Speech #620137280

Now. about the manner in which these people live a word should be said. The commission say in their report: The recent immigrant males. being usually single. or. if married. having 1sft their wives abroad. have been able to adopt in large measure a group instead of a family living arrangement. and thereby to reduce their cost of living to a point far below that of the American or older immigrant in the same industry or the same level of occupations. The method of living usually followed is that commonly known as the " boardingboss system." Under this arrangement a married immigrant or his wife or a single man constitutes the head of the household. which. in addition to the family of the head. will usually be made up of 2 to 20 boarders or lodgers. Each lodger pays the boarding boss a fixed sum. ordinarily from $2 to $3 per month. for lodging. cooking. and washing. the food being usually bought by the boarding boss and its cost shared equally by the individual members of the group. Another common arrangement is for each member of the household to purchase his own food and have it cooked separately. Under this general method of living. however. which prevails among the greater portion of the immigrant households. the entire outlay for necessary living expenses of each adult member ranges from $9 to $15 each month. The additional expenditures of the recent immigrant wage earners have been small. Every effort has been made to save as much as possible. Right in this connection another thing that should be considered by the Senate is the fact that in the communities where they more largely congregate they do not come in touch with Ameiican life. they live in colonies. where they speak only their own language. Very few of them have family connections. They do not even have the advantage which comes from having children in the public schools through whom to come in touch with community interests. The result is that they lead an isolated life. and come less in touch with American life than any other class of American immigrants whom we have ever received.