USA > Massachusetts > Commonwealth history of Massachusetts, colony, province and state, volume 4 > Part 15
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The publication of the Federal Government's survey of Massachusetts conditions stimulated local opinion as to the necessity of a full investigation of the problem existing within the State. A Commission on Immigration was authorized by the General Court on May 2, 1913, to consist of five citizens of the Commonwealth. It was authorized to make a full in- vestigation of the status and general condition of immigrants within the Commonwealth. The Commission was given one year in which to make its report; and it made extensive in- vestigations of immigrant conditions throughout the State, employing a corps of trained investigators headed by Miss Grace Abbot, who was loaned to the State by the Immigrants' Protective League of Chicago.
The Commission submitted an exhaustive list of legislative recommendations, the most important of which, the creation of a permanent bureau of immigration to care for the needs of the foreign-born residents, met with approval; and in 1917, the legislature passed a law creating the Massachusetts Bureau of Immigration, whose duties were set forth as:
"It shall be the duty of the Bureau to employ such methods, subject to existing laws, as in its judgment, will tend to bring into sympathetic relations the Commonwealth and its resi- dents of foreign origin, to protect immigrants from exploita- tion or abuse, to stimulate their acquisition and mastery of the English language, to develop their understanding of
IMMIGRATION AND AMERICANIZATION 151
American government, institutions and ideals, and generally to promote their assimilation and naturalization."
The Bureau began its activity in the period when America was in the midst of the World War, the office opening in July 1917. Until December, 1919, the Bureau existed as a sepa- rate independent state department, functioning in meeting the everyday needs of the immigrant and the special needs caused by the war conditions. During its entire existence, immigra- tion conditions were not normal, as the war caused cessation of the use of Boston as a port of debarkation for immigrant ships, and war conditions caused unprecedented wages for immigrant workers, and the normal moving about of immi- grant population was largely curtailed.
On December 1, 1919, the Bureau of Immigration was abolished as a separate department, due to the consolidation of state departments into twenty major departments. The Bureau continued its existence under the name of Division of Immigration and Americanization, of the Department of Education.
MASSACHUSETTS DIVISION OF IMMIGRATION AND AMERICANIZATION (1919-1929)
The Division has its main office in the State House at Boston and branch offices in cities of the Commonwealth which have large numbers of immigrants. The branches are located at Springfield, that office covering the entire western section of the State and as far east as Worcester; New Bed- ford, which covers the Cape; Fall River, covering Attleboro and Taunton also; and Lawrence, reaching the Merrimack Valley.
That the Division meets a need among the foreign-born is evidenced from the fact that, since the Commonwealth opened its offices for the service of the immigrant, 226,751 problems have been brought to it by foreign-born residents. During the past year (1928), 28,682 persons sought its help for the solution of the problems of their new life.
The Division assists the foreign-born resident in the techni- cal difficulties which he encounters in completing his citizen- ship, filling out and filing blanks for that purpose, suggests
152
THE IMMIGRANTS
preparation for the naturalization examination, supplies book- lets of instruction, etc. Assistance is given in filling out many blanks required by the Federal Government for immigration purposes, and the laws regulating immigration are explained to those desirous of bringing relatives here.
Boston is still an important port of entry for the newcomer. The Division sends a worker to meet all incoming European boats and to assist the newly arrived persons to make the necessary connections with waiting relatives and friends. In the past year over ten thousand aliens entered America through the port of Boston. All immigrants destined to Mas- sachusetts are circularized by the Division and offered infor- mation and assistance. The names of those who do not speak English are sent to local superintendents of schools so that the opportunities for educational advancement may be successfully followed up.
EDUCATIONAL WORK WITH ALIENS (1919-1929)
The earlier surveys of the immigrant problem in Massa- chusetts-i.e., those made by the North American Civic League for immigrants, the Federal Immigration Commis- sion, and the Massachusetts Commission on Immigration-all indicated that there was a great need for educational work among the immigrant population, particularly for foreign adults for whom English was not the mother tongue.
Certain educational facilities had been available in Massa- chusetts for almost a half century, but in no field of work for the immigrant has such progress been shown as in educa- tion in the past ten years. Since 1870 evening schools have been mandatory in Massachusetts in cities and towns having a population over ten thousand. English was not made a subject which must be offered, however, until 1898. Since 1887, now forty years, there has been a law compelling school attendance for illiterate minors who are employed. The great need, as evidenced in the survey of 1914 by the Commis- sion on Immigration, was classes in English for adults.
By a law enacted in 1919, the education of adult aliens was provided for under the supervision of the adult alien division of the University Extension. This law authorizes reimburse-
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From the Author
IMMIGRANTS IN PROCESS OF INSPECTION
S
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From the Author
IMMIGRANTS AWAITING BAGGAGE EXAMINATION
153
SCHOOL RECORDS
ment to the local communities for one half the cost of instruc- tion and supervision of Americanization classes. The intent of the statute is to stimulate local communities to furnish class instruction in English and in citizenship for the foreign-born. Under the law, the local school committee must vote to accept the provisions of the law and appropriate sufficient money to carry on the work.
State reimbursement is made at the end of the school year. The last available figure of reimbursement made by the State to cities and towns accepting the act is for 1926, when the State reimbursed $168,936.20. This means that twice this amount was expended for adult alien education throughout the State. The growth of the work is indicated by the follow- ing record :
Adult aliens attending Americanization classes in 1919, 3,000. Adult aliens attending Americanization classes in 1924, 32,000. In every one of the cities of Massachusetts, and in one-fifth of the one hundred and thirty-six towns in Massachusetts, programs are provided for adult foreign-born residents.
Classes for immigrants are held in evening schools, fac- tories, homes, and under club auspices. The largest percentage attend the evening-school classes. Factory classes are held in about one hundred industries each year. The immigrant mother is ordinarily unable to attend evening classes because of home' responsibilities. Obviously, the most convenient place for her schooling is the neighborhood where she lives. Approximately twelve hundred immigrant mothers were en- rolled in one hundred and seventy-nine home classes during the past year.
The State supervises the work of instruction, prepares courses, suggests proper texts, and each year maintains train- ing classes and institutes for the special training of teachers for immigrant classes. The following quotation from a re- port issued by the State Division indicates that the sympa- thetic understanding of the problem has met with a suitable response from the foreign-born.
UNUSUAL SCHOOL RECORDS
"The eagerness of all nationalities for education and the
154
THE IMMIGRANTS
sacrifices they are willing to make to acquire it are both in- spiring and pathetic. One man rode ten miles after a hard day's work, often without his supper, to attend the evening school. In Shirley, a group of Polish men attended class three nights a week, and stayed at home with the children, on the other two nights so that their wives could attend. At Peabody, in a class of fifty Russian men and women, 93 per cent attended the entire term of forty sessions.
"There is evidently no sex line in the thirst for knowledge, nor does there seem to be an age limit. A great-grandmother of sixty-three years, living in Leominster, had spent many hours of her life praying that she might learn to read. Now, thanks to the evening school, she can both read and write- 'a gift from God,' she says. One woman, sixty-two years old, has missed only one night at school in three years, and now that school is closed she attends an afternoon class. A man who came to Webster in 1898, and is now seventy years old, deciding at last that he should never return to the old home, entered the evening school, learned to read and write English, and has passed his citizenship examination with a mark as high as that of the youngest pupil.
"The attendance records in many cases have been remark- able. Cambridge reports two hundred and twenty pupils who attained one hundred per cent, while Lowell reports one entire evening school and one factory class as having the same record. In all industrial classes in Worcester, over ninety-eight per cent of the men who enrolled at the beginning of the term and are now employed in the plants are still members of their classes."
LIBRARY WORK WITH THE FOREIGN-BORN
At the request of the Free Public Library Commission, the General Court of 1913 authorized the appointment of a special agent by that commission for work among foreigners. Since August, 1913, there has been a trained librarian assisting and advising the public libraries of the Commonwealth in the purchase of proper books for foreign readers. Every town and city in Massachusetts has a public library. In the past year 4,758 books in foreign languages were loaned to libraries
155
LIBRARY WORK
throughout the State. The State Free Library Commission reports that Polish books are in great demand; French and Italian, next. Lithuanian, Finnish, Bohemian, Chinese, Greek, Swedish, Armenian, Syrian, Portuguese, Spanish, Yiddish, Russian, Hungarian, German, Slovak, Norwegian, Hebrew, and Dutch are also asked for, in addition to English for adult beginners and for Americanization workers. The increasing value of the service is shown by a circularization gain of five hundred and fifty-three over the previous year. Foreign books in twenty-two languages were lent to ninety-nine librar- ies. The work from the State is largely in the stimulation of local libraries. The past year's report shows that requests for book lists, lectures, conferences with librarians and others interested in the immigrant, were an important feature of the work. An example of how the public library functions to aid in Americanization is taken from the annual report of the Division of Public Libraries of the Department of Educa- tion.
"LYNN : Following its custom of the last two years a visit to the library has been part of the program for each of the Ameri- canization, Naturalization, and Mothers' classes. The class meets in the staff room where it is easier to create an informal, question and answer sort of meeting than in the larger lecture hall. The librarian talks with the class about the library,- its use, support, and what it has for them, illustrating the last by specific books. The class is then divided into small groups, each of which is shown about the library by a member of the staff. Usually some slight refreshment is served when the groups return to the staff room. Application cards are given out and members of the class allowed to register if they wish. Although only a small fraction of these people develop into regular patrons of the library, all have a better and more friendly understanding of its purpose as a result of these visits. A collection of books in easy English has been shelved near the foreign books in the Reading Room. It contains readers, arithmetics, histories of the United States, lives of our famous men and other books of like nature."
156
THE IMMIGRANTS
IRISH GROUP OF IMMIGRANTS
The last available census is that of 1920, prior to the pass- age of the immigration law of 1924. The figures show, as the largest group of any one nationality in Massachusetts in 1920, the Irish with 183,171; the next in numerical import- ance, the Canadians (not French), with 153,330; the third group numerically considered, the Italians, with 117,007; the fourth group, Canadian French, with 109,681; and the fifth group, natives of Russia, with 92,034.
In the years for which nationality figures are available from 1850, the Irish have been the leading race numerically in Massachusetts. For the country at large, the Irish have been losing in numerical importance since 1860. In 1920, there were for the whole United States 835,000 fewer Irish than in 1890. The high death rate of the Irish is partially responsible for their decline in numbers. The same compara- tive diminution is apparent in Massachusetts. While the Irish still rank highest numerically among the foreign-born residents of the State, there were 183,171 Irish-born recorded by the Federal Census of 1920 in comparison with 259,902 recorded in 1890.
The Irish were among the earliest settlers in the Common- wealth. During the two years 1736-1738, ten ships are re- corded as coming to Boston from Ireland, bringing a total of nearly 1,000 passengers. In 1737 forty "gentlemen of the Irish nation" residing in Boston formed the Charitable Irish Association for the "relief of ... their poor indigent countrymen." Among the poor unfortunates who were hung as witches in the persecutions of 1688 was a laundress, one Mrs. Glover, "one of the wild Irish." On being brought to court and accused of witchcraft, she claimed to be able to speak only Irish. Cotton Mather interrogated her, visiting her twice in the jail. She could not say the Lord's Prayer in English, as was required to prove she was not a witch, but could say it in Latin. Cotton Mather reported that she always became confused in one portion, however. After a long trial, she was convicted and hanged as a witch on November 16, 1688.
The heaviest Irish immigration to Massachusetts was in
157
IRISH IMMIGRANTS
the years from 1840 to 1870. In the forty years preceding the Civil War, two million Irish came to the United States; and of that number a large proportion landed and settled in Massa- chusetts. They were used for creating railroads, canals, and rough manual labor. The Irish girls did domestic work, as their successors continue to do, and also went frequently into the mills in Lawrence and Lowell. The Irish in Massachu- setts have always been an urban population, and this is charac- teristic of them throughout the United States.
Among the outstanding Irish immigrants who have made Massachusetts their permanent home John Boyle O'Reilly, poet and patriot, who began life in Massachusetts in 1870 ranks perhaps first in dramatic appeal. In 1866 he was arrested in Dublin for participating in the Fenian outbreak, sentenced to twenty years, and transported to the penal colony in Australia. Escaping from that colony in a small boat in 1869 he was picked up at sea by Captain Gifford of New Bedford who put him on a boat bound for England. At Liverpool he shipped as an American sailor on an American ship landing in Philadelphia. He was then twenty-five years of age, young and hopeful, and knew not one single soul on the American continent. He made his application for Ameri- can citizenship the day that he landed and after a short stay in Philadelphia came to Boston where he engaged in literary work, for years acting as editor of the Boston Pilot. He con- tributed also to the Atlantic, Scribner's and Harper's. He did more perhaps than any other individual to foster sympa- thetic understanding between native Americans and the Irish immigrants of his day. His successor in the field of pro- moting understanding between the immigrant and the native born is Denis McCarthy, also an Irish immigrant and poet who is the present day exponent of the Americanism that. rests on sympathetic understanding.
The Irishmen who have entered the political field are legion. Patrick Collins, several times Mayor of Boston, stands fore- most in the group in the universal respect in which he was held.
There has been a gradual diminution of the Irish giving their destination as Massachusetts since 1899, the first year the Federal figures are given by races. The figure for 1899 is
158
THE IMMIGRANTS
8,515. The smallest number coming in any one year was in 1918, when only 672 came; but since the war there has been a gradual increase; and since the Quota Law, the figures indicate a return to the earlier rate.
CANADIANS AND ITALIANS
Those born in Canada of non-French stock rank next in numerical importance. The Canadian French were not separately noted until the census figures of 1890. Those born in Canada have been second numerically since the census of 1860; in the 1850 census they ranked third. The racial stock of the Canadian immigration is mainly British. Those coming since 1870 were frequently descendants of such Irish and Scotch immigrants as landed in Canada in the great exodus of 1840-1850. Of the Canadian population of the United States, the largest per cent is in the State of Massa- chusetts. This concentration is due, no doubt, in part to the fact that there has been for years a regularly established steamship transportation between Boston and the Canadian maritime provinces. Many Canadians come by rail, also, but the non-French immigration is largely by boat via Yarmouth and St. John.
For years there was no restriction whatsoever of Canadian immigration. Even now, immigrants born in Canada are exempt from the quota laws. Because of the ease of entry, and the nearness to home, many Canadians have registered on entry as visitors and after a trial stay determined to make the Commonwealth their future home. Under the present naturalization rulings, this first arrival as a "visitor," if it occurred subsequent to 1906, is not a legal arrival sufficient for naturalization purposes. Factors of this sort have perhaps aided in retarding the naturalization of the Cana- dians resident here. Remedial legislation passed by Congress in 1929 may prove beneficial. In Americans by Choice, John Palmer Gavit gives as the average interval preceding natural- ization after arrival for Canadian adults sixteen and four- teen years. This is the longest interval of waiting prior to seeking citizenship of any race in the United States.
Italians form the third group in numerical importance
159
FRENCH CANADIANS
shown by the 1920 census, having a total of 117,007. This is the first year in which the Italian-born took the first place numerically. They were sixth in 1910, eighth in 1900 and 1890, ninth in 1880, thirteenth in 1870. In 1860 only 371 were recorded; and in 1850, only 271. It was not until 1880 that over a thousand Italian-born residents were recorded. The advance has been in the past thirty years. The figures for the United States show that the Italians have made the great- est numerical gain of any nationality in the past seventy years.
The figures for the Federal Immigration Bureau record races of those coming only after 1898. These figures show that 4,015 Italians gave their destination as Massachusetts in 1899. The numbers show a fairly steady increase with the exception of the year 1908, and reached the peak with a total of 24,790 destined to Massachusetts in 1914. Since that time the war and immigration laws have combined to reduce the numbers. In the year closing June 30, 1921, came the greatest number, 16,695-showing that, if the quota law had not been passed, Italian immigration would have equalled prewar figures. The law of 1924 fixes the quota as very low indeed. Only 403 persons born in Italy are recorded as entering Massachusetts in 1925; and 531 in 1926.
FRENCH CANADIANS
The Canadian French, showing a total of 109,681 in the census of 1920, rank fourth in numerical importance. Separate figures for the Canadian French are not recorded until 1890. The migration antedated this period, however. In a report on the Canadian French in New England made for a legisla- tive committee of the Massachusetts General Court in 1881, the number of Canadian French resident in Massachusetts is given as 46,453. The report indicates that the immigration in appreciable numbers began in 1870, and was largely to mill cities where the Canadian French found occupation in textile work. There was considerable hostility to the Cana- dian French in labor circles in the early days of their residence in the United States; but the succeeding years bear witness to their frugality, thrift, and good qualities. The language barrier and their desire to retain their own speech have
-
160
THE IMMIGRANTS
been a barrier against citizenship. The difficulties experi- enced by Canadians in general in regard to legal records of arrival are intensified in the case of French Canadians who came to the country largely by land routes-and frequently, prior to 1917, without any inspection.
RUSSIANS AND HEBREWS
The fifth classification in the 1920 census is that of natives of Russia, showing a total of 92,034. Obviously, only a small part of this total is that of real Russian stock. The larger portion includes members of races subject to the Czar before imperial Russia fell. A number of Letts, Lithuanians, and Poles are probably erroneously listed as born in Russia, be- cause their homelands were subject to Russia at the time of their birth. The largest proportion of the number born in Russia, however, are the Jews. Of those born in Russia, the year 1850 shows only 38; 1860, 61; 1870, 154; 1880, 462. In 1890, 7,325 are recorded. The persecutions in Russia due to the May laws undoubtedly accelerated the Jewish migration. In 1900 the number is 37,919. In 1910 the greatest number, 117,261, is shown. The lower figure in 1920 is perhaps caused by a more careful separation of the Poles from the Russian figures than by any diminution in the racial stock.
In the Federal Census, Monograph VII, Immigrants and Their Children, 1920, states that at least 56.5 per cent of the Russian-born foreigners in this country are Hebrew. Less than four per cent of the population of Russia is Hebrew ; but the Hebrews were a bitterly oppressed people, which accounts largely for their migration.
The figures of the Federal Immigration Bureau show as destined to Massachusetts numbers never less than 2,500 Hebrews per year in the years between 1899 and 1915. The largest number, 9,097, came in 1905. The war reduced these, although they never ceased completely. They came in large numbers again in 1921, that year showing 3,884; 1922, 3,409; 1923, 2,248; 1924, 2,354. Since the operation of the Quota Law, the numbers have dropped to 404 and 387 for 1924 and 1925 respectively.
161
MINOR GROUPS
The majority of the Jewish race have congregated in the cities. Boston has the largest number. Many of them have entered professions.
The number of real Russians in Massachusetts is a matter of estimate rather than statistics. M. Vilchur in his book The Russians in America, written in the Russian language in 1918, estimates the number of Russians in Massachusetts as 40,000, rating Massachusetts as third among the States in Russian population.
According to the racial classifications by the Federal Census Bureau, 56 Russians gave Massachusetts as a destination in 1899, and more came in small numbers until 1907, the figure not passing the thousand mark until then. There was a notice- able growth until 1914, when the largest number recorded, 4,787, came.
The Russian immigration has been practically cut off since 1915. Only 37 Russians entered Massachusetts in 1926.
The bulk of the Russian migration was of working people, and was largely male. The Russians have done heavy work in mills and leather factories.
MINOR GROUPS
The following various national groups make up the Massachusetts foreign-born population below the fifth group in numerical importance. The respective rank of the different nationalities as indicated by the 1920 Census is shown in the following table :
Sixth, England 86,895
Seventh, Poland
69,157
Eighth, Portugal (inclusive of 25,230 from Atlantic Islands )
43,545
Ninth, Sweden
38,012
Tenth, Scotland
28,474
Eleventh, Germany
Twelfth, Lithuania 22,113
20,789
Thirteenth, Greece
20,441
Fourteenth, Finland
14,570
Fifteenth, Armenia 8,640
Sixteenth, Austria
8,098
162 THE IMMIGRANTS
Seventeenth, Newfoundland
7,165
Eighteenth, Syria
7,128
Nineteenth, France
7,120
Twentieth, Norway
5,491
Twenty-first, Denmark
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