Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-01-05

A study of the conditions under which
the new immigrant lives after coming
to America serves to convince the stu
dent that he is often something of hero.
He often lives in filth and squalor. but
frequently it is necessity that compels
him to do So He is sometimes found in
camps where conditions are so bad that
they would make the best of us indiffer-
ent. but he lives in this way so that he
may provide for his family, present or
prospective. If he has family with him
in America he shows himself provident
of heart by bearing uncomplainingly the
hardships Of today in order that his fam
ily's needs may be met tomorrow.
The hundreds Of thousands of immi-
grants who live in camps lead an iso-
lated life Their daily existence is little
more than working. eating. sleeping, in
endless round. They live in shacks. have
about as few OF the creature comforts
as men may have. and their only diver
sions are drinking and gambling. Here
is picture of camp life on a great engi-
neering project-the New York barge
canal-draWn by Peter Roberts:
Italians formed the major part of the
labor force. and the accommodations fur
nished most of them We're shameful we
saw men crawling into pens which few
Americans would have their dogs occupy.
The cooking these men did was not
elaborate; it was easier and pleasanter
to get a loaf Of bread. piece of bologna
and a bottle of beer at the commissary.
In these camps the commissary boss is
supreme and the men must buy OF him
if they wish to retain their jobs. He
has both wet and dry goods for sale, and
believes in charging all the traffic will
bear. Often he collects fee for each
man to whom he gives work The coarse.
vulgar elements of human nature come
to the fore; the indecent story, the vulgar
Joke and the immoral picture are passed
around. Conditions of this kind can only
be duplicated In some towns of southern
Italy. The workmen are removed from
all agencies that mold and shape coming
Americans. deprived of the. refining 1nnu-
ences of women and the soothing touch
of childhood"
The women of the immigrant COM
munity appreciate the help and encour-
agement of
Appreciate the Help America
of American Women. som ct hing
they do not often get. The life OF these
women is seldom easy, and often hard
and dreary. Their homes have many
births and many deaths. They are as
meek and submissive In the home DIS the
men are at work. An instance OF what
a good American may do is that or
Pennsylvania woman who visits the
houses of the poor immigrant women In
her community ard carries to them the
gospel Of cleanliness. Often these motn-
ers protest that there is some good in dirt
and vermin. But the sweet cleanliness
of the visitor comes in and the para
sites go out. She teaches them how to
feed their children, and then invites them
to little meetings which she holds. They
come washed and neatly dressed, and
from month to month their homes grow
better kept ana their burdens grow
lighter.
High rents and desire to save pro-
duces Overcrowding among the poor, ma
tive or immigrant. but especially among
the latter In a small house in Omaha
forty-six Greeks lived and ate and slept
In an eastern city a Ruthenian, his wife,
their two children and seven boarders oc-
cupied one room. In another boarding
house forty-twO foreigners lived in four
rooms. each room thirteen feet square.
while In another place twenty-four for
eigners lived in one room. fifteen by
eighteen feet. In some OF the boarding
houses the beds are used in two shifts
by day workers at night and by night
workers in the daytime.
One of the most interesting phases of
the investigation of the immigration
problem mace Dy the immigration conf
mission concerned the condition of the
homes Of immigrants In cities. Perhaps
the most striking result was the show
ing Of the large percentage of clean
homes among immigrants, in spite of
their being forced SO often to reside in
districts where proper standards of clean
illness are hardest TO maintain. The in
vestigation covered more than 1O0)O
households, in which lived upward of 5O,-
600 people. These households were To-
Gated in New York. Chicago Philadel-
phia. Boston, Cleveland. Buffalo and Mil
waukee. Four-fifths of these households
were in apartments of four rooms or less
A third Of them We're four-room apart
ments and nearly a third were three-room
apartments. While nearly all of the house
holds Of the new immigrants had about
FIVE people for every two sleeping rooms.
they still managed to keep things fairly
clean in a large majority OF their homes
In more than half of the households of
the foreigners they had but one room
outside Of the sleeping rooms. and in
one-eighth of them they had no rooms
except the sleeping rooms.
In more than one-fourth of the foreign
households boarders were kept while
in only one
Boarders Are Kept tenth of the
in Fourth of Homes. II .aho,ds
were boarders found. As 10 the rule
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