Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-07-29

The Population of Manchester.


The Population Of Manchester.
Out OF the 10000 population Of Man
chester land the newspapers Of the city
claim $4,000. more than 10000. or nearly
one-third, are wage-earners. an unusually
large proportion. and very few OF them
are children. The laws prohibiting child
forced throughout all New England. and
the compulsory education laws require all
children between seven and fourteen years
of age to attend school. At first newly
arrived aliens attempt to evade these laws.
but they soon realize their advantages. The
population OF the New England mill towns
stranger is astonished to discover the large
proportion of foreign-born among the mill
operatives. The original employees in the
ton or two iris rom the best families in
New Hampshire worked at the spindles and
the looms and when they got married
their sisters. and afterward their daugh-
ters. came In and took their places. Then
Irish immigrants began to appear. after
| them Canadians. and next Germans and
scandtnavians in large numbers. until now
and other manufacturing towns are OF for
eign birth or blood.
This condition is not limited to the opera
tives in the mills. If you will observe the
names upon the signs over the stores you
will notice that the retail trade Is also
very largely conducted by foreigners
crenCQmen, Germans, SWe0eS ana Italians.
The professional men are Americans. ex-
cept the priests, who represent the same
nattonalities as their congregations The
millinery and dry goods trades are con-
Quoted chiefly by Frenchmen.
The latest census showed fiftyfour differ
ent races living in Manchester. The largest
number. about 10000. are Canadian French.
who work in the cotton mills. the shoe fac
tories and are engaged in commercial at
fairs; 1900 Scandinavians, chiefly Swedes,
are employed In the mills; 5000 Greeks are
$500 Germans furnish weavers for ging-
hams. which are the chief product of the
Amoskeag mills and require great skill.
| Most of them learned their trade in the old
country.
There are 1900 Poles employed in the
mills and about 1000 Jews, mostly from
Russia. and 1900 Italians are engaged as
general laborers and in other occupations
All these different races are more or less
clannish. They congregate in different parts
of the city, have their own society. their
own tradesmen and their own churches Of
the Roman Catholic faith. where services
are conducted in their native languages. as
in Chicago and other cities where are large
foreign colonies. The Roman Catholic
bishop Is a Frenchman. Greek church
was erected last year and Is strongly sup
ported by the colony Of that race.
Formerly the Canadians were migratory.
Young men and young women would come
here and work for a year or two and then
go home. while their brothers and sisters
slipped into their places. In that way
family would maintain an establishment
here and another at the old home in the
province of Quebec. but of late years the
larger part Of the Canadian population has
settled down in Manchester and is max
Ing permanent homes here.
Manchester is growing very rapidly. more
rapidly than any other town in New Hamp-
shire, at the rate of about 80 per cent every
ten years. The census of 1900 found about
60 coo inhabitants. and. as 1 have already
stated. about $4,000 Is claimed now, this
estimate being based upon the names in
the city directory and the school enroll
ment. There are 1880 children enrolled
this year, equally divided between the pub
lie and parochial schools.