THE NEGLECTED ART OF SPENDING + + +Saving is the problem of _over there_, and of the future. Spending is +the problem of _here_ and _now_, and in the expenditure for present +needs as well as in saving for future wants the foreign-born housewife +meets with special difficulties. She is handicapped by the kinds of +places at which she must buy, because of language, custom, and time +limitations, as well as the grade of article available. Through the +complicated maze of choices open to her she must steer her way to +obtain for her family the highest returns for an all too small +expenditure. The art of spending, too often neglected by her +native-born sisters, takes on added difficulties for the untrained +immigrant woman. + +From the point of view of the housewife the desirable thing is that +the transaction of buying her household goods and food and of +selecting her house, shall be as simple as possible. It should be made +easy for her to know the quantity and to judge the quality of any +article she considers, so that she may the more easily compare its +possible use to her with the use of other articles that might be +secured for the same amount of money. It is also important that she +have as definite ideas as possible as to the range of the demand for +different kinds of goods, so that she may buy as few as possible of +the goods on which the price of special risk is placed. In many cases +she needs really expert advice. In the absence of such help she may do +her buying in either of two states of mind. She may think that all +merchants are cheats, there "to do her and to do her first," or she +may think that she has a right to expect from the dealer frank and +kindly advice. + +In the present state of the retail organization she may find either +attitude. In shops kept by her co-nationals she will naturally have +the utmost confidence. This puts the small neighborhood stores in a +position of peculiar privilege, and makes it doubly easy for them to +take subtle advantage of the unwary customer. Even when the dealer +takes no special advantage of his customer, in following the general +practice of the trade, he can create innumerable situations in which +her problem is rendered more, rather than less, complicated. The +indefinite package is substituted for the definite weight or measure. +The "bars" of soap vary in weight and in composition. The trade _mark_ +used to tell her that X made goods whose quality she knew; the trade +_name_, based on incalculable sums spent in skillful advertising, +tells her nothing that is of intrinsic use to her. It connects a name +with a repeated suggestion that she buy. By the trading stamp, the +premium, and the bargain counter the merchant tries to persuade her +that she is getting more than she pays for. He appeals to the gambling +instinct and introduces into a drab life something of the excitement +of the roulette table. + + +THE COMPANY STORE + +In mining communities and other places in which there are "company +stores," there is the pressure exercised by the employer to force the +employee to deal only with the company store, even when there are +other stores in the neighborhood. + +The United States Immigration Commission had something to say on this +point. It made it clear that, while there are instances of an employer +giving his employees a fair deal when he becomes merchant and they +purchasers, the combination of employing and merchandising functions +is often perilous. Even if the employee appears to have a choice, he +fears the loss of his job if he does not buy at the company store. The +evils connected with so-called "truck payments" have long been +recognized. They change only in form when the company check replaces +the old payment in kind.[32] + +In some states this evil has been recognized by legislation +prohibiting the combination of industrial and merchandising functions. +Where such is the case, as in Pennsylvania, the statute is evaded. A +separate corporation is organized by the same individuals, or a store +is conducted by an individual who is a member of the mining +corporation. Where there is a "store" administered in any of these +ways, "company checks" may be issued between pay days. Or "store +books" may be issued, the items purchased being recorded, and deducted +on pay day from the wages of the employee. + +The Immigration Commission published a table[33] of the expenditures +at such stores, the amounts deducted from the wages, and the +proportion of earnings left to be collected at the end of the month, +illustrating the confusing effect of these practices on the housewife +whose income should be a settled and regular amount. While some of the +Croatians and Magyars spent hardly a fourth or a third of their +earnings at the company store, others in the same national groups +collected on pay day less than a fifth or even less than a tenth of +their earnings. From this balance must come the payments for rent, +medical service, entertainment, school, for all things other than +food, clothes, and furniture. + +It may be that in some cases the employee is able to secure at the +company store as good articles as he can obtain elsewhere and for the +same prices, but this is by no means common. In West Virginia it was +found necessary to enact legislation forbidding a company which ran a +store to charge its own employees higher prices than the employees of +other companies were charged.[34] The Immigration Commission found not +only that in some cases the stock was inferior and the prices high, +but that there was a sense of compulsion that made it almost +impossible to adjust income and needs. + +It is hardly necessary to point out that the supply of housing +accommodations by the employer has the same influence as the supply of +food and clothing. The power as employer may be, and often is, exerted +to fix the conditions under which the family life goes on; and the +tenant is deprived of the experience of selecting, of choosing, of +balancing what one gives with what one gets.[35] + +A similar objection may be raised to payment of wages by check. In the +old days, before the world went dry, one service the saloon was +frequently called on to render was that of cashing checks. Either +payment in "lawful money" or an opportunity to exchange at once for +lawful money is the only method of paying wages that gives the +housewife her full opportunity. + + +SHOPPING HABITS + +The immigrant housewife is restricted by her ignorance of places and +methods of marketing, and so feels the necessity of buying in the +immigrant neighborhood. Among the 90 Chicago families from whom +schedules were obtained, representing Bohemian, Croatian, Italian, +Polish, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, and Ukrainian groups, 72 +purchased all their food in the neighborhood stores, 2 kept their own +stores, and only 16 were seeking bargains in other localities. Among +these 16, 5 were going to larger business centers near their +neighborhood, 4 bought in downtown department stores, 1 used a +mail-order house, 1 went to a well-established "cash and carry" store, +2 bought in the wholesale markets, and only 2 took advantage of the +co-operative association of their own group. + +The 72 families who were marketing exclusively in their own +neighborhoods were patronizing for the most part stores owned by +foreign-speaking people or those employing foreign-born salesmen to +attract the housewives of particular groups. A Croatian woman says +that when she tries to do her marketing downtown she sees many new +things and would like to ask what they are used for, but she does not +know how to ask. In her neighborhood store the grocer can easily +explain to her. One Polish woman reads the advertisements in the +papers and buys where there is a sale. She thinks that an alleged +Polish co-operative is expensive and prefers the large department +stores, but for the first few years she bought everything in her +neighborhood where the clerks speak Polish. + +The prevalence of the immigrant store may be illustrated by a detailed +study that was made of the Sixteenth Ward in Chicago. The population +of the ward is predominantly Polish, with an intermingling of Jewish, +German, and Slovak in the southern portion. In the twenty-five blocks +there are 113 retail stores, 44 of which are grocery and delicatessen +stores, meat markets, and bakeries. In one block there are 5 grocery +and delicatessen stores, and at least 1 in every block which has any +stores. Most of these shops are small and crowded, with family living +rooms in the rear. For the most part, the nationality of the +proprietor is that of the majority in the block, and there are only 14 +proprietors of all the 113 stores who are not Polish. + +The difficulty with the language, however, extends beyond merely +talking in the store. A Ukrainian mother, who admits being afraid to +go beyond her own neighborhood, is perhaps typical of many +foreign-born mothers to whom a trip to the central shopping district +is a strange and terrifying adventure. + +There is also the question of the means with which to buy. An Italian +mother says that she buys at the chain store when she has the cash, +and at other times in the Italian stores where, although the prices +are higher, she can run a charge account. The system of buying on +credit at the local store is spoken of as practically universal in all +the foreign-born groups. The purchaser carries a small blank book, in +which the merchant enters in large figures merely the sum charged, +with no indication of what was bought or the amount. The account is +settled on pay day by the man of the family. There is, of course, +every chance for inaccurate entry. It is not surprising, then, that +one hears from many sources that buying food is generally extravagant. + +Women often do the buying. Whether or not it is the more common among +foreign-born families than among native born for the children to be +sent to the store, we cannot say. Since the marketing is done so +largely in immigrant stores, there is perhaps not the need for an +English-speaking member of the family to do the purchasing. We find +among 89, 43 mothers who still do all their own buying, 32 who allow +the children to do part, 4 who share the task with the father, and +only 10 who never do any of the buying. In this last group of 10 +families there are 7 in which the children do all the marketing and 3 +in which it is done by the father. + +Even the skilled housekeepers have little experience in buying. At +home they were used to storing vegetables in quantities; potatoes in +caves, beets and cabbage by a process of fermentation, other +vegetables and fruits by drying. In the United States this sort of +thing is not done. There is, in the first place, no place for storage, +and the initial cost of vegetables is high and quality poor, and the +women know nothing of modern processes of canning. + +It is difficult to discover the general practice with regard to the +quantity of food bought at one time, since it must necessarily vary +considerably. Meat, milk, bread, perishable fruits and vegetables must +usually be purchased daily. As for staple food, the thrifty housewife +will buy in as large quantities as she can afford in order to save +both money and time. + +Reference has been made, however, to the lack of storage space and the +consequent necessity of buying very little at one time. Thirty-three, +or two fifths, of the 81 foreign housewives who were interviewed on +this subject report that they buy food in daily supplies; 1 buys twice +a day and 1 for each meal. Forty, however, buy in larger quantities. +Twenty-nine for the week and 11 for a month at a time. Six say that +they buy whenever they have the money. It must never be forgotten that +among the lower-income groups, to have more in the house is to have +more eaten, and that cannot be afforded. + +Besides the high prices, one of the other limitations of the +foreign-born neighborhood store is the low quality of the food. This +may be illustrated by a description of the markets in one Lithuanian +neighborhood back of the stockyards, where men are working at +low-grade labor in the yards, and the women are keeping lodgers, where +few speak English and not many ever go more than a few blocks from +home. The typical market in this neighborhood--and there are sometimes +as many as ten in a block--is a combined meat market and grocery +store. Such stores are found in the poorer neighborhoods of every +settlement. + +Stock in all these stores is the same; there is a great deal of fresh +meat, apparently the poorer cuts, scraps, etc.; shelves are filled +with canned fruits, canned vegetables, canned soups, and condensed +milk; there is much of the bakers' "Lithuanian rye bread," and +quantities of such cakes as are sold by the National Biscuit Company. +No fresh vegetables are to be seen in any of these stores. The reason +given by shopkeepers is that they are little used in the neighborhood +and that the truck wagons supply the demand. + +Women who actually depend upon these stores and the truck wagons for +all their supplies find them very unsatisfactory. No really fresh +vegetables are to be found in either stores or wagons, they say. In +commenting upon this situation, several persons have expressed a +belief that the restriction of diet among Lithuanian immigrants was +largely due to the fact that the markets afford so little variety, and +that an effort to extend the stock in the stores would find a response +in the community. + +These stores, however, are widely different from those found in +Italian neighborhoods. Practically all the food used by the Italian +families of one such neighborhood is bought in these stores. In this +district the population is as dense as back of the stockyards, and the +families have comparable incomes, the men being engaged in unskilled +occupations and their earnings being supplemented by the earnings of +women and children. The number of food stores in a block is about the +same as in the other district, but the stock carried differs greatly. +Here, in place of shops that carry only meat, canned goods, and +potatoes, cabbages, and beets, the greengrocery stores largely +predominate. + +There are four or five greengrocery shops to one meat market, and +these stores have a surprising variety of fresh vegetables and fruits +all the year. The variety of salad greens is remarkable. More Swiss +chard, mustard, dandelion leaves, endive, squash blossoms and leaves, +escarole, are to be seen in one little Italian store than in a half +dozen American markets. Legumes are in stock in great quantity and +variety--there are some little stores that do not handle +greengroceries, but carry large stocks of legumes. Every store has a +large case of different varieties of Italian cheese, and the variety +of macaroni, spaghetti, and noodles is amazing to an American. Fish is +frequently sold from stalls along the street, and on Friday fish +wagons go about through the district. Sometimes meat is sold from +wagons, but less to Italians than to other nationalities living in the +neighborhood. + +Certainly one effect of the organization of these shops on the basis +of nationality is to prevent the members of one group from gaining the +advantage of dietetically better practices followed in other groups. +The Lithuanian and Italian neighborhoods described happened to be in +widely separated districts of the city, but often similar differences +may be observed between two shops within the same block that serve +different national groups. + +It is clear that the retail trade, being unstandardized, gives no help +to the immigrant woman in the matter of efficient buying. There is as +yet no fine art of service in this field based on careful accounting +of cost and service. Obviously there is great waste in the number of +stores, in the number of persons engaged in conducting them, in the +needless duplication of even such meager equipment as is found in +them. This waste will reflect itself in needlessly high prices which, +while they mulct the buyer, bring the seller little gain. + +Evidently, then, little or no help is given through the system of +retail trading to the foreign-born housewife in the matter of adapting +the diet of her family to American or dietetic requirements. Yet food +demands a large share of the income. In the latest report on the cost +of living in the United States, in only 8 out of 45 cities were the +food demands met by less than 40 per cent of the entire expenditure in +the group whose incomes were between $900 and $1,200.[36] Those cities +were: + + Pana, Illinois 39.4 + Buffalo, New York 38.9 + Wilmington, Delaware 38.9 + Dover, New Jersey 38.8 + Indianapolis, Indiana 37.6 + Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota 37.6 + Steubenville, Ohio 37.3 + Fort Wayne, Indiana 35.6 + + +The lowest proportion was in Fort Wayne, where over a third of the +income was required for feeding the families in this income group. + + +MODIFICATION OF DIET + +No extensive study of the dietary practices of the different groups, +either here or in the old country, has been undertaken, but +considerable evidence has been secured in substantiation of the fact +that their old-country practices are being modified in this country. +This is not being done consciously in response to dietetic +requirements, but often blindly in response to what seem to be +American customs or necessities. There has been some conflict of +testimony with regard to the changes in the Czecho-Slovak and Croatian +groups. The Italians are said by all to have made very slight changes +in their diet in this country. The Lithuanians, Poles, Russians, and +Ukrainians, on the other hand, are said to have made very radical +changes. + +The modification that is spoken of most frequently and that is of +gravest concern to many of their leaders, is the increased use of +meat. Attention has already been called to the explanation of this in +the fact that the price of meat was prohibitive at home, and that +fruit, vegetables, and dairy products were enjoyed without expenditure +of money. The large number of stores in which meat is offered for +sale, although undoubtedly reflecting the general wishes of the +group, offers constant suggestion to the individual purchaser to buy +meat. The naïve belief that much meat must be eaten by men doing +manual labor is said to be another factor. + +Excessive use of coffee is said by visiting housekeepers and others +familiar with dietetic problems to be one of the most serious faults +of the diet of many groups, especially the Slavic groups. It is a +general custom to put the coffee pot on the stove in the morning and +leave it there all day for any member of the family to help himself to +coffee when he wants it. This is entirely a new habit which has been +learned in America, as coffee was almost unknown in the poorer groups +in the old country. One explanation that was given by a foreign-born +woman was that these families were used to a diet of soup at home, and +that as they gave this up in this country they felt the need of some +liquid to replace it. One Polish woman who was asked if she had +changed her diet in this country, replied, "Naturally, at home +everyone had soup for breakfast, and here everyone has coffee and +bread." + +Another change that was reported over and over again was the use of +more cakes and sweet rolls. This seemed to be considered a peculiarly +American change, as was evidenced by the families who reported that +they had not changed their diet, as they didn't like the American +diet of cakes. Some of them, indeed, were very scornful of what they +considered the American diet, saying among other things that they +could not afford to eat steak and chops every day, that they did not +like sweets, that their "men" would not eat "out of a can," that they +did not like fried things. Their ideas of American diet were gained in +part from the food in restaurants, in part from what the children +learned in cooking lessons in school, and in part from general +suggestions that they have picked up. + +Undoubtedly misguided social workers who have tried to give advice on +diet without themselves knowing much about it, are responsible for +some of these ideas. In a certain mill town in Massachusetts, for +example, a social worker employed by the mill discovered what she +thought was the cause of the paper falling off the walls in the fact +that the people boiled their food. She therefore went in and taught +them to fry meat and other foodstuffs. + +The problem of how far the immigrant groups should be encouraged to +modify their diet can be determined only after a careful study of +their dietary practices. The price and quality of food available to +immigrants must be ascertained. Their habits, customs, and preferences +must be thoroughly understood. There can be no question, however, that +help should be given them in making the modifications required by the +changed environment. + +There have been a number of suggestions of the best way to accomplish +this. Visiting housekeepers or visiting dietitians have been suggested +and will be discussed later. It is highly probable that help must +first be given to immigrant women in their homes before they can be +persuaded to attend any classes or demonstrations outside of their +homes. They must gradually be persuaded to take advantage of the help +obtainable in this way. + +That the whole problem of diets suited to special needs of people is +being considered is evidenced by the fact that it has been suggested +that food be sold by units of energy value. Dr. Graham Lusk, for +example, proposed at a time of great distress in New York that the +Health Commissioner attempt to persuade grocers to prepare "Board of +Health baskets" which would provide 10,000 calories daily for a family +of five at a minimum cost.[37] The United States Commissioner of Labor +indorses the idea in the following words, "There are no insuperable +obstacles in the way of selling bread, beef, pork, eggs, milk, +cabbage, onions, corn, sugar--by the 100 or 1,000 calories."[38] +Professor Murlin has advocated that manufacturers be compelled to +place on food containers the calorie content of the package. + +If such a plan could be worked out, the dietetic virtues and +weaknesses of the different groups could serve as a basis for the +special form in which foodstuffs were marketed in different areas. Any +such project as applied to the foreign born is far from +accomplishment. It is suggestive of a new attitude which does not +continue to leave the matter of diet to chance. + + +FURNITURE ON THE INSTALLMENT PLAN + +In the purchase of furniture and of clothing there is the temptation +to buy on the installment plan. This plan is open to all the +objections ordinarily brought against buying on credit. The buyer is +tempted to overestimate his ability to pay in the future, and he may +not take the same trouble to calculate the actual value of his +purchase as when he pays money down. In the past the form of sale has +often been such as to place him peculiarly at the mercy of the seller, +who might find it more profitable to reclaim the possession of goods +on which a considerable share of the price has been paid than to +extend the time of payment and allow the payment to be completed. + +The superintendent of the Bohemian Charitable Association says, for +example, that it is very common for newly married people to load +themselves with debt for household furniture, and that at least two +thirds of the stoves which are commonly bought on the installment plan +are taken back by the dealers before payments are finished. The +immigrant from the rural community may be quite unused to purchasing +furniture of any sort, and may be easily persuaded to buy what he +thinks is "American style." + +The Lithuanian peasant, for example, had little furniture at home. In +the cottage of two rooms, one was used on the occasion of the visit of +the priest or at the time of a wedding or funeral, and contained +nothing but the shrine and the dowry chest of the daughters. The walls +were decorated with paper flowers and cheap lithographs. In Lithuanian +homes here one is struck by the fact that among the more prosperous +the same sort of furniture is seen in all the houses. This consists of +the heavy oak and leather sets of three or four large pieces usually +sold on the installment plan by stores in the immigrant districts. It +is not beautiful, and there is no reason to think that it is +distinctly American, but the immigrant is not in a position to know +that. + + +NEW FASHIONS AND OLD CLOTHES + +Then there is the unsolved problem of clothing. As in the case of +food, so with dress; the general effect of the organization of the +department stores in the different neighborhoods can be only +misleading and confusing. Many misleading devices that would no longer +deceive the older residents are tried again on the newcomer. + +The women at first find it difficult to judge of values and prices. +The local stores are there with the bargain counter and the special +sale and all the other devices. The Poles and the Lithuanians with +whom we have talked have dwelt especially on the helplessness of their +countrywomen in the hands of the unscrupulous merchant or the shrewd +clerk. + +Clothing presents to even the enlightened and the sophisticated a most +difficult problem in domestic management. "Fashion wears out more +garments than the man." The anthropologist, the physiologist, and the +sociologist are all concerned to explain why the clothing worn to-day +is often so unsuited to bodily needs as well as to the demands of +beauty and fitness.[39] To a very real extent practices of waste +prevail in the selection of clothing, and to that extent neither +reason nor art finds a place in the scheme. Where an attempt at +economy is made, the influence of the new science of hygiene is +impeded by old ideas of durability. So that from the well-to-do of the +community comes little suggestion that can be of service in +directing the expenditures for clothing of any other group. + +[Illustration: IT'S A LONG WAY FROM THIS ELABORATE CZECHO-SLOVAK +COSTUME TO THE MODERN AMERICAN STYLES] + +The foreign born are faced with a particularly difficult problem. They +often come from places where dress served to show where one came from, +and who one was. In the United States, dress serves to conceal one's +origin and relationships, and there results an almost inexorable +dilemma. Follow the Old-World practice, and show who you are and where +you come from, and the result is that you remain alien and different +and that your children will not stay with you "outside the gates." Or +follow the fashion and be like others, and the meager income is +dissipated before your eyes, with meager results. The Croatians have +emphasized the waste of American dress and the immodest styles often +worn, while the Italians have chiefly dwelt upon the friction between +parents and children. + +In some neighborhoods Jewish agents go about offering clothing on the +installment plan at prices much higher than those charged even in +inefficient neighborhood shops. Shoes are particularly a source of +difficulty, both those for the younger children and those for the +older boy or girl who goes to work. In some neighborhoods where the +older women go barefooted and are thought to do so because they wish +to cling to their Old-World customs, they are simply saving, so that +the children may wear "American shoes." + +Certainly the foreign-born woman who undertakes to manage her family's +affairs in an American community is confronted by no easy task. The +question arises as to what might be done to render that task less +difficult. The dull of sight cannot lead the blind at a very swift +pace. But certain steps might be taken to simplify the problems for +all consumers, including the foreign born. In fact, whatever renders +the system of retail dealing less chaotic and less wasteful will +benefit all. The establishment of markets for foodstuffs at +appropriate places where grower and consumer can meet, and certain +costs of double cartage can be eliminated, is, for example, a +recognized item in reform of the present food traffic. + + +TRAINING NEEDED + +The importance of the spending function of the housewife must be +brought home more clearly to great numbers of women. Too few +native-born housewives realize that they have any problem to work out, +or that there may be an "art of spending." None of the ninety +foreign-born women interviewed had received any instruction in buying +except advice from friends or from their own children. What little +instruction they had received had been concerned only with cooking. +Not one of these women recognized any difficulty in buying except the +difficulty of speaking the language well enough to ask for things or +to understand how much they cost, or of getting the wherewithal to +pay. + +It is by the slow process of continual suggestion that both women +consumers and distributing agencies will be awakened to the problem. +Evidence of this awakening is already apparent. Schools and colleges, +with their domestic-science and household-budgeting courses, are +raising the question among an ever-widening circle of people. Banks +and brokers with their special woman's department are advising and +suggesting ways of spending that save. Newspapers, magazines, and +clubs are discussing household problems. Organizations, public and +private, have worked out ways and means of helping women budget their +expenditures. So far these varied efforts have reached chiefly the +American women. But no one group is isolated to-day, and as some +awaken they set in motion the waves of thought and action that reach +their foreign-born neighbor. Her institutions of press and bank +respond with information and assistance. Inevitably better +housekeepers will result. + +In the meantime, all possible assistance must be given. It is +therefore especially important to establish contacts between agencies +already responsible for developing an art in household management and +the leaders among the various foreign-born groups. Provision should be +made for young women from among those groups to obtain a higher +education than has been commonly thought necessary by them or than has +in many cases been possible from a pecuniary standpoint. + +Much could undoubtedly be accomplished by the establishment in +connection with departments of home economics and household arts in +the various colleges of funds making possible the compilation of +material bearing on these particular points. Scholarships and +fellowships can be made especially available to young women from among +these groups who desire to pursue their education in these lines. + +The household arts departments of the various universities are +attempting to plan a "standardized dress," the social workers are +developing a list of garments,[40] and an estimate of expenditures for +the use of case-work agencies in the care of dependent families,[41] +the Young Women's Christian Association is carrying on a health +campaign[42] directed particularly at the problem of proper shoes. In +the meantime the Sunday papers carry full-page advertisements +describing in specious and misleading terms the bargains in clothing +to be had the following day, and the merry round continues. The +tragedy works itself out both in the dissipation of the income and in +the friction created between parents and children, to which reference +will be made in another place. + +But perhaps more important is the possibility of modifying the +practices of the retail trade itself. Restrictions have been placed +about the trade in such legislation as has been passed against +fraudulent advertising and other fraudulent practices, as well as by +the so-called pure food laws of the United States and of the various +states. And some influence has been exercised on the conditions under +which goods are made, or under which they are sold, by the Trade Union +Label League and by the Consumers' League. Neither of these +organizations would, however, directly touch the life of the +foreign-born housewife. + + +CO-OPERATION IN SPENDING + +The question arises as to whether help is to be expected from +co-operative distribution, which has had such an extraordinary history +in England and been highly developed in a number of the other European +countries. There is always the temptation to recall the winter evening +in December, 1844, when twenty-eight weavers, of whom two were women, +opened in Toad Lane, Rochdale, Lancashire, a little shop, and began to +sell themselves the necessities of life. Their remarkable services in +England have not been confined to their business undertakings, but +have always included important educational activities. + +In America there have for many years been a few co-operative stores, +some succeeding, some failing, most of them working out their plans +independently without connection with other similar stores from whose +experience they might profit. Within the last few years, however, the +number of such stores has greatly increased and the need for closer +union has been felt. This has resulted in the formation of the +Co-operative League of America. Education in co-operative buying is +its main purpose. At what appears to be the beginning of an important +period in the extension of the movement in this country it is worth +while to consider how far the existing co-operative stores in this +country are helping the foreign-born women. + +Anything that assists her to lower the cost of living is beneficial. +Although sound practice dictates that consumer's co-operatives sell +their goods at prices current in their neighborhood, the profits to +the members appear in the return of a per cent of all purchases. In +proportion as the local stores are able to supply the housewife with +all her goods, the saving on the purchase of her daily needs will be +more appreciable. Her interest in the enterprise will make her demand +both greater variety and better quality of goods. + +Moreover, there may be other than material gains to the foreign-born +woman from her contact with a co-operative. If it is one formed by her +countrymen, where her mother tongue is spoken, it may be her first and +for a long time her only contact with anything outside her home. +Natural timidity will readily be overcome if she can go around the +corner to a store kept by people who speak her language and understand +her wants. As confidence is established she may venture to other +neighborhoods or centers of distribution where more advantages can be +gained. But unless she gains the confidence which few immigrant women +have at first, she is an alien and isolated unit in a vast, strange +country. Eventually she may become a member of a co-operative store. + +If she does this, perhaps the most benefit to the foreign-born woman +results. Her incorporation into this country may well be said to have +been started when she has become an active member of an institution +which is a part of American life. The benefits are those which result +to any individual from participation in a going concern. Sharing +responsibilities and evolving policies for a joint enterprise have +educational implications that no other activity can supply. + +The question, then, may be raised as to the extent to which a +development of the co-operative methods in the United States may be +looked to as likely to become an important educational agency in +intelligent spending for the foreign housewife, enabling her to +develop in her task something of a technique. As to the possibility of +developing co-operative societies because the ordinary trade is +wasteful, it should be recalled that the retail trade in the United +States, while wasteful, is probably not less, but rather more +efficient than in other countries. Moreover, in the United States +there are often lacking those conditions that give rise to a sense of +a permanent division of interest between those who sell and those who +buy. In fact, when the foreign-language store exists, there may be a +tie between shopkeeper and purchaser. + +In communities in which there is an apparent division of interest +between the foreign born and the native, or between two foreign +groups, the national bond may grow into a social bond that for a time +at least would serve as the basis for the collective action by one +group against the other group. If the dealers then belong to the +outside group, or if the dealers of the foreign-born group seem to +betray their fellow countrymen, there may develop a movement strong +enough to carry over into organization. + +Among some groups, such as the Finns, the language constitutes a +permanent barrier for the adult members of the group, and with a +skillful and intelligent leadership the co-operative undertakings may +be expected to prosper for a very considerable period of time. The +immigrants have probably twice as many successful co-operative stores +as the native born. + +In a community like a mining town, that is almost or altogether an +industrial community, with no leisure class, the pecuniary resources +of all are fairly well known to all, and the temptation to spend +conspicuously is therefore lacking. It will be recalled that these are +the communities in which the employers have specially abused their +power by forcing the employees to buy at company stores. In such +communities there are always considerable numbers of competent, +efficient, intelligent persons. Under a specially able leadership, a +special hardship through high prices, or a condition of special +exploitation, the co-operative store may be expected to develop. Then, +too, a sense of identity of interest may find its basis in trade-union +membership or in membership in a special trade, as was the case with +the miners in a store at Staunton, Illinois, where the union managed +the store for years at a profit. + +With the exception of these few bonds, however, there are lacking in +most communities several elements present in the foreign experience +that have undoubtedly contributed materially to the success of +co-operative enterprises. There is, in the first place, the lack of +stability caused by the rapid movement from group to group. The older +people do not speak English; the children learn English and often do +not want to speak the language of their parents. They want to be +American and to buy as Americans buy. They therefore resent any +organization that tends to emphasize their foreign origin. + +Also no sense of class consciousness among customers arouses +antagonism against retailers. In the cities, particularly where there +are large foreign colonies, the retail trade in those colonies, +especially the trade in foodstuffs, is largely in the hands of fellow +countrymen whose background is much the same as that of their +customers. Most of the stores are small, and the proprietors, who are +not skilled in modern business methods, do not make much more than a +living from their stores, so that there is no great contrast in +prosperity to arouse a feeling of antagonism. + +On the contrary, the proprietor and his family usually live in the +district--often over the store--in much the same condition as the rest +of the group. They are friends of all, and by their knowledge of the +group can meet certain needs and appear to serve as a connecting link +between the separate group and the general community. How far the +desire of the more ambitious group members to open up a shop of their +own acts as a deterrent to interest in co-operation would be +difficult to estimate, but it seems probable that this has some +weight. + +On the other hand, attention may be called to the fact that the retail +trade, and especially the marketing of food, has been so slightly +reduced to an art, it is still so empirically and wastefully carried +on, that there are many possibilities of reasonable success of +co-operatives. For a time, at least, this will be true if the +undertaking is on a modest scale and does not seem worthy of attack by +a relatively powerful group. + +Among the obvious wastes are those connected with the transportation +(cross freights), the display and salesmanship, the marketing of +novelties, and the use of the indefinite measures. Besides these there +are the bad debts resulting from careless credit transactions, the +waste involved in deliveries of packages, the waste of the repeated +purchase of articles known to be regularly needed. Wherever any group +can be led to consider the wastes involved in these methods of doing +business, their good sense will make them perceive easily the folly of +persisting in those ways, and the practice of this minimum of +self-restraint will serve as a basis for a considerable balance, out +of which dividends may accumulate. + +The use of the co-operative idea has, therefore, great possibilities +as the basis for discussing the wastes of the present system and for +deliberation as to the best or as to any possible way out. In other +words, experimenting in democratic organization in obtaining the +necessities of life is an important next step. As in the matter of +copartnership in relation to housing, co-operative distribution may +serve as a point of departure, an object lesson worthy of closer study +and experimental imitation. Especially would the experience of the +Women's Co-operative Guild be helpful in bringing the idea to the +attention of the influential women among the various groups. + +The importance of doing this cannot be overestimated. For, as has been +so often suggested, the wastes of retail dealing, while probably not +so great here as in some other countries, are so enormous that great +economies are possible from even a slight rationalizing process.[43] +The development of a general consciousness of the nature and extent of +these wastes would in itself serve as a corrective. Moreover, the +experience of the co-operative enterprise may often be carried over +into legislative policy, and in this way give to the community the +benefit of the experiment tried by a group. Co-operators in England +have both initiated and backed such social legislation as the Trade +Boards Act, the provision for general maternity care under the +Ministry of Health, and other measures. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[32] See Freund, _Police Power, Public Policy and Constitutional +Rights_, secs. 319-321. + +[33] _Report of the United States Immigration Commission_, vol. vi, +pp. 318, 319. + +[34] _United States Immigration Commission Reports_, vol. vi, p. 95, +"General Survey of the Bituminous Coal Mining Industry." See also pp. +650, 651. + +[35] _United States Immigration Commission Reports_, vol. vi, pp. +544-545, on the subject of "Housing by Employers." See Wood, _The +Housing of the Unskilled Wage Earner_, p. 114 ff. + +[36] United States Bureau of Labor Statistics _Monthly Labor Review_, +May, 1917, p. 147, and June, 1919, p. 101. + +[37] Lusk, _The Science of Nutrition_ (Third Edition), pp. 562, 570. + +[38] United States Bureau of Labor Statistics _Monthly Labor Review_, +vol. ix (July, 1919), p. 4. The analogy is drawn between the sale of +food by calorie and the sale of coal by the British thermal unit. + +[39] See Thomas, _Sex and Society_, chap. vii; Veblen, _Theory of the +Leisure Class_, chap. vii; Anthony, _Feminism in Germany and +Scandinavia_, chaps. v and vi, "Dress Reform." + +[40] _The Chicago Standard Budget for Dependent Families_, p. 18. + +[41] _Ibid._, p. 14. + +[42] New York daily papers, September 18, 19, 20, 1919. Reports of +International Conference of Women Physicians under Auspices of Young +Women's Christian Association. + +[43] See, for example, King, _Lower Living Costs in Cities_. + + + + +VI + +THE CARE OF THE CHILDREN + + +The care of the children is the most important of the mother's duties. +It cannot be thoroughly done under modern conditions unless the mother +has leisure to inform herself about conditions surrounding her +children at work and at play, and to keep in touch with their +interests, especially as they grow older. It includes caring for their +physical wants, bathing them and keeping them clean when they are +little, feeding them, providing their clothing, taking care of them +when they are sick; it also includes looking after their education and +training, choosing the school, seeing that they get to school +regularly and on time, following their work at school as it is +reported on the monthly report cards, encouraging them to greater +efforts when their work is unsatisfactory, praising them when they do +well, and, above all, giving them the home training and discipline +that they need. It is the mother who can teach the children good +habits, forming, as only the home life can form, their standards of +right and wrong; it means watching them at their play or seeing that +they play in a place that is safe without watching. + +As they grow older it means a general supervision of their recreation +and their companions, judging surrounding influences, having in mind +the dangers that lie in the way of the unwary maiden and the perils of +the impetuous boy. Times have changed since she was young, and amid a +great variety of choice she must decide for her children which are +harmless influences and diversions. In the case of the older girls it +means the serious problems of clothes, of amusements, of earnings, of +prospective mating. + +The mother shares many of these tasks with the father. Responsibility +for discipline, decisions, and training must be joint, but the actual +carrying out of these duties is the mother's. Usually the older +children help with the care of the younger, but the final +responsibility rests upon the mother. + +[Illustration: A SLOVAK MOTHER, NEWLY ARRIVED] + + +UNPREPAREDNESS OF THE IMMIGRANT MOTHER + +Looking after the physical well-being of the children is primarily a +matter of maintaining them in health, and hence the discussion of +these problems is left to the division of this study devoted to that +subject. It is sufficient here to note that it is a peculiarly +difficult problem for the foreign-born mothers. Modern knowledge of +child feeding and modern ideas with regard to daily bathing are of +recent origin. In many of the countries from which these women come +they are unknown. A Croatian lawyer, who translated some of the +Children's Bureau publications, was very much interested in the one on +the care of the child of pre-school age. He told the investigator that +there was nothing like that in his country, and he hoped that this +translation might be used to reach the women in Croatia. + +If this is true in matters that pertain to the physical welfare of +children, it is even more marked in matters affecting their education +and training. The modern idea is that the child should not be trained +and disciplined to be subservient to the parent, but should be helped +to develop his own personality. It is based on a greater respect for +the intelligence of the child and on the idea that the early placing +of the responsibility for his acts on the child himself will better +train citizens for a changing world, and especially for democracy. + +These ideas are of comparatively recent formulation, many of them +dating from the impetus given to the study of the child by modern +psychology. Although of gradual growth, they have been for a long time +implicit in the current practices of the most enlightened section of +the community. They are understood by a relatively small part of the +community. They are acted on by much larger groups, so that it is +common to hear members of the generation that is passing lament the +lack of discipline of the children to-day. + +The situation is complicated by the fact that many people who talk the +most about developing the child's personality stop in practice with +the removal of restraints, without attempting the more difficult task +of developing his sense of responsibility. The point to note is that +the native born, in part through their own conscious choice and in +part blindly moved by forces they do not understand, have been +gradually moving away from the old tradition of strict and +unquestioning obedience such as is exacted by military authorities. + +With the immigrant parents the situation is very different. The +countries from which they come are not republics, and hence the +opportunities for training for intelligent citizenship have been +lacking, especially in the lower economic groups. The idea of the +government has often been rather to foster that training that makes +for good soldiers. Moreover, the civilizations from which most of +these people came were at the time static, so that the evils of blind +obedience and rigid conformity were not present to the same extent as +in our more rapidly moving civilization. Thus the tradition of +absolute obedience of child to parent remained practically intact. +Wherever this tradition existed the usual method of enforcement was +corporal punishment, generally inflicted with a strap. It is not +intended to assert that a great deal of child beating was prevalent in +the old country; in most cases the child learned quickly that the +penalty of disobedience was the strap, and threats became as effective +as its actual use. + + +BREAKDOWN OF PARENTAL AUTHORITY + +The immigrant brings with him to this country this tradition of the +authority of the parent, with no thought of doing anything but +maintaining it here. There are, however, forces at work in this +country that tend to make this impossible. There are suggestions of a +different tradition in the general atmosphere. Many immigrants absorb +these suggestions unconsciously, as they absorb those of a wider +freedom for women. More important, however, is the development of the +child. Circumstances of his daily life force him to take the lead in +many situations. This has been pointed out in a study of the +delinquent child, where it is said:[44] + + Obviously, many things which are familiar to the child in the + facts of daily intercourse in the street, or in the school, + will remain unknown or unintelligible to the father and + mother. It has become a commonplace that this cheap wisdom on + the part of the boy or girl leads to a reversal of the usual + relationship between parent and child. The child who knows + English is the interpreter who makes the necessary + explanations for the mother to the landlord, the grocer, the + sanitary inspector, the charity visitor, and the teacher or + truant officer. It is the child again who often interviews + the "boss," finds the father a job, and sees him through the + onerous task of "joining the union." The father and mother + grow accustomed to trusting the child's version of what "they + all do in America," and gradually find themselves at a great + disadvantage in trying to maintain parental control. + +In the face of this situation the conduct of the immigrant parent +generally follows along one of three very distinct lines: (a) he +modifies his methods in family discipline little by little, himself +unconscious of the implications, or (b) he stubbornly attempts to +retain the old authority undiminished, or (c) he abandons the old +system without having anything to put in its place. The first method +of behavior is probably the most common; it usually leads to little +difficulty within the family group if the parents' modifications are +made as fast as the child becomes aware of the newer ideas. The +attempt to maintain the old system in its entirety may also be +accomplished without disturbance if the child is willing, and probably +in most cases it is maintained without serious opposition on the part +of the child. + +Abandoning the old system without substituting something better is +probably the least frequent reaction to the situation, but it is one +that is especially dangerous in immigrant groups. The native-born +parent who relaxes all discipline has this advantage over the foreign +born; in general he can at will demonstrate his superior knowledge, +and the child looks up to him and takes his advice, while the +foreign-born parent is peculiarly helpless because the child thinks +that his own knowledge, demonstrably superior in some things, extends +to all fields. + +The relative frequency of these different modes of reaction would be a +difficult matter to determine. They were all evident from the facts +about discipline obtained from the families visited in this study. To +some extent the maintenance of the old system intact may be judged by +the prevalence of corporal punishment as a method of enforcing +obedience. + +A doctor of a Lithuanian district said that one thing he was very +anxious to see disappear was the strap, which could now be seen in +almost every home. Fifty-four of the eighty-seven families from whom +information was obtained said that they used whipping as a method of +punishment. In most of the cases there was nothing to indicate with +what the child was whipped, but in five it was definitely stated that +a strap was used. In very few cases was there any attempt to punish +the child in private. It was usually stated that the whipping was done +before all the other members of the family. Two or three families +stated that they did not whip the children on the street. + +A significant fact was the frequently repeated assertion that the +children were whipped because they were too young to understand +anything else. An interesting state of transition was seen in some of +the thirty-three families who had abandoned whipping but had not given +up the idea of absolute obedience. It is evidenced in comments like +the following: "They are not whipped. Father threatens with a strap." +Or, "It [whipping] is not necessary. Father speaks, and children +obey." Some families had relaxed the discipline sufficiently to be +apparent to our investigators, who made such comments as "Children are +making a terrible noise, but nobody seemed to mind." + +It has already been said that whatever the reaction, the training of +the children usually takes place without visible disaster to the +family group. This is especially true while the children are young. As +they grow older the dangers that are inherent in such a situation +become more marked. The figures on juvenile delinquency show that an +unduly large proportion of juvenile offenders are children of +foreign-born parents. This subject will be discussed more fully at a +later point in the chapter in connection with the problem of the older +boy and girl. It is important to emphasize here that the foundation +for later trouble is often laid while the children are young, and +hence consideration of the effect of modern ideas on discipline and +training should begin with the very young child. + + +LEARNING TO PLAY + +One of the needs of the growing child that is much emphasized in +modern ideas of child culture is an opportunity for wholesome play. +The foreign-born mother, from a rural district in Europe, where +children were put to work helping the parents as soon as they could be +in any way useful, frequently does not recognize this need, and hence +does not even do those things within her power to secure it. From some +opportunities which she and the children might enjoy together, she is +cut off by lack of knowledge of English. A Bohemian woman, for +example, said that she did not go with her husband and the children to +the moving pictures, as she could not read the English explanations +and often did not understand the pictures. + +Even when the need is recognized it is still a very difficult problem. +In the old country, when the child was too little to work, he could +play in the fields quite safe, in sight of his mother at her work. In +the city, however, especially in the congested districts, which are +the only ones known to immigrants when they first come, the child +cannot play in his own yard, for there is nothing that can be called +a yard. The alternatives are the city streets with their manifold +dangers, or the public playground. From the point of view of physical +safety as well as in giving a place for more wholesome play, the +public playground is obviously the more desirable. + +The provision of playgrounds, however, is everywhere inadequate, in +some places much more so than in others. In Chicago, which is probably +better equipped in this respect than most cities, there are large +districts that have no easy access to a playground. Many of the women +that were asked where their children played said that they played on +the streets, not because the parents thought it safe, but because they +could not go to a playground alone and the mother had not time to take +them. It was interesting, too, to learn that some of the parents who +preferred the playground, and whose children played there, did not +think the children should be left there alone. In one Bohemian family +the grandmother took the two little boys to the playground and stayed +with them as long as they stayed. + +In part, then, the problem of play space is a problem in housing +reform. All the newer housing projects make provision for a space for +this purpose, either by the individual yard or where the multiple +house is used, by one playground for every three or four families. +Housing reform, however, comes slowly and immediate relief could be +given by the provision of many more public playgrounds. It is obvious +that these must be so directed and supervised that children can be +left with perfect safety. + +It would also be necessary to see that the foreign-speaking mothers +were informed of the advantages of the playground and convinced of its +safety for their children. The supervision of children's play in +streets and vacant lots could be greatly extended. The establishing +during certain hours of "play zones," from which traffic is excluded +and in which the younger children and their mothers could be taught +simple games and dances, has been found successful. + + +PARENTS AND EDUCATION + +In the matter of education the state has relieved the parent of a +large part of the responsibility by legislation prescribing the ages +during which the child must attend school, and in some states the +grade he must reach before leaving school. In spite of this there +still rests with the parent the responsibility of choosing the school, +getting the child to school promptly and regularly, following his +progress, deciding whether he shall go beyond the time prescribed by +law. + +The choice of the schools means for most immigrant groups, a choice +between the public and the parochial school. In very large numbers of +cases the parochial school is chosen. The reason for this is only in +part the influence of the church, although this undoubtedly counts for +a great deal. The people we have interviewed in this study have +repeatedly pointed out that it is not only for religious education and +training that the foreign-born parent sends his child to the parochial +school, but that it is also because he wants him to learn the language +of his parents, the history and traditions of the country from which +he came, and to retain a respect for the experiences and associations +that remain of great importance to the parents. + +Another reason that has often been given for sending the children to +the parochial school is the lack of discipline in the public schools. +This has been especially emphasized by Italians, but it has also been +spoken of by members of other groups. There can be no question that +the parochial school, under the tradition of authority maintained by +the church, is much nearer in its idea of discipline to the ideas the +immigrant brings with him from the old country, than is the public +school whose system of training the immigrant parent does not +understand and has not had made clear to him. + +[Illustration: IMMIGRANT CHILDREN ACQUIRING INDIVIDUAL INITIATIVE IN A +MONTESSORI CLASS AT HULL HOUSE] + +The problem of the immigrant parent with regard to the education of +his child is more difficult because of the change in the position of +the child in this country, which he usually does not understand. At +home the child was important, not as an individual, but as a member of +the family group, and home decisions about the child took into account +the needs of the family in the first place and only secondarily the +welfare of the child.[45] + +This reversal of emphasis is confusing to the immigrant parents. Taken +in connection with the fact that many of the immigrants are from +countries where education is not compulsory, it leads them to +sacrifice the welfare of the child at many points. It seems of much +greater importance, for example, that the work of the household should +be done than the child should get to school every day. The study of +the reasons for absence in two of the immigrant neighborhoods of +Chicago[46] shows the frequency with which children are kept out of +school because of the needs of the family. Thus, of 1,115 children who +were absent from school during a certain period 131 were out to do +work at home; 81 were kept at home because of sickness in the family; +42 stayed home to interpret or run errands. + +One boy, for example, was kept to watch fires for a sick father while +his mother "got a day's work"; another had stayed at home because his +sister's baby was in convulsions and his mother had not been able to +get him ready to go to school; John was staying at home because his +mother had gone to see a doctor and wanted him to look after the +children, who did not like to go to the day nursery; Bruno, aged +twelve, was found at home helping his mother wash, but he explained +that he had really stayed out to go "to tell the boss" that his father +was sick; Genevieve, aged twelve, who had been absent fourteen half +days and tardy twice within a month, was found alternately tending the +shop and taking care of three younger children and of a sick mother, +although her father was well able to hire some one to come in and help +care for the family while the little girl was at school. + +In the rural districts the failure to understand the necessity of +complying with the compulsory education law is even more marked. In +the Rolling Prairie group of Polish families many of the children were +not sent to school until after two families had been fined for not +sending them. There was the expense for clothes and books, and the +extra work for the mother. The roads were bad, the children often had +no shoes, even in winter, and, above all, the parents had no +understanding of why they should go. After the prosecution, however, +the school law was obeyed. + +The parents' attitude toward the problem of keeping the child in +school comes out quite naïvely in the answers given to visitors for +this study. The following comments, given in the quaint but forceful +English of our foreign-speaking investigators, show what is meant: + + Mother (a Russian woman with three children) visited school + when teacher demanded her to send daughter to school when she + wished her at home to help. + + Mother (a Polish woman with six children under fourteen) + feels that children study too much and ought to help their + parents more. + + Father (Italian) thinks there should be laws for protection + of parents as well as child labor. + + +FOLLOWING SCHOOL PROGRESS + +Following the child's progress at school is a difficult matter for +parents who themselves have not had the benefit of education, or even +for those who have been educated under a different system. It is, +however, not impossible for them to do so; by means of reports in the +language they can understand, by talking to the teachers or some one +of the school authorities who knows about the child's work, they can +keep closely enough in touch with his school record to enable them to +give help at the point where it is most needed. + +Many of them do this in spite of the inherent difficulties and in +spite of difficulties which the school itself puts in their way. An +Italian father in a little Illinois mining town brought out with pride +the last report of his little girl and showed the visitor that she +had an average of 90 per cent. In the families studied in Chicago a +few were evidently trying to keep in touch with their children's +schooling. Thus of one family it is said: + +"Mother not only goes to school entertainments, but follows up the +children's work with the teachers, consults them, and accepts their +advice." This family is Bohemian, and both mother and father are +well-educated leaders in progressive Bohemian circles in Chicago. + +In another Bohemian family the parents were also making an effort in +this direction, but, being less well equipped, their difficulties were +greater. The schedule says: + + Mother never visits school as she cannot understand English. + Parents are very much concerned about their boy who brought a + poor mark from school. After family consultation, daughter + visited teacher, who advised them to take the boy out of + Bohemian school (a nationalistic school to which he went + after school hours), because he might be overworked. + +These are, however, exceptional cases in the families studied. Among +the Bohemians and Slovaks, to be sure, a considerable proportion of +the mothers visited the school occasionally or knew some of the +children's teachers. Among the families of the more recent immigrants +it was almost unheard of for the parents to visit the school. Of the +eleven Russian families studied not one reported any visits to the +school or contact with the teachers, and only two of the Ukrainian +families. One of these visited only when the children did not behave. +This mother said that she thought she should know more about her +children's school work, but that she had felt so much in the way when +she visited the school that she finally stopped going. + +An almost inevitable consequence of this failure to make contacts with +the school is that the parents remain quite unaware of what their +children are learning there. An attempt was made in our study of +selected families to get the parents' opinion of the work the children +were given at school, but very few parents felt they knew enough about +the work to express an opinion. A few to whom reference has already +been made thought the children gave too much time to study and not +enough to helping their parents, one or two spoke of the lack of +discipline, a few others thought the schooling must be all right as +the children learned to speak English. A Ukrainian mother of two +children, the oldest eight, "believes that it must be good, for the +children speak English and the oldest girl can read and write." + +Sometimes the failure to understand what the children are doing brings +unnecessary worry. A Hungarian mother, speaking of the education of +her children, expressed regret that they were not taught carpentry. +The visitor turned to the eleven-year-old boy and asked him if he +didn't have manual training. He replied that he did, but "she doesn't +understand." + +A careful study of the answers to the questions in our attempt to get +parents' attitude toward the children's schooling shows, then, that +while a few exceptional parents have been able to follow their +children's schooling, the great majority of them have not. It suggests +that some of them are willing and ready to do it if only some of the +obstacles were removed, and that there are also a large number who do +not realize the necessity of it, and for whom something more must be +done. The opportunity of the school, and various devices for rendering +aid at this point, that have been tried, will be discussed in a later +chapter. + +The failure of the parents to understand not only means confusion and +worry for them, but for the child lack of the help and sympathy at +home that they might have. It becomes more serious as the child +reaches the age when he is no longer compelled by law to attend +school, and the decision as to whether or not he shall go on rests +with his parents. When the parents have not known about the work he +has been doing, and have no means of judging how much or how little he +has learned, they are obviously in no position to make a decision +about his further education. + +There are many forces at work to influence the immigrant parent to +put the child to work at once. There is, first of all, in many cases, +economic pressure. Sometimes the child's earnings are actually needed +to make up the family budget for current expenditures. In some +families, however, his earnings are not so much needed as desired, to +help in buying property more often than for any other reason. In these +cases it seems clear that the attitude toward the child as a means of +contributing to the welfare or prestige of the family is a very +important factor. One Polish doctor with whom we conferred emphasized +this point. He said that the Polish parent expected to stop work at an +early age and live on the earnings of his children. Hence he took his +children out of school as soon as the law allowed, and had them start +work. + +Another factor that undoubtedly plays an important part is the +parent's own lack of education. Never having had any opportunity for +more than the most elementary education, it is only natural that it +should seem that a child who had spent seven years in school should be +fairly well educated. This attitude is strengthened if he has +succeeded without education or if the people whom he looks upon as +successful have had little education. He is further confirmed in this +attitude very often by his failure to realize the extent of the change +in conditions and the ever-increasing complexity of the situation +with which his child will have to deal. Thus he often fails to +understand that an education that was quite adequate for the simple +life in the old country is far from sufficient for life in this +country to-day. + +Some of the people with whom we conferred were of the opinion that +many of the parents from groups oppressed in Europe failed to realize +the full significance of the freedom here. There the higher positions +and the professions had been closed to them on account of race or +class, and many of them were not aware that here they would be open to +their children if they could give them the necessary education and +training. + +There are, fortunately, forces at work to counteract this tendency to +take the children out of school at the earliest possible moment. There +is, too, among the foreign born, a very general desire to have their +children do office work rather than manual labor, and an understanding +that this means more than a grammar-school education. There is a +certain naïve faith in the benefits of education even though they are +not understood. This is particularly strong in people to whom the +schools have been closed by a dominant race in Europe--the Jews from +Russia, for example. And in proportion as the parents become educated +so that they feel their own limitations, they appreciate education for +their children and strive to give it to them. There is no doubt that +all these influences are felt in the foreign-born groups, but they win +out gradually against the force of the traditions by which the parent +is guided in his decision to take the child out of school. + +The American community could hasten their action by helping the +foreign-born parents to understand. There have been some attempts to +enlighten the parents. The work of the Vocational Guidance Bureau in +Chicago should be mentioned in this connection. When a child wants to +leave school to go to work they explain to the parents the importance +of keeping the child in school, and suggest means by which this can be +done. This happens, however, only after the decision and plans have +been made to put the child to work. The bureau has been handicapped in +dealing with foreign-born parents by its lack of foreign-speaking +visitors. + +An attempt of a different order has been made to reach the Bohemian +farmers in Nebraska. A professor in the state university has for a +number of years gone out to these farming communities, urging in +public speeches given in Bohemian the necessity of higher education +for the children, and especially for the girls. + + +THE REVOLT OF OLDER CHILDREN + +The problem of the older boy and girl is by far the most difficult of +the parents' problems. Reference has already been made to the fact +that it is as the child grows older that the difficulties of +maintaining the old system of parental authority become more apparent. +It is at this time that the child sees that system is out of date, and +then, if ever, he rebels against it. There is considerable evidence +that the parents, on the other hand, feel the importance of +maintaining their authority at that period of the child's life more +than at any other. There are several reasons for this, among the more +important being the fact that the child has reached an age when he can +be economically helpful to the family group, and that the parents see +dangers in his path. In other words, the maintenance of parental +authority seems to be tied up with the control of the child's earnings +and the maintenance of certain conventions regarding the association +between young people of different sexes.[47] + +The immigrant parent very generally asserts his legal right to the +entire earnings of his minor child. In fact, the child often continues +the practice of giving up his wages until his marriage. Out of +forty-three families studied, in which there were children of working +age, thirty-five parents took the entire earnings of the children. The +amount that the parent should give back to the child is not fixed by +law or by custom, and it is at this point that conflict between the +child and the parents is likely to arise. + +The parents frequently expect to continue to provide for the boy and +the girl of working age as they did when they were younger, and to +recognize their maturity only by giving them small sums weekly for +spending money. In the case of girls even this slight concession is +not made, and the girl has to ask her mother for everything she wants. +In only four of the thirty-five families in which the children turned +in all their earnings was an allowance of as much as $3 a week given. +In the others the working child was given 25 cents, 50 cents, or 75 +cents a week, usually on Sunday, or was given no fixed sum but "what +he needs." In a Slovak family a girl of sixteen earning $13 a week, +and one of fourteen earning $9 a week, were each given 50 cents each +pay day; a boy of fifteen in a Slovenian family, earning $15 a week, +received 50 cents on Sunday; two Slovak girls of eighteen and sixteen +years, earning $45 and $80 a month, turned in all their earnings and +got back "what they asked for." + +It is not surprising that a boy or girl should chafe under the system +even if the resentment stopped short of open rebellion. In the +families studied in which there was no evidence of friction it seems +to have been avoided either by such a firm establishment of the +authority of the parents while the child was young, that the child +had not yet questioned it, or by wise use of the child's earnings for +the benefit of the child. In several instances it was reported that +they gave the child "all she asks"; one girl was being given lessons +on the violin, which she specially desired. In these cases the issue +did not appear to have been raised, but we have no reason for thinking +the children were satisfied with the arrangement. + +In other families the beginnings of friction could already be seen. A +Russian woman said that her two working girls, aged seventeen and +fourteen, did not need money, and in the presence of the investigator +refused the request of one for money for a picture show, telling her +that men would pay her way. The eight parents who did not take all +their children's earnings had not all changed their practices +voluntarily. In some cases it was done because the children refused +any longer to turn their earnings in. + +When the parent takes the entire earnings of the child and continues +to bear the burden of support, there is probably no question on which +the ideas of the child and those of the parent are so likely to +conflict as on the question of clothes, especially clothes for the +girl. The chaotic and unstandardized condition of the whole clothing +problem has been pointed out in an earlier chapter, and attention has +been called to the fact that it is one of the causes of conflict +between parent and child. + +It is only natural that the young girl should want to look as well as +possible, and it is to be expected that the girl of foreign-born +parents should quickly learn at school or at work the prevailing +opinion that to be well dressed is to be dressed in the latest +fashion. She is also in a position to observe how quickly the fashions +change, and thus early learns the unimportance of quality in modern +clothing. She undoubtedly underestimates its importance because her +models are not those on display at the highest-grade department +stores, where the beauty of the quality occasionally redeems in slight +measure the grotesqueness of form; she sees only the cheap imitations +displayed in the stores in her own neighborhood. + +In her main contention that if she is to keep up with the fashions she +need not buy clothing that will last more than one season, she is +probably right. It is natural also that this method of buying should +be distressing to her mother, who has been accustomed to clothes of +unchanging fashions which were judged entirely by their quality. When +to her normal distress at buying goods of poor quality at any price +there is added an outrage to her native thrift, because the price of +these tawdry fashionable goods is actually greater than for goods of +better quality, it is not surprising that she and her daughter should +clash on the question of what to buy. + +The question of shoes is said to be a special point of conflict. The +girls insist on costly high-heeled, light-colored boots, while the +mother sees that she could buy at less than half the price better +shoes, more sensible, and of better quality. The conflict is more +acute in proportion as the mother has lived an isolated life in this +country and has not herself tried to keep up with American fashions. +It is interesting to note that workers in the Vocational Guidance +Bureau in Chicago state that this desire of the girls for expensive +clothes is a leading motive in causing them to leave school to go to +work. + + +RELATIONS OF BOYS AND GIRLS + +The most serious of the problems in connection with the older boy and +girl is that of the relations between the sexes. In the old country +the situation was much more easily defined. The conventions were +fixed, and had changed very little since the mother was young. In +Italy, for example, daughters never went out with young men, not even +after they were engaged. The same is said to be true in most of the +other countries from which our immigrants have come. In Croatia, +Serbia, and Bohemia it is unheard of for a young woman to go out alone +with a young man. + +Moreover, coming as so many of these people do from small villages or +rural communities, they have been used to a single-group life which is +impossible in a city. As one Italian woman has expressed it, work and +recreation went hand in hand in the old country. During the day there +was the work of both men and women in the fields in congenial groups, +and in the evenings songs and dancing in the village streets. The +whole family worked and played together with other family groups. + +It is not intended to assert that there were no problems with young +people in the old country, for undoubtedly there, as everywhere, some +of the young would be wayward and indifferent to the conventions. The +point is that there the mother knew what standards she was to maintain +and had, moreover, the backing of a homogeneous group to help her. In +this country not only is she herself a stranger, uncertain of herself, +not sure whether to try to maintain the standards of her home or those +that seem to prevail here, but the community of which she is a part is +far from being a homogeneous group and has apparently conflicting +standards. The immigrant mother, then, has to decide in the first +place what standards she will try to maintain. + +The old standards can scarcely be maintained in a modern community +where the girls go to work in factories, working side by side with +men, going and coming home in the company of men. It is manifestly +impossible for the mother to watch her daughter at work. In the old +country this was possible as long as she stayed on the farm. And when +at school and at work she is constantly thrown with men, it is +impossible to regulate her social hours by the old standards and to +see that they are all spent under her mother's eye. Moreover, any +attempt to do so is likely to provoke resentment, as a girl naturally +thinks that if she can take care of herself at work she is equally +well able to do so at play. + +Furthermore, the character of the recreation has undergone almost as +great a change as the character of the work. With the change from the +country to the city, it has already been suggested that the old group +life with its simple pleasures, which the whole family shared, has +become impossible. If the mother then tries to see that her daughter +has social life in which she herself may share, she either cuts her +off from most of the normal pleasures of young people of her age, or +the mother finds herself in places where she is not wanted, and where +no provision has been made for her entertainment. + +Most immigrant parents, except those from southern Italy, recognize +the impossibility of maintaining the old rules of chaperonage and +guardianship of the girls. One of the Slovak women with whom we +conferred said that in all her circle of acquaintance there was only +one mother who was attempting to bring her daughter up by the old +standards and was not allowing her to go places in the evening where +the mother might not accompany her. All the others were allowing their +daughters more freedom than they thought desirable, but they did not +know what else to do. + +The Italian parents, on the other hand, try to guard their girls +almost as closely as they did in Italy. It is not especially to be +wondered at, for what the immigrant father or mother sees is usually +the worst in American city life. If the daughter could not be trusted +alone or unchaperoned in a village in which they knew most of the +people and all the places of amusement, is she any more safe in a city +in which, as one foreign-born mother says, "You don't know what is +around the corner from you"? + +Moreover, realizing only the danger to the girl, and not being able in +his ignorance to explain to her or to protect her in any other way, +the father often resorts to beating the girl to enforce the obedience +which generations have taught him is due to him. The head of the +Complaint Department of the Cook County Juvenile Court in Chicago said +that while cases of immorality were very rare among Italian girls, the +attention of the court was called to a great many who rebelled at this +attempt at seclusion and ran away from home, often contracting hasty +and ill-advised marriages. + +While most parents of other nationalities see that the old standards +cannot be maintained, there is a great deal of confusion as to what +standards are to be considered right. This is illustrated by the +following incident. A very intelligent Jugo-Slav woman, in discussing +the problem, said that she did not know what she would do in her own +family, as she hated to think of her girls adopting American +standards. The matter had been brought to her attention recently by +the conduct of two girls with a young Serbian officer who was visiting +in this country. As he walked up one of the boulevards two girls, who +were utter strangers to him, had flourished small feather dusters in +his face by way of salutation. This woman was very much surprised to +hear that the investigator disapproved of this; she had supposed it +was just our "American freedom." + +As long as the mother does not understand this tradition of freedom +between the sexes nor realize its limits, it is natural that she +should accept her daughter's dictum that everything she wants to do is +"American" and that it is hopeless for the mother to try to +understand. In many of the families visited in this study it was +evident that the mother had completely given up trying to understand +either the conditions under which her children work or how they get +their recreation. One mother, for example, said that she knew where +her daughter worked when it was a well-known place, but otherwise not. +Another said that her children told her where they worked, but she +never remembered the names, for she knew that they would mean nothing +to her. + +Several said they did not try to advise their children about their +work, because they knew they didn't understand. One Russian mother was +very much worried about the future of her two boys, aged seventeen and +thirteen. The older was working as a cash boy, earning twelve dollars +a week, and the younger was working outside of school hours, sewing +caps. The mother said that their father had learned one trade and +followed that, but that her children changed work every two or three +months. She seldom asked why they changed, because she did not +understand conditions in Chicago. + +Most of the women confessed to being equally at sea with regard to +their children's amusements. Some of them accepted with resignation +the fact that they could not understand, saying, as one woman did, +that she thought they had too much freedom, but that young people +lived very differently here. Some of the mothers, on the other hand, +while thinking that young people in general had too much freedom, +thought that they did not need worry about their own children, +because they had been able to make companions of their daughters. A +few even were found who approved of the freedom allowed to young +people, but thought children should be taught "more morality." + +It is scarcely possible to say too much of the failure of the American +community to assist the immigrant family at this point. It has neither +tried to make the fathers and mothers understand modern American ways, +nor has it exercised any community supervision so that the girl is in +reality safe at work and at play. Furthermore, some of the agencies +from whom the most help might have been expected have deliberately +passed over the mother to educate the child, hastening the process by +which the child becomes Americanized in advance of his parents. + +The Church has had its share, as may be seen from the statement of one +priest who holds a responsible position in the Church in Chicago. He +believes that the parents are usually too advanced in years to +assimilate or utilize whatever instruction is given them. In his +opinion the ignorance of the parent is responsible for many bad +tendencies in the children, but the difficulty can be corrected more +surely and satisfactorily by dealing directly with the children. + +The attitude of the public schools is illustrated by an interview with +the principal of a public school in an immigrant neighborhood. He +says that his contact has been only with the children. The +foreign-born parents of the first generation are, in his opinion, "so +incorrigibly stupid" that any attempts to educate them are a waste of +time. The only possible way, he thinks, of reaching the parents is +through the children. + + +THE JUVENILE COURT + +We should not expect the Juvenile Court, dealing as directly as it +does with problems resulting from the breakdown of family discipline, +to be itself a cause of breakdown. Nevertheless, interviews with court +officers show a certain lack of understanding and the use of methods +which, instead of relieving the situation, only aggravate it. When the +case of a delinquent girl, for instance, comes to court, the officers +believe that it has usually gone too far for the court to do anything +with the family. The child is often placed out in a family home, +always an American family; and the probation officer supervises the +child and the foster home, but pays no attention to the child's own +home, where younger children may be growing up in the same way and to +which, ultimately, the delinquent girl should be allowed and +encouraged to return. + +The probation officers know very little of the old-country background +of the people with which they deal, and are often not clear as to the +differences in nationality. The foreign-born parent's ignorance of +laws and customs, and his inability to speak English, make him appear +stupid to the officer. As a result, he may be ignored as quite +hopeless. + +In the absence of the court interpreter the child may be called upon +to interpret to the parent the whole proceedings in court. While this +is less common now than it was a few years ago, there is no reason to +believe that the child is less used as interpreter between the +probation officer and the parent at home. + +From the records of the court proceedings it is often quite evident to +the reader that the foreign-born parent has little idea of the reasons +why he or his child should have been brought to court. In one Bohemian +family studied the eldest boy, aged sixteen, was in the State School +for Delinquent Boys. The parents seemed utterly unaware of the serious +nature of the boy's offenses and of the blot on his record. They +seemed to regard the school for delinquents somewhat as more +prosperous parents are wont to regard the boarding school. In fact, +they expressed regret that the boy was soon to be released. Yet this +boy had been in the Juvenile Court three times; the first time for +truancy, and the other two for stealing. + +The attention of the community is usually called to the difficulties +of the foreign-born parents only when a complete breakdown occurs, +resulting in juvenile delinquency. This result is, however, +comparatively rare. Most families work their way through without +getting into a situation that calls public attention to their family +affairs. There is no question, however, that there is often a lack of +harmony in the home. Sometimes the child of working age leaves home, +to board perhaps in the same neighborhood or to contract a hasty +marriage. + +Occasionally there are situations in which the ordinary relations of +parent and child have been completely reversed, and the children have +assumed responsibility for the management of the home and the family. +For instance, the Juvenile Court was asked by the neighbors to +investigate conditions in a Polish family, in which a six-year-old boy +was said to be neglected. The investigation showed no real neglect +from the point of view of the court, but a situation that needed +supervision. + +The mother was a widow and had, besides the six-year-old boy, two +daughters aged seventeen and nineteen. Both girls were born in +Austria. The father had preceded his family to the United States, and +for five years the mother had worked and supported herself and the +children in the old country before he was able to send for them. He +seems not to have had a very good moral influence over the children, +but had been dead several years. The daughters were both supporting +the mother, who was doing one or two days' work a week. The daughters +turned over all their earnings to the mother, but said that she was a +poor manager and never had anything to show for it. They themselves +had managed to buy new furniture and clothes for themselves. They said +they were ashamed to go out with their mother, who remained +unprogressive, would not dress as they liked, and would not manage the +home as they wished. The girls told the officer that they did not take +her out with them, but gave her money to go to the "movies." Yet she +would do nothing but sit at home and cry. + +At one time the boy was accused of stealing coal from a neighbor. The +oldest girl wanted her mother to investigate, but the mother would not +go near any of her American neighbors. The daughter herself found out +that the child had really taken the coal from a neighbor, and whipped +him. Gradually the daughters, especially the older one, have assumed +entire control of the family. The mother can no longer discipline even +the six-year-old boy. Since the daughter has undertaken to correct +him, he pays no attention at all to his mother. The probation officer +has tried to restore a more normal family relationship, and has tried +to help the girls to understand their mother's position. She still +speaks with pride of the five years in the old country when she +supported them alone, and when she was really of some use to them. + +The older daughter threatened for some time to leave home if her +mother could not be more agreeable. When the court officer +remonstrated, she said that of course she would leave her furniture, +and could not be convinced that that would not entirely compensate. +Later she did leave home, and took some of her furniture. The family +are Catholics, but the mother no longer goes to church, and, though +the girls go, the priest seems to have had no influence over them. + +Although the great majority of the foreign-born parents succeed in +bringing up their children without the children becoming delinquent, +the minority who are not successful is large enough to cause grave +concern. This has been shown in all figures in juvenile delinquency. A +study of delinquent children before the Cook County Juvenile Court +shows that 72.8 per cent of the 14,183 children brought to the court +between July 1, 1899, and June 30, 1909, had foreign-born parents.[48] +A special study of 584 of these, who were delinquent boys, showed 66.9 +per cent with foreign-born parents.[49] A comparison of the nativity +of the parents of children in the Juvenile Court with the proportion +of each group in the married population of Chicago indicates that the +number of parents of delinquent children in the foreign-born group is +disproportionately large. That is, the foreign born form 57 per cent +of the married population of Chicago, while "at least 67 per cent of +the parents of delinquent boys of the court were foreign born, and +there is reason to believe that the true percentage is above 67."[50] + +This preponderance of children from immigrant homes must not be taken +to mean that children of foreign-born parents are naturally worse than +the children of American parents. It confirms the fact that immigrant +parents have special difficulties in bringing up their children and +are in need of special assistance. It suggests very forcibly the +danger to the community in continuing to ignore their special needs. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[44] Breckinridge and Abbott, _The Delinquent Child and the Home_, p. +66. + +[45] See Thomas and Znaniecki, _The Polish Peasant_, vol. i. + +[46] Abbott and Breckinridge, _Truancy and Nonattendance in the +Chicago Schools_, chap. viii, p. 129. + +[47] See Jane Addams, _Twenty Years at Hull House_, chap. xi. + +[48] Breckinridge and Abbott, _The Delinquent Child and the Home_, p. +57. + +[49] _Ibid._, p. 61. + +[50] Breckinridge and Abbott, _The Delinquent Child and the Home_, p. +62. See _U. S. Twelfth Census Population_, vol. ii, p. 314, Table +XXXII. + + + + +VII + +IMMIGRANT ORGANIZATIONS AND FAMILY PROBLEMS + + +In the former chapters an attempt has been made to set out some of the +difficulties encountered by foreign-born families who attempt to +establish themselves in the United States. The discussion has dealt +with the problem as though the community were one factor and the +immigrant family another factor, and as though the solution to be +arrived at could be discovered by bringing them into new relations to +each other. This treatment is justified, in view of the fact that even +a slight analysis makes it clear that certain modifications in +governmental and social machinery are highly desirable. When the +limitations imposed by the war on freedom of migration have been +removed, the possibility of dealing more wisely and more humanely with +incoming family groups must be considered. + +In a very real sense, during any period when the volume of immigration +is considerable, the community _is_ one factor and the immigrant _is_ +another factor, and a partial solution is to be found in a new +treatment of the relationships between these two. But in another sense +the discussion is inadequate and perhaps misleading. The relationship +between the community and the immigrant is not mechanical, but +organic. So soon as he is admitted, he is in fact a part of the +community, and what will be done, what can be done, depends in part at +least upon the extent to which that relationship is developed. The +currents of the community life must flow through and both enrich and +be enriched by the life of the newcomer. If these currents are +obstructed, he neither shares nor contributes as he might. + +These channels of intercourse, however, have often been so obstructed +that contacts have been denied. That segregation and separation have +characterized the life of many of the groups for considerable periods +of time has become a commonplace, and it has been generally known that +the life of these different foreign-born groups was separate from the +general life of the community, and the life of one group separate from +the life of other groups. But the fact that within these separate +groups was developed often a fairly rich and highly organized life has +not been so widely recognized. + + +SAFETY IN RACIAL AFFILIATIONS + +During the war, for example, the community became aware of the fact +that within these national groups there had developed more or less +powerful and efficient organizations formerly active in behalf of +political interests in the old country, capable, at least, of +fostering a spirit of clannishness, of perpetuating the language, +customs, and ideals of an alien population in the midst of American +life, and of keeping alive in this country national and racial +antipathies brought from Europe. Leaders in the European struggle came +to these groups and obtained pecuniary support and political +adherence. Recruiting for military service among the foreign born was +successfully carried on. + +Leaders of active societies among the different Slavic groups have +stated quite freely that a spirit of unity and of nationality has been +consciously fostered in America by these societies, so that, when the +time came for the oppressed nation to strike for freedom in the +European struggle, the representatives of the race in this country +might stand solidly behind such efforts. It is impossible, after the +exhibition of the generous support given among foreign-born groups +during the war to the efforts of the United States, to raise the +question of their loyalty; but their separateness has been far +greater, their exclusion from many community efforts and activities +far more complete, than the leaders among them had realized. + +The leaders among the foreign born do not wholly blame the leaders of +the "American" group; they seem to feel that immigrants who came at an +earlier date are in part to blame. These earlier arrivals knew what +immigration meant, and might have been expected to help open the way +for those who came afterward, but were, in fact, chiefly concerned to +get ahead and to leave old associations behind. This was the opinion +expressed by a Bohemian business man prominent in both local and +national organizations. He also said that the reason that had in the +past led to the formation and support of these organizations had +ceased to exist; but now that the European struggle against oppression +had ended for his people, and leaders understood how separate the life +of the foreign-born groups had been, these very societies could be +used to establish a variety of contacts and to develop among the +foreign born a wider interest in the United States and its problems. +Particularly the ability to act together learned during the war should +be used to develop effective co-operation. + +As the organization of these societies is discussed in another volume +in this series, they will not be described here, except as they affect +the position of women and so exercise an influence upon the adjustment +of family life.[51] + +Possibly the most significant fact revealed in the course of the +study has been the extent to which foreign-born groups have been +inaugurating and developing educational and social movements, and +establishing institutions and agencies, quite independent of the +Federal, state, or local agencies at work along the same general +lines. On the other hand, the national educational and welfare +movements carried on by the "American people" have ignored the +organization and leadership in the foreign-born community. This has +been the case to an amazing extent, even when the public efforts have +been ostensibly based upon studies of conditions existing in cities +with a population that is largely of foreign birth. + +When no channels of communication between the immigrant and the larger +community seem to have been established, we have been concerned to +inquire how such channels can be most effectively created. The +barriers that through ignorance, indifference, and misunderstanding on +either side have been allowed to grow up must be broken down. We have +tried to follow up such avenues of communication as have opened +naturally before us, after becoming acquainted with some of the +leaders in the different groups. + +The organizations with which we have become somewhat acquainted are +representative of the types found in all the main Slavic groups and +among the Lithuanians, Hungarians, Rumanians, and Greeks. Suggestions +applicable to them indicate a basis of co-operation with a very large +proportion of our foreign-born population. + +A list of the principal racial organizations in the United States is +included in the Appendix. Information about local branches of these +organizations can usually be secured by correspondence. + + +LOCAL BENEFIT SOCIETIES + +The first incentive to organization among all the groups seems to have +been the precarious economic situation during the years of effort to +get a foothold here. The first association of the newly arrived +immigrant is one of mutual aid. "Benefit" will be found as the basis +of the important foreign-born organizations, no matter what new +purposes may have been taken on with the establishment and progress of +the group as a whole. + +[Illustration: WHO WILL WELCOME THEM?] + +In the interviews we have had with the leaders among the groups the +point has been repeatedly emphasized that Americans can never +appreciate the situation of immigrants during their first ten years in +this country. The strangeness, the poverty, the pressure to send money +home, the inadequate, irregular income, the restriction to the +low-skilled job--"there is in America, at first, nothing for an +immigrant but the shovel"--the lack of knowledge of money values and +ignorance of American domestic and social practices--these +conditions drive the immigrants into co-operative effort. The appeal +sent out by a Russian national society organized in 1912 begins with +some such words as these: + + While we are in this country we are doing the lowest kind of + work, and many accidents happen to us; if we do not belong to + an organization we are without help.... The purpose of our + brotherhood is to help our brethren in a strange country. + +Not even in associated effort can they always find security, however. +One of the reasons now being given very often by immigrants seeking +passage back to Europe is their feeling of uncertainty about their +future here. They say that America is all right so long as a man is +young and strong enough to do the hard work in the industries, but +they cannot see what is in store for them as they grow older, for they +cannot save enough to provide for themselves; in Europe, a little land +and a cottage are assurance of the necessities for old age. + +There are, of course, many cases in which there is failure within the +group as there is neglect without. Exploitation of immigrants by their +fellow countrymen, and the evils of fraudulent banks, steamship +companies, "tally-men," are well known. At the same time there is a +great mass of neighborly service and of kindness of the poor to the +poor, and of the stranger to the more recent comer. + +Benefit societies based either on neighborhood associations here or on +village association in Europe, soon grow up. These are usually +self-assessment societies, in which each member pays a small sum each +month, often only 25 cents. Out of the funds thus raised, a sick +benefit of from $3 to $5 a week is paid. On the death of a member an +assessment of from 50 cents to $1 is laid on the surviving members, +and the resulting sum is paid to the bereaved family, helping to meet +the funeral expenses. + +Such societies are not incorporated, their officers are usually +without business training, and they are often unstable. They include, +however, a considerable proportion of the more recent immigrants, who, +through fear of falling into distress and dread of charity, are +influenced to keep up the membership. In addition to the money +benefit, these neighborhood societies often mean friendly interest and +help in nursing, in the care of the children, and in household work. +As the fees are low and as provision for the sick benefit seems very +important, a person often belongs to several such societies. + +Owing to the instability of these organizations the effort is often +made to combine them and to establish them on a sound financial basis +as national fraternal insurance societies. These societies substitute +fraternal insurance for the sick and death benefit. As the immigrant +family gains a foothold in the new community the members are likely +to join a national fraternal insurance society or, in the second +generation, an organization of the type of the Catholic Order of +Foresters, Knights and Ladies of Security, Tribe of Ben Hur, or +Woodmen of the World. + +The national fraternal insurance society is, among the Slavs, highly +organized. Often in one national group as many as three flourishing +societies will be found, with membership determined by religious or +political preferences. As they exist now, these societies are all much +alike, differing in the elaborateness of their organization in +accordance with the period covered by the immigration of the group or +with the strength of its cohesion in America. Leaders who wish to +communicate directly with the great body of their co-nationals in +America, do so through the channels provided by these organizations. + +As the group develops a feeling of confidence, the insurance function +becomes less urgent. In fact, officers of the national societies +predict that the societies will gradually abandon the field of +insurance and develop along other lines. Many societies already admit +a considerable number of uninsured persons, who join in order to share +in other enterprises. It would be neither possible nor profitable to +describe all the groups, but the organization of a Croatian society +and the relation of women to certain societies in the Polish and +Lithuanian groups will be briefly discussed. + + +NATIONAL CROATIAN ORGANIZATIONS + +The strongest societies among the Croatians are the National Croatian +Society of 50,000 members, and the Croatian League of Illinois of +39,000 members, sometimes called the "New Society," which in spite of +its name is really a national organization. + +The purpose of the National Croatian Society is set forth in its +constitution: + + ... to help people of the Croatian race residing in America, + in cases of distress, sickness, and death, to educate and + instruct them in the English language and in other studies to + fit them for the duties of life and citizenship with our + English-speaking people, to teach them and impress upon them + the importance and duty of being naturalized under the laws + of the United States, and of educating their children in the + public schools of the country; these purposes to be carried + out through the organization and establishment of a supreme + assembly and subordinate assemblies of the Croatian people + with schools and teachers. + +Those eligible to become members are: + + Croatians or other Slavs who speak and understand the + Croatian language, of all creeds excepting Jews. All between + the ages of sixteen and fifty may be admitted, provided they + are neither ill nor epileptic nor disabled, are not living in + concubinage, and have not been expelled from the national + society. + +The structure of the society is quite elaborate, and the conditions of +admission and of membership, the organization and conduct of the +lodges, the relations among the lodges and between a lodge and the +national society, are all carefully specified in the constitution and +by-laws. + +Lodges are often organized on a sex basis, and in a community in which +there is a lodge for men and a lodge for women, no one of one sex can +be admitted to the lodge organized for the other. There is no special +notice taken of women's interests in the structure of the national +society, but there are local women's lodges, and women constitute +about one tenth of the total membership. + +The functions of these local lodges, aside from their official +relation to the national organization, as specified by the by-laws, +are: + + ... to assist those members who do not know how to read and + write (either an officer or member shall, at least once a + week, teach such members reading and writing); to establish + libraries for members and gradually supply the same with the + best and most necessary books; to hold entertainments with a + view to building up the lodge treasury and to provide for + brotherly talk and enjoyment. + +The officers and members of some of the local lodges in Chicago have +endeavored to develop and extend the social and recreational features +of the lodges to meet what they believe to be one of the greatest +needs of their people, but the efforts have so far met with little +success. + +Failure has been attributed to conditions found in the community and +to the altered circumstances of family life in America. It has been +difficult to find suitable meeting places, as Croatian people have no +halls of their own and do not feel at home in the neighborhood +recreation center. Any kind of recreational activity planned is, of +necessity, so different from that to which these men and women are +accustomed, that it does not interest them at once. Large families of +small children make it impossible for men and women to take their +recreation together, or for women to leave their homes at all except +for a very short time. + +Leaders whom we have consulted feel, however, that it is only through +the development of such organizations within the group that Croatian +women can be drawn into any social or recreational activities in +considerable numbers; for, because they feel peculiarly strange and +ill at ease when with persons who are not of Croatian origin, they +lead secluded lives. + +The important projects of the National Croatian Society have been the +raising of funds for the establishment in each large colony of a +national headquarters under the name Croatian Home, and for the +erection and maintenance of an invalid home. A "National Fund," into +which each member pays a cent a month, is created for the "culture and +enlightenment of Croatians." The orphan children of members of the +society are given the preference in the distribution of any benefit +paid from the national fund. + + +CARE OF CROATIAN ORPHANS + +The Croatian community in the United States has been peculiarly +confronted with the problem of care of orphan children. The estimated +number of orphan children is large in proportion to the number of +Croatian families because a very large proportion of the Croatian men +work at low-grade labor in the steel industry, in which fatal +accidents are common. + +At the last convention of several of the national societies, the +representatives agreed to form a new national council especially to +undertake the care of orphan children and to raise funds for this +cause. The plan was formed to buy a tract of land in the vicinity of +Chicago, on which an orphan home and training school were to be +erected. The sum of $10,000 was devoted to the site and $100,000 to +buildings. As free thinking has spread rapidly among Croatians in +America, it was intended to establish a nonsectarian institution and +to take children of free-thinking parents away from the Roman Catholic +schools as well as to provide for children who should be later +orphaned. + +Through contacts established in the course of this study, the leaders +in this group have been led to inquire concerning American methods of +child care. Attention was directed to the latest standard discussions +on the subject.[52] After some consideration of the method of caring +for dependent children by placing them in family homes, the Chicago +Croatian committee decided to delay action on the erection of a costly +institution, to take time for further study and to hold a conference +with the national committee representing the other Croatian societies +interested. In the meantime action has been taken to change the name +of the new national organization from the "Society for the Erection of +a Croatian Orphanage" to the "Society for the Care of Croatian +Orphans," and the by-laws of the society are being rewritten so that +the movement need not be committed to institutional care at the +outset, but will be free to choose in the light of the best +information at hand. + +Some of the leading members of the committee are convinced that +placing-out should be included in their plan, but feel that it may +take some time to convince the Croatian people of this wish to delay +operation until the question can be freely discussed throughout the +whole Croatian community in America. Plans are now being made for the +national committee, representing all the societies interested, to +confer with the representatives of public and private child-placing +agencies. The question arises as to how relations may be established +between such organizations in the separate national groups and those +in the American community who are concerned with improved methods in +the care of dependent children. Until provision is made that such +information will be shared with members of groups like these as a +matter of course, there is great loss and waste. + + +ORGANIZATIONS OF POLES + +The Polish people are, no doubt, the most highly organized of the +Slavic nationalities. It may be said that Chicago is their national +center in the United States, and the headquarters of the three great +national fraternal insurance societies, the Roman Catholic Union of +America, the Polish National Alliance, and the Polish Women's +Alliance. As these organizations are much alike in general plan, a +description of the organization, character, and methods of work of one +will give an idea of them all. + +While these societies have always been divided upon political issues, +and while there has been at times considerable bitterness in the +antagonism between them, they have been able to unite their efforts in +important undertakings for the general welfare of the Poles throughout +the United States. Common interest in the Polish cause during the +war, too, has united them as never before, and there is every reason +for the confident expectation that they will co-operate in any new +projects undertaken for the benefit of the Polish community in +America. + +The Polish National Alliance is the largest single organization. In +addition to providing insurance, this society carries on, through its +national organization, extended work of a social and educational +character. + +There is, for example, among its "commissions," an Emigration +Commission for aiding immigrants, which is charged with the duty of +framing rules for the proper supervision of homes established for the +care of newcomers. Under this Commission the Alliance has maintained +immigrant aid stations in New York, Baltimore, and Boston. In New York +there is a home in which immigrant girls and women arriving alone may +be accommodated until relatives can be located. + +The Chicago office co-operates with the offices at the ports of entry +in securing information about relatives of Alliance members, and in +case of special necessity arranges to have immigrants destined for +Chicago met at the station. As relatives are supposed to be notified +of the expected arrival before the women leave New York, the Chicago +office has done little in this direction. The need for such services, +however, has been made clear in the Annual Reports of the Immigrants' +Protective League, showing the numbers of unattended Polish girls +coming to Chicago to be much larger than the number in any other +national group. + +The Polish National Alliance has been carrying on a number of +projects, both for the Polish people throughout the country and for +the local community in Chicago. During the war many forms of work that +had been developed for the service of Poles in the United States were +laid aside for the more urgent needs of the time, and the funds of +this organization were devoted to the support of the Red Cross and of +other relief work. When the needs especially arising out of the war +have been met and the necessity for sending relief to Poland is no +longer urgent, these projects, abandoned for the time, will be taken +up again. Polish immigration has for a time ceased. In the opinion of +the Poles in Chicago it will be very light for years after the war, so +that projects hereafter undertaken will be concerned with the welfare +of the community as it has become established in the United States. + + +POLISH WOMEN'S WORK + +There is a Women's Department, directed by a committee of fifteen +women members. The central government frames regulations for this +department "conformably to the requirements of a given moment." An +illustration of its activities can be found in a movement initiated to +maintain oversight of the employment of Polish girls and women. A +great many Polish girls go into domestic work in private homes and in +hotels and restaurants. Because girls from the rural districts in +Poland find customs and living conditions here so different the +societies have undertaken to study the problem. In order to +investigate places of employment the women found they must represent a +regularly licensed employment agency. Some delay in securing a license +has held up their work, but they plan to establish in the near future +a "Polish Women's Employment Agency." + +Many cases came to their attention showing the need of protective work +and legal aid for workingwomen, so that in 1917 the "Polish Women's +Protective League" was organized to provide free legal advice and aid +to Polish workingwomen. + +The official organ of the Polish National Alliance is a weekly +publication, _Zgoda_. There is a daily, the _Dziennik Zwaizkowy_, that +has a semi-official status. The Women's Department is represented in +the official organ by one page of ordinary newspaper size, without +illustration. In the daily paper one page each week is devoted to +items of especial value to women. Different material is used in the +two issues, but both give considerable space to such subjects as +household management, the care of children, and problems of health and +hygiene. + +There is, in fact, a marked development among the Polish, Bohemian, +Slovenian, and Lithuanian groups, of a definite division between the +men's and the women's departments. This began first in the local +lodges as they grew from mere meetings for the payment of dues into +something more in the order of a center for the discussion of +questions of importance in group or family life, or for action on +those questions. + +A woman who, more than eighteen years ago, organized one of the first +lodges in the Polish National Alliance said that in the lodges of +mixed membership women were supposed to have the same rights and +privileges as men. As a matter of fact, she said that they had no +voice in matters in which they felt their interest as women were +especially concerned; the women were always in the minority, and there +were very few who would even voice an opinion in the presence of men. + +The older women in the community came, therefore, to feel that there +were many problems of vital interest and importance for the immigrant +woman upon which action would never be taken in the lodge meeting, in +which there was a mixed membership. They believed, too, that the +meetings of the local lodge might become a real source of help to the +newly arrived immigrant women. The women's lodge was therefore formed, +and to the first meetings came women who still wore the handkerchiefs +over their heads. Some of the more prosperous members protested that +they did not want such women as these in the lodge, but the leaders +insisted that their purpose in organizing women's lodges had been to +reach through them just such women. The leaders felt that women who +knew little of American life and customs would gradually acquire that +knowledge by coming into the lodge. + +A lodge of this kind under the leadership of progressive women of the +older immigration has become a center in which are discussed many of +the questions the women have to face for the first time. The plan in +the Polish National Alliance is to have lodges so organized that women +from Russian Poland may be in one, those from Galicia in another, or +to organize lodges on the basis of the neighborhood association in the +United States. + +It is hoped that by such a plan as this the more backward women may be +drawn into some of the social activities of the Polish community. +Although English has not been the language of the meetings, women have +been encouraged to learn English as soon as possible after their +arrival. The older women urge the younger women to acquire the +language. They have learned the importance of a knowledge of the +language to the mother of boys and girls who are growing up in +surroundings of which the mother knows little, and where custom and +convention are so different from those to which she was accustomed. + +With the multiplication of women's lodges came the demand on the part +of the women for representation in the national organization. As a +result, the Women's Auxiliary has been given an official place, and +women have been elected to the national board of directors. + +Polish women have felt that the welfare of the group as a whole is +largely dependent upon the fitness of the women to meet the new +situation. They have recognized the fact that, because of the national +attitude toward women, Polish women of the class represented by the +bulk of the immigration are very backward. They have therefore sought +to inaugurate a campaign for the education of women on a national +scale. + +Another interesting development has been the growth of national +organizations for women alone. One of the earliest and best known of +these is the Polish Women's Alliance, an example of organized effort +of women to deal with their own problems on a national scale. The +leaders in this enterprise were women who, through their own +experiences as immigrants, and through contact with those who came +later, had come to realize both the nature of the problems women were +called upon to meet and the different position of women in America. + +One of the women who had been active in inaugurating the movement +spoke of the extreme difficulty of such work in the Polish community +because of the prejudice against women's taking part in anything +outside of their homes. Some of the more advanced women thought that +the welfare of the whole Polish community was retarded by the +ignorance and indifference and prejudices of the women which kept them +clinging to Old-World methods and customs entirely unsuited to the new +conditions. They hoped that by building a clubhouse for women, with +library and reading rooms, a large hall for assemblies, and small +rooms for clubs and classes, they might gradually interest the women +in something outside their homes. + +No one thought it possible, however, for women to organize in this +way, much less to carry on a national movement and to build a +clubhouse, as they have succeeded in doing. Some leading women felt +that education must come, if at all, through the women's own efforts, +and that the education involved in work for the organization more +nearly than any other experience touched the needs of these women, in +that it drew them out of their older habits and encouraged them to +take the initiative and so to gain the self-confidence they lacked. + +The organization was at first possible only because of the benefit +features through which the support could be gained of men and women +who had no interest or confidence in such educational projects as +attempt to interest the women in clean streets, satisfactory disposal +of garbage, and improved housing conditions. + +This movement does not represent hostility to the great joint +organization. Most of the women interested in developing the movement +have been members of the Polish National Alliance; but they have +thought that to give the women a sense of confidence it was necessary +to have a women's organization, quite independent of the men's. And +there have developed then the three relationships between men and +women: (1) the Women's Department as one of the divisions of work in +the Alliance; (2) the Women's Auxiliary to the men's society, and (3) +the National Women's Organization, in which men are not members. + + +LITHUANIAN WOMAN'S ALLIANCE + +The idea of the separate woman's organization finds an interesting +illustration in the Lithuanian Woman's Alliance. This national +society, independent of any other organization, was organized in 1915 +in Chicago. Only Lithuanian Catholic women who are in good standing in +the Church are admitted. The society has now grown, until there are +over five thousand members in different Lithuanian communities +throughout the United States. + +The society was organized for the education of Lithuanian women in +America. Those interested in the organization recognized that it would +be very difficult to obtain support for such a movement among women of +the type they most wished to interest unless it had the indorsement of +the Catholic Church. + +There are two departments, an educational (_Absvieta_) and a benefit +(_Pasalpa_). It was recognized by the leaders that little appeal could +be made to women for an educational enterprise, for the majority of +women are too ignorant and indifferent; but like the Polish women they +knew that "benefit" would appeal to every immigrant woman, for all +belong to at least one friendly insurance society. The poorer women +and the more recent immigrants are associated in the little parish +self-assessment societies, in which each pays a small monthly fee, +usually twenty-five cents. Membership in a substantial fraternal +insurance society costs more than they can afford to pay. + +The Lithuanian Woman's Alliance provides insurance for 35 cents a +month. The benefit department provides for the payment of a death +benefit of $150, and $5 per week will be paid upon request to any +member who is sick more than two weeks. In each case in which benefit +is granted, two visitors are appointed to make arrangements for +hospital care if necessary, and to render any other needed assistance. + +The idea back of this organization has been to help immigrant women to +adjust themselves to the new circumstances of life in America; the +method chosen has been through education along general and very +practical lines, beginning at the point where the women themselves +have come to recognize their needs. The fact that few of these women +can read even in their own language makes it very difficult to reach +them. At present, however, the task seems less difficult than ever +before. The fact that fewer lodgers are taken, that in some cases the +higher wages have lessened the pecuniary problems--even the fact that +women have been drawn outside the home to work--these facts, together +with the activities of women in war work, have served to give them a +sense of identity with the American community; so that there is now a +greater demand for English lessons than ever before. Many women now +realize the necessity of speaking the English language, and women who +read in Lithuanian are eager to learn to read English so that they +"may know what is in the attractive-looking magazines they see on the +news stands." + +The educational department is open to all women, whether they wish to +avail themselves of the benefit or not, but the benefit department is +open only upon condition that members also take part in the +educational movement. Dues in the educational department alone are ten +cents a month. The educational program is to be carried on through the +local lodge and the official organ, _Woman's Field_, issued monthly by +the central committee. + +The magazine, aside from such space as is needed for official notices, +is devoted to educational material. A typical number includes articles +on questions of general interest to women everywhere. Emphasis is laid +on the necessity for women's learning English and assuming the duties +of citizenship. One page each month devoted to questions of general +hygiene and the care of children is edited by a Lithuanian woman +physician. A page or section is given to instruction in the +preparation of food, as the Lithuanians realize that one of the +gravest problems for their people here has been that of diet. Space is +given to articles about Lithuania, "so that the young people may know +that they need not be ashamed of their country." + +The educational work planned for the local lodge includes instruction +along many lines. Classes are held two evenings a week in the parish +halls. The work of one of the more active lodges gives an idea of the +scope of the undertaking. This chapter numbers over fifty members. +Regular monthly meetings for the payment of dues and transaction of +business are held on Sunday afternoon in the parish hall. After the +business is finished there is a social hour. + +Weekday classes have been held on two evenings each week; on one, +English and sewing classes are held; on the other, cooking and +housekeeping classes. Women who have had greater advantages in Europe +as well as in the United States give their services as teachers. All +courses are planned for women who have had very little opportunity in +either country; the president of one of the lodges said, in explaining +their program, "You know Lithuanian women are not high up like +American women--they do not know how to keep house or cook or take +care of babies." + +On one evening in the week the whole time is devoted to housekeeping. +The church hall has been equipped with a gas stove, a set of cooking +utensils, dining-room table, linen, dishes, and silver. Lessons are +given in the preparation and serving of a meal. Some attention is +given to food values, but the object is mainly to show women how to +prepare wholesome food as economically as possible. Processes of +canning, preserving, and drying fruits and vegetables are +demonstrated, as they are wholly new to most of the women. The women +are also shown how to scrub, wash dishes, and care for clothing. + +Reference might also be made to a local society organized by +Lithuanian women about twelve years ago on a mutual-benefit basis, for +educational purposes, which were stated in the constitution to be: + + ... to provide sick and death benefit; to organize Lithuanian + women for a better and larger education; to provide evening + and day classes in reading, writing, sewing, sanitary + housekeeping, and the care of children; to provide lectures, + books, and programs to interest women in health and + education; to encourage friendship among Lithuanian women, + and provide social life; to provide scholarships for students + seeking higher education; to encourage writers; to encourage + women to read the newspapers in Lithuanian and English. + +These women, who have all been in the United States for a considerable +period, and know the needs of the newcomers, have fitted up a +housekeeping center in the public park center in their neighborhood. +They have a kitchen and dining-room equipment consisting of a stove, a +set of cooking utensils, and a dining table with service. Here cooking +classes are held once a week, the lessons given by the women who are +skilled in cookery. + +The attempt is made to create an interest in food values, in proper +cooking, and in wise spending. In housekeeping lessons, washing, +scrubbing, washing windows, and even dishwashing and the setting of +the table are taught. Classes in English have been organized, but +these women have suffered as others have suffered from a lack of +teachers skilled in teaching this kind of a group, and from a lack of +classroom material suited to their needs. + +The Polish and the Lithuanian societies illustrate the organized +effort of women in those groups in which the group life is highly +developed, in which a number of women have become conscious of +separate needs and undertake to assist in the development of others of +their sex. + + +UKRAINIAN BEGINNINGS + +Among the Ukrainian women the beginnings of this process can be +observed, but in this case there is common effort on the part of the +most progressive men and women in behalf of the more backward women. +We are told that the Ukrainian women have much greater authority and +responsibility in the United States than in the Ukraine, so that some +men say that here "the laws are made for women." They spend the money, +discipline the children, and direct the household life. Many of the +women have been poorly fitted, by their inferior status at home, for +their new duties, and the Ukrainian Women's Alliance was organized in +1917 by both men and women in an attempt to meet this situation. + +This organization, too, is based on the benefit idea, which all the +women can understand, but plans are already laid for a comprehensive +educational program to be carried out not only through educational +centers in the local lodges, but through a magazine of national +circulation. This is a complete innovation, as there has never before +existed among the Ukrainians a woman's association, nor has any +attention been paid to their interests in Ukrainian publications. The +organ of the Alliance had in October, 1919, put out four issues, and +met with so cordial a response that its next number was double the +size of the first numbers and the sales at news stands were sufficient +to cover the cost of these first numbers. + +The contents of one number indicate the purposes sought by its +publication. Of the articles, one describes the organization of the +Alliance, one discusses the relation of the institution of the home to +the community, with special stress laid on the responsibilities of the +mother in the home, one explains the woman-suffrage movement and urges +the importance of woman's place in government. There is a department +devoted to diet, food values, and recipes, and one devoted to hygiene, +with special emphasis on child care. + +In some of the other national groups the number of men is still so far +in excess of the number of women that the energies of the group seem +to have been absorbed in dealing with the problems of the men or of +getting a foothold as a group. + + +ITALIAN WOMEN UNORGANIZED + +This does not apply to the Italian community. While benefit societies +among the Italians are very numerous, there has until recently been +little movement toward a national organization similar to those among +the Poles and Lithuanians. The deep division in dialect, custom, and +feeling between people from different sections of Italy accounts for +the number of societies as well as for the lack of affiliation among +them. Three of the largest societies in Chicago, in which membership +is largely Sicilian, are now affiliated, but no effort has been +discovered to make use of the organization as a basis for domestic +educational enterprise. + +Women are admitted to many of the societies on the same terms as men, +but rarely attend meetings. There are many small self-assessment +societies for women alone, but they have no social or educational +feature; members seldom meet, and dues are often sent in by children. + +The idea of using their own organizations as a means of carrying on +educational work among women is a novel one in the Italian community, +but it is being recognized as a possible method of attacking the great +need for education in maternal and infant welfare, in the care of +small children, and in sanitary housekeeping. + +The Italian physicians, for example, realize that the women need +instruction, and the Italian Medical Association, in May, 1919, +planned a series of lectures for mothers, in Italian, on these +subjects, but found that there were great difficulties in reaching the +mothers with such material. It is therefore very important that every +device be tried for reaching the more intelligent women, who with the +helpful neighborliness that exists in all the neighborhoods would +share with their less-informed sisters the benefits of their aroused +interests. + + +GROWTH OF NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS + +It is clear, then, that highly organized societies established +primarily for mutual insurance often undertake educational and social +projects which tend to overshadow their original purpose as the +economic position of the members of the national group becomes more +stable. Leaders who are inaugurating national educational movements in +the less well-established groups are consciously using the benefit +feature because of its universal appeal, and employing the general +methods and machinery of the fraternal insurance organization. + +Modification of the official machinery is the inevitable result of the +change in purpose. We find, for instance, that the local lodge, +originally only a meeting for the payment of dues, becomes a center +for discussion of problems of concern to the local community or to the +national group, and often the field in which the educational program +planned by the national society is carried out. + +The official organ, designed to carry official communication and news, +tends to subordinate this function to the educational and cultural +features. To a certain extent it becomes a national educational +journal. It is to be noted that with the separation of men's and +women's lodges and the growth of the influence of women in the +national policy of the society, the section of the official organ +devoted to the interests of women is extended. The very real problem +of the immigrant woman in adjusting herself and the family life to the +new conditions here, is given greater consideration. + +As these organizations have been so efficiently developed, and as the +leaders in the different groups hope for a united group where before +there has been a separate and segregated one, it seemed worth while to +consult the representatives of the different groups in some detail +with reference to the method of using educational material dealing +with family adjustment. The subject of child care seemed the most +obviously pertinent and interesting, and a section of the United +States Children's Bureau Study on the Pre-School Child was submitted +for their consideration with the question as to its adaptation to the +needs of the various groups. + +All to whose attention it was called agreed that it was material of +the highest importance, and that if translated it would prove of +greatest interest. A translation was therefore presented to these +representatives for their consideration. Again, all agreed that the +only questions were the extent to which the material would have to be +explained in terms of foodstuffs and methods of care familiar to the +women in the different groups. + +All agreed that the material should be given to the women in small +doses graphically presented. The installment plan should be the rule. +All agreed that illustrations would greatly add to the interest and +the ease with which the lesson would be understood. And all agreed +that a very effective way of arousing and maintaining interest would +be to call in to conference representatives of the different important +agencies, the Church, the school, the midwife, the doctor, to obtain +common consideration of the material with reference to its more exact +adaptation to the needs of the particular group. + +Several editors agreed that much of the material could be used without +such conference if it were only skillfully translated--which is a +difficult and costly process. The Foreign Language Information +Service of the National Red Cross has begun this work, and finds a +hearty reception for its translations of such material. But the +editors likewise thought that such conferences as have been described +would have very great effect in securing co-operation in the use of +the material. + +It is clear that the same general method could be applied to the use +of other similar material bearing on problems of family adjustment, or +on the other aspects of adjustment; but in the field of family +adjustment there is available a great body of information and +suggestion organized by the expert members of the various Federal +bureau staffs for the purpose of accomplishing just the end we have +under consideration. This is true not only of the work done by the +United States government, but by the state and city governments as +well. + +The development and maintenance of an agency which could make +available to foreign-speaking groups through their own organizations +the material already awaiting use, would correspond with the hopes and +the intentions of leaders among the various groups, facilitate their +work, and make possible a fine and a fruitful co-operation among +elements that have in the past been separate, if not hostile. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[51] See John Daniels, _America via the Neighborhood_. + +[52] Such as the Russell Sage Foundation Studies: Slingerland's _Child +Placing in Families_; Hart's _Preventive Treatment of Neglected +Children_, and Ralph's _Elements of Record Keeping for Child-helping +Organizations_. + + + + +VIII + +AGENCIES OF ADJUSTMENT + + +In the first six chapters an attempt has been made to set out certain +difficulties with which foreign-born family groups are confronted on +arrival. It has become clear that certain services skillfully rendered +might prevent a great deal of needless suffering, discomfort, and +waste, and also greatly facilitate the adjustment of the family to the +new surroundings. The services that would be appropriate to the needs +of all housewives might be classed under (1) the exercise of +hospitality; (2) supplying information and opportunities for +instruction; (3) assistance in the performance of household tasks. +Suggestions that these services might prove useful are not based +wholly on theory, and attention may at this point be directed to the +work of certain agencies which have attempted to do these various +things. + +The suggestion has been frequently made that the immigrant should be +the object of certain protective care during the journey across the +ocean and on arrival.[53] The proposal here is that the community +would gain enormously through the creation of devices for the exercise +of a community hospitality. This should include the receiving and +distributing of new arrivals in such a way as to assure their being +put into touch, not only with their relatives and friends, but with +the community resources which could be of special service as well. + +Attention has been called to the efforts put forth by organizations +among the foreign-speaking groups. The possibility of their more +efficient and wider activity should be always kept in mind. But the +work of the Immigrants' Protective League of Chicago, in behalf of +unaccompanied women and girls, illustrates both the nature of the task +and the way in which the development of such services requires a +familiarity with the governmental organizations and a capacity for +utilizing official agencies not to be found among the groups most +needing help. + + +IMMIGRANTS' PROTECTIVE LEAGUE + +The work of this society has been referred to a number of times, and +its methods and special objects should perhaps be briefly summarized. +Its organization in 1907 grew out of a desire to assist the immigrant +girls coming into Chicago, with special reference to their industrial +relations. The objects described in the charter of incorporation are, +however, much wider than this. They were: + + ... to apply the civic, social, and philanthropic resources + of the city to the needs of foreigners in Chicago, to protect + them from exploitation, to co-operate with the Federal, + state, and local authorities, and with similar organizations + in other localities, and to protect the right of asylum in + all proper cases. (By-Laws, Art. II.) + +The services of the organization have been taken advantage of by +members of all the national groups in Chicago, and these services have +included meeting immigrant trains and distributing arriving immigrants +to their destination in the city, prosecuting the agencies from which +the immigrant suffered especial exploitation, visiting immigrant +girls, securing appropriate legislation, and in general making known +to the community the special needs of the newly arrived immigrants. + +The League has from the beginning made use of the services of +foreign-speaking visitors, and the volume and success of its work has +varied with the number of these visitors, the extent to which they +represented groups in need of special aid, and their skill as social +workers. At the time of the publication of the last report, the +following languages besides English were spoken by these visitors: +German, Bohemian, Italian, Lettish, Lithuanian, Magyar, Polish, +Russian, Slovak, and Yiddish. Many aspects of its work do not bear on +this discussion, but the following brief passages from the annual +reports indicate the way in which the work in behalf of unaccompanied +girls developed. + + During the past year and a half the League has received from + the various ports of arrival the names and addresses of the + girls and women destined for Chicago. All of these newly + arrived girls and women have been visited by representatives + of the League able to speak the language of the immigrant. + Four, and part of the time five, women speaking the Slavic + languages--German, French, Italian, and Greek--have been + employed for this work. In these visits information has been + accumulated in regard to the journey to Chicago, the depot + situation, the past industrial experience of the girls, their + occupation in Chicago, wages, hours of work, their living + conditions, the price they pay for board, and whether they + are contributing to the support of some one at home. On this + basis the League's work for girls has been planned. (_Annual + Report, 1909-10_, p. 13.) + + In these visits many girls needing assistance are found. The + most difficult ones to help are those for whom the visitor + sees a danger which the girl is unable to anticipate. Often a + girl is a pioneer, who comes in advance of her family, and + the friend or acquaintance whom she knows in Chicago + undertakes to help her in finding her first job and a place + to live, and then leaves her to solve the future for herself. + If she should be out of work or in trouble she has no one + whom she can ask for advice or help. In cases of this sort + all that the visitor can do is to establish a connection + which will make the girl feel that she has some one she can + turn to in case of trouble or unemployment. (_Annual Report, + 1909-10_, p. 15.) + + Sometimes the League's visitor can do little more than offer + the encouragement which the girl so much needs during the + first few years in America. Usually she tries to persuade the + girl to attend the nearest night school; sometimes she helps + her in finding work, or a proper boarding place; sometimes, + when the immigrant is educated, she has to quite sternly + insist that any kind of work must be accepted until English + has been learned. Some girls are discovered only after it is + too late to prevent a tragedy. In the cases of two girls, one + Polish and the other Bohemian, who had been betrayed by the + uncles who had brought them to this country, the results were + especially discouraging because the efforts to punish the men + failed and one of the girls who had suffered so much from the + uncle whom she thought she could trust was deported. (_Annual + Report for the Year Ending January 1, 1914_, p. 11.) + +It is clear that such a plan involved the distribution of information +from the ports of entry to the places of destination,[54] and the +development of instrumentalities through which the immigrant on +arrival at his destination can be placed in contact with those from +whom help of the kind needed could be expected. A nation-wide network +of agencies for such hospitality, with headquarters at the ports of +entry, is seen to be necessary from the descriptions of the services +to be rendered. The development of such machinery by the Federal +Immigration Service, as at present organized, may be unthinkable; but +with a change in personnel and with a wider understanding of the +nature of the problem, the apparently impossible might be realized. + +In the meantime, the service need not wholly wait on this remote +possibility. There are agencies, both public and private, which with +enlarged resources might undertake a considerable portion of this task +and develop more completely both the methods of approach and a body of +persons skilled in this particular kind of service. Such work as that +done on a small scale by the Immigrants' Protective League is +especially instructive. The resources of that organization for all its +tasks have been limited, so that visitors have been only to a slight +extent specialized, except in the matter of language. But with +enlarged resources, so that a larger number and better trained +visitors might be employed, this gracious and important hospitality +might be widely exercised. + + +A NATIONAL RECEPTION COMMITTEE + +As this visiting developed among the different groups, several results +could be anticipated. Just as the needs of the unaccompanied girls +have been learned in this way, the needs of the families in the +different groups could become more exactly understood, and devices for +meeting those needs more efficiently worked out. It would perhaps be +possible to urge the woman to learn English when she is first +confronted with the strangeness of her situation, and before she +slips into the makeshifts by which she later is apparently able to get +on without learning English. Instruction in English might be made to +appear the path of least resistance, if it were made attractive and +available to the immigrant housewife at a sufficiently early moment. + +These visitors might preferably be English-speaking members of the +foreign-speaking groups. If there were a sufficient staff, they might +also render many similar services to other women in the foreign-born +groups. They could persuade those who have not yet learned English to +come into English classes; they could organize groups for instruction +in cooking, child care, house and neighborhood sanitation; and +gradually accumulate both additional knowledge as to the need and +experience in meeting it. + +A point to be emphasized in connection with this service is that it is +not related in any way to the problem of dependency, but is directed +wholly toward meeting the difficulties growing out of the strangeness +of the newcomer to the immediate situation. By developing a method for +lessening the difficulties connected with the migration of any group +from one section to another differing in industrial or social +organization, light would be thrown on analogous problems such as the +movements among the negroes from the South to the North during the +war, or of the mountain people to the cotton-mill villages at an +earlier date. + +Another point to be emphasized is that while the method of approach +and of immediate service can be developed independently, and while the +amount of discomfort and genuine distress that can be prevented is +very great--as is shown in the experience of families whom such +organizations as now attempt work along this line have aided--the +opportunity for swift and efficient adjustment will be dependent on +the development of a body of educational technique. + +It has been made clear that there are certain kinds of information +that should be given to the newcomers, with reference, for example, to +the change in the legal relationships within the family group, the new +responsibilities of the husband and father, and the rights of wife and +children to support. Attention has been called to the need of giving +instruction regarding sanitary and hygienic practices, with reference +to the new money values, and to the new conditions under which +articles of household use are to be obtained, to the requirements in +food and clothing, particularly for the children, in the new locality +as compared with that from which the family comes. And, as has been +suggested, above all there is always the question of teaching English. + +Sometimes the necessary facts can be conveyed briefly and immediately. +Sometimes patient individual instruction will be necessary. Sometimes +group or class instruction will be the proper device. It is highly +important, then, that these various forms of instruction be developed +into a technique. Courses of instruction to be given according to +these different methods to those for whom a particular method is +appropriate must be organized, and a body of teachers developed. + +The question then arises as to the extent to which this task has been +undertaken and the agencies that have undertaken it. As to the first +great body of material, it may be said to have been ignored. Only when +one is summoned to the Juvenile Court of Domestic Relations, or when +one learns of another's being summoned, is the body of family law +called to the attention of the group. In English, in cooking, and +child care, some agencies have attempted instruction. They are the +public school, organizations like the Immigrants' Protective League, +the State Immigration Commission, the social settlement, recreation +centers of various kinds, the Young Women's Christian Association in +its International Institutes. The possibilities in the work of these +agencies are numerous. + + +THE PUBLIC SCHOOL + +The public school touches the foreign-born family at two points: +First, in the compulsory education of the children, and second, in +the opportunities that it offers to the adult members of the family to +learn English, to fit themselves for citizenship, and to adjust their +lives to the new community. + +The adaptation of the public schools to these tasks belongs properly +to another section of this study.[55] In so far, however, as the +school contributes through its attitude toward the parent to a +breakdown in family discipline, and in so far as it tries or does not +try to instruct the foreign-born housewife in the art of housekeeping, +it is concerned with problems that are primarily family problems. It +may be of interest, then, to cite certain evidence obtained from +foreign-born leaders and typical foreign-born families as to the +relationship existing between the schools and foreign-born parents, +the methods used by the schools in the education of foreign-born +women, and their apparent success or failure. + +Reference has already been made to the place that the school sometimes +plays in the breakdown of family discipline, because of ignorance on +the part of the teachers concerning the social and domestic attitudes +prevailing among the foreign-born groups. + +The school has, in fact, been able to take so little account of the +mother that so long as things run fairly smoothly she is usually +unable to realize that she has any place at all in the scheme. Again +and again, to the question as to whether she visits the school where +her children go, comes the answer, "Oh no, my children never have any +trouble in school." As long as they are not in trouble she is not +called into consultation. She may even be made to feel quite unwelcome +if she is bold enough to visit the schoolroom, so she very soon comes +to the conclusion that the education of her children is really none of +her business. + +Sometimes the teacher thoughtlessly contributes to the belittling of +the parent in the eyes of the child. An Italian man tells the story of +a woman he knew who whipped her boy for truancy and then went to +consult the teacher. But instead of a serious and sympathetic talk, +the teacher in the child's presence upbraided the mother for punishing +the child. The child of foreign-born parents, as well as the +native-born child, often learns in the public school to despise what +is other than American in dress, customs, language, and political +institutions, and both are thus influenced to despise the foreign-born +parent who continues in the old way. + +There is, of course, often a failure on the part of the teacher to +uphold the dignity and authority of the parents in the native-born +group, and the need of bridging the gap between school authorities and +parents has been recognized by the organization of the Parent-Teachers' +organization as well as of the Patrons' Department of the National +Education Association. It may be that at a later date, when certain +general fundamental questions of co-operation have been dealt with, +devices for meeting the difficulties of special groups of parents will +be developed. + +On the subject of courses of instruction attention has been called to +the many points at which the foreign-born housewife needs instruction +and assistance in familiarizing herself with the new conditions under +which she lives. When there exists such a universal and widely felt +need which could be filled by giving instruction in a field in which +the material is organized and available, the opportunity of the school +is apparent. Not only courses in English, in the art of cooking, in +the principles of selection and preservation of food, but those +describing the peculiarities of the modern industrial urban community +as contrasted with the simple rural community, could be planned, +methods of instruction could be developed, and regular curricula could +be organized. + +There are, to be sure, certain inherent difficulties to be met in the +instruction of housewives. The old saying, "Man's work is from sun to +sun, but woman's work is never done," has been so long accepted as the +expression of the inevitable that it is difficult to persuade anyone, +most of all the housewife herself, that she can manage to give an +hour or two a day to learning something new. Her time seems never her +own, with tasks morning, afternoon, and night. + +Nor is it only a question of overwork. Undoubtedly careful planning is +uncommon, and the tradition that woman's place is in the home has its +effect. In fact, there is a vicious circle; she cannot study because +her housekeeping is too arduous, but it is so partly because she does +not take time to learn better ways of doing her work. + +There is, moreover, among most housewives, whether native or foreign +born, a certain complacency about housekeeping and bringing up +children. Housekeeping is supposed to come by nature, and few women of +any station in life are trained to be homemakers and mothers. If they +take any training it is generally designed to fit them to earn a +living only until they are married. They do not realize how useful +certain orderly instruction might be. + +Moreover, instruction for foreign-born housewives must include the +subjects needed for homemaking as well as English. Having survived the +first hard adjustments it is difficult to persuade the foreign-born +mother that she has any need for speaking English when housekeeping is +all that is expected of her. The situation is often complicated, too, +by her age at immigration and her lack of education in the old +country, which make her particularly ill-fitted for ordinary +classroom instruction. + +Besides these difficulties there are certain prejudices to be met. The +middle-aged woman does not wish to study English in classes with her +children of working age or others of their age. She dreads the +implication of this association. Many of the foreign-born mothers also +have a hesitancy about going into classes with men, as they feel a +mental inferiority, and many prefer not to be in classes with students +from other national groups. + +The most frequent criticism by immigrant leaders interviewed is the +inelasticity of the public-school methods. The classes are usually +held three or four nights a week, and no housewife should be expected +to leave home as often as that. The groups are composed of both men +and women and of all nationalities, disregarding well-known prejudices +that have already been mentioned. + +A more fundamental criticism than these has reference to the failure +to adopt or devise new methods of instruction for persons who cannot +read or write in their own language, and who have arrived at a period +in their lives when learning is extremely difficult. The classes are +often conducted in English by day-school teachers, who are accustomed +to teaching children and who are entirely unfamiliar with the +background of the immigrant woman and her special problems. + +There are reports also of the unwillingness of the school authorities +to relax formal requirements, with reference to the minimum number for +whom a class will be organized. Often it is necessary to "nurse the +class." In Chicago sixteen women have in the past been deprived of a +class because the Board of Education refused at the time to open the +schools to groups of less than twenty. + + +THE HOME TEACHER + +The home teacher in California is an interesting educational device, +of which much is to be expected. The Home Teacher Act, passed by the +state legislature April 10, 1915,[56] permits boards of school +trustees or city boards of education to employ one "home teacher" for +every five hundred or more units of average daily attendance. The home +teacher is + + to work in the homes of the pupils, instructing children and + adults in matters relating to school attendance and + preparation therefor, also in sanitation, in the English + language, in household duties, such as purchase, preparation, + and use of food and clothing, and in the fundamental + principles of the American system of government and the + rights and duties of citizenship. She is required to possess + the following qualifications: + + 1. A regular teacher's certificate under the State Education + Law. + + 2. Experience in teaching and in social work. + + 3. Good health. + + 4. Ability to speak the language of the largest group in the + district. + + 5. Complete loyalty to the principal of the school. + + 6. Tact and patience for a delicate task. + + 7. Ingenuity in adapting all circumstances to the main + purpose. + + 8. An incapacity for discouragement. + + 9. Comprehension of the reasons and objects of the work. + + 10. Finally, above all and through all, a sympathetic + attitude toward the people, which involves some knowledge of + the countries and conditions from which they came, and what + "America" has meant to them.[57] + +Her salary is paid from the city or from district special school +funds. + +The law authorizing the use of home teachers was enacted largely +through the efforts of the State Commission of Immigration and +Housing, and was from the first intended to be used for the benefit of +foreign-born families. The first experiments were financed by the +Commission of Immigration and Housing and by private organizations, +such as the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Council of +Jewish Women, and the Young Women's Christian Association. According +to the latest report[58] there are twenty official home teachers at +work in eight cities of the state. The Commission says of the purpose +of this plan: + + The interpretation of the need in California departs from + that conceived elsewhere. There have been so-called home + teachers in a dozen cities, of several Eastern states, for a + number of years, but their purpose is to do follow-up work + for absent, irregular, subnormal, or incorrigible children, + and they are more properly visiting teachers. The home + teacher, as we conceive her purpose, seeks not primarily the + special child--though that will often open the door to her + and afford her a quick opportunity for friendly help--but + _the home_ as such, and especially the mother who makes it. + This discrimination as to aim and purpose cannot be too much + emphasized, or too consistently maintained, for the care of + abnormal children, important as it is, can by no means take + the place of the endeavor to Americanize the _families_ of + the community.[59] + + +SETTLEMENT CLASSES + +The social settlements are in many cases situated in congested city +districts, and they have always dealt very directly with the family +groups in their neighborhood. Settlements have, in fact, probably more +than any other social agency, tried to become acquainted with the +Old-World background of their neighbors in order to establish friendly +relationships. The settlement ideal has included the preservation of +the dignity and self-esteem of the immigrant, while attempting to +modify his habits when necessary and giving him some preparation for +citizenship. + +[Illustration: LITHUANIAN MOTHERS HAVE COME TO A SETTLEMENT CLASS] + +Classes in English and Civics, mothers' clubs, and housekeeping +classes have been part of the contribution of the settlement to the +adjustment of family life. Seventeen settlements in Chicago, for +example, have conducted during the last year 36 clubs and classes of +this kind for non-English-speaking women. Among these there are 9 +English classes, 8 sewing classes, 10 cooking classes, and 9 mothers' +clubs, with varied programs. + +These classes have been conducted with a flexibility that is often +lacking in the public-school classes. They are usually held in the +daytime at the hour most convenient for the group concerned, and by +combining social features with instruction the interest of the women +is maintained longer than would otherwise be possible. + +Sometimes the classes are conducted in a foreign language, but they +are generally taught in English, occasionally with the assistance of +an interpreter. The classes are usually small, so that considerable +personal attention is possible. The season during which it seems +possible to hold such classes lasts from September or October until +June, and it seems necessary to expend considerable effort each year +in order to reorganize them. + +Trained domestic-science teachers are used for most of the cooking and +sewing classes. The English teachers and mothers' club leaders are, +however, usually residents in the settlement or other volunteers with +little training or experience in teaching adults. They often find it +quite difficult to hold the group together. Very valuable work is +done, however, especially in the cooking classes. Many such classes +were organized to teach conservation cooking; for instance, in an +Italian class, the women were taught the use of substitutes for wheat +that could be used in macaroni; in another the cooking teacher took +Italian recipes and tried to reproduce their flavors with American +products which are cheaper and more available than the Italian +articles. + +What is gained in flexibility may, of course, be counterbalanced by a +loss of unity. The settlement teaching lacks, on the whole, a unity +and organization that the public school should be better able to +provide. + + +CO-OPERATION OF AGENCIES + +Sometimes co-operation among several agencies may be advantageous in +meeting the various difficulties presented by the task of teaching +adult foreign-born women. Such co-operation was developed between the +Immigrants' Protective League of Chicago, the public schools, the +Chicago Woman's Club and the Women's Division of the Illinois Council +of Defense. + +The Board of Education of Chicago, in 1917, passed a resolution to the +effect that whenever twenty or more adults desired instruction in any +subject which would increase their value in citizenship, the school +would be opened and a trained teacher provided. The Immigrants' +Protective League then undertook to organize groups who would take +advantage of this opportunity and to keep the groups interested after +they had been organized. + +The Chicago Woman's Club and the Council of National Defense undertook +to supply kindergarten teachers to care for the children whose mothers +were in the class, and the Visiting Nurse Association supplied nurses +to examine the children, to advise mothers with reference to their +care, and to make home visits when the condition of the children +rendered this necessary. + +The League visitors made very definite efforts to organize campaigns +for acquainting the housewives of various neighborhoods with the +opportunity thus provided, and for persuading the women to "come out." +The services of the foreign-born visitors have been particularly +valuable in the work of organization. These visitors certainly put +forth valiant efforts in behalf of the plan. The Lithuanian and +Italian visitors, for example, made in three instances 40, 96, and 125 +calls before a class was organized, and even then less than twenty +enrolled for each class. They have found it necessary to make visits +in the homes of women whom they hoped to draw out, and have also used +posters, printed invitations, and advertisements in foreign-language +newspapers. Nor have their efforts ceased when the class was +organized. Often misunderstandings occur, the attendance begins to +dwindle, and great efforts must be made to discover the cause and to +bring back the members. + +The classes organized in this way have usually been small, composed of +housewives of a single national group. Considerable individual +attention is given the members of the class, and the foreign-speaking +visitors attend the classes so that they may interpret when necessary. + +The plan has been carried out, of course, on an extremely restricted +stage. The efforts have been limited almost entirely to English and +cooking classes, and instruction in other phases of household +management has been quite incidental. + +The teachers supplied by the Board of Education have not, of course, +always possessed social experience and training. The classes are +sometimes short lived. In the case of a Lithuanian cooking class, to +which the teacher came too late to give the lesson, or too weary to +give the lesson, it was necessary to reorganize the group. Where the +teachers change, the group will dwindle, and the efforts of the +visitor will have been substantially wasted. + +The subject matter is often poorly adapted to the needs and desires of +the foreign housewife. A new domestic-science teacher, for instance, +gave to a group of Lithuanian women seven consecutive lessons on pies, +cakes, and cookies, in spite of the organizer's request for lessons +on "plain cooking." At times, as has been pointed out, the teacher is +wholly ignorant as to the habits and tastes of the immigrant. There +is, sometimes, an ill-advised attempt to substitute American dishes +for foreign dishes instead of modifying or supplementing the +well-established and perfectly sound dietetic practices of the +foreign-born group. + +The Lithuanian visitor of the Immigrants' Protective League, in +speaking of the difficulties she had encountered in keeping together +the classes she organized for the public school, says she has often +been able to get together a group of women who want lessons in English +and in cooking. The plan has been to give cooking lessons in English. +The women have come, perhaps, three or four times. The first lesson +would teach the making of biscuits; perhaps the second dumplings; the +third sweet rolls. The teacher would be very busy with her cooking and +talk very little. Then the women would not come back. They did not +want to learn to make biscuits, about which they cared nothing; they +were busy women and were aware that they were not getting what they +wanted or needed. + + +INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTES + +Another specialized agency for work with the foreign-born groups is +the International Institute of the Young Women's Christian +Association. This association has attempted in a short period of time +to develop over a wide area this form of service, so that between the +spring of 1913 and March, 1919, there had been established 31 of these +organizations, most of them in industrial centers in different parts +of the United States. In general, their work, as outlined in the +After-War Program of the association, includes (1) a foreign-language +information office, (2) home visiting for newly arrived women and +girls, (3) case work in connection with legal difficulties, sickness, +and emergencies, and (4) work with groups, including organized classes +and informal gatherings. The last are to be especially designed for +women and girls unable or unwilling to attend night schools, and there +is to be a persistent urging upon the public school of the importance +of socialized methods in work for women. + +The use of foreign-language visitors is considered to be one of the +most important features of these undertakings. Although few of the +institutes have been able to secure enough workers to reach all the +language groups in the community, provision can usually be made for +the most numerous groups. Among the 18 replies to questionnaires sent +to these institutes only 4 show less than 3 languages spoken by +visitors, 10 have as many as 4 or more, and 4 have 8 or 9 languages. + +These 18 institutes employ 76 foreign-language visitors. Forty-six of +these are themselves foreign born. These visitors represent a great +variety in training and experience, but the institute secretaries +think that on the whole they are more valuable than native-born +visitors would be even if these native-born visitors were more highly +trained. The training of these particular visitors, while varied and +often apparently inadequate, is on the whole surprisingly good. +Fifteen of the 46 have had some college training; 3 have had +kindergarten training, and 4 nurses' training. Eight have had previous +case-work experience; 4 have lived in settlements. Eight have taken +training courses given by the association, varying from a few weeks to +several months at the national headquarters. A number have had +religious training of one kind or another, 2 in a school for +deaconesses, 12 as prospective missionaries, and 1 in a theological +seminary. + +The 18 International Institutes report the establishment of 134 clubs +or classes in which married women are members, having an enrollment of +894 foreign-born married women. The subject most generally taught is +English. Among 134 clubs and classes, 101 are organized exclusively +for the teaching of English, and 7 others combine English with cooking +or sewing. + +Some attempt is made to teach housekeeping in classes. Ten of these +are organized for cooking or sewing, 7 for English and cooking or +sewing, and there are 13 mothers' clubs with subjects of such general +interest as health, the care of children, and home nursing. In +addition to the organized clubs and classes, most of the institutes +have given lectures in foreign languages to larger groups of women +subjects such as "Women and the War," "Liberty Bonds," "Thrift," "Food +Conservation," "Personal and Social Hygiene," "The Buying of +Materials," and "What the English Language Can Do for You." + +Most classes are composed of a single national group, but classes are +reported in which there are Polish and Ruthenian, Slovak and Polish, +Greek and Lithuanian, Armenian and French, and Portuguese, Magyar and +Slovak, and "mixed" nationalities. English is used in practically all +classes which are primarily for the teaching of English. Fourteen of +the institutes, however, have foreign-speaking workers to interpret +whenever the women do not understand the teacher. In answer to the +question as to the success of the institute in connecting married +women with classes in public evening schools, three reply that they +have had no success because the public schools do not use +foreign-speaking workers and the women cannot understand the teachers +who speak only English. + +The institutes conduct vigorous campaigns to acquaint the mothers with +their work, using posters, printed invitations, announcements at +schools, notices in foreign papers, and particularly home visits by +foreign-speaking workers. + +With regard to home visiting it appears that there has not yet been time +to work out a program for the teaching of improved standards of +housekeeping, personal hygiene, and proper diet. The institutes, +however, lend their foreign-speaking visitors as interpreters to other +agencies organized for particular phases of work in the home, such as +Visiting Nurse associations, Infant Welfare societies, Anti-Tuberculosis +societies, and Charity Organization societies. + +A very real effort is often made to reconcile foreign-born mothers and +Americanized daughters. Those responsible for some of the institutes +realize very keenly the significance of the problem, and impress upon +the children they meet their great interest in the Old-World +background of the parents, their appreciation of the mother's being +able to speak another language besides English, their pleasure in +old-country dances, costumes, and songs. They try in every way +possible to maintain the respect of the daughter for her foreign-born +mother. In home visits they try also to explain to the mother the +freedom granted to American girls, the purpose of the clubs for +girls, and the need for learning English themselves to lessen their +dependence upon the children. + + +TRAINING FOR SERVICE + +It is obvious that the efficiency of the work of these various +organizations can rise no higher than the level of efficiency and +training of the workers available for such service. It is, therefore, +most important that the materials necessary for the rendering of these +services be made available at the earliest possible moment. Such +materials include compilations of data with reference to the different +groups, courses of study developed so as to meet the needs and +educational possibilities of the women, devices such as pictures, +slides, charts, films, for getting and holding attention of persons +unused to study, often weary and overstrained and lacking confidence +in their own power to learn. + +It is also clear from the experiences of these various agencies that, +while giving this instruction is essentially an educational problem, +it is for the time so intimately connected with the whole question of +understanding the needs of the housewife in the different foreign-born +groups, of developing a method of approach and of organization, and of +trying out methods of instruction as well as experimenting with +different bodies of material, that for some time to come +experimentation and research should be fostered at many points. + +There should, for example, be accumulated a much larger body of +knowledge than is now available with reference to the agencies +existing among the foreign-born groups in the various communities from +whom co-operation could be expected; there should be a much more exact +body of fact as to the needs of the various groups of women; at the +earliest possible moment the material available with reference to +these household problems, child care, hygiene and sanitation, +distribution of family income, should be put into form available for +use by the home teacher, the class teacher, the extension workers, and +the woman's club organization. In the Appendix are some menus of four +immigrant groups, which illustrate the kind of material which would be +useful. + +By stipends and scholarships promising younger members from among the +foreign-born groups should be encouraged to qualify as home teachers +and as classroom and extension instructors in these fields. This would +often mean giving opportunity for further general education as +preliminary to the professional training, for many young persons +admirably adapted to the work come from families too poor to afford +the necessary time at school. Scholarships providing for an adequate +preparation available to members of the larger groups in any +community, would give a very great incentive to interest in the +problem and to further understanding of its importance on the part of +the whole group. + +In addition to scholarships enabling young persons to take courses of +considerable length, there might be stipends enabling older women of +judgment and experience to qualify for certain forms of service by +shorter courses. Those who can speak enough English could take +advantage of certain short courses already offered by the schools of +social work. Others who do not speak English could be enabled to learn +enough English and at the same time to learn to carry on certain forms +of service under direction. + +As has been suggested, lack of resources in face of an enormous volume +of educational work is one factor in this lack of teachers trained to +meet the needs of women in the foreign-born groups and of material +adapted to their class or home instruction. The question, then, has +been raised as to whether the supply both of teachers and of material +could be increased and whether, if these resources were available, +they would be utilized by the great national administrative agencies +to which reference has been made. + +The following plan has been approved as thoroughly practicable by +leading officers and members of the American Home Economics +Association, including several heads of departments of home economics +in the state colleges, by other educators interested in the field of +home economics, as well as by representatives of the States Relations +Service, the Bureau of Home Economics Department in the United States +Department of Agriculture, the Federal Board of Vocational Education, +and the Home Economics Division of the United States Bureau of +Education. The unanimous judgment of those consulted is that if such a +plan could be carried out for the space of three years, the Federal +service would be vivified and enriched and the educational +institutions enabled to develop training methods from which a +continuous supply of teachers and teaching material could be expected. + + +OUTLINE OF PLAN + + I. Creation of committee composed of officers of American + Home Economics Association, representatives from the United + States Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Home Economics, + the States Relations Service, the Home Economics Division of + the United States Bureau of Education, the heads of + departments of home economics in the state colleges, the + technical schools and teacher-training schools, Federal Board + for Vocational Education. + + II. Increasing supply of teachers and teaching material. + + 1. Provision for assembling material in food, household + management, including expenditures, and child care, + particularly, and adapting this material to the needs of the + members of the different foreign-born groups, by supplying + salaries for two persons experienced in teaching, who would + devote themselves to the preparation of classroom material, + leaflets, charts, etc.--$2,400 + $4,800 + + 2. The granting of stipends to graduate students who would + work at institutions approved by the committee and who would + do practice teaching with such groups. In the assignment + both of the stipends and of the institutional patronage, the + interests of both urban and rural women would be taken into + account by supplying scholarships for ten graduate students + to teach under supervision and to assemble material under + direction, these to be awarded by the committee with due + regard to needs of rural and urban women--$750 + $7,500 + + 3. Securing the services of several highly skilled + home-economics teachers, under whose supervision the + practice teaching, and the preparation of these students + would be carried on, and developing through advice teaching + centers for the use of such material wherever possible, by + supplying salaries for four persons to supervise and direct + teaching--$4,000 + $16,000 + + 4. Securing teachers who are experienced housewives, who + with short courses might assume certain teaching functions, + supplying stipends, $75 a month for four months ($300) for + fifty women who, selected under rules drawn up by the + committee, would take short training courses, to be + organized under the direction of individuals or departments + or institutions approved by the committee + $15,000 + + III. There would, of course, be necessary a director of the + work, who could be either one of the salaried teachers chosen + as leader or an executive secretary. In any case clerical + expenses and the costs of certain items incident to the + instruction would be required. + + The experiment should be assured for a term of three years. + +The problem can be dealt with adequately only by state-wide and +nation-wide agencies, and should as soon as possible be taken over by +nonsectarian educational agencies. But the public-school system is at +present wholly without the equipment necessary for the performance of +these functions. It is not only not national; it is in many states not +even state-wide in its supervision and standards. In Illinois, for +example, the school district is the unit, and until a board was +created in 1919 to deal with the problems of vocational training, the +control exercised by the state was negligible. + +The situation in an Illinois mining town illustrates the waste +resulting from treating these questions as local questions. The town +referred to is a mining town, lying partly in one and partly in +another county. The only public school available is in one county, and +it is said to be overcrowded. The road from a settlement in the other +county to the school is said to be impassable all winter or in bad +weather. It leads over a mine switch that is dangerous as well. + +The parents complained that the small children could not go so far, +that there were no play facilities, that the location was secluded, so +that it was dangerous for girls, that the term was too short, and that +the attendance of the children seems unimportant to the school +authorities. As the community was almost altogether Italian, the +parents would have preferred a woman teacher for the girls over ten or +twelve years of age. A more intelligent and a more incisive indictment +of an educational situation than this criticism expressed by the +Italian families in this remote mining community could hardly have +been drawn. + +It is inevitable that similar dark spots should continue, so long as +no central agency is responsible for the maintenance of a minimum +opportunity everywhere. Of course it is not to be expected that those +jurisdictions that so neglect the children will care for the adult. +Many states have the central agency that could take over the work. And +there exist Federal agencies able with enlarged resources to adapt +their work to meet many of these needs. The United States Children's +Bureau has published bulletins in simple form containing such +information as every woman should have concerning the care of mothers +and young children. Only the lack of resources has kept that bureau +from undertaking to bring these facts to the knowledge of all mothers, +including the foreign born.[60] + + +HOME ECONOMICS WORK + +In the so-called States Relations Service of the Department of +Agriculture, established under the Smith-Lever Act,[61] and in the +Federal Board for Vocational Education, there are agencies which, if +developed, can establish national standards in these fields and do +work of national scope. These acts constitute, in fact, so important a +step in the direction of nationalization of these problems that items +in the statutes creating them may be of interest here. + +The first of these Acts provides for co-operative effort on the part +of the United States Department of Agriculture and the state +agricultural colleges. There is an agency provided to "diffuse among +the people of the United States useful and practical information on +subjects relating to agriculture and home economics, and to encourage +the application of the same." This Act refers especially to the needs +of the rural population, and the work done under it consists of +instruction and practical demonstration in agriculture and home +economics to persons not attending or resident in the agricultural +colleges. + +The methods should be such as are agreed on by the Secretary of +Agriculture and the officials of the state colleges benefiting under +the earlier Act of 1862.[62] To carry out this co-operative effort, an +appropriation was provided, beginning at $480,000--$10,000 for each +state--and increasing first by $60,000 and then by $500,000 annually, +until after seven years a total of $4,500,000 was reached, the +increase to be distributed among the states in proportion to their +rural population. + +By the Smith-Hughes Act of February 22, 1917, both teachers and +supervisors, as well as training for teachers and supervisors in the +fields of agriculture, home economics, industrial and trade subjects, +were provided.[63] The Federal Board for Vocational Education +consisted of the Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, and Labor, the +United States Commissioner of Education, and three citizens appointed +for terms of three years, at $5,000 a year. One of these three is to +represent the agricultural interests, one the manufacturing interests, +and one labor. + +The board was given power to make studies, among other subjects, of +home management and domestic science. While instruction under the +first of these Acts may be given by means of home demonstrations, it +is limited under the second Act to such as can be given in schools and +classes. + +This Act provides for co-operative effort between the Federal +government and the states. The large sum of $200,000 for the support +of the board, and considerable sums for certain minimum contingencies, +were appropriated. Major appropriations were provided for, beginning +with $500,000 for paying salaries for teachers and supervisors in +agriculture, and increasing by $250,000 until the sum of $3,000,000 +was reached, to be distributed in proportion to rural population +among the states on condition that the states take appropriate action +consenting to the Act and appropriating dollar for dollar (Section 2). + +A similar appropriation was provided for the teaching of trade, home +economics, and industrial subjects, beginning with $500,000, +increasing by $250,000 annually, until the amount of $3,000,000 was +reached, this to be appropriated in proportion to the urban population +in the various states. Certain minima were prescribed, and it was laid +down that not more than 20 per cent of the amount allotted for +salaries should go to teachers of home economics (Section 3). No part +of the appropriation is to pay for buildings or for work done in +private institutions (Section 11). + +In the same manner as in the earlier Act an initial appropriation of +$500,000 was made toward meeting the cost of training teachers and +supervisors in agricultural trade, home economics, and industrial +subjects, these to increase by installments of $200,000 and then by +$100,000, until $1,000,000 was reached, to be distributed among the +states in proportion to population. Certain conditions were prescribed +as to the action to be taken by the states, and the appropriation by +the state of "dollar for dollar" toward the training of these persons +was required. + +Questionnaires regarding the application of their work to the needs of +foreign-born groups were sent to the State Supervisors of Home +Economics functioning under these Acts, but few replies were received. +In general, the replies indicate that the work has in many cases not +been extended to meet the needs of foreign-born housewives. A few +replies, however, are illustrative of what might be done with +increased resources and effective interest on the part of the state +and of the local community. From Lake Village, Arkansas, came the +following graphic account of the work of the home demonstration agent: + + I was very much interested in having you write to me + concerning the work with the Italian women in Chicot County. + When I first came into the county I was entirely + inexperienced as far as this kind of work goes, but in time I + saw that the Italians needed help and I wanted to give them + what they needed most. + + I became acquainted with the Catholic priest, as he was an + Italian and could help me in talking and becoming acquainted + with the people. The priest proved to be a very interesting + man and helped me very much. In a short time I learned to + speak a few words of Italian, which pleased the people very + much. They seemed to feel that I was their friend, and + wherever I saw a dusky face in town or country I would greet + them with the words, "_Como stati_," which is to say, "How + goes it?" or, "How are you?" and I would be answered with an + engulfing grin and a flow of jargon, not a word of which I + could understand, but with smiles and nods I would go on, + having won a friend. + + The first work I did among the Italians was to go into their + homes and look at their gardens, show them how to prune + their tomato plants, dry their fruit and vegetables, can + their tomatoes and beans, and bathe their babies. Not long + after there were sewing and "cootie"-removing demonstrations, + as well as removing head lice and care of heads and bodies + taught with actual demonstrations. + + All of my work has been taken with the most cordial attitude, + and the methods have been adopted and used. This year I hope + to have more work done among them than last, on the same line + and others. + + They now come to me when they are in trouble or in need of + help, and this makes me feel that they consider this office + is their friend, not a graft or money-making concern. + +In Akron, Ohio, a home demonstration agent, under the Department of +Agriculture and the Ohio State University Home Economics Department, +has been definitely attached to a public school in Akron's most +foreign-born district. Her special project is home demonstration work +with foreign-born women, and each lesson is a lesson in English as +well. The worker hopes to have an apartment equipped as a plain but +attractive home, where all this work can be done. + +The home supervisor in Massachusetts reports that the state-aided, +evening practical arts classes have offered instruction to groups of +foreign-born women in Fall River and in Lowell. In Fall River there +were classes in cooking and canning for French women, and classes in +home nursing for a Portuguese group. In Lowell there were classes in +cooking for Polish women, and classes in cooking and dressmaking for +Greek women. These classes were conducted by foreign-speaking +teachers, with the help of interpreters. + +The work of the Syracuse Home Bureau included four projects: (1) +Garden project, (2) Nutrition project, (3) Clothing project, and (4) +Publicity project. The outline of the work under (2) and (3) is given +below: + + NUTRITION PROJECT + + 1. _Home Demonstration Work._ In co-operation with the + Associated Churches and Charities--United Jewish Charities + and School Centers--the agent goes into the home, making + herself a friend of the family, taking necessary supplies + with her, but using whatever utensils the housewife may have. + She demonstrates simple, nourishing, economical foods, + teaches the proper feeding of children, etc. She also + suggests food budgets and plans their use. The leader of the + organizations reports that much is being accomplished with + families which otherwise could not be reached. Help with + clothing work is also given sometimes. + + 2. _Group Demonstrations._ In co-operation with the + Americanization work and churches, where this seems + desirable, to groups of women. + + 3. _Class Work in Cookery._ In co-operation with units from + the Girls' Patriotic League, International Institute, and + factories. + + 4. _Education in Food Values._ Talks have been given at + various schools in regard to proper luncheons and menus + submitted to assist in this work. Conferences have been held + with Y. W. C. A. manager in regard to luncheon combinations. + Menus for the week, with grocery order, have been submitted + for the use of social workers. Aid is being given in planning + the meals for undernourished children at a special school. + Talks are to be given to the children. + + 5. _Home Bureau Day._ Friday afternoon is "at home" day for + members and their friends at the Thrift Kitchen. Talks or + demonstrations are given each week, and an exhibit in the + window during the week corresponds with the subject. + + 6. _Classes for Volunteer Aids._ Classes for volunteer aids + are being formed. These are to be two types. One class for + experienced housewives, to deal particularly with the problem + of presentation, and another class for college girls, to give + them the simple principles of food values and preparation, + taking up at the same time the method of presentation. It is + hoped to use these aids particularly in the home + demonstration work, which is already developing beyond the + capacity of the trained workers. + + 7. _General Use of the Thrift Kitchen._ The kitchen is + engaged by various church committees to do cooking in large + quantities for church suppers. Various organizations use it + to prepare special foods for institutions. We are encouraging + the use of the kitchen by any individual or organization for + any purpose. The only charge is for the gas used, besides a + nominal charge of five cents for the use of the kitchen. The + work is done under the supervision of one of the agents. + + CLOTHING PROJECT + + 1. _Sewing Classes._ In co-operation with units from the + Girls' Patriotic League, International Institute, and + factories. A sewing unit often follows a cooking unit with + the same group. + + 2. _Sewing Demonstrations._ These are being given at some of + the home demonstrations, as the need arises. + + 3. _Millinery Classes._ In co-operation with the Girls' + Patriotic League, International Institute, and factories. + + 4. _Millinery Demonstrations_ are being held for mothers' + clubs connected with the church, and home demonstrations are + given when needed. + +The Rolling Prairie community mentioned above, too, benefited from a +co-operative "County Project" work undertaken in 1913-14, under the +supervision of Purdue University. A course given during the year in +the rural schools was continued during the summer, open to all +children over ten and required of graduates from the eighth grade. The +County Superintendent of Schools, the County Agent under the +university (States Relations Service) and County Board of Trustees (La +Porte County) sent teachers into all parts of the county teaching the +boys farming, stock raising, and gardening, and the girls canning, +sewing, bread making, cooking vegetables, and laundry work, or if they +preferred, gardening. The teacher gave an hour and a half every ten +days at the home of each child. + +At the end of the summer there were exhibits and prizes in the shape +of visits to the state fair, to the university, to Washington, or to +the stock show in Chicago. The Polish children who took prizes and who +went to the university (some of them had never been on a train) became +enthusiastic about going to high school and college, and some are +going to high school. The fact that they took prizes interested the +whole group, and the experiment affected the agricultural and domestic +practices of the community. The sad ending to the story is that the +township trustees have never been willing to assume again the expense +of the teachers' salaries, but the possibilities in the co-operative +method are evident. + +The States Relations Service and the work of the Federal Board for +Vocational Education are based on the so-called principles of the +"grant in aid," which gives promise of both developing and encouraging +local initiative and of obtaining "national minima" of skill and +efficiency. Certainly the lack of any national body and often the lack +of any state machinery with power to encourage local action and with +facilities for gathering and comparing data, reduced the rate at which +progress is made. For example, the device of the home teacher planned +by the California Commission on Immigration and Housing, was only +slowly taken over by the education authorities of California. + + +GOVERNMENT GRANTS IN ENGLAND + +The experience of the English Board of Education may be noticed in +this connection. Owing to the interest in national vigor aroused by +the rejection of recruits during the Boer War, England took steps to +provide food for the underfed school children and medical supervision +of the health of the school children. This resulted in the +accumulation of a great body of evidence showing the need of +improvement in the conditions and household management in the homes +from which these children came. Both schools for mothers and infant +classes have been recognized as appropriate extensions of the work of +the education authority, and the national character of the problem +has been embodied in provision for the grant in aid.[64] + +The conditions on which grants to schools for mothers and infant +classes are made, set a standard for those communities desiring help +from the central authority, and furnish a basis of judgment as to the +work of any local authority. Those conditions are stated as follows: + + A school for mothers is primarily an educational institution, + providing training and instruction for the mother in the care + and management of infants and little children. The imparting + of such instruction may include: + + (_a_) Systematic classes. + + (_b_) Home visiting. + + (_c_) Infant consultations. + + The provision of specific medical and surgical advice and + treatment (if any) should be only incidental. + + (_d_) The Board of Education will pay grants in respect of + schools for mothers, as defined in Article II of their + Regulations for the year 1914-15, subject to the following + qualifications: + + (I) That an institution will not be recognized as a school + for mothers unless collective instruction by means of + systematic classes forms an integral part of its work; + + (II) That grant will only be paid in respect of "infant + consultations," which are provided for women attending a + school for mothers; + + (III) That grant will only be paid in respect of expenditure + on "home visiting" of children registered at a school for + mothers if neither the sanitary authority nor County Council + undertake to arrange for such visiting; + + (IV) The fact that a school for mothers receives a grant or + assistance from a sanitary authority (or a County Council) or + its offices will not disqualify it from receiving a grant + from the Board of Education. + +Thus the institutions included under the title "schools for mothers" +have for their main object the reduction of infant sickness and +mortality by means of the education of the mothers. They train the +mother to keep her baby in good health through a common-sense +application of the ordinary laws of hygiene. The training may be given +by means of personal advice from doctor or nurse to individual +mothers, by home visiting, and by means of collective teaching and +systematic classes.[65] It is necessary to distinguish these "schools +for mothers," which were educational, from the maternity centers +maintained by the Local Government Board, intended to provide prenatal +care of expectant mothers. + +During the year 1917-18, two hundred and eighty-six such schools for +mothers received aid from the central authority. The work of +representative schools, as described in the medical officer's +report,[66] includes instruction in hygiene, principles of feeding, +needlework, and boot repairing. + +In the same way the infant classes or nursery schools are to be +distinguished both from day nurseries which may, if they comply with +stated conditions, receive grants, and from infant consultations.[67] +It is interesting to note that these items in the educational program +are closely related to the plan under which _Mothercraft_ is taught to +(1) the older girls in the public elementary schools, and (2) the +girls between fourteen and eighteen in the secondary and continuation +schools. Under the stimulus of the possible grant in aid from the +central authority and of the supervision and advice of the central +authority, this work is developed by the local authority. The day +nursery or infant class is made to serve the purpose of training the +older girl as well as of training and care of the young child. + +The argument here is not affected by the fact that under the recent +Act providing for a Ministry of Health, these functions are +surrendered by the education authority to the New Ministry of Health, +as are those of the Local Government Board. Certain functions remain +educational, and must develop in accordance with educational +principles. Others are sanitary and call for inspection and +supervision. + + +THE LESSON FOR THE UNITED STATES + +It is not suggested that the development in the United States be +identical with that in England. It is true that there are two +specialized agencies referred to under which such work could be +developed. Should a United States Department of Education or of Health +be created, conceivably such functions could be assumed by either; and +it is most interesting to notice that, with reference to this very +problem, the method is already recognized as important and embodied in +the educational program of the state of Massachusetts. Under a statute +enacted in 1919,[68] the State Board of Education is authorized to +co-operate with cities and towns in promoting and providing for the +education of persons over twenty-one years of age "unable to speak, +read, and write the English language." + +The subjects to be taught in the English language are the fundamental +principles of government and such other subjects adapted to fit the +scholars for American citizenship as receive the joint approval of the +local school committee and the State Board of Education. The classes +may be held not only in public-school buildings, but in industrial +plants and other places approved by the local school committee and the +board. In the words of the Supervisor of Americanization,[69] "this +provides for ... day classes for women meeting at any place during +any time in the day. The establishment of such classes is especially +urged." + +The development of the Federal agencies will probably be most +efficiently stimulated if a considerable amount of such work is +attempted by local authorities and such social agencies as have been +described. If not only local educational bodies, but schools for +social work, organizations like the Immigrants' Protective League and +the Department of Home Economics, the State Immigration Commissions, +and the Young Women's Christian Association, could train efficient +visitors, prepare and try out lesson sheets on the essential topics, +and develop teaching methods, the different branches of the Federal +service would undoubtedly be able to avail themselves of such material +and of such personnel as would be supplied in this way.[70] The plan +outlined earlier in the chapter for educational work for foreign-born +women would be a step in this direction. + + +MOTHERS' ASSISTANTS + +Attention has been called to the fact that many housewives, either +because the husband's income is inadequate or because their standard +of family needs is relatively high, or because there is some special +family object to be attained, become wage earners and are away from +their home during the hours of the working day. The devices used by +these mothers for the care of the family during their absence have +been described. The previous discussion has also made clear the fact +that for many women of limited income who do not attempt wage earning, +the task of bearing children and of caring for the home is too heavy, +especially during the time when the children are coming one after the +other in fairly rapid succession. + +The visiting nurse may help in time of illness; the midwife may come +in for a few days immediately after the child is born; the man may be +very handy and helpful; the older girl or boy may stay at home from +school; but it is evident that some agency should be devised for +rendering additional assistance to such mothers. The day nursery +suggests itself, and its possibilities are easily understood; but it +is an agency that has been developed in response to the demand of +married women for the chance to supplement the husband's earnings, or +of widows and deserted women to assume the place of breadwinner. + +For the kind of assistance we have in mind, some such agency as the +mother's helper, proposed by the English Women's Co-operative Guild, +is suggested. This proposal was developed as an item in a program for +adequate maternity care, but has been extended in its application so +as to include all women who are attempting to carry the burden we have +described. It expresses the widening recognition that the volume of +tasks expected of the housewife as mother and caretaker is greater +than one woman can be expected to perform. It rests also on the +conviction that such assistance is professional in character and +should be standardized in skill. + +Experiments in this field might well be undertaken by the same +agencies that attempt to receive and introduce the newly arrived +groups, and as rapidly as the method becomes established the functions +could be taken over by the appropriate specialized agency, whether +public or private.[71] For example, the two following recommendations +recently offered by official bodies in England illustrate the need to +which we are calling attention. The first is taken from a memorandum +prepared at the request and for the consideration of the Women's +Employment Committee. + + HOME HELPS + + Closely linked with the problem of skilled midwifery, care of + the working mother is the problem of arrangement for her + domestic life during her disablement. + + In the _Home Helps Society_ a movement has been inaugurated + which, if widely extended on the right lines for clearly + subsidiary purposes, would prove of incalculable benefit to + working mothers, and so to the general community. The scheme + provides, on a contributory basis, the assistance of trained + domestic helpers for women who are incapacitated, especially + in illness or childbirth, from attending to the normal duties + of the home. A Jewish society has been in existence for + twenty years to meet the needs of poor Jewesses in the East + End of London, but the general scheme came into existence + under the Central Committee for Employment of Women to + provide employment for women who have been thrown out of work + owing to the war. Three months is considered an average + period of training, but a shorter time is sanctioned in + special cases. The women are trained under supervision in the + homes of families and in certain approved institutions. In + the Jewish society no special period of training is demanded. + If a candidate is competent upon appointment she is sent out + at once. In Birmingham similar help is afforded by what is + known as the "nine days'" nursing scheme, and Sheffield has a + provision for a municipal allowance to a mother needing such + help in a special degree. North Islington Maternity Center + has a local scheme for home helps, managed by a subcommittee. + Encouragement has been given to these schemes by the + sympathetic interest in them of the medical women acting for + the London County Council as inspectors, under the Midwives' + Act. Similar arrangements have been proposed in various parts + of the country. + +The second is from the Report of the Women's Advisory Committee of the +Ministry of Reconstruction on the Domestic Service Problem. + + SUBCOMMITTEE ON HOME HELPS + + After meeting several times this committee came to the + conclusion that, in the light of the evidence that had been + given before them, it was not advisable for them to proceed + further without reference to the committee which was dealing + with the question of subsidiary health and kindred services, + as the question of the provision of Home Helps intimately + affected that committee also. + + The committee on Home Helps passed the following resolution: + + That with a view to preventing sickness which is caused by + the unavoidable neglect of children in their home, the Local + Government Board should be asked to remove the restriction + which at present confines the provision of Home Helps to + maternity cases, and to extend the scope of the board's grant + for the provision of such assistance in any home where, in + the opinion of the local authority, it is necessary in the + interests of the children that it should be given, and agreed + that if the Subsidiary Health and Kindred Services Committee + were prepared to adopt it in their report it would be + undesirable to continue their own sittings. + + The resolution was adopted by that committee, and the Home + Helps' Committee was dissolved. + + We are not unconscious of the great need that exists for + further preventive measures in connection with health + services, more especially as regards children, and we think + that the question of Home Helps must first be explored in + this connection. We are of the opinion, however, that as + regards help with domestic work, the position of the wives of + professional men with small incomes, and of the large army of + men of moderate means who are engaged in commerce and + industry is becoming critical, and that some form of + municipal service might help to solve this most difficult + problem. + + +RECREATIONAL AGENCIES + +The public parks, playgrounds, and recreation centers, and the social +settlements, constitute the main community provision for the social +and recreational activities of immigrant groups living in the +congested sections of industrial cities. Certain problems in the +adaptation of the services and resources of such agencies to the needs +of an immigrant neighborhood have been brought out in our +consultation with representative men and women from various +nationalities living in different sections of Chicago. + +The history of Dvorak Park may serve to indicate the nature of some of +these problems. Established when the population of the district it was +designed to serve was almost exclusively Bohemian, this small park was +given its distinctively Bohemian name, and the district chosen was +Bohemian. It became at once a popular recreation center for the +neighborhood, as the facilities provided in the playground and field +house were admirably suited to the needs of the people. Representative +men and women who have kept in touch with the later immigrants of +their nationality speak with greatest enthusiasm of the value of the +park to the Bohemian community. Its services in relieving the monotony +of the lives of immigrant women, and especially of mothers of large +families, is noteworthy. + +For those to whom it is accessible it provides a type of entertainment +which they really enjoy. It is said, in fact, that women who begin +going to the park take a new interest in life. The moving pictures are +especially popular. The director, a man thoroughly familiar with the +lives of the families of the settlement, has sought to adapt the +service of the park to their needs. Special entertainments for women +with little children are given in the afternoon while older children +are in school, and mothers are encouraged to bring the babies. Mothers +who have begun going to the park themselves feel greater security in +allowing the older boys and girls to go to the evening entertainments +and dances because they learn that there is trustworthy supervision. + +During the last few years, however, there has been a great change in +the character of the neighborhood surrounding Dvorak Park. Bohemians +have moved away, and their places have been taken by Serbo-Croatians. +The newcomers have found churches, schools, and public halls +established by the Bohemian people, and the impression has gone out +that the public park also is a national recreation center for +Bohemians. No criticism of the management of the park has been made by +leaders among the Croatians, who believe the director has earnestly +sought to meet the requirements of the two groups impartially, +frequently asking the advice and co-operation of well-known Croatian +men and women. They do feel that it is unfortunate that the popular +idea that the place is intended for Bohemians only is too deep to be +easily eradicated. + +In Chicago some of the older immigrant groups have made provisions for +their recreational needs by building national halls, auditoriums, and +theaters; and in groups representing later immigration, funds are +being raised for the same purpose. In many instances it is admitted +that the public recreation centers in the immediate vicinity of the +settlement afford adequate space and facilities for the requirements +of the group. The reasons given for failure to take advantage of such +opportunities or for duplicating such splendid community resources are +varied. When analyzed, they are on the whole indicative of +shortcomings in park management, which might be overcome if park +supervision could be made a real community function. + +In a Polish district, for instance, the people in the vicinity of one +of the most completely equipped parks in the city have come to regard +it with suspicion as the source of a type of Americanization +propaganda too suggestive of the Prussians they have sought to escape. +In a Lithuanian district, officers of societies which make use of +clubrooms in the recreation centers say they prefer the rooms to any +they can rent in the vicinity, but they often feel in the way and that +their use of the building entails more work than attendants are +willing to give. The Lithuanians, too, speak of feeling out of place +in the parks. There has been little evidence that in any section of +the city people of foreign birth feel that as community centers these +parks are in a sense their own. + +The social settlement, which shares with public recreation centers the +functions of providing for the social life and recreation of immigrant +communities, is confronted by many of the same problems, often +rendered the more difficult from the fact that it is usually regarded +as even more alien to the life of the group than the park, and its +purposes are less understood. Members of Polish, Lithuanian, Italian, +and Ukrainian groups, who have expressed their own appreciation of the +aims of the social settlement, and the highest personal regard for +settlement residents whom they have known, believe that the "American" +settlement can never reach the masses of people most in need of the +type of service it offers. Repression under autocratic government in +Europe and exploitation in America have made them suspicious, and they +are apt to avoid whatever they cannot understand. + +It is believed that these types of service, undertaken with a more +thorough knowledge of the point of view of the immigrant and with the +indorsement and co-operation of recognized leaders of the groups to be +served, would much more nearly meet the needs of the people least able +to adjust themselves to the new situations. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[53] See Abbott, _The Immigrant and the Community_, chap. i; _Report +of the Massachusetts Immigration Commission_, 1914; _Reports of the +Immigrants' Protective League of Chicago_. + +[54] As is contemplated in the Act creating the New York Bureau of +Immigration and Industry. See Birdseye, Cummin's and Gilbert's +_Consolidated Laws of New York Supplement, 1913_, vol. ii, p. 1589, +sec. 153; and _Laws of 1915_, chap. 674, sec. 7, vol. iii, p. 2271. + +[55] See Frank V. Thompson, _Schooling of the Immigrant_. + +[56] _Statutes of California, 1915_, chap. xxxvii. The home teacher +should not be confused with the visiting teacher; a device in social +case work. + +[57] _A Manual for Home Teachers_ (published by the State Commission +of Immigration and Housing), 1919, p. 13. + +[58] _Ibid._, p. 19. + +[59] _A Manual for Home Teachers_, 1919, p. 8. + +[60] See also Report of the Children's Bureau on "Children's Year" and +"Back to School Drive." + +[61] 38 U. S. Statutes at Large, p. 372 (May 8, 1914). + +[62] The so-called "Land Grant" colleges (1862). 12 U. S. Statutes at +Large, p. 503. + +[63] 39 Statutes at Large, p. 929. + +[64] See Report of the Chief Medical Officer of the Board of Education +for 1910 (Cd. 4986). See also Education (Provision of Meals Act, +1906), L. R. 6, Ed. 7, chap. lvii, widened in 1914 to include holidays +as well as school days, and enlarging the discretion of the +authorities as to the purpose. See also L. R. 7, Ed. 7, chap. xliii, +an Act to make provision for the better administration by the central +and local authorities ... of the enactments relating to education. + +[65] Reports of Commissioners of Education, 1914-16, pp. 29-31. + +[66] _Annual Report of the Board of Education_, 1917, pp. 12-13. + +[67] _Annual Report of the Board of Education_, 1917, pp. 10-12. + +[68] Acts of 1919, chap. 295. + +[69] Mr. John J. Mahoney, see _Americanization Letter, No. 1_, +September 11, 1919, Department of University Extension, Massachusetts +Board of Education. + +[70] See _First Annual Report of the Massachusetts Bureau of +Immigration_, p. 38. + +[71] _Memorandum on Subsidiary Health and Kindred Services for Women_, +prepared by Miss A. M. Anderson, C. B. E., p. 5. + + + + +IX + +FAMILY CASE WORK + + +The discussion up to this point has dealt with the family which has +not fallen into distress. It has been confined to problems of +adjustment. But there are numerous families which fall into distress +and need the services of the social case-work agency. Because of +limitations of space and because the principles applying to their care +and treatment apply to other kinds of service, the following +discussion will treat only of agencies concerned with the care of +immigrant families in need of material aid. Of the 8,529 families +cared for by the Cook County agent, 6,226 were from the foreign +groups, and of the 569 under care by the Cook County Juvenile Court in +its Funds to Parents' Department, 386 were foreign born.[72] + +Attention is called, however, to the fact that the special application +to the care of foreign-born families of the principles supposed to +guide the conduct of good agencies in their care of any family calls +for the elaboration of much more skillful devices and for much more +extensive and closely knit organization than has yet been developed. +This chapter deals only with these special applications of general +case-work principles. + +The principles of care in any case of need are: (1) That such care +shall be based on adequate understanding of the immediate individual +problem; (2) that it shall be adapted to the special need; (3) that it +shall look toward the restoration of the family to its normal status; +and (4) that treatment, whether in the form of relief or service, +shall be accompanied by friendly and educational supervision and +co-operation. + +These are no simple tasks when the family is English speaking, native +born, and when no particular difficulties arise from difference in +language and in general domestic and social habits. With the +non-English-speaking family, the agency is faced with difficulties at +each of these points. There is first the problem of getting at the +facts as to the nature and extent of the distress and the occasion of +the family breakdown. + +In addition to the foreign-born families who actually need material +assistance there are many who, because they are laying aside part of +their income either to meet past debts or future needs, are living +below the standard prevailing in their community. This family needs to +be urged to spend more rather than to save. Unless the agency coming +in contact with it digs below the apparent poverty and finds the real +income, it will be tempted to give pecuniary aid rather than the +personal service the family is in need of. Its service must not result +in increased dependency. + +Special care in applying this principle of all good case work needs to +be exercised in the case of the foreign-born family. Moving from one +continent to another, with almost every element in the situation +changed, makes the adjustment of the family to normal and healthy +standards a delicate and important one. We have been told, for +example, by thoughtful members of the Italian group, that in their +judgment their fellow-countrymen are often led, through unwise +alms-giving, not only to pretend to be poorer than they are, but to +live in conditions of squalor detrimental to their well-being. + +In fact, in order to understand that normal state from which the +family departs when its members become applicants for aid from a +case-work agency, the representatives of the agency must have at +command facts with reference to the standards and practices prevailing +in the particular community from which the family under consideration +comes. Only then can the need of the family be estimated with any +degree of exactness. + +When the facts are learned and the nature and extent of the need are +understood, there is the question of resources available for treatment +and the question of methods to be used in building and maintaining the +family life and in fostering the process of adjustment between its +life and that of the community as a whole. + +To be able fully to utilize resources, to forecast the effect of +certain kinds of care, it is surely desirable for the agency to know +the life of the national group into which the family has come, the +resources to which the family itself has access, and the ways in which +others of the group expect care to be given. + + +THE LANGUAGE DIFFICULTY + +The social case-work agency is faced, then, with several quite +different and quite difficult problems in equipment. There is first +the question of overcoming the language difficulty. The use of the +foreign-speaking trained visitor would probably be regarded as the +best way of doing this. The supply is so inadequate that the choice +has been generally between a person speaking the language and a person +knowing something of methods of case work. And unless the visitor is a +fairly competent case worker she would probably better be used as an +interpreter and not be given responsibility or allowed to make +decisions. + +The use of an interpreter gives rise to many difficulties.[73] Because +these difficulties are so universal and so important to the full use +of the opportunities lying before the case-work agency, an attempt was +made to obtain information as to the practice and as to the desires of +a number of case workers. Case-work agencies, the district +superintendents and visiting housekeepers in the United Charities, the +Jewish Aid, the Juvenile Court in Chicago, relief societies in other +cities, and the Red Cross chapters throughout the country, were +consulted. + +Six of the ten districts of the United Charities had foreign-speaking +visitors. There were 14 in all--3 Italian, 8 Polish, 2 Bohemian, and 1 +Hungarian. Nine of these speak other languages besides their own. All +the Jewish Aid Society visitors speak Yiddish. The Funds to Parents' +Department of the Juvenile Court has no foreign-born workers, but the +Probation Department has 3--Polish, Italian, and Bohemian. + +The five Red Cross chapters answering the questionnaire--New York, +Brooklyn, Rochester, Buffalo, and Philadelphia--all employ +foreign-speaking visitors--11 Italian, 8 Polish, 8 Yiddish, and 2 +Russian. + +Sixty-one of the members of the American Association for Family +Welfare Work replied to questions about their methods of work and the +devices they had found successful. Twenty-eight of these were not +doing work with foreign born or were not doing work along the line +indicated. The other 33 described their work and their difficulties, +and made suggestions. + +Twenty-two of the thirty-three agencies did not make use of the +foreign-language visitor, although Fall River in the case of the +French, and Topeka in the case of the Mexicans, overcame the language +barrier by the fact that their secretaries spoke the language of their +largest foreign-born group. Three others did not have foreign-born +visitors on their staff, but reported that they had foreign-born +volunteers. It is interesting to note that among the 22 cities without +foreign-language visitors there are 9 cities with over 100,000 +inhabitants, and all but 2 of them have large immigrant populations. +The other 13 cities on the list are all places of less than 100,000 +inhabitants, and it is probable that the case-work agencies in most of +them do not have more than one worker. + +The case-work agencies in some cities with large foreign-born +populations come in contact with many of the foreign-born families in +distress, but not in sufficiently large numbers to take the entire +time of a visitor. In other cities, however, a large part of the work +is with foreign-speaking families. In Stamford, Connecticut, for +example, 70 per cent of the families cared for are foreign born, and +44 per cent are Italian. In Paterson, New Jersey, 120 of the 840 +families were Italian. + +Eleven case-work agencies did employ foreign-born or foreign-speaking +visitors. Eight of these were in cities of over 100,000 +population--New York City, Philadelphia, Boston, Cleveland, +Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Cambridge, and Grand Rapids. The other three +were in smaller places; Waterbury, with a population of 73,000, El +Paso with 39,000, and Kenosha with 21,000. While these 11 agencies do +employ foreign-speaking workers, it appears in every case that they +either do not have workers of all the groups with which they work, or +do not have enough foreign-language workers to do all the work with +the foreign-speaking groups. New York City, for instance, has 5 +workers who speak Italian, of whom only 1 is an Italian and served in +the course of a year over 1,000 Italian families. Philadelphia has +only 1 foreign-speaking worker, who speaks Italian and some Polish. It +reports the number of families as 526 Italian, 229 Polish, 69 Russian, +and 43 other Slav. + +There is, however, a decided difference of opinion as to the value of +the visitor from the foreign-born group. All the agencies testify to +the difficulty of getting workers with the same education and training +demanded of the English-speaking visitor. One of the district +superintendents of the United Charities of Chicago, who in despair of +her work with interpreters began to use foreign-born visitors, speaks +of success with exceptional individuals, but says: + + For the most part the foreign workers we have had have gained + a certain facility in handling the general run of cases, but + there is a discouraging lack of initiative or daring in their + efforts. They seem to go just so far. It has seemed hard, + too, to strike the happy medium in their attitude toward + their own people; they seem either blindly sympathetic or + peculiarly indifferent. In part I feel that this is an + impression they give as a result of their lack of power of + self-expression, and lack of confidence in themselves--this + would undoubtedly be remedied by further education. + + As a result of my efforts with about ten foreign workers I + have traveled a complete circle in my way of thinking. I have + come back to the conclusion that we cannot get satisfactory + results if we accept very much less in the way of scholastic + training or life experience, than is required of other + workers. + +Most of the agencies that have tried foreign-speaking visitors feel +that in spite of these disadvantages it is a gain to the agency to +have such visitors on the staff. This is especially true with those +agencies that have or have had visitors with educational equipment +that is comparable with that of most of their English-speaking +visitors. One agency, for example, has only one foreign-born visitor, +a Russian who speaks several languages and had a teacher's-training +course in Russia. The superintendent reports her "gratifyingly +successful in her work with foreign families." + +The Charity Organization Society in another city is divided in opinion +about the foreign-born visitor. During the panic of 1914-15 they had a +Russian man who had had a good technical education at the University +of St. Petersburg, and two years in a medical school in this country. +The assistant case supervisor of that organization reports that he not +only accomplished a great deal with the unemployed men in the +district, but also helped the district workers to understand the +Russian, Slavic, Lithuanian, and Bohemian families in the district, +and "demonstrated what the possibilities might be if we could have +foreign-speaking people with requisite training and the proper spirit +to work intensively with the families." On the other hand, the +superintendent of this organization, who was not with them in 1915, +says that their experience with foreign-born case workers has not been +successful, and suggests as an alternative the instruction of American +case workers in foreign languages. + +The New York society agrees that better results are obtained by having +native-born case workers learn the language of the group with which +they are to work. They have found it possible to have native-born +workers learn Italian, and have found them better workers than any +Italians they have employed who were people of less background and +training. + + +STANDARDS OF LIVING + +Secondly, there is the problem of building up in the family asking and +receiving aid, domestic standards appropriate to the life in the +community. This raises, first, the question of the responsibility of +the case-work agency for the adjustment of the family life to such +standards in household management and in child care as might be +formulated on the basis of expert knowledge of community needs; +secondly, the question as to ways in which such adjustment may be +accomplished if the agency feels under an obligation to undertake it. + +A number of the thirty-three case-work agencies which discussed this +subject indicated that they thought this task one that should not be +assumed by the case-work agency. Four agencies said they were doing +nothing in this direction, though one of these was looking forward to +the employment of a visiting housekeeper. One agency said that there +was no difference in this respect between the care of native born and +foreign born, and that all families were given such instruction as +occasion demanded. + +Seven agencies met the problem by co-operating with some of the +public-health nursing organizations, especially the baby clinics, and +one of the agencies said that the nurses were doing all the +educational work possible. Four other agencies supplied milk and +co-operated with the public-health organizations of the community and +also with visiting housekeepers in the service of settlements. + +Two supplied milk where it seemed necessary, and three co-operated +with agencies teaching food conservation. One of these supplied +interpreters, organized classes, and helped the agent of the County +Council of Defense to make contact with women in their homes. Another +co-operated with a class of college students who were making a dietary +study. The third had its own organization, which taught the use of +substitutes and their preparation, in war time. Its work differed from +that of others in that it was not organized for war-emergency purposes +and was under the control of the case-work agency. + +Several agencies mentioned the fact that their visitors gave advice as +the case required, and it is probable that this is done in other +cities also. Such advice, of course, would not necessarily conform to +the standards formulated by home economics experts, but rather to the +common-sense standards of the community at large, or rather that +circle of the community from which the majority of charity visitors +come. The difficulties inherent in such a situation were recognized +by the secretary of one society, who wrote, "Our staff has made an +effort to become somewhat familiar with dietetics, but is having +difficulty with foreign families because of failures thoroughly to +understand their customs and the values of the food to which they are +accustomed." + +Other agencies are not so definite in their view of the problem. Thus +one reports that they are not successful in their work on the diet +problem because "the Italians, Polish, and Lithuanians prefer their +own food and methods of preparing it." Another says, "They seem to +know their own tastes and _will_ do their own way mostly." + +In Chicago some of the superintendents explain their difficulties in +raising housekeeping standards by characterizing the women as +"stubborn," "indifferent," "inert," "obstinate," "lazy," "difficult +but responsible," "easy but shiftless, and not performing what they +undertake." It is only fair to state that these were usually given as +contributing causes of difficulties. Most of the superintendents saw +clearly that the main difficulties were in the circumstances under +which the people had to live, and the defects in their own +organization, which was handicapped by lack of funds and workers. + +[Illustration: A CASE-WORK AGENCY FOUND FOUR GIRLS AND EIGHTEEN MEN +BOARDING WITH THIS POLISH FAMILY IN FOUR ROOMS] + +There is little that need be said about the work of these agencies as +to other phases of the problem of housekeeping. Only one does anything +to help the women buy more intelligently, except in the way of such +spasmodic efforts as are made by visitors who have only their own +practical experience to guide them. Similarly, little is done to teach +buying or making of clothing except that in some instances women are +urged to join classes in sewing. One agency speaks of teaching the +planning of expenditure by the use of a budget. + +Most of the agencies that leave the problem of diet to the +public-health nurse leave to her also the problem of cleanliness, +personal hygiene, and sanitation. The majority of the agencies report, +however, that their visitors are continually trying to inculcate +higher standards. One agency says it is the stock subject of +conversation at every visit. No agency reports any attempt to reach +the women in a more systematic way than by "preaching." One agency +only, that in Topeka, Kansas, reports anything that shows a +realization of the peculiar problems of the foreign-born woman in this +subject. In Topeka, American methods of laundry are taught to Mexican +women in the office of the Associated Charities. + + +VISITING HOUSEKEEPERS + +On the other hand, there are twelve agencies that approach the +problem, or at least attempt to approach the problem of household +management from a scientific standpoint, so that the work done shall +be a serious attempt to adjust the standards of the foreign-born +women to the standards formulated by the home economics experts for +families "under care." There are several methods used in this work. +The first and most common is the employment of visiting housekeepers +by the case-work agency; another is that of referring families to +another agency especially organized to give instruction in the +household arts, such as the Visiting Housekeepers' Association in +Detroit; a third is the one used in New York City, that of a +Department of Home Economics within the organization, and still +another, used in Boston, is a Dietetic Bureau. + +The cities in which there are visiting housekeepers in connection with +the case-work agency are Chicago, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Worcester, +Fall River, Cambridge, Stamford, and Springfield, Illinois. In +Brooklyn the visiting housekeepers are not employed by the case-work +agencies, but are student volunteers from Pratt Institute. The +visiting housekeeper in Springfield has worked almost exclusively with +English-speaking families, and the one in Worcester "has had at +different times foreign-speaking families." In other words, in two +cities with large foreign-speaking populations the visiting +housekeepers only occasionally helped immigrant families to adjust +their standards and methods of housekeeping to the new conditions +found in this country. + +The work that is expected of a visiting housekeeper has been +frequently described. As it demands the combined qualifications of a +case worker and a skilled worker in home economics, an attempt was +made to learn the education and training of the various workers in the +field. Information was available in only a few cases, but these cases +seem to point to the fact that the visiting housekeeper is usually +trained for one phase of her work only--either as a case worker or as +a home economics expert. In either case she can be expected to give +the type of service her position demands only in the field in which +her interest and training lie. + +Interviews with the five visiting housekeepers employed by the two +largest relief agencies in Chicago in general bear out the impressions +obtained from the statements of the agencies in other cities. None of +those in Chicago speaks the language of the people with whom she +works, though one agency is now training a young Italian girl to be a +visiting housekeeper. + +Most of the visiting housekeepers claimed very slight knowledge of +what the diet of the family was in the old country, although they had +considerable knowledge as to what was customarily eaten here. They had +made very little study of the habits and tastes of their group; and +although they were agreed that in most families the diet was +inadequate, they had apparently not looked far for the cause. +Ignorance of food values and ways of preparing food seemed to them the +chief reason; poverty, racial prejudice, and laziness might be +secondary features. + +Since the visiting housekeepers deal almost entirely with dependent +families under the care of a relief agency, their work in helping the +women provide for the clothing needs of the family is quite largely +concerned with making over old clothing. + +In the effort to raise the standards of cleanliness and sanitation the +visiting housekeepers meet with great difficulty. One thinks the +greatest difficulty is indifference on the part of the housewife and a +lack of anything to which the visitor can appeal; another thinks that +her greatest difficulties are that the mothers are usually overworked, +that frequently they are kept worn out by having one child after +another in close succession, and sometimes a woman has had to contend +with a drunken husband. These cases she finds especially difficult to +deal with. Some of them lay stress on the economic factor and point to +the fact that most of these families are deprived of the conveniences +which would make housekeeping a comparatively simple task. As one of +the visiting housekeepers has said: + + With modern equipment, steam heat, electric utensils, and new + and sanitary apartments, it is not a difficult task to keep + the quarters fresh and clean, but in rickety, shadowy + apartment buildings or houses where the floors are worn and + rough, with no hot-water service, and too often without even + gas for lighting, we can at once recognize the trials and + handicaps which confront the housewife in the poorer + districts.[74] + +The visiting housekeepers interviewed saw many discouraging features +of their work. All stated that improvement came very slowly. One +worker stated that she had worked three years in her district and she +had some families under care all the time, but that she was just +beginning to see the results of her efforts. Others pointed out that +their constant supervision was essential, that as soon as they relaxed +their efforts at all the families dropped back to their old habits. +There was, however, general agreement that in time, by much +expenditure of effort, constant visiting, teaching, and exhorting, +they did help some families to a better standard of living. + +It was impossible to get an estimate from most of them as to how many +families they thought they had helped, but the worker in one district +said that for the three years it would not be more than five or six. +Two workers who estimated the number of families with which they could +work at one time, put the number at between twenty and twenty-five, +and both thought that they could do much better with twenty than with +twenty-five. They did not know with how many families they were +working at present, but thought they were not trying to do intensive +work with many more than that number. + +The explanation of failure may be that not enough care was taken to +make the Old-World habits of cooking and diet the starting point of +instruction in the use of American foods, utensils, and diets. Such +procedure would be based on sound pedagogy in starting from the known +and familiar and leading to the new and unaccustomed. + +However, it may be true that even after sound methods have been given +a thorough trial, arduous effort still will fail to bring desired +results. Case-work agencies, however efficient, may not be fitted to +raise the standards of living in the homes of immigrant dependent +families. It may be taken care of by other community forces and only +be effected in the way that the independent family's standards are +changed and improved. The task for the case worker is to help the +family make the natural connections with their neighborhood and +community, which are the most effective means for creating and +sustaining social standards. + +Certain limitations to the present work of the visiting housekeeper +appear in the above discussion. These are, the lack of persons with +combined training in case work, home economics, and knowledge of +immigrant backgrounds, the limited number of families with whom +intensive work can be done, especially if the visiting housekeeper +tries to do all the work with the families she visits, the hardship to +the family in the duplication of visitors if the visiting housekeeper +tries to render only specialized services to a larger number of +families. + +Attempts have been made to overcome these limitations while still +retaining the visiting housekeeper. In Cleveland the visiting +housekeepers do all the work with the families assigned to them, as +well as instruct the other visitors in the elementary principles of +home economics and give advice on individual families, as occasion +requires. Their work has been materially lightened by the adoption of +a standardized budget prepared under the direction of a well-known +expert in home economics. The superintendent of the Cleveland +organization expressed himself as well satisfied with the work of the +visiting housekeepers. It should be noted that one of the visiting +housekeepers in that city not only is a skilled case worker with good +training in home economics, but also is of foreign-born parentage and +speaks most of the Slavic languages. + +In other cities, however, notably New York and Boston, case-work +agencies have given up the employment of the visiting housekeepers. +In New York there is a Home Economics Bureau and in Boston a Dietetic +Bureau. The organization of the two bureaus differs, but the +underlying principle is the same. Both are organizations of home +economics experts, who give advice to the regular case workers both as +to general principles and as to individual problems. They also make +studies from time to time of problems in national groups. As its name +would indicate, the scope of the New York organization is wider. It +takes up problems of clothing and other phases of household management +as well as of food. + +The advantages claimed for this plan are that the home economics +experts can devote their time exclusively to their own field. The +visitors are thus enabled to advise the individual families with more +effect than can the specialized worker. The question as to the best +way of rendering to the family under care this combination of services +is by no means yet decided, and it is evident that further experiment +in the various methods is necessary. They are, in fact, not mutually +exclusive, and perhaps combinations of various kinds of the skill of +the home economics expert, of the skilled social worker, and a +generalized helper, may yet be developed. + +A third task to which some agencies address themselves is that of +providing educational opportunities for the immigrant family. This +effort often consists first of inducing the mother herself to enter a +class, and, second, of securing the attendance of the children at the +public school rather than at the non-English-teaching parochial +school. The difficulties in the way of securing the mothers' +attendance at a class have already been described. It need only be +pointed out here that the case worker who has won the mother's +confidence may often persuade her to go when the stranger will fail. +Where a regular allowance is given and support for a considerable +period is contemplated, it has been treated as something in the nature +of a scholarship or educational stipend and conditioned on the +mother's fulfilling definite requirements in the way of better +qualifying herself to use the allowance. + +The subject of establishing connections between the members of the +families and such educational opportunity has been somewhat confused +by the fact that the case-work agency often depends upon the +settlement to supply certain recreational facilities for the children +in the families, and there is a temptation to use the settlement club +or class rather than the school for the mother. + +With reference to having the children attend the public school or the +school in which all instruction is given in English, it would be less +than frank to ignore the difficulty often occasioned in the past by +the nationalistic and separatist Church. The society may be faced +with a real dilemma here, since it desires the co-operation of the +Church and is loath to weaken any ties that may help in maintaining +right family life. And so, when the Church conducts the school in +which the mother tongue is used, and in which English is either +inadequately taught or not taught at all, the relief agency may be +practically forced into a policy involving the neglect of English in +the case of both mother and children. + + +KNOWLEDGE OF BACKGROUNDS + +These have been some of the fundamental difficulties in the +relationship between the case-work agency and the immigrant family. +The knowledge of the Old-World background and the impressions made by +the experience of emigrating that should illumine all the work of the +agency, are generally lacking to the case worker. Of course there are +brilliant exceptions. One district superintendent of the Boston +Associated Charities, for example, whose work lies in the midst of a +Sicilian neighborhood, will have no visitors who are unwilling to +learn the language and to inform themselves thoroughly concerning the +history and the habits of the neighbors. + +Her office has been equipped so that it takes on somewhat the +appearance of a living room. It is made attractive with growing +plants; an Italian and an American flag are conspicuous when one +enters the room; a picture of Garibaldi and photographs of Italian +scenes are on the wall. Books on Italy are to be found in the office, +and with the aid of an Italian postal guide the superintendent has +made a card index of the home towns from which her families come. From +one town in Sicily of seventeen thousand inhabitants, 108 families +have come to the district office. Such an index is acquired slowly and +must be used with great discretion. It is of assistance to one who +understands how to use it, but it may suggest hopeless blunders to +workers unfamiliar with the group. + +In making plans for the care of families, leading Italians, such as +physicians of excellent standing, with a practice in the district, a +member of the Harvard faculty who has unusual interest in his less +fortunate fellow countrymen, and others who have special knowledge +along certain lines, are consulted. + +One of the workers connected with the Vocational Guidance Bureau in +Chicago has been trying an interesting experiment in the same +direction of establishing contacts with the group among which she +works. Many of the children who come to the Bureau for jobs are Polish +children. She is, therefore, taking lessons in the Polish language +from an editor of one of the Polish papers in the city, and through +his interest has secured board and room in a home for working girls +that is run by one of the Polish sisterhoods. In a month's time she +has learned a vocabulary of some hundred and fifty Polish words, and +has gained an insight into the Polish attitudes toward some of their +problems that she considers invaluable. She found the Polish people +with whom she consulted as to the best means of learning the language +very much interested and anxious to be helpful in any way in their +power. + +It is, in fact, clear that by the interpreter, or the foreign-speaking +visitor, or the American visitor who learns the foreign tongue, the +language difficulty must be overcome. In the case of the foreign-born +visitor it should be noted that workers coming from among the various +groups encounter difficulties not encountered by the American visitor. +They seem to the members of their group to enjoy very real power, and +they are often expected to grant favors and to exert influence. A +Polish visitor in the office of a relief society in Chicago finds it +very difficult to explain to her friends why they do not always +receive from her fellow workers what they ask. + +In another neighborhood three Italian sisters, better educated than +their neighbors, have become visitors. One works for the Catholic, one +for the nonsectarian, charitable agency, and one for the +social-service department of the public hospital. They seem to have a +real "corner" on the aid given to applicants from their groups. + + +TRAINING FACILITIES NEEDED + +It is clear, then, that before case-work agencies can be adequately +equipped to perform these services, the supply of visitors trained as +has been suggested will have to be increased, and certain bodies of +material with reference to the various national groups will have to be +organized and made available in convenient form, both for use in +courses in colleges and schools of social work and in the offices of +the societies. + +One way in which an effort might be directed toward bringing about an +increase in the supply of trained visitors would be the establishment +of scholarships and fellowships in schools of civics and of social +work, by which able persons from among the different national groups +might be encouraged to take advantage of such opportunities as those +institutions provide. This procedure has been elaborated in Chapter +VIII in connection with service to nondependent families. + +Special funds might also be provided in connection either with the +various agencies or with schools of social work, which would render +possible the collection and organization of such facts as would be +valuable in understanding the problems presented by families from any +special group. This body of fact would, of course, increase as sound, +sympathetic, and thorough work was developed. + +Such studies would include information about the communities from +which different groups come, as, for instance, the practice and +influences prevailing in different villages in southern Italy, in +Sicily, in northern Italy. The religious, national, and village +festivals differ in almost every place. A native of Villa Rosa now +receiving care from a public-health agency in Chicago has carefully +pointed out to a visitor the differences between the festivals of +Palermo and Villa Rosa. The different ways of preparing for and +meeting the great events of family life, such as death, marriage, +birth, are of vital importance. + +Most important are the food practices, and the attitudes toward the +care and discipline of children. A similar point has been developed in +Chapter VIII and it need not be stressed. The fact is that while +really sound and thorough case work cannot be done without such +information, few agencies have such information, and all devices for +accumulating it should be made use of. + +The gathering of this body of information and its application require +considerable time. In the meantime, while differences of opinion among +the existing agencies on such questions as the use of the foreign or +the native-born visitor who speaks the foreign language, the visiting +housekeeper, or the specialized bureau, are being worked out, +specialized agencies for dealing with the problems of the immigrant +family should be developed. Such agencies as the Immigrants' +Protective League could prove of very great service in discovering +promising visitors, in accumulating experience as to the nature of +those problems, and in furnishing opportunities to professional +students for practice work under supervision. + +Further, there is the question of the resources within the group and +the ways in which they can be taken advantage of. Reference has been +made to the problem of securing and retaining the co-operation of the +national Church. There are often national charitable societies. The +case worker should be able to explain the methods and purposes of her +society to these immigrant societies; but often there is a complete +failure to interpret, and the two agencies go their separate ways, +sometimes after the demoralization of the family both try to serve. + +A few years ago a group of foreign-born men, prominent in business and +politics in Chicago, organized a charitable association within their +own national group. They felt that the United Charities did not +understand their people and were not meeting their needs. These men +had no understanding of accepted case-work principles, and the +superintendent of the society herself says that she does not use +scientific methods and does not co-operate with the United Charities. +She doubts whether her organization is doing much good, but she sees +that the lack of understanding of the traditions and habits of the +people on the part of the United Charities cripples their work among +her people. + + +THE TRANSIENT FAMILY + +The case-work agency as now organized might be equipped with trained +foreign-speaking visitors and with visiting housekeepers or dietetic +experts who know their neighborhoods, and the needs of the situation +would still be far from fully met. It was pointed out in the first +chapter that many immigrant families have to change their place of +residence, often more than once, before they settle in a permanent +home. The nature of their hardships and the slender margin of their +resources have been pointed out. Special misfortune may therefore +befall them at any point in the experimental period of their journey, +as well as after they have reached their final and permanent place of +residence. + +The important moment in social treatment, as probably in any +undertaking, is in the initial stages. "The first step costs." This +brings us to the enormously important fact that distress outside the +relatively small number of larger communities in which there are +skilled case-work agencies, either public or private, will probably +mean contact either with the poor-law official under the Pauper Act, +if it is a question of relief,--or with some official of the county +prosecuting machinery or of the inferior courts, if it is a question +of discipline. + +The case of an Italian woman may serve to illustrate the contact with +both these groups of officials. Mrs. C. was married in 1902 in a +Sicilian village, at about sixteen years of age. In October, 1906, the +husband came to the United States. In November, 1907, she and her one +surviving baby, a girl of two, followed, going to the mining town in +western Pennsylvania where he was working. There they lived until +March, 1913, occupying most of the time a house owned by the company +for which he worked. About 1913 she moved with her children to a +near-by city, where, on June 3, 1914, she was arrested for assault, +and the next day for selling liquor without a license and selling +liquor to minors. After some delay she pleaded guilty and was +sentenced to pay the costs of the prosecution ($76.42), and released +on parole. + +She then seems to have moved to a mining town in Illinois, and there +lived with Mr. A. as his wife until March, 1916, when he was murdered. +The union paid his funeral expenses of $186.75, and she also, as his +widow, received his death benefit of $244.33. Through the summer of +1916 the Supervisor of the Poor gave her $3 every two weeks. On May +20, 1916, she applied for her first citizenship papers, and on +September 1st she was awarded an allowance of $7 a month under the +Mothers' Aid law, this being granted her under her maiden name, as +mother of a child born in Illinois in 1915. She was helped not only by +the public relief agencies, but by the priest ($11); and the Queen's +Daughters, a church society of ladies, gave her the fare to Chicago, +where the Italian consul gave her money to go home again. The +undertaker and other kind persons gave her and the children aid. + +By December the union and the county agent both thought it would be +well to shift the burden of her support, and gave her the fare back to +Chicago. By the time she reached Chicago she was a very skillful and +resourceful beggar. In Chicago she was a "nonresident," ineligible for +a year to receive public relief under the Pauper Act and for three +years under the Mothers' Aid law; and so she obtained from a +Protestant church, from the Charities, and from an Italian Ladies' Aid +Society relief of various kinds and in various amounts. + +The story is a long and a continuing one. Two points are especially +important from the point of view of this study. One is that the burden +not only of her support, but of her re-education, fell ultimately upon +Chicago agencies, and the cost to them is measured as it were by the +inefficiency of her casual treatment at the hands of both the courts +and the less competent relief agencies along the way. The other is +that such varied treatment leaves its inevitable stamp of confusion +and disorganization upon the life of such a family. To find American +officials getting very busy over selling liquor without a license, and +at the same time ignoring adultery or murder committed in an Italian +home, must surely result in confusion with reference to American +standards of family relationship and to the value placed on life by +American officials. + + +NEED FOR NATIONAL AGENCY + +Irrespective of whether the family is of the native-born or +foreign-born group, the problem of the case of those in distress +should not be regarded as solely a local problem. It is indeed of +national importance. Poverty, sickness, illiteracy, inefficiency, +incompetence, are no longer matters of peculiar concern to a locality. +The causes leading to these conditions are not local; the consequences +are not local. The agency that deals efficiently with them should not +be entirely local. + +Yet at the present time there is lacking not only a national agency +and a national standard; there is often lacking a state agency and a +state standard.[75] In Illinois, for example, the Pauper Act is +administered in some counties by precinct officials designated by +county commissioners; in other counties by the township +officials.[76] The Mothers' Aid law is administered in Illinois by the +juvenile court, which in all counties except Cook County (Chicago) is +the county court. There is no agency responsible in any way for the +standardization of the work of these officials, and niggardly doles or +indiscriminate relief without either adequate investigation or +adequate supervision, often characterizes the work of both.[77] + +Not all states are in as chaotic a condition as Illinois. A few states +have developed a larger measure of central control. Massachusetts, +California, and New Jersey, for example, secure a certain measure of +standardization in the administration of their Mothers' Aid laws by +paying part of the allowances, in case the central body approves--the +State Board of Charities in Massachusetts,[78] and California,[79] and +the State Board of Children's Guardians in New Jersey.[80] +Pennsylvania secures this by assigning to the Governor the appointment +of local boards and providing central supervision, while in other +cases there may be inspection, the preparation of blanks and requiring +reports. A member of the State Board of Education is supervisor of +the Mothers' Aid law administration in Pennsylvania.[81] + +The case cited above illustrates the way in which the demoralizing +effects of unskillful treatment in Pennsylvania and then in Illinois +lasted into the period in which Chicago agencies tried to render +efficient service. + +It would not be possible to develop at once a national or Federal +agency for rendering aid to families in distress. Nor would such an +agency be desirable if characterized by the features of the old poor +law. But the development of a national agency for public assistance +will undoubtedly be necessary before such problems as these can be +adequately dealt with. It should be based on such inquiries as the +United States Children's Bureau and other governmental departments can +make as to the volume and character of the need and the best methods +for dealing with that need. Undoubtedly the Grant in Aid, as proposed +in the bill introduced into the Sixty-fifth Congress to encourage the +development of health protection for mothers and infants, will prove +the quickest path to a national standard. Careful study into the kind +of legislative amendment necessary in the various states in order to +reduce the chaos now existing in the exercise of these functions +should also be made. + +The present is in many ways an unfortunate moment at which to suggest +the necessity of developing such an agency. The War Risk Bureau, +created to provide certain services for the families of soldiers and +sailors and others in the service, through the failures and +imperfections of its service, has discouraged the idea of attempting +such tasks on a national scale. It should be recalled, however, that +the assignment of the War Risk Bureau to the Treasury Department +concerned with revenue instead of to the Children's Bureau concerned +with family problems, rendered it practically inevitable that such +limitations of skill would characterize its work. Neither a taxing +body nor a bank should be chosen for the supervision of work with +family groups. + +The "home service" work of the American Red Cross constituted such a +national agency during the period of the war, and if the so-called +"peace-time program" is successfully developed, the need urged in this +chapter may be met. + +The efficient local private agencies suffer in the same way from the +lack of a national agency and a national standard in case work. The +American Association for Social Work with Families, and the National +Conference of Social Work, attempt by conference and publication to +spread the knowledge of social technique and to improve the work done +by existing societies. But there are whole sections, even in densely +populated areas, in which there exists no such agency. + +If, then, the benevolence and good will of the community are to be +embodied in such service for foreign-born families that fall into +distress as will not only relieve but upbuild the life of the family, +interpret to them the standards of the community, and help them to +become a part of the true American life, a national minimum of skill +and information must be developed below which the agencies for such +care will nowhere be allowed to fall. From the experience both of +these foreign-born families and of the communities into which they +finally come we learn again the doctrine laid down a hundred years ago +by Robert Owen, that the care of those who suffer is a national and +not solely a local concern. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[72] _Charity Service Reports, Cook County, Illinois_, Fiscal Year +1917, pp. 74, 350. + +[73] Richmond, _Social Diagnosis_, p. 118. + +[74] V. G. Kirkpatrick, "War-time Work of the Visiting Housekeeper," +in the _Yearbook of the United Charities of Chicago_, 1917, p. 18. + +[75] _Illinois Revised Statutes_, chap. cvii. + +[76] _Illinois Revised Statutes_, chap. xxiii, sec. 298. + +[77] Abbott, E., "Experimental State in Mothers' Pension Legislation," +_National Conference of Social Work_, 1917, pp. 154-164, and _U. S. +Bureau of Labor Statistics Bulletin, No. 212_, p. 818. See also +_Institution Quarterly of Illinois_, March, 1916, p. 97. + +[78] _Massachusetts General Acts, 1913_, chap. 763, sec. 3. + +[79] _Deering's Political Code of California_, sec. 2283 fol., p. 571. + +[80] _New Jersey Acts, 1915_, p. 206 fol. + +[81] _Laws of Pennsylvania, 1914_, p. 118; _1915_, p. 1085. + + + + +APPENDIX + +PRINCIPAL RACIAL ORGANIZATIONS + + +The following list of racial organizations has been generously +compiled by the Bureau of Foreign Language Information Service of the +American Red Cross. Only those of national scope have been included, +with the exception of those starred, which, although not strictly +national, have a more than local importance. It contains those +organizations and societies doing benevolent, philanthropic or +educational work, and, in a few instances, those primarily political +or religious in character whose activities have been extended to +include other work. + +The list was compiled in March, 1921, and, although it is reasonably +inclusive, the organizations, the officers, and the addresses are +constantly changing. + + +CZECH + + Catholic Sokol Union + Secretary: + 5798 Holcomb Street. Detroit, Michigan + + Council of Higher Education + Secretary: P. A. Korab + Iowa State Bank, Iowa City, Iowa + + Czecho-Slavonian Fraternal Benefit Union + Secretary: August R. Zicha + 516 East Seventy-third Street, New York City + + Czechoslovak National Alliance + Secretary: Ferdinand L. Musil + 3734 West Twenty-sixth Street, Chicago, Illinois + + Czechoslovak National Council of America + President: Dr. J. P. Percival + 3756 West Twenty-sixth Street, Chicago, Illinois + + National Federation of Czech Catholics in America + Secretary: John Straka + 2752 South Millard Avenue, Chicago, Illinois + + Sisterly Benevolent Union, Supreme Lodge + Secretary: Mrs. Marie Zemanova + 4934 Broadway, Cleveland, Ohio + + Society of Taborites + Secretary: Fr. Cernohorsky + 3416 East Fifty-third Street, Cleveland, Ohio + + Sokol Gymnastic Organization of America + Secretary: Thomas Vonasek + 1647 South St. Louis Avenue, Chicago, Illinois + + Union of Czech Women + Secretary: Mrs. Marie Zemanova + 180 Forty-first Street, Corona, New York + + United Czechoslovak Legion of America + Secretary: Lada T. Krizek + 3742 East 140th Street, Cleveland, Ohio + + Western Czech Fraternal Union + Secretary: L. J. Kasper + 307 Twelfth Avenue East, Cedar Rapids, Iowa + + +DANISH + + The Danish Brotherhood in America + Supreme Secretary: Frank V. Lawson + Omaha National Bank Building, Omaha, Nebraska + + The Danish Sisterhood in America + Supreme Secretary: Mrs. Caroline Nielsen + 6820 So. Carpenter Street, Chicago, Illinois + + +DUTCH + + *Eendracht Maaht Macht + President: G. Verschuur + 65 Nassau Street, New York City + + Nieuw Nederland + President: A. Schrikker + Netherland Consulate, New York City + + +FINNISH + + Finnish Apostolic Lutheran Church + Office of National Secretary, care of Valvoja + Calumet, Michigan + + Finnish Branch, Industrial Workers of the World + Office of National Secretary, care of Industrialisti + 22 Lake Avenue, North, Duluth, Minnesota + + Finnish Congregational Church of the United States + Office of National Secretary, care of Astorian Sanomat + Astoria, Oregon + + Finnish Lutheran National Church + Office of National Secretary, care of Auttaja + Ironwood, Michigan + + Finnish Lutheran Suomi Synod Church of America + President: Rev. John Wargelin + Hancock, Michigan + + Finnish National Temperance Brotherhood + National Secretary: Mrs. Hilma Hamina + Ishpeming, Michigan + + Finnish Socialist Organization of the United States + National Secretary: Henry Askeli + Mid City Bank Building, Chicago, Illinois + + Knights of Kalova + National Secretary: Matti Simpanen + 5305 Sixth Avenue, Brooklyn, New York + + Ladies of Kalova + National Secretary: Miss Martha Hamalainen + 266 Pleasant Street, Gardner, Massachusetts + + Lincoln Loyalty League of Finnish-Americans + Secretary: J. H. Jasbert + 1045 Marquette Building, Chicago, Illinois + + Swedish-Finnish Sick Benefit Society of America + Secretary: John Back + Box 27, North Escanaba, Michigan + + +GERMAN + + American Gymnastic Union (Turners) + First President: Theo. Stempfel + Fletcher American Nat. Bank, Indianapolis, Indiana + + German Beneficial Union + Supreme President: Louis Volz + 1505-07 Carson Street, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania + + National Federation of German Catholic Societies + President: Michael Girten + 915 People's Gas Building, Chicago, Illinois + + North American Association of Singing Societies + President: Charles G. Schmidt + 2000 Central Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio + + North-Eastern Association of Singing Societies + President: Carl Lentz + 77 Broad Street, Newark, New Jersey + + Order of Harugari + Grand Treasurer: Henry F. Raabe + 30 Vanderveer Street, Brooklyn, New York + + Order of the Sons of Herman + Grand Secretary: Richard Schaefer + New Britain, Connecticut + + Workmen's Sick and Death Benefit Fund + Seventh Street and Third Avenue, New York City + + +HUNGARIAN + + American Hungarian Reformed Society + Secretary: Steve Molnar + 269 Plymouth Street, Toledo, Ohio + + *First Hungarian Literary Society of New York + Secretary: Joseph Partos + 317 East Seventy-ninth Street, New York City + + First Hungarian Miners Sick Benefit Society of Ben Creek + Secretary: Stephen Beres + Box 244, Cassandram, Pennsylvania + + *First Hungarian Sick Benefit and Funeral Society of New + Brunswick + Secretary: Joseph Kopencey + Box 511, New Brunswick, New Jersey + + *First Hungarian Sick Benefit Society of East Chicago and + Vicinity + Secretary: Kovacs A. David + 620 Chicago Avenue, East Chicago, Indiana + + *Hungarian Public Association of Passaic + Secretary: Julius Faludy + 127 Second Avenue, Passaic, New Jersey + + *Hungarian Rakoczi Sick Benefit Society of Bridgeport + Secretary: Steve Koteles, Jr. + 626 Bostwick Avenue, Bridgeport, Connecticut + + *Hungarian Reformed Benefit Society of Pittsburgh and Vicinity + Chairman: Andrew Hornyak + 600 Hazelwood Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania + + *Hungarian Reformed Sick Benefit Society of Windber and Vicinity + Secretary: Joseph Molnar + 542 R. Road Street, Windber, Pennsylvania + + Kohanyi Tihamer's Hungarian Workman's Sick Benefit Society of + Hungary and America + Secretary: Julius Sipos + Box 240, Homer City, Pennsylvania + + Roman and Greek Catholic First Hungarian Sick Benefit Society of + Benwood + Secretary: Ignac Kiss + R. F. D. No. 2, Box 346, Wheeling, West Virginia + + Saint Laszlo Roman and Greek Catholic Hungarian Sick Benefit and + Funeral Society of Johnstown and Vicinity + Secretary: John Angyal + 205 Third Avenue, Johnstown, Pennsylvania + + Saint Istvan Hungarian Workman's Sick Benefit Society of Snow Shoe + Secretary: Antal Polczar + Box 62, Clarence, Pennsylvania + + United Petofi Sandor Association + Secretary: Bela K. Bekay + 2196-98 West Jefferson Avenue, Detroit, Michigan + + Verhovay Aid Association + Secretary: Stephen Gabor + Room 809-811 Markle Bank Building, Hazelton, Pennsylvania + + Workman's Sick Benefit and Literary Society + Secretary: Joseph Kertesz + 350 East Eighty-first Street, New York City + + +ITALIAN + + Italian War Veterans + 244 East Twenty-fourth Street, New York City + + Order of Sons of Italy in America + President: Stefano Miele + 266 Lafayette Street, New York City + + +JEWISH + + Alliance Israelite Universelle + 150 Nassau Street, New York City + + Alumni Association of the Hebrew Union College + Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati, Ohio + + American Jewish Committee + 31 Union Square West, New York City + + American Jewish Congress + 1 Madison Avenue, New York City + + American Jewish Relief Committee + 30 East Forty-second Street, New York City + + American Union of Rumanian Jews + 44 Seventh Street, New York City + + Baron de Hirsch Fund + 80 Maiden Lane, New York City + + Bureau of Jewish Social Research + 114 Fifth Avenue, New York City + + Central Conference of American Rabbis + Temple Beth El, Detroit, Michigan + + Council of Jewish Women + Executive Secretary: Mrs. Harry Sternberger + 305 West Ninety-eighth Street, New York City + + Council of Reform Rabbis + 1093 Sterling Place, Brooklyn, New York + + Council of Y. M. H. and Kindred Associations + 114 Fifth Avenue, New York City + + Dropsie College for Hebrew and Cognate Learning + Broad and York Streets, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania + + Eastern Council of Reform Rabbis + 1093 Sterling Place, Brooklyn, New York + + Educational League for the Higher Education of Orphans + 336 Engineer's Building, Cleveland, Ohio + + Federation of Bessarabian Jews in America + 52 St. Mark's Place, New York City + + Federation of Galician Jews and Bukovinian Jews in America + 66 Second Avenue, New York City + + Federation of Jewish Farmers of America + 175 East Broadway, New York City + + Federation of Lithuanian and Latvian Jews in America + 6 Ludlow Street, New York City + + Federation of Oriental Jews of America + 42 Seventh Street, New York City + + Federation of Russian and Polish Hebrews in America + 1822 Lexington Avenue, New York City + + Federation of Ukrainian Jews in America + 200 East Broadway, New York City + + Hadassah + 55 Fifth Avenue, New York City + + Hai Resh Fraternity + St. Joseph, Missouri + + Histadrut Ibrith + 55 Fifth Avenue, New York City + + Hebrew Sheltering and Immigrant Aid Society of America + 229-231 East Broadway, New York City + + Hebrew Technical Institute for Boys + 36 Stuyvesant Street, New York City + + Hebrew Technical School for Girls + Second Avenue and Fifteenth Street, New York City + + Independent Order of B'nai B'rith + 1228 Tribune Building, Chicago, Illinois + + Independent Order of Brith Abraham + 37 Seventh Avenue, New York City + + Independent Order Brith Sholom + 510-512 South Fifth Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania + + Independent Order Free Sons of Israel + 21 West 124th Street, New York City + + Independent Western Star Order + 1227 Blue Island Avenue, Chicago, Illinois + + Independent Workmen's Circle of America, Inc. + 9 Cambridge, Boston, Massachusetts + + Industrial Removal Office + 174 Second Avenue, New York City + + Intercollegiate Menorah Associations + 600 Madison Avenue, New York City + + Intercollegiate Zionist Association of America + 55 Fifth Avenue, New York City + + Jewish Academicians of America + 125 East Eighty-fifth Street, New York City + + Jewish Agricultural and Industrial Aid Society + 174 Second Avenue, New York City + + Jewish Agricultural Experiment Station + 356 Second Avenue, New York City + + Jewish Central Relief Committee + 51 Chambers Street, New York City + + Jewish Chautauqua Society + 1305 Stephen Girard Building + 21 South Twelfth Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania + + Jewish Consumptive Relief Association of California + 207 South Broadway, Los Angeles, California + + Jewish Consumptive Relief Society + 510-512 Kittredge Building, Denver, Colorado + + Jewish National Workers Alliance of America + 89 Delancey Street, New York City + + Jewish People's Relief Committee + 175 East Broadway, New York City + + Jewish Publication Society of America + 1201 North Broad Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania + + Jewish Socialist Federation of America + 175 East Broadway, New York City + + Jewish Socialist Labor Poale Zion of America and Canada + 266 Grand Street, New York City + + Jewish Teachers Association + Secretary: A. P. Schoolman + 356 Second Avenue, New York City + + Jewish Teachers' Seminary + 252 East Broadway, New York City + + Jewish Teachers' Training School of the Misrachi Organization + 86 Orchard Street, New York City + + Jewish Theological Seminary of America + 531 West 123d Street, New York City + + Jewish Welfare Board + 149 Fifth Avenue, New York City + + Joint Distribution Committee + 20 Exchange Place, New York City + + Kappa Nu Fraternity + 2937 Schubert Avenue, Chicago, Illinois + + National Association of Jewish Social Workers + Secretary and Treasurer: M. M. Goldstein + 356 Second Avenue, New York City + + National Conference of Jewish Social Service + 114 Fifth Avenue, New York City + + National Desertion Bureau + Secretary: Charles Zusser + 356 Second Avenue, New York City + + National Farm School + 407 Mutual Life Building, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania + + National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods + 62 Dutenhofer Building, Cincinnati, Ohio + + National Jewish Hospital for Consumptives + 3800 East Colfax Avenue, Denver, Colorado + + National Jewish Immigration Council + 18 Maiden Lane, New York City + + National Union of Jewish Sheltering Societies + 229-231 East Broadway, New York City + + Order Brith Abraham + 266 Grand Street, New York City + + Order Knights of Joseph + 311-312 Society for Savings Building + Cleveland, Ohio + + Order of Sons of Zion + 55 Fifth Avenue, New York City + + Order of the United Hebrew Brothers + 189 Second Avenue, New York City + + Pi Tau Pi Fraternity + New Orleans, Louisiana + + Progressive Order of the West + 406-407-408 Frisco Building + Ninth and Olive Streets, St. Louis, Missouri + + Red Mogen David of America + 201 Second Avenue, New York City + + Sigma Alpha Mu Fraternity + 277 Broadway, New York City + + The Mizrachi Organization of America + 86 Orchard Street, New York City + + The Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada + 121 Canal Street, New York City + + The Workmen's Circle + 175 East Broadway, New York City + + Union of American Hebrew Congregations + Cincinnati, Ohio + + Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America + 125 East Eighty-fifth Street, New York City + + United Order of True Sisters + 317 West 139th Street, New York City + + United Orthodox Rabbis of America + 121 Canal Street, New York City + + United Sons of Israel, Inc. + 18 Boylston Street, Boston, Massachusetts + + United Synagogue of America + 531 West 123d Street, New York City + + Women's League of the United Synagogue of America + 531 West 123d Street, New York City + + Young Judæa + 55 Fifth Avenue, New York City + + Z B T Fraternity + 237 West Eighty-eighth Street, New York City + + Zionist Organization of America + 55 Fifth Avenue, New York City + + Zionist Society of Engineers and Agriculturists + 122 East Thirty-seventh Street, New York City + + +JUGOSLAV + + Carniolian Slovene Catholic Union + 1004 North Chicago Street, Joliet, Illinois + + Croatian League of Illinois + 2552 Wentworth Avenue, Chicago, Illinois + + Croatian Union of the Pacific + 560 Pacific Building, San Francisco, California + + Jugoslav Benevolent Society "Unity" + 408 Park Street, Milwaukee, Wisconsin + + Jugoslav Catholic Benevolent Union + Ely, Minnesota + + Jugoslav Republican Alliance + 3637 West Twenty-sixth Street, Chicago, Illinois + + Loyal Serb Society Srbadia + 443 West Twenty-second Street, New York City + + National Croatian Society + 1012 Peralta Street, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania + + Serbian Federation Sloboda + 414 Bakewell Building, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania + + Serbian Orthodox Federation Srbobran Sloga + Twelfth and Carsons Street, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania + + Slovene Benevolent Society + 1064 East Sixty-second Street, Cleveland, Ohio + + Slovene Catholic Benevolent Association + 420 Seventh Street, Calumet, Michigan + + Slovene Croatian Union + Fifth South Borgo Block, Calumet, Michigan + + Slovene Free Thinkers Association + 1541 West Eighteenth Street, Brooklyn, New York + + Slovene Workingmen's Benevolent Association + 634 Main Street, Johnstown, Pennsylvania + + *Slovenic Benevolent Society + "St. Barbara" + Forest City, Pennsylvania + + Slovenic National Benefit Society + 2657 S. Lawndale Avenue, Chicago, Illinois + + Southern Slav Socialistic League + 3639 West Twenty-sixth Street, Chicago, Illinois + + The Holy Family Society + 1006 North Chicago Street, Joliet, Illinois + + Western Slav Society + 4822 Washington Street, Denver, Colorado + + Young National Croatian Society + President: Mark Smiljanich + 2857 South Ridgeway Avenue, Chicago, Illinois + + +LITHUANIAN + + American-Lithuanian Catholic Press Association + Secretary: Rev. V. Kulikauskas + 2327 West Twenty-third Place, Chicago, Illinois + + Auxiliary of Lithuanian Red Cross + Secretary: Rev. Petraitis + 147 Montgomery Avenue, Paterson, New Jersey + + Knights of Lithuania + Secretary: Vincas Ruk[vs]telis + 3249 South Halsted Street, Chicago, Illinois + + Lithuanian Alliance of America + Secretary: Miss P. Jurgeliute + 307 West Thirtieth Street, New York City + + Lithuanian National Fund + Secretary: J. Kru[vs]inskas + 222 South Ninth Street, Brooklyn, New York + + Lithuanian Patriot Society + Secretary: J. Sekys + 101 Oak Street, Lawrence, Massachusetts + + Lithuanian Roman Catholic Alliance of America + Secretary: J. Tumasonis + 222 South Ninth Street, Brooklyn, New York + + Lithuanian Roman Catholic Charitable Association + Secretary: John Purtokas + 4441 South Washenaw Avenue, Chicago, Illinois + + Lithuanian Roman Catholic Federation of America + Secretary: J. Valantiejus + 222 South Ninth Street, Brooklyn, New York + + Lithuanian Roman Catholic Women's Alliance of America + President: Mrs. M. Vaiciuniene + 442 Leonard Street, N. W., Grand Rapids, Michigan + + Lithuanian Total Abstinence Association + Secretary: Vincent Ba[vc]ys + 41 Providence Street, Worcester, Massachusetts + + St. Joseph's Lith. Roman Catholic Association of Labor + Secretary: A. F. Kneizis + 366 West Broadway, South Boston, Massachusetts + + The People's University + Secretary: Dr. A. L. Graiciunas + 3310 South Halsted Street, Chicago, Illinois + + +NORWEGIAN + + Knights of the White Cross + Care of Nora Lodge + 1733 North Kedvale Avenue, Chicago, Illinois + + Sons of Norway + Secretary: L. Stavnheim + New York Life Building, Minneapolis, Minnesota + + +POLISH + + Association of Polish Women of the United States + General Secretary: Mrs. L. H. Dziewczynska + 6723 Fleet Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio + + Polish Alliance of New Jersey + General Secretary: J. Wegrocki + 84 Tyler Street, Newark, New Jersey + + Polish Falcons Alliance of America + General Secretary: K. J. Machnikowski + Cor. South Twelfth and Carson Streets, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania + + Polish Military Alliance of the United States of America + General Secretary: P. Balecki + 450 Pacific Avenue, Jersey City, New Jersey + + *Polish National Alliance of Brooklyn + General Secretary: V. G. Nowak + 142 Grand Street, Brooklyn, New York + + Polish National Alliance of the United States of North America + General Secretary: J. S. Zawilinski + 1406-08 West Division Street, Chicago, Illinois + + Polish Roman-Catholic Alliance + General Secretary: J. Grams + 6924 Worley Street, Cleveland, Ohio + + Polish Roman-Catholic Association + General Secretary: L. F. Szymanski + 755 Twenty-third Street, Detroit, Michigan + + *Polish Roman-Catholic Benevolent Association of Bay City + General Secretary: J. Lepczyk + 1112 Fifteenth Street, Bay City, Michigan + + Polish Roman-Catholic Union + 984 Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago, Illinois + + Polish Socialists Alliance of America + General Secretary: R. Mazurkiewica + 959 Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago, Illinois + + Polish Women's Alliance of America + General Secretary: Mrs. J. Andrzejewska + 1309-15 North Ashland Avenue, Chicago, Illinois + + Polish Union + General Secretary: J. Dembiec + Room 824, Miners Bank Building, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania + + Polish Union of America + General Secretary: F. Zandrowicz + 761-765 Fillmore Avenue, Buffalo, New York + + Human Catholic Alliance of America + General Secretary: W. Gola + 59 Fourth Street, Passaic, New Jersey + + The Polish Roman-Catholic St. Joseph Union + General Secretary: A. Kazmierski + 2813 Nineteenth Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania + + +RUSSIAN + + League of Russian Clergy + 43 Reed Street, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania + + North American Ecclesiastical Consistory + Archbishop Alexander + 15 East Ninety-seventh Street, New York City + + Russian Brotherhood Organization of U. S. A. + P. O. Box 475, Olyphant, Pennsylvania + + Russian Collegiate Institute + 219 Second Avenue, New York City + + Russian Independent Orthodox Brotherhoods + 34 Vine Street, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania + + Russian Independent Society + 917 North Wood Street, Chicago, Illinois + + Russian National Organization + P. O. Box 2066, Bridgeport, Connecticut + + Russian National Society + 5 Columbus Circle, New York City + + Russian Orthodox Catholic Mutual Aid Society + 84 Market Street, East, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania + + Russian Peasants' Union + 324 East Fourteenth Street, New York City + + Russian Society "Nauka" + 222 East Tenth Street, New York City + + *Union of Russian Citizens + 1522 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania + + Women's Russian Orthodox Mutual Aid Society + P. O. Box 512, Coaldale, Pennsylvania + + +SLOVAK + + Catholic Slovak Sokol + Secretary: Michael Kudlac + 205 Madison Street, Passaic, New Jersey + + First Catholic Slovak Ladies' Union of the United States + President: Mrs. Frantiska Jakaboin + 600 South Seventh Street, Reading, Pennsylvania + + National Slovak Society in United States of America + Secretary: Joseph Duris + P. O. Box 593, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania + + Slovak Gymnastic Union of Sokols + Secretary: Frank Stas + 283 Oak Street, Perth Amboy, New Jersey + + Slovak Protestant Union + President: Jan Bibza + 409 South Second Street, N. S., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania + + Tatran Slovak Union + President: Samuel Vrablik + 2519 South Ridgeway Avenue, Chicago, Illinois + + The First Catholic Slovak Union + President: Andrej H. Dorko + Marblehead, Ohio + + Zivena, Benefit Society of Slovak Christian Women of the United + States of America + President: Mrs. C. E. Vavrek + 3 Stark Street, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania + + +SWEDISH + + American Society of Swedish Engineers + Secretary: N. V. Hansell + 271 Hicks Street, Brooklyn, New York + + Scandinavian Fraternity of America + P. O. Box 184, Spokane, Washington + (Membership consists of Norwegians, Danes, and Swedes) + + The American Union of Swedish Singers + President: Hjalmar Nilsson + State Capitol, St. Paul, Minnesota + + The Order of Vasa + President: Carl Festin + 610 East Seventy-fifth Street, Chicago, Illinois + + *United Swedish Societies of Greater New York + President: John Olin + Anderson's Assembly Rooms, Sixteenth Street and Third Avenue, + New York City + (Consists of two delegates from each local society) + + +UKRAINIAN + + Providence Association, Inc. + President: Eugene Yakubovich + 827 North Franklin Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania + + The Ukrainian Federation of the United States, Inc. + President: Miroslav Sichinsky + 166 Avenue A, New York City + + Ukrainian Mutual Aid Society, Inc. + President: M. Porada + 3357 West Carson Street, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania + + Ukrainian National Association, Inc. + President: Simon Yadlowsky + 83 Grand Street, Jersey City, New Jersey + + Ukrainian National Committee + President: V. B. Lotozky + 30 East Seventh Street, New York City + + Ukrainian Women's Alliance + President: Mrs. C. Zubrich + 932 North Okley Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois + + Ukrainian Workingmen's Association, Inc. + President: George Kraykiwsky + 524 Olive Street, Scranton, Pennsylvania + + Union of Brotherhoods + President: George Hylak + 107 Grant Street, Olyphant, Pennsylvania + + + + +MENUS + + +The following menus have been obtained from housewives who were glad +to share in an effort toward better understanding between foreign-born +groups and agencies either of adjustment or for case work. This small +body of material is illustrative of the kind of information that is +easily available to the agency and that would illumine the treatment +of the families under care. + +The menus given are those actually used by housewives of different +nationalities during the periods indicated. A list of recipes will be +found in another volume of this Study.[82] + + +BOHEMIAN + +These menus were given by a Bohemian woman whose methods of cooking +have changed very little in America. She has learned new ways of +preserving vegetables and fruits, but uses those methods only when +they seem to her more inexpensive than her earlier practices. In other +respects the diet is said to be typical of the diet of a Bohemian +family of moderate income in Moravia. + +BREAKFAST + + Oatmeal with milk. + Coffee, bread with butter or jelly. + +There is always fruit in the house and the child of five is given +bread and jelly at ten o'clock in the morning. + +LUNCH + +Usually a meatless soup is served for lunch, or a simple dish of rice +or vegetables. Eggs cooked in various ways, milk, bread, butter, and +jelly, and baked porridge called "kashe" made from farina, rice or +millet, cooked with milk and sugar and butter, are also used at lunch. + +DINNER + +The dinner menus do not vary much. Soup made from meat stock is eaten +every week day except Wednesday, when there is roast meat and no soup. +On Sunday both soup and a roast are served. The meat from the soup is +served with a variety of sauces and gravies. Dumplings are used often +when Americans would serve potatoes. Rice and noodles are also used +instead of potatoes. Such vegetables as beans, spinach, carrots, +cabbage, kohl-rabi, sauerkraut, and salads are sometimes eaten with +the meat instead of the sauce with dumplings. The following are +typical menus: + + Soup. + Meat with sauce and dumplings. + Apple sauce or preserves. + Coffee. Bread and butter. + + Soup. + Meat with sauce and potatoes. + Stewed fruit. + Coffee with homemade raised tarts. + + Soup. + Meat, beans, sauerkraut. + Apple sauce. + Coffee. Bread and butter. + + +CROATIAN + +The following menus represent the diet of a Croatian family of +moderate income. The family came from a village near Zara, and the +influence of the Italian customs upon the food habits of the +Dalmatians is indicated in the use of polenta. + +August 6, 1919: + +BREAKFAST--5 A.M. + + One cup of coffee with one or two slices of bread. Coffee is + made very strong, the cup filled two thirds full of hot milk; + the coffee and some cream added. + +SECOND BREAKFAST--9 A.M. + + A soft-boiled egg, with bread. + One cup of coffee. + +The custom of having a second breakfast is Croatian. In this family it +has been possible to keep it up in this country because the hours for +a street-car conductor can be arranged to allow it. + +DINNER--12.30 P.M. + + Beef soup with dumplings. + Soup meat with sauce. + Mashed potatoes (browned). + Bread. Coffee. + +SUPPER--7 P.M. + + Soup with rice (from same stock as was used at noon). + Cabbage. + Bread. Coffee. Fruit. + +August 7, 1919: + +BREAKFAST + +Early breakfast is always the same. The second breakfast varies +little; sometimes bread and cheese or bread and meat sandwiches are +eaten instead of the soft-boiled eggs. + +DINNER + + Goulash. + Polenta. + Lettuce salad. + Coffee. + +SUPPER + + Spaghetti with tomato sauce. + Celery. + Bread. Coffee. + + +ITALIAN (Sicilian) + +The following menus represent the diet of a Sicilian family from +Palermo. They have been in America over twenty years, but their diet +has changed little. There are ten persons in the family--the mother +and two unmarried daughters, a married daughter, her husband and four +children. The children are seven, five, and three years, and ten +months. Food for the children is prepared separately. For breakfast +they have cereal, milk, bread, and stewed fruit; for lunch, rice or +potato, bread, milk, and the green vegetables cooked for the family if +not cooked with tomato sauce. For supper the children have bread and +milk. It is not common in Italian families to make so much difference +in the diet for children; they are usually fed on the highly seasoned +dishes the family eat, but in this family the mother prepared special +food for her children, and her daughter is doing the same and planning +their diet even more carefully. + +Summer menus: + +Monday, August 11, 1919: + +BREAKFAST + + Coffee or chocolate. + Toast. Italian cookies. + For children, bread and milk or oatmeal and milk. + +The coffee is made strong, but is served with hot milk--the cup half +or two thirds filled with milk before coffee is poured in. Very often +nothing is eaten with the coffee. + +LUNCHEON--Noon + + Cold sliced meat (left from Sunday). + Tomato and lettuce salad. + Bread. Fruit. + +DINNER + + Spaghetti with tomato sauce. + Stuffed peppers. + Bread. Fruit. + +Tuesday, August 12, 1919: + +BREAKFAST + + Same every morning. + +LUNCHEON + + Stew made of long, slender squash, potatoes, onions. + Bread. Fruit. + +DINNER + + Broiled veal. + Fried potatoes. + Fresh tomatoes with French dressing. + Boiled string beans. + Bread. Fruit. + +Wednesday, August 13, 1919: + +LUNCHEON + + Boiled greens with olive oil. + Fresh tomatoes. + Bread. Cheese. + Fruit. + +DINNER + + Macaroni with peas. + Diced potatoes with tomato sauce. + Breaded asparagus. + Fruit. + +Thursday, August 14, 1919: + +LUNCHEON + + Breaded fried liver. + Sauce for meat made of vinegar, sugar, chopped orange rind, and + bay leaves. + Boiled greens with olive oil. + Bread. Fruit. + +DINNER + + Macaroni à la Milanese + Sauce of finocchi, bread crumbs, anchovi. + Potato cakes. + Fruit. + +Friday, August 15, 1919: + +LUNCHEON + + Egg tamale. + String beans, French dressing. + Bread. Fruit. + +DINNER + + Fried fish. + Fresh tomatoes. + Cucumbers. Bread. Fruit. + +Saturday, August 16, 1919: + +LUNCHEON + + Potatoes and eggs. + Greens with vinegar. + Bread. Fruit. + +DINNER + + Broiled steak. + Corn. Potatoes. + Salad. Bread. Fruit. + +Sunday, August 17, 1919: + +BREAKFAST + + Coffee. Italian pastry. + +DINNER + + Homemade macaroni with tomato sauce. + Veal pot roast. + Corn. Eggplant. Bread. + Fruit salad. + +The menus given are typical of the diet during the summer. A great +variety of vegetables is used. + +Winter menus: + +Monday: + +BREAKFAST + + Coffee or chocolate. + Bread, toast, or Italian cookies. + +LUNCHEON + + Stew of spinach, lentils, and onions. + Baked apples. Bread. Coffee. + +DINNER + + Macaroni with tomato sauce. + Meat (left over from Sunday). + Bread. Coffee or wine. + +Tuesday: + + Breakfast is always the same. + +LUNCHEON + + Egg tamale (egg, cheese, and bacon). + Baked potatoes. + Bread. Fruit. + +DINNER + + Soup with macaroni. + Meat with vegetables, potatoes, carrots, cabbage, onions, etc. + Bread. Fruit. + +Wednesday: + +LUNCHEON + + Salmon, lemon juice. + Spinach with olive oil. + Bread. Fruit. + +DINNER + + Macaroni with navy beans. + Fried eggplant, with tomato sauce and cheese. + Bread. Fruit. + +Thursday: + +LUNCHEON + + Soft-boiled eggs. + Fried green tomatoes. + Bread. Baked apples. + +DINNER + + Breaded pork chops. + Potatoes. Spinach. + Fruit Salad. Bread. + +Friday: + +LUNCHEON + + Egg omelet. + Chocolate. Bread. + Stewed fruit. + +DINNER + + Fish with tomato sauce. + Stuffed green peppers. + Bread. Fruit. + +Saturday: + +LUNCHEON + + Broiled liver. + Lettuce salad. Bread. + Fruit. + +DINNER + + Lima beans with celery, onions, and tomatoes. + Stuffed artichokes. + Bread. Coffee. Fruit. + +Sunday: + +BREAKFAST + + Coffee and Italian fried cakes. + +DINNER + + Macaroni with tomato sauce and chopped meat. + Pot roast. Peas. + Ice cream. + +SUPPER + + Rice cooked in milk with egg. + Cake. Coffee. + + +SLOVENIAN + +Menus given by a Slovenian woman show the diet of a family of moderate +income whose food habits have not been modified in America. Certain +European customs are observed; no desserts are served, and no baking +powder is used. Sweet cookies, raised with yeast, and fresh fruit, are +given to children who are allowed candy, so that they may not feel +deprived of sweets when they see other children eating candy at +school. The older children have learned to prepare new "American" +dishes at school, but these are not used at home, as the whole family +prefer the Slovenian diet. + +BREAKFAST + + Coffee, bread and butter. + (Breakfast is always the same.) + +10 A.M. + + An egg, a sandwich, or a cup of milk for parents. + Fruit for children. + +LUNCH + + 1. Rice cooked with mushrooms, celery, onions, and spice. In + cold weather fifteen cents' worth of pork is cooked with the + rice. Water with fruit juice to drink, or the water from + cooked fruit. + + 2. Buckwheat cakes, eaten with cooked dried fruit or jelly. + + 3. Barley and beans cooked together. Colored beans are used, + and must be tried to see whether they will cook in the same + time as the barley. Olive oil, bacon or sausage, and a little + garlic are added. + + 4. Millet (kasa) cooked in milk with sugar, then baked in the + oven fifteen minutes and served with milk. + + 5. French toast. + + 6. Corn-meal mush, fried, with sauerkraut. "A good quality of + corn meal is used, bought in Italian districts." Boiling + water is poured very slowly into a dish of meal, and allowed + to stand twenty minutes. Mush is fried in butter, eaten with + sauerkraut, cooked dried fruit or honey. + + 7. Noodles with Parmesan cheese. + + 8. Noodles with baked apples. + +3 P.M. + + Coffee, bread with butter or jelly. + (Coffee is very weak for children; a great deal of milk is added.) + +DINNER + + 1. Beef soup with farina dumplings. + Meat (from the soup) eaten with a relish. + Potatoes. Turnips. Bread. + + 2. Vegetable soup. + Roast meat. + Vegetables. + Bread. Water. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[82] Michael M. Davis, _Immigrant Health and the Community_. + + + + +INDEX + + + A + + Abbott, Edith, 153, 161, 186, 308 + + Abbott, Grace, 223 + + Agencies: + Adjusting immigrants + American, 222-276 + Case work, 277-311 + Immigrant, 187-221 + Studied, 7-8 + + Agriculture: + Legislation, 38, 76, 254-257 + Workers, 34-35 + + Akron, Ohio: + Home Demonstration Agent, 259 + + American Association for Family Welfare Work, 281 + + American Association for Social Work with Families, 7, 310 + + American Home Economics Association: + Committee on Household Budgets, 115, 250-252 + + American Institute of Architects: + Articles on Housing, 72-74 + + American Red Cross: + Chapter + Case Work, 281 + Home Service, 7, 310 + + Americanization: + Agencies and instruments + American organizations, 222-276 + Case-work organizations, 277-311 + Immigrant organizations, 187-221 + Factors, 14-18 + + Anderson, A. M., 270 + + Anthony, Katharine Susan, 136 + + + B + + Baltimore, Maryland: + Polish National Alliance, 202 + + Banks: + Postal Savings, 111-115 + + Benefit Societies: + Life and Health insurance, 94-95 + Organization, 192-196, 201 + + Birdseye, Clarence Frank, 226 + + "Board of Health Baskets," 133 + + Boarders: + Relation to family problems, 23-27, 52, 63-64 + + Bohemia: + Customs in, 174 + + Bohemians: + Building and loan association, 76, 109 + Child care, 158, 164, 182 + Cookery, 59 + Dvorak Park, Chicago, 273-274 + Home ownership, 105, 107 + In Chicago, 11 + Nebraska, 169 + Life insurance, 94 + Menus, 333-334 + Postal Savings circular, 112 + Spending habits, 90, 122, 134-135 + Unemployment, 92 + + Boston, Massachusetts: + Boston Associated Charities + Office of District Superintendent, 298 + Case-work agencies, 283, 295 + Dietetic Bureau, 296 + Polish National Alliance, 202 + + Breckinridge, S. P., 153, 161, 186 + + Bridgeport, Connecticut: + Black Rock Apartment House Group, 70 + Study of housing project, 8 + + British Board of Trade: + Cost of living in American towns, 7 + + Brooklyn, New York: + Red Cross Chapter, 281 + Visiting housekeeper + Pratt Institute, 290 + + Brooks, John Graham, viii + + Buffalo, New York: + Cost of living, 129 + Red Cross Chapter, 281 + + Building Loans: + Government, 75-80 + + Building and loan association: + Agency for buying homes, 109-111 + In Chicago, 76 + + Bulgarian: + Home ownership, 106 + Postal Savings circular, 112 + + Bureau of Education: + Home Economics Division, 251, 268 + + Bureau of Labor: + List of building and loan associations, 109 + Report of U. S. Housing Corporation, 29, 32 + Statistics, 7, 129 + Women and child wage earners, 6 + + Buying: + Immigrant problem, 117-148 + + + C + + California: + Home teachers, 236-237 + Mothers' Aid Laws, 308 + + California Commission of Immigration and Housing, 237-238 + + Cambridge, Massachusetts: + Case-work agencies, 283 + Visiting housekeepers, 290 + + Case Work: + With immigrant families, 277-311 + + Case Workers: + Foreign speaking, 281-286 + Training, 298-304 + + Catholic Order of Foresters, 195 + + Chicago: + Agencies, 8 + Board of Education, 241-243 + Building and loan association, 76, 110 + Case work, 281, 298-299 + Croatian, 197 + Elementary schools, 161-162 + Foreign born, 303-304 + Immigrants' Protective League, 8, 46, 51, 52, 203, 223-227, + 240, 303 + Playgrounds, 158 + Recreational, 273-276 + Settlements, 50, 239-240 + United Charities, 8, 281 + Visiting housekeepers, 290-291 + Visiting Nurses' Association, 241 + Vocational Guidance Bureau, 169, 174 + Women's Clubs, 240-241 + Delinquent children, 185-186 + Families, 93-94 + Homes, 33 + Housing, 62, 105-108 + Italian wedding, 100 + Russian women, 3 + Shopping habits, 122-123 + Study of races, 11-12, 50, 61 + Women in industry, 40 + + Child Labor: + Legislation, 37-38 + + Children: + Care of, 4, 41-43, 149-186 + Croatian, 198-201 + + Children's Bureau: + Child care publications, 7, 219-221, 254 + Infant mortality studies, 41, 64 + + Chinese: + Postal savings circular, 112 + + Christenings, 103-104 + + Church: + Chimes, 97 + Relation to parents, 180 + + Classes: + Cooking, 228, 233, 240-243, 259-260 + + Cleveland: + Case-work agencies, 283 + Visiting housekeepers, 290, 295 + + Clothing: + Problem of parents, 135-141 + + Comey, A. C., 79 + + Community: + Recreation agencies, 272-276 + Relation to immigrant, 169, 180, 187-192, 223 + + Company store, 119-122 + + Consumers' League, 141 + + Cook County, Illinois: + Charity Service Report, 277 + Juvenile Court, 185-186, 277, 281 + + Cookery: + American demands, 58-60 + Classes, 228, 233, 240-243, 259-260 + + Co-operation: + For immigrant education, 240-243 + + Co-operatives: + Housekeeping, 24, 27-29 + In America, 141-148 + In England, 141-148 + + Court: + Domestic relation, 53 + Juvenile, 181-186, 277, 281 + + Croatia: + Customs, 174 + + Croatians: + Child care, 151 + Cookery, 58 + Home ownership, 105 + In Chicago, 11 + League of Illinois, 94 + Menus, 334-335 + Organizations, 196-201 + Postal Savings circular, 112 + Spending habits, 122, 130, 137 + Women in industry, 40 + + Croatian League of Illinois, 196 + + Cummin, John, 226 + + Czecho-Slovak: + Czecho-Slovak workingman, 95 + Diet changes, 130 + Organizations, 313-314 + + + D + + Dallas, Texas: + Bohemian Community, 83 + + Daniels, John, 32, 190 + + Danish: + Organizations, 314-315 + Postal Savings circular, 112 + + Day Nursery: + Lithuanian, 41 + + Death: + Provision against, 92-93, 96 + + Department of Agriculture: + Bureau of Home Economics, 7, 251 + States Relation Service, 254-262 + Thrift campaign, 114 + + Detroit: + Visiting Housekeepers' Association, 289 + + Diets: + Modification, 130-134, 249, 333-341 + + Dover, New Jersey: + Cost of living, 129 + + Dutch: + Organizations, 315 + + E + + Earnings (_see_ Income) + + Economy: + Built on money, 88 + + Education: + Immigrant, 240-243 + Women, 265-266 + Parents' problem, 159-169 + + El Paso, Texas: + Case-work agencies, 283 + + England: + British Board of Trades, 7 + Domestic Service Problem, 271-272 + Government Grants + Schools for mothers, 263-265 + Ministry of Reconstruction, 68, 271 + Rochdale, Lancashire Co-operative, 141 + Women's Co-operative Guild, 269 + Women's Employment Committee, 270-271 + + English: + Postal Savings circular, 112 + + Erwin, Tennessee: + Housing, 70 + + Expenditures: + Budget, 139 + + + F + + Fall River, Massachusetts: + Case-work agencies, 281 + Visiting housekeepers, 290 + Immigrant schools + Classes for women, 259-260 + + Family: + Adjustment by organizations + American, 222-276 + Case work, 277-311 + Immigrant, 187-221 + Child care, 149-186 + Problem, 6, 14-18 + Relationships, 19-53 + + Farm Laborers: + Unfamiliarity with money, 89-90 + + Farm Loan Act: + Proposed Amendment to, 76 + + Federal Board for Vocational Education: + Supervisors of Home Economics, 7 + Work, 251, 256-262 + + Fête Days: + First communion, 104-105 + + Finnish: + Organizations, 315-316 + Postal Savings circular, 112 + + Foreign Language Information Service, 220, 313-332 + + Fort Wayne, Indiana: + Cost of living, 129 + + Fosdick, Raymond B., viii + + Fraternal Societies (_see_ Benefit) + Sound basis of, 94-95 + + French: + Postal Savings circular, 112 + + Freund, Ernst, 119 + + Funerals: + Expense, 96-97 + + Furniture: + Buying, 134-135 + + + G + + Gay, Edwin F., viii + + German: + Life insurance, 94 + Organizations, 316-317 + Postal Savings circular, 112 + + Gilbert, Frank Bixley, 226 + + Girls: + Conventions for, 174-175 + Delinquent, 181 + Safety, 180 + Work, 179 + + Glenn, John M., viii + + Grand Rapids, Michigan: + Case-work agencies, 283 + + Greeks: + Organizations, 192 + Postal Savings banks + Use of, 112 + + Group life: + In old country, 175 + In America, 175 + + + H + + Hart, Hastings Hornell, 200 + + Health: + Problems, 150-151 + + Health Insurance Commission of Illinois: + Study of Chicago families' life insurance, 93-95 + + Homes: + Ownership, 78-80, 105-111 + Relation to + Child care, 149-186 + American organizations, 222-276 + Case-work organizations, 277-311 + Immigrant organizations, 187-221 + Studied, 6-14 + + Home Economics: + Work, 254-263, 289-298 + + Home Visitors: + International Institute, Y. W. C. A., 245 + Training, 248-250 + Work of, 247-248 + + Hood, Laura, xvii + + Housing: + Immigrant problem, 23-32, 54-84 + Play space, 158 + + Housewives: + Duties, 43-47 + Instruction, 234-235 + Problems + Children, 149-186 + Housing, 23-32, 58-84 + Saving, 85-116 + Spending, 117-148 + + Hungarians: + Child care, 165 + Home ownership, 105 + Housekeeping problems, 80 + Organization, 191, 317-318 + Postal Savings banks, 112 + + I + + Illinois: + Building and loan organization, 109 + Child labor, 38 + Council of Defense, 240-241 + Co-operative stores, 8 + Italians, 3, 11-12 + Mining communities, 8 + Mothers' Aid Law, 308 + Pauper Act, 307 + Public schools, 253 + + Illinois Steel Company: + Employees' houses, 72 + + Immigration: + "Old" and "New," 5 + Stream of, 1 + + Immigrants: + Adjustment, 1-2, 6, 193 + Co-operatives, 143-145 + Relation to community, 167-168, 180, 187-192, 223 + + Immigrant Heritages, 1-186, 247-248 + Importance to case worker, 298-301 + + Immigrant Newspapers (_see_ Separate Races) + + Immigrant Organizations: + Life and Health Insurance, 94-95 + List of principal racial, 313-332 + Relation to family problems, 187-221 + + Immigrants' Protective League, 230, 268 + Chicago, 8, 46, 51, 52, 203, 223-227, 240, 303 + + Income: + Children, 170-171 + Inadequacy, 35-39 + Irregularity, 91-92 + + Indianapolis, Indiana: + Cost of living, 129 + + Industry: + Women in, 39-43 + Workers, 34-35 + + Infant mortality: + Study, 41, 64 + + Insurance: + Life + Fraternal, 93-95 + Industrial, 95-96 + + Irish: + Life insurance, 94 + + Italians: + Building and loan association, 77 + Case work with, 298-299, 305-307 + Child care, 163, 177-178 + Family problems, 50 + Home economics work in Arkansas, 258-259 + Housekeeping problems, 57-58, 65, 80 + In Illinois mining town, 253 + Life insurance, 94 + Medical Association, 218 + Menus, 335-340 + Organizations, 95, 217-218, 318 + Postal Saving banks, 112 + Saving problems, 92-93, 97, 105, 106 + Spending habits, 122, 124 + Clothing, 137 + Diet changes, 130 + Neighborhood stores, 127 + Studied, 11-12 + + Italy: + Backgrounds, 57-58, 175, 298-299, 302 + Houses, 57 + + + J + + Japanese: + Postal Savings circular, 112 + + Jewish: + Life insurance, 94 + Organizations, 319-324 + + Jewish Aid Society: + Case work, 281 + + Jugoslav: + Child care, 178 + Family relationships, 50 + Organizations, 324-326 + + Juvenile Court: + Case work, 277, 281 + Child care, 181-186 + + Juvenile Delinquency: + Children of foreign-born parentage, 156, 181-186 + + + K + + Kemmerer, Edwin Walter, 102 + + Kenosha, Wisconsin: + Case-work agencies, 283 + + King, Clyde Lyndon, 148 + + Kirkpatrick, V. G., 293 + + Knights and Ladies of Security, 195 + + + L + + Lake Village, Arkansas + Work with Italians, 258 + + Language: + Barrier in case work, 280-286 + + Legislation, Federal: + Agricultural, 76, 254, 256-257 + Housing (proposed), 77 + Mothers' Aid, 309 + Pure Food Acts, 141 + Restriction on Retail Trade, 141 + + Legislation, Foreign countries: + Government Grants, 264-265 + + Legislation, State: + Company stores, 120-121 + Education, 159, 265-266 + Home teacher, 236 + Housing (proposed), 77 + Mothers' Aid, 308 + Pure Food Act, 141 + Regulating banks, 113 + Restriction on retail trade, 141 + Wives' rights, 48-50 + + Lithuanians: + Child care, 155 + Family problems, 26, 39-43, 51 + Home ownership, 105-106 + Housekeeping problems, 56, 58-59, 80, 107 + Life insurance, 94 + National Alliance, 94 + Organizations, 191, 209-215, 326-327 + Postal Savings circular, 112 + Saving problem, 89-90 + Spending habits + Clothing, 136 + Diet changes, 130 + Furniture, 135 + Studied, 11 + + Lithuania: + Employment in, 89 + + Lithuanian Women's Alliance: + Organ, "Woman's Field," 212 + Work, 209-214 + + Living: + Cost + In United States, 129 + Lowering through co-operatives, 142 + Standards, 286-289 + + Lodgers (_see_ Boarders) + + Lowell, Massachusetts: + Classes for immigrant women, 259 + + Lusk, Graham, 133 + + + M + + Mahoney, John J., 267 + + Massachusetts: + Housing project--study in + Lowell, 8 + North Billerica, 8 + Legislation + Education--immigrant, 265-266 + Mothers' Aid Laws, 308 + Social worker in, 132 + + Massachusetts Bureau of Immigration, 267 + + Massachusetts Homestead Commission: + Experiment at Lowell, 75 + Limited dividend company, 75 + + Massachusetts Immigration Commission, 223 + + Men: + Family + Legislation controlling, 48-50 + Shopping by, 124-125 + Nonfamily, housing, 23-24, 27-29 + + Menus, 333-341 + + Merchants, 118-119 + + Mexicans: + Boarders, 64 + Civil status, 24 + Study in Chicago, 11 + + Milwaukee, Wisconsin: + Case-work agencies, 283 + + Ministry of Reconstruction: + England + Housing recommendations, 68 + + Minneapolis, Minnesota: + Cost of living, 129 + + Money: + Immigrants' unfamiliarity, 88-91 + Payment in lawful, 121-122 + + Morgan Park, Minnesota: + Illinois Steel Company houses, 72 + + Mothers, immigrant: + Aid law, 308 + Assistants, 268-270 + Child care, 150-151, 164-165, 172-174, 178-180, 247 + Relation to family, 39-47 + + + N + + National Croatian Society: + Work of, 196-199 + + National Conference of Social Work, 310 + + Nebraska: + Rural community + Higher education in, 169 + + New Hampshire: + Manchester, study of infant mortality, 41 + + New Jersey: + Mothers' Aid Laws, 308 + Yorkship Village (Study of Housing), 8 + + New Mexico: + Child labor, 38 + Study of several towns, 8 + + New York City: + Case-work agencies, 283 + Visiting housekeepers, 290, 295 + Home Economics Bureau, 296 + John Jay Dwellings, 70 + Polish National Alliance, 202 + Red Cross Chapters, 281 + + New York State Industrial Commission: + Study of earnings, 36-37 + + Norwegian: + Organizations, 327 + Postal Savings circular, 112 + + + O + + Occupation: + Change in, 34-35 + + Ohio: + State University, 259 + + Owen, Robert, 310 + + + P + + Pana, Illinois: + Cost of living, 129 + + Parent: + Problem with children, 149-186 + + Paterson, New Jersey: + Case-work agencies, 283 + + Pennsylvania: + Company stores, 120 + Infant mortality, Johnstown, 41, 64 + Italians, 12 + Mining communities, 8 + Mothers' Aid Laws, 308 + + Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: + Case-work agencies, 283 + Red Cross Chapter, 281 + + Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: + Case-work agencies, 283 + Visiting housekeepers, 290 + + Playground: + Inadequate provision, 158 + + Poland: + House in, 55-56 + + Polish: + Building and loan associations, 77 + Child care, 4, 162, 163, 183-184 + Commercial co-operatives, 123 + Family relationships, 21-23, 33, 34, 53 + Home ownership, 105, 107 + Housekeeping problems, 54, 59, 80 + In Chicago, 11 + Rolling Prairie, Indiana, 11 + In industry, 40-41 + Life insurance, 94 + Newspaper + Dziennik Zwaizkowy, 204 + Organizations, 201-209, 327-329 + Postal Savings circular, 112 + Recreation, 158 + Saving problems, 93, 96, 102 + Spending habits, 122-123 + Clothing, 136 + Diet changes, 130 + Vocational Guidance, 299-300 + + Polish National Alliance: + Organs, 204 + Women's department, 203-207 + Work, 94, 201-203 + + Polish Women's Alliance, 201, 207-209 + + Portuguese: + Postal Savings circular, 112 + + Postal Savings banks, 111-115 + + Postal Saving Law + (proposed) Amendment, 76, 113 + + Pratt Institute, 290 + + Punishment: + Methods, 155-156 + + + R + + Ralph, Georgia G., 200 + + Recreation: + Agencies, 272-276 + Benefit societies, 197 + Juvenile, 157-159, 176, 177 + + Richmond, Mary Ellen, 281 + + Rochester, New York: + Red Cross Chapter, 281 + + Rolling Prairie, Indiana: + Child labor, 38-39 + Co-operative county project, 261 + School attendance, 162 + + Roman Catholic Union of America (Polish), 201 + + Roosevelt, Theodore, viii + + Rumanians: + Home ownership, 106 + Organization, 191 + + Russell Sage Foundation, 200 + + Russian: + Child care, 163, 165, 172, 179 + Family problems, 23, 38, 46-47 + Home ownership, 106 + Housekeeping problems, 59, 80 + In Chicago, 3, 11 + Organization, 95, 191, 329-330 + Postal Savings banks, 112 + Saving problems, 103 + Spending habits, 122 + Diet changes, 130 + + + S + + St. Paul, Minnesota: + Cost of living, 129 + + Sanitation: + Instruction 80-84 + + Saving: + Problem, 85-116 + + Scandinavian: + Life insurance, 94 + + Schools, private: + Selection by parents, 159-160 + + Schools, public: + Elementary + Parents' relationship, 159-169, 180, 253 + Immigrant + Relation to home, 230-238 + Co-operation with agencies, 240-243 + + Schools: + Rural + Attendance, 162 + + Serbia: + Customs, 174 + + Serbians: + Home ownership, 106 + Spending habits, 122 + + Serbo-Croatian: + Dvorak Park, 273-274 + Housekeeping problems, 64 + Postal Savings circular, 112 + + Settlements: + Relation to homes, 50, 239-240, 273-276 + + Sickness: + Incentive for saving, 86, 92 + + Slingerland, R., 200 + + Slovaks: + Child care, 164, 171, 176-177 + Home ownership, 105, 107 + Organizations, 330 + Postal Savings circular, 112 + Spending habits, 122 + Studied, 11 + + Slovenian: + Child care, 171 + Family problems, 20 + Home ownership, 106 + Menus, 340-341 + Postal Savings circular, 112 + Spending habits, 122 + Studied, 11 + Women in industry, 40 + + Smith-Hughes Act, 256-257 + + Smith-Lever Act, 254 + + Social Workers: + Relation to immigrant spending habits, 132, 140 + + Society for Care of Croatian Orphans, 201 + + South Chicago, Illinois: + Church, 97 + + Spanish: + Postal Savings circular, 112 + + Spending: + Immigrant problems, 117-148 + + Springfield, Illinois: + Case-work agencies + Visiting housekeepers, 290 + + Staunton, Illinois: + Co-operative store, 145 + + Stamford, Connecticut: + Case-work agencies, 282-283 + Visiting housekeepers, 290 + + State Immigration Commission, 267 + + Steubenville, Ohio: + Cost of living, 129 + + Stores: + Company, 67-69 + Co-operative, 141-143 + In Staunton, Illinois, 145 + Immigrant, 122-123, 126, 144 + + Syracuse Home Bureau: + Work + Projects, 260-261 + + Swedish: + Organizations, 331 + Postal Savings circular, 112 + + + T + + Teacher Training: + Work with immigrant women, 248-254 + + Teachers: + Home, in California, 236-237 + + Thomas, W. I., 136 + + Thomas and Znaniecki: + Letters from Polish Peasant, 21-22, 85-86, 161 + + Thompson, Frank V., 231 + + Thrift: + Government campaign, 87, 114 + + Topeka, Kansas: + Social work agencies, 281 + + Trade Union Label League, 141 + + "Tribe of Ben Hur," 195 + + + U + + Ukrainians: + Alliance, 122 + Child care, 165 + Family problems, 20, 33 + In Chicago, 11, 50 + Sun, West Virginia, 12 + Organizations, 331-332 + Postal Savings circular, 112 + Savings problems, 90-92 + Spending habits, 122-123 + Diet changes, 130 + Women in industry, 40 + + Ukrainian Women's Alliance: + Organ, 216 + Purpose, 215-216 + + United Charities: + Case work, 281, 283 + In Chicago, 8 + + United States Housing Corporation: + Plan for copartnership ownership, 78 + + United States Immigration Commission: + Reports studied, 6 + Company stores, 120-121 + Earning, 36 + Housing, 60-61 + + United States Steel Corporation: + Houses, 80 + + United States Treasury Department: + Thrift campaign, 87, 114 + War Risk Bureau, 310 + + Universities: + Ohio State, 259 + Purdue, 261 + + + V + + Veblen, Thorstein B., 136 + + Visiting Dietitians: + Modifying diets, 133 + Training, 248-252 + + Virginia: + Hilton Village + Housing project, 8 + + Visiting Housekeepers: + Agencies, 286, 289-298 + Modifying diets, 133 + + Voll, John A., viii + + + W + + War, 35, 36, 187-188, 202-203 + + Waterbury, Connecticut: + Case-work agencies, 283 + + Wedding customs, 99-100, 102-103 + Dowry, 86 + + West Virginia: + Legislation on company store, 121 + Study of + Mining communities, 8 + Ukrainians, 12 + + Williams, Talcott, viii + + Wilmington, Delaware: + Cost of living, 129 + + Women: + Croatian, 198 + Education, 234-236, 240-243, 265-266 + Employment, 65 + Family relationships, 47-53 + Lithuanian organizations, 209 + Polish organizations, 201-209 + Ukrainian organizations, 215-216 + + Women's Co-operative Guild, 148 + + Wood, E. E., 67, 75-77 + + Woodmen of the World, 195 + + Worcester, Massachusetts: + Case-work agencies + Visiting housekeepers, 290 + + Wright, Helen R., xvii + + + Y + + Yiddish: + Postal Savings circular, 112 + + Y. W. C. A.: + Health campaign, 140 + International Institute, 7, 31, 230, 237, 243-248 + + +THE END + + + * * * * * + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Obvious printer's errors were repaired. + +Hyphenation variants in the original were retained. + +Appendix: [vc] is a "c" with a caron, [vs] is an "s" with a caron. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of New Homes for Old, by +Sophonisba Preston Breckinridge + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41291 *** |