to ascertain to what extent male outdoor farm laborers were qualified to become farm tenants. In the opinion of the correspondents who supplied answers, 48 per cent. of the laborers of the South Central States are so qualified; 46 per cent. in the North Central States; 37 per cent. in the Western; 35 per cent. in the South Atlantic; and, lowest of all, 33 per cent. in the North Atlantic States.

Correspondents were asked whether it was reasonably possible for farm laborers and tenants to save enough to buy a farm that would support a family even with the help of a mortgage, and their replies indicated that 72 per cent. of farm laborers and tenants find it reasonably possible to acquire farm ownership. The percentages for the geographic divisions are all over 70 and under 80-a remarkably uniform condition of affairs with regard to this matter throughout the United States.

Small movement from city to farm. The movement from city to farm for the purpose of permanent farm life and labor, either for hire or under ownership, has hardly become general enough in this country to present recognizable proportions. There is a little of this movement here and a little there, but nearly all cases are sporadic.

But there is one sort of labor that goes from city to farm which has become large enough to be perceptible, and that is seasonal labor for employment, not in general farming operations, but for special purposes. The migration of men from cities to follow the wheat harvest from Oklahoma to North Dakota is the best known feature of this sort of farm labor. It is not so generally known that women and children and some men, too, go from the city to the farm at certain seasons to harvest cucumbers to be sold to the pickle factory; to pick, grade, pack, and dry fruits; to harvest hops and berries, and dig potatoes, and so on with other crops that need a rush of labor at time of harvest. Some labor of this sort is applied also to the cultivation of crops, as in pulling weeds from beets and onions, but this labor does not seem to be used much for cultivating crops and not at all for planting.

"REAL WAGES" IN AMERICAN TOWNS

[IN the British Board of Trade Report (April, 1911), the following comparison of wages and of the two main items in the cost of living shows the "large town" in an unexpectedly favorable light. The question occurs whether there are not other elements of income direct and indirect, psychic or material, which enter into the balance of advantages in living in large or small towns, and thus into the "real wages" (p. xxxvii).]

Relation of wages to rents and retail food prices. In the two following tables the mean index numbers for the wages of skilled men in the building, engineering and printing trades, and for rents, food prices and rents and food prices combined, have, for convenience, been brought together for the various geographical divisions and population groups that have been already considered:

By combining the mean index numbers of the two main divisions of the tables-industrial conditions as illustrated by selected wages groups and social conditions as illustrated by selected food prices and rents-it is possible to derive an index number that, so far as this is determined by the element of charges for rent and food, may be said roughly to indicate "real wages," i.e., the relative purchasing power of work people in the different areas and groups. Taking New York as 100 and working out the percentage ratios of the mean index numbers for wages to those of the mean index numbers for rents and food prices combined, the result is shown in the table on page 185.

In the population groups the order as determined by the wages index numbers is maintained throughout in the "real wages" column, although the differences from the New York standard are always diminished, the range being from 89 to

100 instead of 83 to 100, and for the two largest groups of towns showing, as thus measured, no appreciable difference from New York.

In the geographical divisions the position as shown is somewhat different, the rather advantageous price levels of the towns of the Middle West combined with a high level of wages, especially in the building trades, giving an index number for "real wages," as calculated, 4 points higher than for New York itself. On the other hand, the high prices of the New England group of towns combined with a lower level of wages in the selected trades give a level of "real wages" 15

1 In the construction of this index number food prices have been given a weight of three and rents of one.

per cent. lower than that of New York, and 7 points lower than the Southern group of towns-the group which ranks next above that of New England in the order of purchasing power as calculated in the table. Apart from these two groups the difference from the New York standard does not exceed 5 points. It would be unwise to press the comparisons shown unduly, but the difference of 19 points shown as between the New England group and the towns of the Middle West is considerable, and may probably be taken as an indication of real differences that exist between a center of industry, such as that of New England, that is now somewhere removed from the main centers of development, and one, such as that of the towns of the Middle West, that is comparatively new and able to benefit more immediately from the great natural resources of the country.

IMMIGRATION AND CONDITIONS OF LABOR

[By Act of Congress, February 20, 1907, an Immigration Commission was created, to consist of three Senators, three members of the House of Representatives, and three citizens to be appointed by the President of the United States. This commission had the duty of making full “inquiry, examination and investigation," of the subject of immigration. The results of the Commission's thorough work will be embodied in forty-two volumes, and "the gist of the information" thus collected is presented in a volume prepared by Professor J. W. Jenks (one of the commissioners) with the collaboration of W. J. Lauck, expert in charge of the industrial investigations. (The Immigration Problem, N. Y. Funk and Wagnalls, 1912.)

By permission we reproduce (with some amendments by the author) the greater part of the chapter containing the conclusions as to the effect of immigration on wages, entitled, "The immigrant as a dynamic factor in industry" (pp. 182-197).]

The absorption of so large numbers of alien people into the mines and manufacturing establishments, and into the general labor force of the United States, was obviously attended by very important results. These effects of the intense employment of southern and eastern Europeans may be briefly considered, from (1) the standpoint of the general industrial situation, and (2) that of native Americans and older workmen. Before entering into a discussion of these effects, however, it will be necessary, in order that the situation may be fully comprehended, to review briefly the personal and industrial qualities of the recent immigrant labor supply to the United States. These are briefly set forth below.

Lack of technical training. . . . An exceedingly small proportion have had any training abroad for the industrial occupations in which they have found employment in the United States. More recent immigrants have been drawn