STATUS OF IMMIGRANTS IN INDUSTRIES 153 
ply, can not be definitely stated. It is a matter of 
speculation and controversy, without any data at pres 
ent upon which to base an approximate determination. 
Whatever may have been the opinion of employers as 
to the desirability of this class of labor, they found 
it necessary either to employ immigrant labor or de 
lay industrial advancement. They chose the former 
course; and the present industrial situation is the re 
sult. 
Occupations of Immigrants 
It may be said, in general, that the recent immi 
grant wage-earners from the south and east of Europe 
are found on the lowest level of the industrial scale. 
Many members of the different races of recent arrival 
in the United States have advanced in the order of 
- occupations, but these are rather cases of individual 
than of racial progress. Most of the newcomers have 
been without any training or experience abroad in 
manufacturing or mining, and have been employed in 
the common or unskilled labor of the different branches 
of industry in this country, or they have been given 
work to do in connection with machine processes 
which are largely automatic and which require no 
special training or apprenticeship. The one notable 
exception in this respect is furnished by the Russian 
and other Hebrews, the majority of whom have had 
some industrial or technical training before coming 
to the United States. As a consequence, they find 
employment chiefly in the hand trades, or enter into 
business in a small way after reaching this country. 
The only branches of manufacturing in which Russian 
and other Hebrews are extensively engaged are cloth 
ing, silk goods, boots and shoes, and gloves.