152 
THE IMMIGRATION PROBLEM 
and sewing-machine manufacturing, are of foreign 
birth. 
Length of Residence of Immigrant Employees 
Of the employees in twenty of the most important 
industries enumerated above, information concerning 
length of residence in the United States was secured 
for 290,923 foreign-born persons. Of that number, 
116,466, or 40 per cent., had been in the United States 
less than five years. Of the total number belonging to 
races coming from northern and western Europe and 
Canada, less than one-fifth had been in the United 
States less than five years, while of the employees of 
other races—almost entirely from southern and east 
ern Europe—slightly more than one-half had been in 
this country less than five years. About one-third of 
the foreign-born employees were of races from north 
ern and western Europe and Canada, but of the immi 
grant employees who had been in the United States 
less than five years, only 14.3 per cent, were of these 
geographical areas. 
Reason for the Employment of Southern and Eastern 
Europeans 
The employment of recent immigrant wage-earners 
in the United States was originally due to the inabil 
ity of the manufacturers and mine operators to se 
cure other labor at the same wages in the face of the 
growing labor needs of the country. How far there 
was afterward a reversal of cause and effect, and to 
what extent the expansion of industry was stimulated 
by the availability of the recent immigrant labor sup