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00505 262 3

STUDIES IN HISTORY, ECONOMICS AND PUBLIC LAW

EDITED BY THE FACULTY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE OF
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

Volume CVII] [Number 1

Whole Number 241

TWO POETUGUESE COMMUNITIES IN
NEW ENGLAND

DONALD R. TAFT, Ph.D.

Professor of Economics and Sociology
Wells College

■Dta Uork

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

SELLING AGENTS
New York : Longmans, Green & Co.
London : P. S. King & Son, Ltd.
1923

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'^eJruuuy l& K53 .

TWO PORTUGUESE COMMUNITIES IN
NEW ENGLAND

Map of Portsmouth, R. I., in 1920.

Small dots show the Location of 184 Portuguese Families.

STUDIES IN HISTORY, ECONOMICS AND PUBLIC LAW

EDITED BY THE FACULTY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE OF
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

Volume CVII]

Whole Number 241

[Number I

TWO PORTUGUESE COMMUNITIES IN
NEW ENGLAND

DONALD R. TAFT, Ph.D.

Professor of Economics and Sociology
Wells College

Nett) Dork

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

SELLING AGENTS
New York: Longmans, Green & Co.
London : P. S. King & Son, Ltd.

1923

UMASS DARTMOUTH

DONALD R. TAFT

MY MOTHER

PREFACE

While the writer alone is responsible for the conclu¬
sions of this study, it has been in high degree a co-opera¬
tive venture. Without the assistance of scores of individ¬
uals including relatives, friends, government officials, in¬
structors, officers and social workers in numerous social
service organizations, and sundry kindly citizens and aliens
— 'Portuguese and non-Portuguese — it would have been
impossible.

Among this large number a certain few have been pecu¬
liarly helpful. It would be a duty and a pleasure to acknow¬
ledge this help in an extended preface. It happens how¬
ever that the one who, outside of my immediate family,
has contributed most prefers not to be thanked publicly. I
shall therefore refrain from mentioning any of these
friends by name. To them all I owe a debt which cannot
be repaid. I should like also to include in my thanks the
hundreds of kindly Portuguese folk whose homes I have
invaded, and who have almost without exception received
me with gentle courtesy when I was engaged in an in-
quisitory errand which would have brought me scant wel¬
come in many more cultured households.

Aurora, New York, March 15, 1923.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE

CHAPTER I

Introduction . 17

1. Interest in the Portuguese . 17

2. Need for Two Types of Studies . 18

3. Neglect of the Portuguese . 18

4. The Racial Question . 18

5. Aim of the Study . 19

6. Methods and Limitations . 20

CHAPTER II

The Racial Composition of the Portuguese Nationality 21

1. Importance of the Distinction between Race and Nationality. . 21

2. The Physical Anthropology of the Mainland 22

3. Negroid Elements among the Mainland Portuguese . 26

4. Physical Types in the Azores and Madeira . 33

5. Physical Types among Portuguese Immigrants Landing at

Providence . 41

CHAPTER III

The Continental and Island Background ... 51

1. Importance of Social Background . 51

2. Population and Area . 51

3. Vital Statistics . 52

4. Climate . 56

5. Occupations and Economic Status . 58

6. Housing, Home Life and Standard of Living . 65

7. Religion, Superstition and Recreation . 72

8. Educational Status and Illiteracy . 79

9. Other Characteristics . 84

CONTENTS

[IO

PAGE

CHAPTER IV

Immigration and Distribution in the United States . 88

1. Statistics of Emigration . 88

2. Causes of Emigration . 91

3. History of Immigration to the United States . 97

4. Statistics of Immigration . 100

5. Distribution of Portuguese in the United States . 118

6. Occupations of Portuguese in the United States . 128

CHAPTER V

Infant Mortality of the Portuguese . 137

1. Importance of the Subject . 137

2. Opposing Views in the Explanation of Infant Mortality. ... 137

3. The Racial Hypothesis . 138

4. The Mortality of Negro Infants . 140

5. Infant Mortality and General Nativity of Mothers . 143

6. Infant Mortality of South Europeans . 146

7. Infant Mortality of Different Nationalities . 148

8. Infant Mortality of the Portuguese— Urban and Rural .... 150

9. Infant Mortality and Length of Residence in the United States 158

10. Infant Mortality and Inability to Speak English . 160

11. Infant Mortality and Illiteracy of Mothers . 160

12. Infant Mortality and Attendance at Childbirth . 16 1

13. Infant Mortality and Preventable Causes of Death . 162

14. Infant Mortality and Artificial or Improper Feeding of Infants 164

15. Infant Mortality and Inadequate Income . 166

16. Infant Mortality and Employment of Mothers . 171

17. Infant Mortality and Size of Families or Frequency of Preg¬
nancies . 178

18. Infant Mortality and Other Portuguese Characteristics. . . . 181

19. Mortality of Children under Five . 184

20. Summary and Tentative Conclusions . 188

CHAPTER VI

The Portuguese of Portsmouth, R. I., and Fall River,

Mass . 194

1. Choice of Communities . 194

2. Composition of the Population . 196

3. Climate and Natural Resources . 203

4. Contacts with Americans . 205

5. Economic Opportunity . 209

II] CONTENTS XI

PAGE

6. Opportunity to Find a Desirable Home . 224

7. Opportunity for Education . 228

8. Opportunity to Keep in Good Health . 236

9. Opportunity for Recreation . 244

10. Selection of Fifteen City Blocks in Fall River . 249

ix. Occupations of Portuguese . 251

12. Economic Achievement . 253

13. Standard of Living . 263

14. Vital Statistics and Health . 288

15. Educational Achievement . 306

16. Criminal Record . 327

17. Achievement in Miscellaneous Fields . 336

18. Superstitions . 339

CHAPTER VII

Limitations and Conclusions . 343

1. Heterogenity . 343

2. Negroid blood . 345

3. Illiteracy . 346

4. High birth rate . 346

5. High death rate . 346

6. Unskilled laborers . . 346

7. Educational backwardness . 347

8. Early marriage . 347

9. Urban and rural . 347

10. Improved condition due to immigration . 348

11. Effect on community . 348

12. A permanent element . 349

13. General conclusions . 350

Bibliography . 351

LIST OF TABLES

PAGE

1. Complexions of Portuguese Immigrants Arriving at Provi¬

dence, Rhode Island, 1920. . . 43

2. Color of Hair of Portuguese Immigrants Arriving at Provi¬

dence, Rhode Island, 1920 . . 45

3. Color of Eyes of Portuguese Immigrants Arriving at Provi¬

dence, Rhode Island, 1920 . .... 46

4. Average Stature of Immigrants Arriving at Providence, Rhode

Island, 1920. ... . ... 46

5. Area and Population of Western Islands, 1911 . 52

6. Portugal. Average Annual Net Increase or Decrease of Pop¬

ulation, 1913-1917, by Political Divisions ... ... 53

7. Portugal. Births Per Thousand Women of Child-bearing Age,

by Political Divisions • . . 53

8. Portugal. Percentage of Illiteracy among Population Over

Seven Years of Age . ... 79

9. Portugal. Percentage of Men and Women Applying for Mar¬

riage Licenses Who Signed the Marriage Papers, 1917 ... 80

10. Destination of Emigrants from Portugal, 1913-1917 . 88

11. Portugal. Emigrants Per Thousand Population, 1908-1912 and

1913-1917 . 90

12. United States. Immigration and Emigration of Portuguese. . 101

13. United States. Estimated Immigration and Emigration of

“ Black ” Portuguese . 103

14. State of Intended Future Residence of Portuguese Immigrants

to the United States, 1899-1919 . 104

15. State of Last Permanent Residence of Portuguese Emigrants

from the United States, 1908-1919 . 105

16. Occupations of Portuguese Immigrants to the United States,

1899-1919 . 106

17. Types of Unskilled Among Portuguese Immigrants to the

United States, 1899-1919 . 107

18. Portuguese Immigrants Showing More or Less than Specified

Sums of Money at the Port of Entry, 1899-1919 . 109

19. Age of Portuguese Immigrants to the United States, 1899-1919. no

20. Age of Portuguese Emigrants from the United States, 1908-1919. no

21. Conjugal Condition of Immigrant Portuguese Men, 1910-1919. 112

22. Conjugal Condition of Immigrant Portuguese Women, 1910-

1919 . 113

23. Literacy of Emigrants from Portugal, 1909-1917 . 114

24. Illiteracy of Portuguese Immigrants to the United States,

1899-1917 . 116

13]

LIST OF TABLES

[14

TAGE

25. Length of Residence in the United States of Portuguese Emi¬

grants, 1909-1919 . . .

26. Residents in the United States Born in Portugal and the At¬

lantic Islands, by States, 1860-1920 . 119

27. Foreign-born Portuguese in Selected Cities of the United

States, 1920 . 122

28. Foreign-born Portuguese Population in Massachusetts Cities

and Towns having a Population of 10,000 or more in 1920. . 124

29. Portuguese in Other Massachusetts Cities and Towns, 1915. . 124

30. Foreign-born Portuguese Population in Rhode Island Cities

and Towns having a Total Population of 10,000 or more, 1920. 125

31. Distribution of Foreign-born Portuguese and Other Foreign-

born in Major Occupational Groups. Massachusetts, 1915 . 126

32. Occupations of Foreign-born Portuguese in Massachusetts,

1915. Detailed Classification with Proportion of Portuguese
to Total Foreign-born in Each Occupation . 128

33. Infant Mortality Rates in Specified Cities, Classified by Nativ¬

ity of Mothers . 147

34. Infant Mortality of Portuguese and Non-Portuguese in Fall

River, Mass., 1920 . 152

35. Mortality of Infant Children of Foreign-born Portuguese

Mothers and of Infant Children of Native-born Mothers of
Portuguese Descent. Fall River, 1920 . 153

36. Births and Infant Deaths Classified by Descent. Portsmouth,

R. I., 1910-1920 . 155

37. Attendance at Child-birth, Fall River, Mass., 1920. Mothers

of Portuguese Descent Classified by Birthplace . 162

38. Weekly Wages of Fathers at the Time of the Births of their

Children. Fall River, 1913. Classified by Descent of
Fathers . 168

39. Dependent Children in Families where Births Occurred.

Fall River, Summer of 1913. Classified by Descent . 178

40. Mortality Under Five Years, by Descent. Fall River, 1913-1918. 185

41. Age Distribution of the Population of Portsmouth, Rhode

Island. Portuguese and Non-Portuguese, 1920 . 197

42. Percentage Distribution of Portuguese and Non-Portuguese

Population of Portsmouth, Rhode Island, by Age Groups,

1920 . . 198

43. Age Distribution of the Total Population of Fall River, Mass.,

and of those of Portuguese Descent, 1920 . . 199

44. Age Distribution of the Population of Portuguese Descent,

Fall River, Mass., 1920, Classified as Foreign-born, Native-
born of Foreign or Mixed Parentage, and Native-born of
Native Parentage . 200

15]

LIST OF TABLES

PAGE

45. Average Weekly Earnings in 44 New England Cotton Mills,

1905-1906 . 212

46. Changes in Weaving Rate, Fall River, Mass., 1912-1920 . . . 213

47. Weekly Wages in Massachusetts Cotton Mills, 1916-1920.

Actual Wages, Full-time Wages and Index Numbers of
Actual Wages . 214

48. Weekly Earnings and Rates of Women Cotton Mill Em¬

ployees, Fall River, Mass., 1917-1920 . 215

49. Proportions of Families Having Income from Specified Sources.

United States and Fall River, Mass . 220

50. Fall River, Mass. Pupils in Public Schools by Grades, De¬

cember, 1916 . 230

51. Fall River, Mass. Occupations Entered by Children Leaving

School, 1916 . 232

52. Portsmouth, R. I. Deaths by Nativity, 1885-1920 . 238

53. Death Rates of Five Massachusetts Cities, 1906-1920 ..... 240

54. Corrected Death Rates for Five Massachusetts Cities, 1906-1920. 241

55. Fall River, Mass. Age Distribution of the Members of the 102

Families Studied . 251

56. Fall River, Mass. Occupations of Fathers of Families Studied. 253

57. Portsmouth, Rhode Island. Assessed Value of Property of

Corporations, and of Portuguese and Non-Portuguese, 1920. 256

58. Portuguese in Business and Professions. New Bedford, Mass.,

1918 . .... 260

59. Percent of Portuguese Homes Having Given Number of Persons

per Room, in Fall River, Mass., and Portsmouth, R. I. . . 270

60. Portsmouth, R. I. Occupation and Home Ratings of Portu¬

guese Fathers . 271

61. Portsmouth, R. I. Birthplace of Fathers and Home Ratings. 273

62. Portsmouth, R. I. Birthplace of Mothers and Home Ratings. 274

63 and 63a. Portsmouth, R. I. Immigration of Fathers and Home

Ratings . 275 and 280

64 and 64a. Portsmouth, R. I. Immigration of Mothers and

Home Ratings . 276 and 281

65 and 65a. Fall River, Mass. Immigration of Fathers and Home

Ratings . 276 and 281

66 and 66a. Fall River, Mass. Immigration of Mothers and Home

Ratings . . 277 and 282

67 and 67a. Portsmouth, R. I. Children Living at Home and

Home Ratings . 283 and 285

68 and 68a. Portsmouth, R. I. Children Under 10 Living at

Home and Home Ratings . 284 and 286

69 and 69a. Fall River, Mass. Children Living at Home and

Home Ratings . 285 and 286

l6 LIST OF TABLES [16

TAGS

70. Portsmouth, R. I. Native Births, Births to Parents of Portu¬

guese Descent, and Births to Parents of Other Foreign
Birth, 1910-1920 . 288

71. Portsmouth, R. I. Estimated Intervals Between Births to

Portuguese Mothers, 1919-1920 . 296

72. Fall River, Mass. Deaths by Age Groups of People of Portu¬

guese Descent, 1920 . 299

73. Fall River, Mass. Birthplace of Parents of Portuguese Dece¬

dents, 1020.. . . . . . 300

74. Fall River, Mass. Age Distribution of Portuguese and Non-

Portuguese Population, 1920 . 301

75. Portsmouth, R. I. Average Age at First Marriage, 1885-1919. 304

76. Fall River, Mass. Average Age at First Marriage, 1918-1919. 305

77. Portsmouth, R. I. Portuguese and Non-Portuguese Children

in Schools by Grades, 1919-20 . 308

78. Fall River, Mass. Pupils in Elementary Schools December,

19x4, by Nationality and Grades. . 310

79. Fall River, Mass. Nationality of Pupils in High Schools,

December, 1914 . 312

80. Fall River, Mass. Ratio Between the Foreign-born of a Given

Language Group and the Number of Pupils of that Group
Enrolled in the Fall River High Schools, December, 1914 . 313

81. Fall River, Mass. Nationality of School Children Near Dis¬

trict Studied . 314

82. Fall River, Mass. Comparative Scholarship of Portuguese and

Non-Portuguese Children, 19x9-20 . 316

83. Portsmouth, R. I. Comparative Scholarship of Portuguese and

Non-Portuguese Children, 1919-20 . 317

84. Fall River, Mass. Average Age of Children in Upper Grades

McDonough School, Classified as Portuguese and Non-Portu¬
guese . 319

85. Portsmouth, R. I. Average Age of Children in School, 1919-20. 320

86. Fall River, Mass. Absences from School in Grades 5, 6 and 7,

Classified as Portuguese and Non-Portuguese, 1919-20. . 321

87. Portsmouth, R. I. Absences from School in Grades 5, 6 and

7, Classified as Portuguese and Non-Portuguese . 321

88. Fall River, Mass. Number and Proportion of Portuguese and

Non-Portuguese Adult Card-holders and of Names Added,
1912-1920 . 323

89. Fall River, Mass. Total and Portuguese Arrests, 1919. • - • 330

90. Fall River, Mass. Classified Total and Portuguese Arrests,

IQIQ . 331

91. Fall River, Mass. Total and Portuguese Juvenile Arrests, for

Year Ending November 30, 1919 . 334

CHAPTER I

Introduction

The writer’s interest in the Portuguese of New Eng¬
land was first attracted by the contrast between the infant
mortality rates for different nationalities in Fall River.
Residents of Fall River had called attention to a difference
of no less than a hundred and twenty-five points in the
rate of mortality of Portuguese infants as compared with
those of French Canadian parentage. The notoriously ex¬
cessive mortality of babies in that city was therefore at¬
tributed by some to the presence of about twenty-five thous¬
and inhabitants of Portuguese extraction. But in the
absence of more definite knowledge of the characteristics
of these people it was difficult to tell whether their infants
died because of racial or nationalistic traits, or because the
Portuguese chanced to be exposed to peculiarly adverse sur¬
roundings. A study of these people was obviously needed.

But the need for studies of particular nationalities is not
confined to the problem of infant mortality. The presence
of the foreign-born and their descendants in many com¬
munities complicates every social problem. Indeed students
of society find a need for studies not only of particular
problems as related to many nationalities, but of particular
nationalities as related to many different problems. We
need to know what are the problems of the Italians, for
instance, as well as to know how the Italians complicate a
particular problem such as that of the criminality of com¬
munities. Or rather we cannot know our problems until
17]

!8 PORTUGUESE /V NEW ENGLAND [18

we know the peoples which figure in them; and similarly
we cannot know the lives of these peoples until we know
something of each of the social problems which influence
their lives. The two needs are reciprocal.

We already possess some studies of the Italians, Greeks,
Slavs, Poles, Jews, Chinese, Japanese and other recent im¬
migrants to the United States. The Portuguese, however,
have been a neglected group. Aside from a periodical
article or two few have thought it worth while to describe
the lives of these simple folk. Their relatively small num¬
bers and their high degree of concentration in two regions
may in part account for this neglect. In part, too, their high
degree of illiteracy and reputed low standard of living may
make them relatively unattractive. If these characteristics
of the Portuguese complicate our problems, however, the
people themselves are the more worthy of study for that
very reason.

The Portuguese are also interesting to study because of
their peculiar racial composition. Not only are they South-
ern-Europeans but also, as we shall show, some of them seem
to be of a semi-negroid type. This is true not only of the
Bravas who are now recognized as “ colored ” by the
United States Census, but in varying degrees of a part,
though not all, of the so-called white Portuguese. This
fact raises important sociological questions. What is the
effect of this infusion of negro blood upon their own social
welfare and upon the influence they exert in America? To
what extent are they recognized as negroid and therefore
subjected to social ostracism? A study of the Portuguese of
certain types may throw some light upon the study of the
mulatto in the United States.

Assimilation of similar racial stocks with different mores
is sufficiently difficult. If these mores are rooted in real
racial differences assimilation becomes doubly difficult. As

INTRODUCTION

19]

a rule we are all too ready to identify differences in culture
with differences in race; but a priori there is more reason
to do so in the case of the Portuguese than in that of most
of our European immigrants. The Portuguese are worthy
of study then as a group which complicates important
social problems, as a neglected nationality, and as a people
apparently differing somewhat in race as well as in mores,
from native Americans and from other elements among
the foreign-born.

The present paper does not pretend, however, to meet the
need for such a study. So far as intensive study is con¬
cerned it is confined to one rural and one urban community
which, as is shown later, can hardly be taken as fair samples
of the Portuguese as a whole. The communities are pro¬
bably reasonably representative of the St. Michael Portu¬
guese immigrants engaged in cotton mill work and in small
farming in New England. Other limitations of the study
are emphasized in Chapter VII below.

It is hoped, however, that this study will throw some
light on the problems mentioned above by comparing some¬
what similar elements in the Portuguese nationality which
are found living under rather different conditions. The
study aims to compare two communities of Portuguese — 1
one urban and one rural. In one the occupations are chiefly
industrial; in the other they are largely agricultural. In
one the Portuguese are one among many immigrant elements;
in the other such contacts as they have with non-Portuguese
are mostly with the native-born. In one they are trying
to adapt themselves to relatively complex social relationships
in a city; in the other the environment is that of a simple
rural community. In one some degree of effort has been
made to solve their problems for them; while in the other
the success or failure they have attained has been largely,
though not entirely, their own.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[20

The bulk of the material concerning these two communi¬
ties will be found in Chapter VI. While it is hoped that
the other chapters are not without value in throwing light
upon the problems of the Portuguese there is little original
work in them, and they do not pretend to exhaust their
subjects.

Wherever possible the method used has been statistical.
The reasons for choosing these two communities, and the
method used in the house-to-house study are described at
the beginning of Chapter VI. Fully as much labor has
been expended, however, upon the compilation and analysis
of data from secondary sources, as upon the more inten¬
sive study of families. These tables are scattered through
the different chapters.

In addition to the use of statistics, books, periodicals and
government studies have been freely drawn upon. A con¬
siderable number of personal interviews with the leaders in
the communities studied and elsewhere have also been in¬
valuable. No attempt was made to learn the Portuguese
language either for conversation or for the reading of
sources. This is undoubtedly a serious weakness in the
study. It is hoped that statements throughout have been
sufficiently qualified and that attention has been called to
the more important weaknesses. To guard against too
sweeping and dogmatic conclusions a special chapter has
been devoted to the limitations of the study.

CHAPTER II

The Racial Composition of the Portuguese

Nationality

Popularly we identify race and nationality. Popularly
we think of the observed characteristics of a people as in¬
herent and as permanently associated with them. Even
official publications and otherwise scholarly works frequently
treat our immigration problem as a problem of race. In
some cases and to some degree this is true. In other
cases it is more false than true. A recent book on the pro¬
blem of assimilation 1 has concluded that our immigration
is primarily not an influx of different races, but of similar
racial stocks which have different mores because they have
been exposed to different social environments. On the other
hand Professor Ross treats the immigration problem as
one of the intermingling and eventual intermarriage of
racially distinct stocks.2

To insist that a particular group of immigrants differ
from the native-born or from other immigrant groups in
mores rather than in racial constitution is not to minimize
the importance of their distinctive characteristics. Nor
does it imply that assimilation will be easy, for the mores
are extremely rigid. It does imply, however, that such
group differences are not necessarily permanent. It does
imply that the process of harmonizing such differences

1 Park and Miller, Old World Traits Transplanted (New York, 1921),
p. 302 and passim.

tCf. his Old World in the New (New York, 1914), passim.

21] 21

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[22

though slow, is not impossible. The question whether
group differences are primarily innate or acquired is, then,
fundamentally important to ask and extremely difficult
to answer.

In order to answer it we must ask three sub-questions :

(1) Is the nationality in question made up of one or of
several racial types?

(2) What are the racial characteristics of the type or
types represented?

(3) Has the process of emigration selected a fair sample
of these types and of the variants within them?

We shall discuss the first two questions in this chapter.
The third will be touched upon in the chapter on Emigration.
We shall first take up the physical anthropology of the main¬
land Portuguese, then of the Portuguese of the Islands, and
then shall give a little attention to possible differences in the
racial types of different islands.

The Physical Anthropology of the Mainland Portuguese 1

The following brief sketch of the ethnic development of
the Portuguese of the mainland is taken from Correa’s ac¬
count except where other sources are acknowledged.2

We cannot say with certainty that men were living in
Portugal in eolithic times. The evidence we have is, as
usual, unreliable. But we do know that Portugal was in¬
habited during the paleolithic period, for discoveries have
been made near Coimbra and in southern Portugal. The
physical type of this earliest paleolithic man is, however,
unknown. Kitchen middens have been found in the Tagus

1 No pretense is made at an exhaustive anthropological study. Scien¬
tific studies of special areas are needed to enable us adequately to
answer our questions.

2 Correa, “ Origins of the Portuguese,” American Journal of Physical
Anthropology, vol. ii, p. 139.

THE RACIAL COMPOSITION

23]

valley with some two hundred skeletons dating from the
end of the quaternary and showing an Aurignacian civiliza¬
tion. The people of that time were sedentary, living on
game and fish, and were backward in culture. Their origin
was perhaps meridional. Physically they were of the
Australoid or Proto-ethiopian type with both brachycephalic
and dolichocephalic heads. They were not, however, the
bringers of the neolithic culture and are to be distinguished
from the Mediterranean stock which predominates among
the modern Portuguese.

The real beginnings of the modern Portuguese date from
neolithic times with the coming of the Mediterranean
(Iberian) stock. Indeed Ripley says that they were the
primary possessors of the soil.1 “ Whether the Ligurians
ever penetrated as far as this beyond the Pyrenees is cer¬
tainly matter for doubt. Following the Ligurians came
the Celts at a very early period, pretty certainly overrun¬
ning a very large part of the Peninsula.” 2 The builders
of the dolmens were a somewhat heterogeneous type physi¬
cally though predominantly dolichocephalic and below
medium in stature. Some lived in villages, some in caves
and some, perhaps, in lake dwellings. Among the Ligurian
and Celt-Iberian elements which came, the Lusitanians
were the most important group and they formed the nuc¬
leus of the future Portuguese population. To these ele¬
ments Rome gave unity of language and of law. Even be¬
fore the Romans came, Portugal, or what was to be Por¬
tugal, was subjected to foreign influences of the Phoeni¬
cians, Carthaginians and Greeks. Despite their backward¬
ness at that time, however, the inhabitants maintained many
of their ancient customs and much of their individuality.

1 Ripley, Races of Europe (New York, 1899), p. 276.

Ibid., p. 276.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[24

From the fifth century on we have the series of north¬
ern invasions — Vandals, Suevi and Alans — whose dominion
was short, however. The Suevi and the Visigoths were
of more ethnogenic importance than the other northerners
but they too assumed gradually the Luso-Roman civilization.

From the eighth to the thirteenth centuries Portugal
was under Arab and Berber dominion and here too as¬
similation proved easy. After the fall of the Moorish rule
many Saracens remained and formed a permanent element
in the population. The Jews came in gradually and re¬
mained until their expulsion in 1497.

During the period of the maritime conquests migrations
were going on between Portugal and India, Africa and
Brazil. The slave trade which is discussed below brought
at this time no small element of negro blood. But the
visits of English, French, Germans and Flemings counted
for little ethnogenically. To make our list of population
elements complete we must add the Gypsies. “ Portugal ”,
says Correa, “ has sheltered people of many different
origins; yet in spite of this, Portugal is to-day one of the
least heterogeneous countries in Europe from the ethnic
point of view.” 1 In this view Ripley concurs : “ The
Iberian peninsula now divided between two nationalities,
the Spanish and the Portuguese is .... in the main
homogenous racially — more so in fact than any other
equally large area of Europe.” 2

Ripley describes three physical characteristics of the
inhabitants of Portugal — hair color, cephalic index and
stature. Referring to a study of 1800 Portuguese women
by Dr. Ferraz de Mecedo he says : “ Less than two per cent
of these were characterized by light hair of any shade ; 3

1 Correa, op. cit., p. 137.

* Ripley, op. cit., p. 19.

3 Cf. data on immigrants to Providence, R. I., infra, p. 45.

THE RACIAL COMPOSITION

25]

about a fifth were black-haired, the remainder being of
various dark chestnut tints.” 1

As for complexion, Correa finds that the percentage of
brunet varies from 45.9 in Povoa to 74.5 in Beira Alta.
The shade oscillates between numbers 23, 24, 25 and 26
of Broca’s scale. On the other hand blondes made up from
7.5 to 14.3 per cent of the population.2

In cephalic index the Portuguese are still less variable.
Ripley speaks of a “ variation of the cephalic index, imper¬
ceptible to the eye, of scarcely four units from the most
dolichocephalic type in Europe.” 3 The index varied from
.75 to .79 with an average according to Correa of .763. He
adds that the “ cephalic index shows the actual exceptional
homogeneity of the people.” 4 The per cent of brachyce-
phals does not exceed 8 per cent whereas in Spain it rises
to 26.5 per cent and in parts of Italy to 74 per cent.5

Turning to stature we find a people below the average.
Measurement of 1444 males gave an average height of 164.5
c. m. (about 5 feet, four and three-quarters inches) . Ripley
does not give separate data for the Portuguese but finds a
variation for the inhabitants of the Peninsula of only a
little over two inches between extremes.6

To these basic characteristics Correa adds 7 the following
details. The noses of Portuguese are leptorhinic with an
average index of 44.4. Their faces are relatively long.
Their cranial capacity varies with stature in different parts

1 Ripley, op. cit., p. 7.

2 Correa, op. cit., p. 139.

3 Ripley, op. cit., pp. 273-4.

4 Correa, op. cit., pp. 139-40.

6 Ibid., p. 142.

* Ripley, op. cit., map, p. 96.

7 Correa, op. cit., pp. 140-141.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[26

of Portugal with an average of 1573 c. c. for men and of
1399 c. c. for women. They are characterized by marked
orthognathism. Their lumbo-vertebral indices are small
averaging 98.7 for males and 97.6 for females. The sac¬
rum is exceedingly flat with a male index of 113 and a
female of 116.2.

Despite this high degree of uniformity Correa disting¬
uishes three racial types in Portugal :

(1) Medium Portuguese type identical with the Ibero-
Insular race, which is found in its purest form in the re¬
mote mountainous regions.

(2) Nordic type, the presence of which shows plain
traces of invasions which were most felt in certain northern
regions.

(3) Semito-Phoenician type which is tall, brunet and
dolicho-cephalic with aquiline nose and triangular face.
This type is most numerous in the south.

Negroid Elements among the Mainland Portuguese

The question of the importance of the negroid element
in the Portuguese nationality, is a difficult but important
one. There are at least four possible sources from which
our Portuguese immigrants may have received an infusion
of negro or negroid blood :

(1) From an ancient contact between the white ancestors
of the Portuguese and the Negroes in northern Africa.

(2) From contacts in Portugal with the Moors and their
African slaves.

(3) From contacts with slaves imported into Portugal,
especially during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

(4) From contacts with African slaves and Moors in
the Azores and Madeira.

In addition there is the possibility that Portuguese in
Brazil or other colonies returning to the mainland or to

THE RACIAL COMPOSITION

27 ]

the Islands brought traits produced by contacts with the
Negro and Indian populations abroad.

The story of the earliest intermixture of Negro blood is
buried far in the past. We need only note that many an¬
thropologists recognize that : “ There is an ancient negroid
strain underlying the populations of Southern and Western
France, Italy, Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia, Spain, Portugal,
Ireland, Wales and Scotland.” 1 But the same author min¬
imizes the importance of these early contacts as far as the
Portuguese are concerned when he says : “ There is a strong
negroid element in the south of Spain and the south of
Portugal, but we are not entitled in default of evidence to
assume that this is due to such an ancient negroid immigra¬
tion as seems to be indicated in France and Italy.” 2

Yet there is according to Ripley, but little doubt that Por¬
tugal shares with other European countries the effects of
the Negro element in the Mediterranean race. “ Beyond
the Pyranees begins Africa ”, he says, and while much of
the negroid element is due to a later intermixture, he con¬
siders the inhabitants of the Iberian Peninsula as the purest
types of Mediterraneans. He distinguishes this mixed type
to-day by their predominant long-headedness, accentuated
darkness of hair and eyes, medium stature inclining to be
short, and oval facial characteristics.3

From the eighth to the thirteenth centuries, as we have
noted, we have the period of Arab dominion on the Penin¬
sula. In the Moors we find a people where “ upon the soft
and wavy-haired European stock has surely been engrafted
a negro cross.” *

1 Johnston, quoted' in Reuter, The Mulatto in the United States
(Boston, 1918), p. 15.

* Johnston, in The Universal Races Congress (London, 1911), p. 330.

* Ripley, op. cit., pp. 272-3.

* Ibid., p. 278.

2 8

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[28

But Ripley says : “ There is a profound difficulty in iden¬
tifying their descendants, owing to their similarity to the
native in all important respects. . . . Intermixture with
them would not have modified either the head form or the
stature in any degree.” But the “ honey-brown eyes of the
south-western quarter of Spain near Granada, and the
broader more African nose may be due to their presence.” 1

The third infusion of Negro blood came as a result of
the slave trade in the sixteenth and following centuries. If
we give weight to the extent of this trade in area and time
we must put Portugal first among the slave-trading nations.2
Jayne, quoting from the account of Azurara says : “ Those
[slaves] whom they saw fitted for managing property they
set free and married to women who were natives of the
land.” 3 Apparently, then, in Portugal miscegenation was
not confined to the usual “ illicit relations between men of
the superior and women of the inferior race ”,4 though the
cases where the white element was the male undoubtedly
were the more numerous. Jayne gives us somewhat more
definite evidence as follows :

Slaves were imported from the West Coast to till the wasted
fields of Estremadura and Alemtejo, and to breed a degenerate
race of half-castes in the heart of the Empire, while the free¬
men of the old stock were daily growing fewer. All the white
inhabitants which the kingdom possessed could easily be housed
in South London.5

Authorities differ in the importance they attach to this
influx of negroid stock in Portugal. Some of the more

1 Ripley, op. cit., p. 276.

s Johnston, The Negro in the New World (London, 1910), p. 83.

3 Jayne, Vasco Da Gama and His Successors (London, 1910), p. 22.

4 Reuter, op. cit., p. 88.

6 Jayne, op. cit., pp. 285-6.

THE RACIAL COMPOSITION

29]

extreme assign to it the major role in the decadence of the
Empire. Morse goes so far as to say : “ In Lisbon itself they
[the slaves] outnumbered the free men by the middle of
the sixteenth century.” 1 And Schultz in a somewhat in¬
temperate book declares : “ In the fifteenth century the
Portuguese acquired African possessions and, carrying
negro blood in their veins, elective affinity caused them to
cross freely with the Negroes. At first the Negro blood
came to Portugal in droplets ; later it became a flood.” 2
The Portuguese anthropologist, Correa, on the other hand,
while not denying the numerical importance of the slave in¬
flux, minimizes its effects upon the racial characteristics of
the people. He writes :

The slave trade of the sixteenth century and afterwards,
brought undoubtedly many African Negroes to Portugal . . . .
[Some, when they were freed, set up shops and taverns in
provincial places.] Their intermarriage had greater effect,
however, in some populous centers than in the provinces.
Still they left no important traces in any part of the country,
either on account of the return of their mixed progeny to
the predominant native type, or because of the great dilution
of theirs in the great mass of native blood. The affirmation
of some authors that, especially in Lisbon, an enormous part
of the population is made up of mulattoes, is not true.3

Arnold Bennett, however, speaking of the Lisbon population
notes wide difference in complexions. He declares that every
variety of intermixture from 99 per cent Latin-Moorish and
1 per cent Negro, to 99 per cent Negro and 1 per cent Latin-
Moorish can be seen, and that racial purity of any sort is rare.
“There is no color prejudice in Portugal; there could not
be. ... You can see the races of the earth in Chicago, if

1 Morse, Portugal (New York, 1891), vol. i, p. 182.

* Schultz, Race or Mongrel (Boston, 1908), p. 148.

* Correa, op. cit., p. 136.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[30

you visit the different quarters, but in Lisbon you can see
the races of the earth in a single individual.” 1 We must
no doubt allow for considerable exaggeration on the part of
casual observers. For our present study it is important to
note that the presence of negro blood in some degree in
parts of Portugal is universally recognized, even by Portu¬
guese authorities. It is also important to note that the ne¬
groid element is more prominent in southern Portugal than
in the north; 2 for it will appear that the Azores whence came
many of the Portuguese in America, were probably settled
more largely from the latter section of the mother country.

The readiness with which the Portuguese interbreed with
the colored races, both through illicit relations and in law¬
ful wedlock, has often been emphasized. It is true that no
two races have ever lived side by side without some degree
of miscegenation taking place. When two races meet there
are first illicit unions which break down the barriers of
prejudice and open the way to possible blending of races,
which in the absence of positive checks, leads to an ultimate
fusion of types.3 But the Portuguese seem to mix most
readily of all nationalities and in largest numbers. “ They
have mixed, moreover, with almost equal readiness with the
Malay, the American Indian and the African Negress.” 41
“ To the Portuguese the idea of personal contact with an
Indian or a Negro excites little feeling of personal repul¬
sion.” 5

'Bennett, “Some Impressions of Portugal,” in Harper’s Magazine,
vol. xciv, Jan., 1922, p. 213.

2 Cf. Crawfurd, “ The Greatness of Little Portugal,” in the National
Geographic Magazine, vol. xxi, p. 868. Also Higgin, Spanish Life
in Town and Country (New York, 1911), p. 286.

‘Weatherly, “Race and Marriage”, in the American Journal of
Sociology, vol. xv, p. 434.

4 Reuter, op. cit., p. 88.

5 Ibid., p. 36.

THE RACIAL COMPOSITION

3 1

31]

“ Centuries of slave owning have not kindled among the
Portuguese that fierce loathing of colored races which
makes intermarriage with them appear a crime.” 1 In South
America the Portuguese “ intermarried with the Indian
women with an entire want of restraint ” and even more
readily than did the Spanish.2 “ The distinction between
the races in Spanish America is a distinction of rank or
class rather than of color.” 3 “ In Portuguese East Africa

where the Portuguese have no objection to connnections
with native women, the half-breeds are absorbed by the
negro stocks. This intimate connection between the two
races has been alleged as a cause of the unprogressive condi¬
tion of the dependency.” 4

We have evidence that in India, at least, it was a deliber¬
ate policy on the part of the Portuguese officials to promote
this intermingling of the races as a method of populating
their colonies or for other reasons. Thus of Portuguese
slavery under Albuquerque, we read: “To man his ships
he encouraged the lower class Portuguese to marry Indian
women. It was a practice less distasteful to them than to
other peoples of Europe: indeed they were already inured
to the embraces of Guinea and Gold Coast beauties. The
mother of Albuquerque’s own son was a Negress.” 5

Curiously enough Drachsler,6 in his valuable study of in¬
termarriage in New York City finds that of fifty-five dif-

1 Jayne, op. cit., p. 105.

* Koebel, South America (London, 1913), p. 45.

* Reuter, op. cit., p. 49, quoting from James Bryce.

4 Macdonald, Trade, Politics and Christianity in Africa and the East
(London, 1916), pp. 243-4.

‘Jayne, op. cit., p. 104. Cf. also Keller, Colonisation (New York,
1908), p. 104.

‘Drachsler, Intermarriage in New York City, in Columbia Studies-
in History, Economics and Public Law, vol. xciv, no. 2, table v, face p. 98.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[32

ferent nationalities the Portuguese have the highest ratio
of intermarriage — 88.23 out of every hundred marriages
being intermarriages. This can hardly be considered more
than an interesting coincidence, however, for closer exam¬
ination of Drachsler’s data shows that he found only seven¬
teen cases of the marriage of Portuguese in the city, fifteen
of which were intermarriages. These intermarriages were,
of course, between Portuguese and other white nationalities.

We have considered this tendency of the Portuguese to
mix readily with the dark races at some length because it
gives us some a priori basis for expecting similar intermix¬
ture in the Azores and Madeira, where our direct evidence
is none too plentiful. The statement above that such in¬
termixture is usually found among the lower classes of
the population is also worthy of some emphasis, as it is
among them that we find the largest amount of emigration.
At least it is not from among the upper social class primarily
that our Portuguese from the Azores come.1 If this theory
is correct then the emigration of the unskilled will tend to
tap off the more negroid elements of the Island papulation.
We may add one more bit of evidence along this line from
Bryce. To quote : “ The Brazilian lower class intermarries
freely with the black people; the Brazilian middle class in¬
termarries with the mulattoes and the quadroons.” 2 If
similar conditions prevail elsewhere we should expect that
the lower the strata of the population emigrating, the greater
the degree of negroid intermixture which we should find
among them.

We shall presently show some direct evidence of racial
intermixture in the Azores and Madeira. The point we
are making at present is that we should expect such inter-

1 Cf. infra, p. 107.

* Quoted in Reuter, op. cit., p. 36. Cf. also Bryce, South America
(New York, 1912), pp. 479-480.

THE RACIAL COMPOSITION

33]

mixture there both because of the racial makeup of the
Portuguese themselves and because of what we know of
their habits elsewhere. Johnston, seeking to explain the
readiness with which the Portuguese immigrants to Brazil
interbreed with the Indians and Negroes, says :

Possibly this may spring from two facts: that there is a
strong Moorish North- African element in Southern Portugal,
and even an old intermixture with those Negroes who were
imported thither from north-west Africa in the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries to till the scantily-populated southern pro¬
vinces; and also that Brazil, the Azores and Madeira were
rather colonized from the Moorish southern half of Portugal
than from the Gothic north.1

This last statement is important, for it helps to support our
theory that some at least of the Island Portuguese are more
negroid than those of the mainland because they came from
those sections of Portugal where the darker-skinned type
predominates, and because, as we shall see, they were sub¬
jected to further contact with the Negroes in the Islands.
Nevertheless, without a scientific anthropological examina¬
tion of the Islanders, no dogmatic statement can be made on
this point.

Physical Types in the Azores and Madeira

Turning now to the Azores and Madeira from which the
vast majority of our Portuguese immigrants come, we are
chiefly interested in the Azores because few of the members
of the groups we have specially studied were from Madeira.
In the Islands, of course, the predominating nationality is
Portuguese. They are the Portuguese, it is to be remem¬
bered, who had been subjected to all the ethnogenic influences
described above. As colonists from the mainland they
were then presumably a homogeneous Kelt-Iberian variety

1 Johnston, The Negro in the New World, op. cit., p. 98.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[34

of the Mediterranean stock, except for an indeterminate
intermixture of Moorish and Negro blood. As noted above
on possibly inadequate evidence they probably came in larg¬
est numbers from southern Portugal and may therefore
be somewhat more negroid than the average mainland type.
To this 'basic stock there has been added in the Islands a
fair amount of Flemish and some additional Moorish and
Negro blood; while to complete the list of new ethnic ele¬
ments we must add Hebrews, a few Spanish and a very
few French and English soldiers.1 All these latter groups
are to be thought of, however, as minor elements which
cannot have radically affected the Azorean or Island type.
But the Flemish, Moorish and Negro admixtures are
worthy of more consideration.

A few observers have held that the Azoreans are fairer
than the Portuguese of the mainland. Thus Ashe con¬
trasts the two types and says of the former : “ Their bodies
are tall and well-proportioned, their features are mild and
regular, their complexions inclined to be florid.” 2 These
characteristics bespeak the Teutonic type and would lead
one to picture the Islanders as less negroid than the Main-
landers. The explanation seems to be, however, that Ashe
is here referring to the upper classes among the Portuguese,
for he later contrasts the upper and lower classes, noting
that the latter have a “ tawney skin Another possible
explanation of such occasional characterizations is the fact
that travellers often visit but one section or a single island.
Thus a visitor to the Flemish settlement in Fayal might
possibly note such characteristics as Ashe describes.3

1 Sandham, “ St. Michael’s of the Azores,” in the Century Magazine,
vol. xci, p. 223, Dec., 1915.

2 Ashe, History of the Azores (London, 1813), pp. 114 and 209.

3 Cf. Boyd, A Description of the Azores or Western Islands (London,
1834), PP- 273-289.

THE RACIAL COMPOSITION

35]

The Flemish settlements in the Azores have been the sub¬
ject of a special investigation by Jules Mees of the Univer¬
sity of Gand. He discards as fictitious many of the de¬
tails of the coming of the Flemings, considers the emigra¬
tion to have been a private rather than a public venture,
and inclines to reduce somewhat the larger estimates of
its numerical importance. Yet he more than justifies the
early denomination of the island of Fayal as “ Ilha dos
Flamengos ” and permits one to believe that the Flemings
were at one time an element of some importance in Fayal,
and at least a minor one elsewhere. To quote : “ II parait
certain que l’element flamand fut clairseme a Terceira et
a San Jorge, en revanche il a ete preponderant a Fayal qu’on
a nommee a bon droit ‘ Tile des Flamands.’ ” 1

The emigrants were taken to Fayal by Jose de Ura at
the request of the Portuguese. The willingness of the
Portuguese to have other foreigners settle in the Azores is
explained by the difficulty they had found in colonizing
newly discovered lands, by the commercial relations of
Flanders and Portugal, and by the relationship of Isabel of
Burgundy to Henry the Navigator. A number of condi¬
tions in Flanders explain the ease with which the emigrants
were induced to settle in the Islands; for to unemployment,
rising prices of grain and consequent malnutrition was
added in 1438 a pestilence as a driving force to impel the
Flemings to emigrate. About this time Bruges lost a fifth
of her population through emigration.2 Estimates of the
number of emigrants leaving Flanders for the Azores at
this time vary greatly. One authority says Jose de Ura
took fifteen people with him while another puts the number

1 Mees, Histoire de la Decouverte des Isles Agores et de L’Origine de
Leur Denomination D’lsles Flamands (Universite de Grand, 1901),
p. 98.

7 Ibid., pp. 105-7.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[36

at two thousand. While there were doubtless other ship¬
loads Mees finds no records of their sailings. For this
reason he somewhat minimizes the number of Flemish set¬
tlers. Nevertheless he estimates that Pico and Fayal had
a total population of 1500 by 1490. These were mostly
Flemings although the very first settlers, according to Mees,
were Portuguese. Walker states that there were several
thousand Flemings in the Azores in 1490, and accepts the
larger number of two thousand as the correct figure for the
first influx.1 Mees’ study is no doubt the more reliable of
the two. Walker, however, admits that there is today no
trace of these people in the Islands while Mees speaks more
cautiously : “ II serait tout f ois temeraire de dire qu’il ne
reste plus aucun vestige de 1’element flamand dans la popu¬
lation de Fayal, une etude local pourra seule elucider cette
question.” 2 He quotes observations to the effect that the
Valley of the Flemings in Fayal is still the best cultivated
part of Fayal, with cheerful aspect and pretty white houses.

From Mees’ careful study one gets the impression that
while the importance of the Flemish immigration may have
been exaggerated, and while their present importance is
uncertain, they at one time were the chief population ele¬
ment in the Islands and that their presence may conceivably
be urged as an explanation for local differences in the
Island population. The importance of this consideration
will appear when we discuss racial, and later social con¬
trasts between the various islands.

In spite of such occasional comments as that of Ashe
quoted above most observers stress rather the negroid ap¬
pearance of the Azoreans and the inhabitants of Madeira.
Thus a recent handbook of the British Foreign Office says:
“ The population of the Azores is mostly white, but as

1 Walker, op. cit., pp. 2-3.

1 Mees, op. cit., pp. 109-1x0.

THE RACIAL COMPOSITION

37]

in the African possessions of the Portuguese there is a large
infusion of Negro blood.” 1 And Weeks declares the in¬
fusion of Moorish blood has tinged the characteristics and
customs of the people as well as their faces and their archi¬
tecture.” 2

We have somewhat more definite information as to ne¬
groid admixture .in the island of St. Michael’s, which as
the most populous island and the one from which the maj¬
ority of the Portuguese in our special study came, is an
important one to study. Thus Walker tells us that Santa
Maria and San Miguel received their first inhabitants from
southern Portugal (Estremadura and Algarvre provinces),
a fact which itself would probably mean a more negroid
type at the beginning. The former province, it will be re¬
membered, is especially mentioned by Jayne 3 as the scene of
the miscegenation of Portuguese and Negroes. Cabral’s
first settlement in San Miguel consisted in part of African
slaves. Thereafter slavery increased until by 1 53*1 in many
places the slave population outnumbered the European.4
Walker even goes so far as to say that this island was the
scene of a race war in which “ every male 5 Negro and
Arab was massacred ” ! “ It is owing to the presence of

these slaves for so long a period, and the introduction of
half-breeds from the Brazils that so many prognathous
types are met with amongst the inhabitants of Portugal
and her dependencies.” In 1775 Pombal decreed the aboli¬
tion of slavery, but the decree was never carried out and
on his fall from power slavery became for a time as regnant

1 British Foreign Office, Historical Studies, Handbook No. 116 (Lon¬
don, 1920), p. 26.

* Weeks, Among the Azores (Boston, 1882), p. 135.

3 Cf. supra, p. 28.

4 Walker, op. cit., pp. 4, 49 and 54.

4 Italics the present writer’s.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[38

as ever. The governor of San Miguel contracted with the
Spanish government for the introduction of 4240 African
slaves every year “ into the Brazilian Colony ” and the
contract was carried out from 1603-1611.1

Another writer tells us that Cabral left a shipload of
Moorish slaves at Provogao in St. Michael’s and says :
“ Even to-day their descendants are more swarthy than
the other islanders.” They retain many Moorish customs
also.2

We have reason, then, to expect to find the inhabitants
of Fayal exhibiting Teutonic traits to some degree, and to
see strong evidence of an African admixture in ,St. Michael’s
and St. Mary’s. We have found no evidence, however,
as to how many Negroes or Moors were settled in Fayal.
We shall present later evidence of a different kind to show
a difference in type between the inhabitants of that island
and those of St. Michael’s.

As for the other islands, we have at hand but the scan¬
tiest information as to their distinctive racial character¬
istics. Walker stresses the fact that certain of the islands
were first settled from different sources than the others.
We have already noted that St. Mary’s as well as St.
Michael’s island was first settled from southern Portugal.
Fayal, Pico and St. George are alike in having received
their first important group of inhabitants from Flanders ; 3
while Flemings from St. George, according to Captain
Boyd, first populated Flores.14 Furlong notices that the
inhabitants of Flores are slightly lighter in color than those

lIbid., pp. 54-55. These statistics and others given by Walker leave
some doubt, however, as to just how many of these slaves were settled
in St. Michael’s or in other of the Azores.

2 Furlong, “On the Crest of the Lost Atlantic ”, in Harper’s Magazine,
vol. cxxxiv, p. 339, Feb. 1917.

3 Walker, op. cit., p. 7.

4 Boyd, op. cit., p. 320.

THE RACIAL COMPOSITION

39l

of St. Michael’s, and attributes the difference to the infu¬
sion of Flemish blood.1 The same difference is noted by
Mrs. Roundell.2 She characterizes the folk of the little
island of Corvo as particularly good looking and of Moor¬
ish descent.3

The only deduction which seems justified by the above
evidence is that one might expect some difference in type
as between Fayal and St. Michael’s and St. Mary’s, but
that the characteristics of the other islands are in doubt.
Incidentally we may note that the islands which are most
certainly part negroid are those nearest to the continent of
Africa.

As for Madeira there is quite as much evidence of a ne¬
groid strain there as in St. Michael’s so far as written ac-

... )
counts may be used as evidence. Biddle says that the in¬
habitants of Madeira are very dark of complexion as a rule. ®

“They are not true Portuguese; at least the lower classes

are not, as there is an admixture of African blood in their
veins.” 4 Taylor states that on the west coast the peas¬
antry retain many of the Moorish characteristics, while in
the north the negro type prevails.5 Crawfurd tells us :
“ A queer race of men are these natives of Madeira.
Mainly of Portuguese origin, they dearly are a nation of
half-castes, and the negro cross is conspicuous in their good-
natured ugly faces, in their stature (they average two or
three inches more than the Portuguese of the Continent) , in
their shambling gait, and in their ill-knit frames.” 6 He

1 Furlong, “ Two Mid-Atlantic Isles,” in Harper’s Magazine, vol.
cxxxiii, p. 801, 1916.

s Roundell, A Visit to the Azores (London, 1889), p. 120.

3 Ibid., p. 127.

4 Biddle, The Madeira Islands ((London, 1882), p. 58.

5 Taylor, Madeira, Its Scenery and How to See It (London, 1882),
p. 58.

6 Crawfurd, Portugal Old and New (London, 1880), p. 343.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[40

adds that in the seventeenth century there were several
thousand negro slaves in Madeira, and to them rather than
to the Moors he attributes the dark skin of the inhabitants
of to-day.1 In a more recent work Biddle states that in
1552 there were said to be some 2700 slaves in Madeira,
and that when they were freed by decree of Pombal in
1775 they intermarried with Portuguese natives.2 Koebel
informs us that as early as 1419 or thereabouts Madeira
was colonized by sending captive Moors and slaves from
Africa and the Canary Islands in large numbers together
with condemned prisoners.3 By the first quarter of the
sixteenth century the number of retainers and slaves had
greatly increased, and in 1578, since so many slaves were
“ living in sin ” a law was passed permitting their marriage.4

Undoubtedly our knowledge of the racial type in the
Islands lacks a careful anthropological study. But even
without it there can be little doubt that the Island Portu¬
guese have received more than negligible infusions of
negro blood. Our information would lead us to expect
some differences in the degree of intermixture as between
the different islands also. On the other hand no one could
mistake the Portuguese of Madeira or of the Azores for the
decidedly negroid Bravas of the Cape Verde , Islands. Im¬
migrants to the United States from these latter have since
1915 been classed as “colored” by the Massachusetts and
the Federal Censuses. However, as they are almost unre¬
presented in the communities we are studying they have
been disregarded in this study.

1 Ibid., pp. 344-5.

s Biddle, The Land of the Wine (London, 1901), vol. i, p. 89.

s Koebel, Madeira Old and New (London, 1909), p. 15.

4 Ibid., pp. 21 and 23.

THE RACIAL COMPOSITION

41]

Physical Types Among Immigrants Landing at
Providence, R. I.

The possible differences between the inhabitants of the
different islands suggested above, has led the writer to seek
to confirm them by referring to the manifests of certain
ships docking in Providence, Rhode Island in 1920. The
method used was to begin with the manifest of the ship
which had most recently docked (the latest on file had ar¬
rived in October 1920), and work backwards until at least
a hundred records were obtained for each sex from each of
the four island districts of Ponta Delgada, Funchal, x\ngra
and Horta, as well as from the mainland. All the ships
docked sometime during the year 1920 but not all the ar¬
rivals for that year have been included.

Among other data on these manifests are recorded the
color of eyes, color of hair and stature of all immigrants.
By classifying immigrants by the islands of emigration it
was hoped to obtain some indication of the physical type
prevailing among emigrants from each island. The results
of the study, however, as shown in the following tables are
rather disappointing. The manifests are not the work of a
single official, and apparently different officials work with
different degrees of care. A former Vice-Consul informed
the writer that these records of physical appearance are
made by the agents who sell steamship tickets at the var¬
ious ports — presumably at Lisbon, Funchal, Horta, Ponta
Delgada and Angra. Apparently at one port all except
those with very exceptional features are grouped together
as “ fair ” or “ olive ” or “ dark ” ; whereas at another more
careful distinctions are made. Such being the case, the
question arises as to how far the predominance in the re¬
cords of olive-skinned types among emigrants from Ponta
Delgada is due to real differences in color between them

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[42

and the Horta group, and how far to a difference in the
care with which records are made at the two Ports. No
answer can be given to this question.

Are the records then valueless ? The writer believes that
with all their imperfections they are of some value, though
they must be used with great caution. In the first place,
there is little question that the records from Horta are
worthy of some confidence for they contain such fine dis¬
tinctions as those (between “ (brown ”, “ light brown ” and
“ dark brown ” hair. In the second place, distinctions be¬
tween different types are noted in all the districts, apparently,
when they are sufficiently striking. Yet it must be ad¬
mitted that whole pages of records from Ponta Delgada
occur with no classification of complexions except that of
“ olive But why “ olive ” ? Presumably because to
the agent at that port an olive-skinned man or woman is
the typical emigrant. With a view to least effort he there¬
fore lumps together under that caption all .except the most
striking exceptions. Similarly the agent at Angra lists all
as of “ fair ” complexion and as having “ chestnut ” hair
save when he notices one who can obviously not be so
listed.

If the above surmises are correct there are doubtless
many errors in the tables which follow. Probably, how¬
ever, they do represent the general tendency for one or
another type to predominate among the emigrants of a
given district. Certainly the classification of types from
Horta is significant.

43]

THE RACIAL COMPOSITION

Table i 1

Complexions of Portuguese Immigrants Arriving at Providence,
R. I. — 1920 (Adults 18 years of age and over)

Number Men

Source

White

Fair

Rosy Natural

Olive

Dark Brown

Total

Mainland .

465

474

Ponta Delgada .

121

St. Michael’s .

102

105

St. Mary’s .

Horta .

57 2

Pico .

20 2

Fayal .

Flores .

Corvo .

Angra .

1 77

Terceira .

St. George .

Graciosa .

Funchal (Madeira) ...

133

140

Totals .

246

2 465

258

66 2

1119

Per cent Men

Light

Natural

Dark

Total

Mainland .

98.1%

i.S%.

100.0%

Ponta Delgada .

1.6

98.4

100.0

Horta .

69.2

30-8

100.0

Angra .

98.9

1. 1

100.0

Funchal .

5-o

95-0

100.0

Total ....

29.3%

41.6%

29.1%,

100.0%

1 This table and the three following were derived from the manifests
of ships docking at Providence in 1920. In figuring percentages in
table 1 “white,” “fair” and “rosy” complexions have been combined
under the caption “light.” “Natural” have been left as an intermediate
group which strictly should be divided between the other two, and
“ olive,” “ dark ” and “ brown ” have been combined as “ dark ”.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[44

Number Women

Source White Fair

Rosy Natural

Olive

Dark Brown

Total

Mainland, .

II 7

117

Ponta Delgada .

log

St. Michael’s .

104

106

St. Mary’s .

Horta . 54 32

25 3

Pico . 13 13

Fayal . 18 13

12 2

Flores . 18 6

3 I

Corvo .

Angra .

Terceira .

St. George .

Graciosa .

Funchal (Madeira) ...

Totals . 54 145

117

197

►0 I

Cn 1

54i

Per cent Women

Light

Natural

Dark

Total

Mainland . .

100.0%

Ponta Delgada . . .

... 1.8

98.2

100.0

Horta .

• • 754

24.6

100.0

Angra .

. . 99 -1

•9

100.0

Funchal .

100.0

Total .

... 36.8%

37-7%

25-5%

100.0%

45]

THE RACIAL COMPOSITION

Table 2

Color of Hair of Portuguese Immigrants Arriving at Providence — '
1920 (all ages and both sexes combined)

Source

Brown

Chestnut

Dark

Dk. Brown

Black

Gray

Golden

Lt. Brown

Fair

Total

Mainland . . .

753

850

Ponta Del. . .

1 19

288

St. Mi .

1 18

267

390

St. Ma. . . .

Horta .

133

Pico .

1 7

Fayal .

Flores ....

Corvo _

Angra .

268

Terceira . .

230

241

St. George.

Graciosa . .

Funchal { Mad) 8

Total . .

1014

283

323

1842

Percentage of light hair {red, golden, It.

brown and fair)

to the total

by Districts

Mainland . . 1.8%

Ponta Delgada . 7

Horta . 20.5

Angra . 3.8

Funchal . 4.1

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[46

Table 3

Color of Eyes of Immigrants Arriving at Providence — 1920
(all ages and both sexes)

Source

Brown

Chestnut

Dark

Black Gray

Green

Blue

Totals

iBlue

Mainland .

1031

8 10

1093

3-2 %

Pont a Delgada.

399

402

St. Mi .

376

379

St. Ma .

Horta .

201

239

II.7

Pico .

Flores .

Fayal .

Corvo . . .

Angra .

290

294

•3

Terceira .

242

243

St. George . .

Graciosa ....

Funchal ( Mad)

Total .

.1234

310

445

9 10

2075

3-0%

Table 4

Average Stature of Immigrants Arriving at Providence, R. I. — 1920
(adults 18 years of age and over)

Men Women

Source

Number

Av.

Stature

Number

Av.

Stature

Mainland .

5.21"

100

1.36"

Ponta Delgada . .

5-21"

105

2.86"

St. Mi .

5- 16"

100

2.96"

St. Ma .

- 10

•5.70"

.80"

Horta .

. 245

5.81"

160

2.38"

Pico .

. 81

6.1 1"

2.89"

Fayal .

. 99

5.87"

1.97"

Flores .

. 57

5.07"

2.34"

Corvo .

. 8

7.87"

2.50"

Funchal (Mad.)

.... 100

5.35"

2.18"

Total . . .

.... 7i3

5.56"

577

2.22"

THE RACIAL COMPOSITION

47]

Making due allowance for difficulties, the tables as they
stand, seem to confirm our expectation that somewhat dif¬
ferent types of emigrants are be found among those com¬
ing from the different islands. The islands which have re¬
ceived a considerable number of Flemish colonists are, it
is true, divided between the two districts of Horta and
Angra, but the contrast between these two districts and that
of Ponta Delgada, containing the two islands of St.
Michael’s and St. Mary’s, is interesting. But since Fayal,
Pico and Flores are all located in the Horta district the
most significant comparison is between this district and that
of Ponta Delgada. Horta shows 69.2 per cent of light-
complexioned men and 75.4 per cent of women, as against
1.6 per cent and 1.8 per cent respectively for Ponta Delgada.
It is true that Angra has a still larger proportion, but this is
quite possibly due to less careful classification. Horta again
is decidedly marked out with respect to the color of hair
of its emigrants showing 20.5 per cent with various types of
light hair as against but .7 per cent for Ponta Delgada. As
for eye color it is true that only 11.7 per cent of the emig¬
rants from Horta showed blue eyes, but this proportion was
far in excess of that for any other district. The men from
Horta also averaged the tallest of those of any district, but
their women measured exactly the same height as those
from the mainland though taller than those from any of
the other island districts. As our investigation does not
show whether these emigrants from the mainland came
from northern or from southern Portugal we cannot even
speculate as to the probable racial composition of that group.

Before leaving this subject it will be interesting to note
that Hoffman, writing as early as 1899, suggested the pos¬
sibility that the Island Portuguese might not prove to be a
homogeneous racial group. He says : “ For some curious
reason the emigrants to the United States have mostly come

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[48

from Fayal, San Jorge and Flores, while those to the Sand¬
wich Isles have come principally from Madeira, and
those to Brazil from the islands of San Miguel, Santa Maria
and Terceira.”. . . . This distinction of the origin of the
American-Portuguese immigration is of some importance
in view of the fact that there may possibly be shown to be
certain important differences in the racial types of the in¬
habitants of the different groups of islands.1 Nevertheless
Hoffman concludes tentatively that “ This [negro] strain
must be considered as unimportant from a physiological
point of view, and does not to my mind represent a factor
detrimental to the health or longevity of these people at
the present time.” Indeed he concludes that the Portuguese
in America have shown an unusually low death rate.2

The interesting points about Hoffman’s article for our
present study are first that he recognized the possibility of
there being heterogeneity among the racial types of the
Island Portuguese, secondly that he was considering Portu¬
guese from the islands where we have found evidence of
the Flemish intermixture, and, finally, that he found them a
healthy people in the United States, and exhibiting traits
which he contrasts with those of the Negro.3 In this con¬
nection it may be well to note at this point that the early
immigration from the Azores to Boston seems to have been
from Fayal largely.4 Callender, writing in 1911, says:

1 Hoffman, “ The Portuguese Population in the United States,” in the
American Statistical Association Publications, vol. vi, no. 47, p. 328.
Sept., 1899.

s Ibid., pp. 330 and 334-
s Ibid., p. 336.

iCf. Caswell, “The Portuguese in Boston,” in The North End Mission
Magazine, and contribution of the Portuguese Consul, M. Borges de
F. Henriques, pp. 73-75. Though speaking of Fayal the Consul says,
however, that what is said of one island holds good for the others.

THE RACIAL COMPOSITION

49]

“ Fifty years ago, Americans, when referring to the Azores,
thought only of Fayal.” 1

Our query then is: Does the fact that the more recent
immigration from the Azores has been from St. Michael’s
largely, mean that there has been a significant change in
the racial type of Portuguese immigrants, and if so, is this
change in racial type correlated with a corresponding change
in social characteristics or in susceptibility to disease ? This
must probably remain a mere query so far as this study is
concerned, but we shall keep the racial factor in mind as
we study other characteristics of the Portuguese in our
particular communities.

Returning to the questions with which we opened this
chapter,2 we can now say in answer to the first that the
Portuguese of the mainland have been considered by an¬
thropologists a homogeneous racial group as measured by
their variability with respect to stature, head shape and
hair color; but that this homogeneity does not necessarily
preclude a considerable intermixture of Moorish or Negro
blood. We note that the Portuguese of the islands are
probably somewhat less homogeneous than those of the
mainland since some Flemish blood has been introduced,
and perhaps because more of the negroid element is present
among them. In answering this question we have also in
a measure answered the second question and have noted
some of the physical racial characteristics of the island
types. We have given practically no evidence of other
than physical characteristics. We have only partially an¬
swered the third question, but have given some eivdence
to show that the earlier immigration did select a type of
Azorean which was possibly a bit more Teutonic and a bit

1 Callender, “ Islands of the Hawks,” in Travel, vol. xviii, p. 24,
Nov., 1911.

2 Cf. supra, p. 22.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[50

less negroid than that of the groups which have come more
recently. Our answer to these questions, however , has
throughout been tentative. A careful anthropological study
is required before it can be confirmed.

As for the fundamental question : Is the Portuguese im¬
migration primarily the introduction of types racially dif¬
ferent from our other population elements? — our partial an¬
swers to the sub-questions have only given us a bare start¬
ing point towards the answer. Even if we could say that
we have shown that the more recent Portuguese immigra¬
tion brings us a distinctly negroid type, we have not yet
shown that this physical characteristic is correlated with
social or cultural traits which cannot be assimilated by the
other elements. Our study has shown, the writer believes,
the danger of hasty generalizations as to “ the Portuguese ”.
For there are certainly differences between the white Por¬
tuguese and the Bravas.1 There are quite .possibly racial
differences between the white Portuguese of the mainland
and those of the Islands; and as probably there are dif¬
ferences between the immigrants from St. Michael’s and
those from Fayal. The existence of these differences is
perhaps not proven, but enough has 'been shown to demon¬
strate the possible existence of differences of real import¬
ance. There is not an immigration problem, there are im¬
migration problems, differing for each nationality. There
is, quite possibly, not a Portuguese problem; there is possibly
a different problem for each racial element of which the
Portuguese are made up. Our further study should throw)
a little more light on this question.

1 Not treated in this study.

CHAPTER III

The Continental and Island Background

The last chapter attempted to determine the racial com¬
position of the Portuguese nationality. From the short-
time point of view it is quite as important to understand
the social inheritence of these people. Unlike racial char¬
acteristics, acquired traits may be greatly modified in the
course of generations, but the mores yield but slowly and
before they yield and while they are yielding they frequently
create serious social problems. The Portuguese mores,
traditions and other acquired characteristics are, of course,
the product of their racial characteristics as influenced by
the physical and social environment of Continental Portugal
and of the Western Islands and Madeira. In the present
chapter we shall treat a few important aspects of the en¬
vironment of the mainland and of the Azores. Less fre¬
quent reference will be made to Madeira because few of the
subjects of our later study came from that island.1

The Azores consist of nine inhabited islands and a group
of black rocks called the Formigas. Their combined area
of 922 square miles and their population of 243,078 were
distributed in 19 11 as shown in the following table: 2

1 The writer is conscious of the superficiality of much of this chapter.
It seemed better, however, to summarize such data as had come to his
notice rather than to omit altogether this important subject. A scientific
study of these backgrounds would involve an examination of Portuguese
sources and an extended stay at least in the Azores, both of which
were impossible for the present work.

* British Foreign Office, Historical Section, Handbook no. 116, The
Azores and Madeira (London, 1920), pp. 1-7. The Census of 1911
is still ( 1922) the latest available.

5i]

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[52

Table 5

Area and Population of Western Islands — 1911

San Miguel . 297 square miles Population .. 116,619 Density 392

Terceira . 223 “ “ “ 48,029 “ 215

Pico . 175 “ “ “ 21,966 “ 125

Fayal . 64 “ “ “ 20,461 “ 319

Flores . 57 “ “ “ 7,233 “ 127

Santa Maria .... 42 “ “ “ 6,268 “ 149

San Jorge . 40 “ “ “ 14,309 “ 357

C-raciosa . 17 “ “ “ 7,447 “ 455

Corvo . 7 “ “ 746 “106

Azores . 922 “ “ “ 243,078 “ 264

The Azores as a whole, therefore, are considerably more
densely populated than is Continental Portugal with its area
of 32,528 square miles and its population of 5,716,978 in
1911 giving a density of 174 per square mile.

Vital Statistics

Vital statistics are available for the years 1913-1917, but
unfortunately they do not include data on the important
subject of infant mortality. Bell says of infant mortality
on the Continent : “ The mortality among the children of
the poor is enormous : it is quite common for two to grow
up out of a family of seven or nine.” 1 And Hoffman wrote
in 1899 of the children of the Azores: “ The mortality of
children would seem to be high though accurate data are
wanting.” 2

The Census for 1911 gives the population of Portugal
including the islands as 5,960,056 or an increase in fifty
years of nearly a third, and “ although something must be
allowed for the more accurate returns in recent years, [it]
is evidently in no danger of diminishing, in spite of in¬
creasing emigration.” 3 This latter statement, however, ap-

1 Bell, Portugal of the Portuguese, p. 26.

* Hoffman, op. cit., p. 332.

* Bell, op. cit., p. 25.

53] CONTINENTAL AND ISLAND BACKGROUND 53

plied at the time only to Continental Portugal for the popu¬
lation of some of the islands was actually decreasing.

Table 6 below shows for the last five years for which data
are available the actual net increase or decrease of popula¬
tion in Continental Portugal, in the islands as a whole and
in the different island districts : 1

Table 6

Average Annual Net Increase or Decrease of Population 1913-19172
by Political Divisions Combined Crude Rates per
Thousand Population

Birth

Death

Natural

Emi-

Net

Rate

Increase

gration

Change 3

Portugal .

31.13

20.13

11.00

5.30

+ 5.70

Continental .

3147

20-35

11. 12

4.06

+ 7.06

Islands .

33-74

21-75

11.99

14.39

— 2.40

Angra .

28.98

22.33

6.65

15.13

— 8.48

Horta .

26.42

20.92

5-50

11.98

— 6.48

Ponta Delgada . . .

36.64

24.06

12.58

21.93

— 9-35

Funchal .

35-53

20.23

15.30

9.61

+ 5.69

The above table shows that if we disregard immigration
and returning emigrants at the time when Bell was writing
Portugal as a whole was losing nearly half her natural
increase of population through emigration, but was never¬
theless growing. Moreover, it is quite possible that re¬
turning emigrants made up the apparent loss in the islands
also. Table 12 4 shows that during this period approx¬
imately one-fifth as many natives of Portugal left the United
States annually as entered. Most of them were undoubtedly
returning to their homes. If we may assume that as large

1 For the names of the islands in each political division see table 1,
supra, p. 43.

‘Derived from Portugal, Estatistica Demogr&hca (Lisbon, 1911),
table 5, pp. 26-7.

1 Disregarding immigration and return of emigrants.

4 Cf. infra, p. 101.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[54

a proportion of emigrants to South America and elsewhere
return, as to the United States, and if these five years are
typical, then apparently new births plus returning emigrants
just about balance deaths plus emigrants from the islands.
Real immigrants to the islands are presumably negligible.

This loss of population in the islands, through emigration,
is not, however, liable to continue unless increased emigra¬
tion to South America or elsewhere takes the place of the
recently declining emigration to North America. This latter
is due, of course, to the illiteracy test established in 1917
and to the three per cent law of 1921.1 It is also conceiv¬
able that emigration, if it does continue, will be offset by an
increase in the excess of births over deaths, although this
would have to be considerable to make up for the rapid loss
in Ponta Delgada.

The difference in rates of natural increase as between the
mainland and the islands is not great, the islands having a
slightly higher rate due to their higher birth rate and in
spite of their higher death rate. As between the different
island districts Horta shows decidedly the lowest rate of
natural increase, and Funchal, closely followed by Ponta
Delgada, the highest. Ponta Delgada leads all divisions
in its crude birth rate and also has the highest death rate.
It is particularly worth noting that Horta shows a crude
birth rate more than ten points lower than that of Ponta
Delgada. The possible explanation of this difference in
terms of racial composition is discussed elsewhere.2 More¬
over table 7, giving refined birth rates, shows that these
differences in birth rates are not altogether due to dif¬
ferences in the age distribution of the population of the
different districts. As the official reports give no com-

1 Cf. tables for recent emigration given infra, p. 101.

2 Cf. supra, p. 47.

55]

CONTINENTAL AND ISLAND BACKGROUND

bined rates for the five year period we print separate
rates for each year. This table shows the same contrasts

Table 7

Births per Thousand Women of Child-bearing Age1

1913 1914 1915 1916 1917

Portugal . 128.32 123.51 123.88 120.84 118.26

Continental . 127.00 122.15 122.52 119.58 117.21

Islands . 141.74 143-71 144-27 140.00 133.12

Angra . 132.87 132.80 128.91 122.19 123.35

Horta . 116.01 119.76 116.17 112.67 108.32

Ponta Delgada . 155-52 150.20 158.97 157-5 1 147.65

Funchal . 156.28 149.41 147.10 141.59 135-99

between the different divisions and is probably the most
significant of the different kinds of evidence we have to
offer, tending to show different social and, quite probably,
different racial conditions in these different divisions. The
table also shows a general tendency, though an irregular
one, for these birth rates to decline between 1913 and 1917
in all divisions.

The proportion of stillbirths per thousand births are also
given in the government tables but are very variable as be¬
tween the political divisions, and are, in many cases, prob¬
ably based upon too few cases to be of significance. It is
interesting to note, however, that the rate for stillbirths
is always much higher for the mainland than for the islands,
the lowest rate for the mainland being 38.70 per thousand
births in 1913, and the highest for the islands being 28.56
in the same year. The rate for Horta was usually low,
being under 20 for three of the five years.2

The marriage rates for the five year period were as fol¬
lows: Portugal 6.10; Continent 6.19; Islands 6.19; Angra

1 Estatistica Demogrdfica, op. cit., table no. I, pp. 6-7. The age limits
are not given.

2 Estatistica Demografica, op. cit., table 3, pp. 17-20.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[56

5.48; Horta 5.06; Ponta Delgada 6.57; Funchal 6.51.
Here again we note that Horta has the lowest rate and
Ponta Delgada the highest, though the former is not far
separated from Angra nor the latter from Funchal.

Apart from these comparisons between divisions these
statistics show the Portuguese to be characterized by a
high birth rate and a moderately high death rate. Their
rate of population increase would be fairly large were it
not for the factor of emigration.

These death rates are not greatly different from those
given by Hoffman for the years 1895 and 1896 when the
mainland rate was 22.6 and that for the islands 22.2. He
speaks especially of the high death rate from respiratory
diseases among the poor of the islands who “ get wet
through in the winter months and have no opportunity of
drying themselves, and altogether are very thinly clad.” *
It may be added that the Portuguese aversion to fresh air
may be another cause of their high mortality from respir¬
atory diseases. Hoffman, as noted above, also surmises
that the death rate of children is high.

Climate

It is possible that climatic change may account for some
of the difficulties of the Portuguese in New England. We
shall therefore note briefly the important characteristics of
the physical environment on the Continent and in the Azores.

The climate of Continental Portugal varies considerably
in different sections of the country. In the southern pro¬
vinces the heat of summer may reach 120 degrees Fahren¬
heit and the winter cold in the north is severe. But the
central part of the country is said to have a climate which is
“ the best in Europe.” The mean annual temperature at

1 Hoffman, op. cit., p. 331.

57] CONTINENTAL AND ISLAND BACKGROUND

Lisbon (1856-1900) was 60.2 degrees Fahrenheit, the
winter average 51.2, spring 57.9, summer 69.3 and autumn
62. i.1 Along with these generally moderate changes in
temperature we find a country with a genial atmosphere con¬
sisting of “ a succession of fertile valleys interspersed with
rich alluvial plans.” 2

A colonist from central Portugal to the Azores finds
little change in the mean annual temperature in his adopted
land. At Ponta Delgada this is reported to be but two
degrees higher (62.6) than that of Lisbon. But the range
in temperature is, in general, considerably less in the Azores
than in Continental Portugal, with a minimum winter tem¬
perature in the former of 40 degrees and a maximum
summer temperature of 82 degrees.3 In Madeira the mer¬
cury may rise somewhat higher with a mean annual of 66
degrees and a range from 46 to 90.4 The change in tem¬
perature in migrating from Portugal to the Azores or
Madeira is therefore a change to a region of less extremes.

Ponta Delgada enjoys dry weather from June to Sep¬
tember but the winters are unpleasantly wet with an average
of 1 71 rainy days and an annual rainfall of 35.4 inches.5
The islands are, in general, blessed with extraordinary fer¬
tility and a delightful climate, but according to Thomas-
Stanford “ Nature’s bounty has been unavailing against the
perversity of man.” 6

‘Bell, op. cit. (New York, 1915), p. 80.

2 Crawford, “ Portugal,” in Living Age, vol. 256, p. 215, Feb. 29, 1908.

* British Foreign Office, op. cit., pp. 5-6.

4RoundeIl, op. cit., p. 173.

• British Foreign Office, op. cit., p. 6.

6 Thomas-Stanford, Leaves from a Madeira Garden (London, 1909),
p. 164.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[58

Occupations and Economic Status

Continental Portugal is predominantly agricultural with
a little mining, considerable fishing, and some manufactur¬
ing. One per cent of the total population is said to be
engaged in the catching and selling of fish and perhaps three
times that proportion in manufacturing. The country is
however three-fifths agricultural, and it is with agriculture,
therefore, that we are chiefly concerned.1 In northern Por¬
tugal the masses of the population are small tenant farmers,
and in the south they are employees on large estates. In
Minho the average size of holdings is under an acre “ and
many of them are mere patches the size of a pocket hand¬
kerchief ”. In 1908 for a little less than six million in¬
habitants the number of holdings was given as i'i ,430,740.
This small size of holdings is in spite of the existence of
properties in the south containing as many as 20,000 acres,
with an average size fifty times greater than in the north.2

The chief products of the farms are grapes, olives and
other fruits, and cattle, together with maize which is grown
chiefly in the north. Wine, fruits, cork and olive oil are
exported, but strangely enough wheat, maize and rice are
imported, despite the fact that whole regions remain un¬
tilled, and the population is emigrating.3

Moreover, the farming which is done is of the most un¬
progressive kind in many parts. “ The wine is still made
to-day [1910] just as the Roman agricultural writers
directed it to be made two thousand years ago.” 4 The only

1 Bell, op. cit., pp. 35-7.

1 Ibid., pp. 30-31.

8 Bell, op. cit., pp. 38-39.

4 Crawfurd, “The Greatness of Little Portugal,” in The National
Geographic Magazine, vol. xxi, p. 881. Cf. also the same author’s article
on “ Portugal ” in The Living Age, vol. cclvi, p. 520.

59] CONTINENTAL AND ISLAND BACKGROUND 59

great change since Roman times seems to have been the
introduction of maize as a cereal crop.

Alemtejo, under the Romans flourishing with corn, has large
tracts of waste land, and when the land is cultivated modem
machinery is rarely in use. When introduced by the owner
of the land it is allowed to fall out of use if possible by the
workmen, and at harvest time one has the picturesque sight of
an interminable row of laborers at work without any of the
noise and bustle of machinery.1

Portugal does, however, suffer from droughts which, in the
absence of irrigation, are a real handicap to the extension
of agriculture. Whether the cause of this backwardness
be chiefly nature, or chiefly man, the result is deplorable,
for according to Young’s careful study : “ Instead of the
Portuguese population producing its own food and sufficient
surplus of produce, raw or manufactured, to pay its creditors
abroad, and for such commodities as it cannot produce at
home, it is dependent on foreign supplies for its food, and
pays for this and the rest by exporting its own national
labourers and by exploiting the native labour of its im¬
perial possessions.” 2 Similarly the backwardness of the
individual peasant is pictured by Bell:

One need not go many leagues from Lisbon to find a look of
immemorial age about the life of the peasantry. One might
be in pre-Roman times. The peasant in black peaked woolen
cap, black shirt or blouse and knee-breeches and woolen leg-
gins, walks slowly, goad in hand, in front of his ox-cart with
its spokeless wheels of solid wood, or is jolted along as he
stands against the tall crooked stakes that form the sides of
the cart.3

1 Bell, op. cit., pp. 31-32.

* Young, Portugal Old and Young (Oxford, 1917), p. 255.

3 Bell, op. cit., p. 49.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[6o

The apportionment of the blame for this backwardness
is not so easy. “ Indolence, ignorance, mistaken finance and
lack of capital have hitherto fettered agriculture in Portugal,
neglect on the part of the state and of private landowners
going hand in hand with illiteracy and distrust on the part
of the peasants.” 1 The system of excessive protection
according to Bell “ fills the Exchequer and ruins the
country.” It is powerless to make industries flourish and
it seriously injures agriculture.2 That this short-sighted
financial policy is at least an immediate cause of the econ¬
omic backwardness of the Azores and Madeira as well as
of Continental Portugal is the opinion of not a few ob¬
servers, as we shall see below.

The result of this inefficiency and low productivity is,,
naturally, low incomes and a poverty-stricken peasantry
and laboring class. Miss Clare, observing northern Por¬
tugal in 1907, gives some interesting data on wages. The
head carter at a Qunita received twelve pounds a year and
food and lodging. Girls working in the fields had seven
pence a day without food and with irregular employment.
Their work was from sunrise to sunset with a half hour for
breakfast and one or two hours during the noonday heat
for lunch and a siesta. A laundress expected six shilling
sixpence per month, while male laborers on the farm might
get as high as one shilling one pence per day.3 The fol¬
lowing paragraph from Bell’s account gives more recent
wage data, characteristic, apparently, of conditions just be¬
fore the rise in prices and wages attendant upon the World
War :

1 Ibid., pp. 39-40.

* Ibid., p. 230.

3 Clare, “A letter from a Portuguese Country House,” in The Living-
Age, vol. cclv, pp. 592-3.

6i] CONTINENTAL AND ISLAND BACKGROUND 61

In Portugal the salaries are low and give no incentive to
labour especially as they have remained almost stationary,
while the price of food and rent has risen. Even during the
long harvest days the women receive a shilling a day or even
less for working perhaps sixteen hours in the fields, the men
two shillings or less. ... A day labourer of the Duora dis¬
trict receives 200 reis (equal to tenpence), an agricultural
labourer in Alemtejo 250 (500 in time of harvest), a car¬
penter of the Serra da Estrella 320 reis, a miner in a lead
mine near Aveiro 350, a mason of Minho 400, a carpenter of
Braga 400, a weaver of Guimaraes 500, a mason of Lisbon
700, a shoemaker’s assistant in Coimbra from 220 to 440, a
carpenter in Alemtejo 400, a dressmaker’s assistant in Lisbon
240. 1

A moment’s consideration of the above figures leaves no
doubt of the fundamental reason why the Portuguese leave
home. Data on American wages will be given in another
chapter, but, in passing, we may note that if we take pre¬
war laborers’ wages in the United States as from $11.50 to
$2.00 a day, the Portuguese day laborer could expect to
see his money wage multiplied from seven to ten times on
emigrating to New England. That costs of living would
be higher there also is undeniable but the change undoubt¬
edly represented to him a genuine rise in status, and if he
were no better informed than the average workman as to
the difference 'between money and real wages the outlook
would seem bright indeed.

The peasant class in Portugal proper, then, are poverty-
striken despite reasonably fertile land. What of their fel¬
lows in the Azores?

The inhabitants of the Azores like those of the mainland
are chiefly agriculturalists. Fruit is raised in abundance,
the largest single export of the islands being pineapples.

1 Bell, op. cit., pp. 27-8.

62 PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND [62

The once fruitful orange trees have been destroyed but
bananas and apricots are exported and figs, lemons, loquats
and pomegranates are found. The leading farm products,
however, are maize, beans and wheat. Barley and millet
are also raised, while the beet-sugar industry is found in
the islands of San Miguel and Terceira. In Pico and San
Miguel the grape vines have now (1920) recovered from
the blight which ruined them. Terceira raises bulls for
the Continental ring and exports as well sheep, cheese and
butter.1

The land being fertile artificial irrigation is rarely neces¬
sary, and three or four crops a year are often harvested.
The land, however, is “ largely in the hands of big landed
proprietors living in Portugal who let out their estates in
small lots.” This land was reported a few years ago as
renting for from $5 to $15 an alqueire (less than an acre),
while a typical peasant's holding was said to be from twenty*
to thirty alqueires.2

An exception to this predominance of renters is, however,
found in the island of Fayal where “ independent pro¬
prietorship is here and there found.” 3 As is usual else¬
where such a system of large estates owned often by ab¬
sentee landlords, and worked by ignorant peasants, has ap¬
parently meant in the Axores the exploitation of the tenant.
The peasantry are, at any rate, abjectly and miserably poor,
and are described by one investigator as a “ people little re¬
moved from a condition of serfdom.” 4 It will be interesting
to remember later that this peasant pauperism was found

1 British Foreign Office, op. cit., pp. 27-28.

* Haeberle, “ The Azores,” in The National Geographic Magazine,
June, 1919, p. 53i.

* P. T. L., “Azorean Economics and the Peasantry,” in The Nation,
vol. 73, p. 356, Nov. 7, 1901.

* Ibid., pp. 355 and 356.

63] CONTINENTAL AND ISLAND BACKGROUND 63

to exist in its worst form in the island of San Miguel and
that independent farming and generally better conditions
have been noted in the island of Fayal. Captain Boyd,
writing as early as 1834, reported: “ I found the surround¬
ing country [in Fayal] in a better state of culture than at
the other islands. ... I observed a remarkable difference
in all the fruits in favor of this island.” The crops of the
Flemish inhabitants of Fayal were reported as good and
“ their valley has continued from one age to another in
superior cultivation.” 1 The same writer speaks of the
natives at St. Mary’s, on the other hand, as oppressed by the
morgados, or large landowners, and as forced to work with¬
out remuneration.

In general, however, the inhabitants of the Azores are
poor indeed. Though patient and laborious they are “ al¬
most without exception underfed.” 2 Walker, speaking of
the period when emigration to North America was in its
early stages, says : The “ oft recurring failures of crops are
aggravated by the whole land being held and owned by the
rich to the utter exclusion of the laborer who, unable to
rise above his tenpence a day wage, is condemned to a life¬
time of ill-paid labour, and when the: maize crops, their staple
article of food, fail and grain has to be imported at high
prices, the labourer and his numerous progeny have a hard
time of it here.” 3 Mrs. Rbundell writing a few years
later speaks of men’s wages as varying from tenpence to
two shillings and of women working for sixpence a day*
Yet even on such wages some men apparently saved money,
for Weeks tells us : “I knew a common workman who was
working for $1.50 per week. Out of this amount everv

1 Boyd, op. cit., pp. 273 and 286. Cf. supra, p. 54.

* P. T. L., op. cit., p. 355.

‘Walker, op. cit., p. 104.

4Roundell, op. cit., p. 48.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[64

Saturday night he left fifty cents with his employer, and
supported himself, wife and three children on the balance
until he had saved sufficient to purchase a house.” 1

It will be objected that these low wages were found at
a very early period and are no longer typical. No evidence
has been secured as to wages since the Great War. But
Furlong reports as late as 1917 that farm hands in the
Western Islands would work for twenty cents a day.2
About 1900 when immigrants were beginning to come in
large numbers to the communities in which we are espec¬
ially interested, wages in San Miguel would fall in bad times
as low as twenty cents a day. Servants in private families
earned three dollars a month. In a large tobacco factory
“ girls rolling three thousand cigarettes a day can actually
rise to a little below twenty-five cents. . . . The chief book¬
keeper (also a woman) gets a trifle more. The care of
the driving engine intrusted to a woman describable as a
skilled worker, procures her the magnificent return of a
little less than forty cents.” 3 At the same period the Por¬
tuguese soldier’s pay was eight cents a day less a deduction
for his uniform.

The above account shows that there is little difference
between the income of the peasant and day laborer in Con¬
tinental Portugal and that of his brother in the Azores.
Such information as is at hand for Madeira indicates a
similar situation there.4 Wages in all three regions have
long been at the bare subsistence level and up to the out¬
break of the European War at least, there had been little
tendency for them to rise.

1 Weeks, Among the Azores (Boston, 1882), p. 146.

5 Furlong, “ With Columbus in the African Isles,” in Harper's Maga¬
zine, vol. cxxxv, p. 749, Nov., 1917.

3 P. T. L., op. cit., p. 356.

4 Cf. Thomas-Stanford, op. cit., p. 161.

65]

CONTINENTAL AND ISLAND BACKGROUND

The causes of this economic backwardness are variously
given as ignorance of the people,1 injustice of the system
of land tenure in the past and continued exploitation to¬
day,2 heavy taxation,3 domination in the Azores and
Madeira by the mother country in determining the fiscal
policy of the islands,4 excessive customs duties making the
importation of machinery impracticable,6 and the general
over-regulation of industry by the government.6 Here, as
so often in social problems, we are faced with the difficulty
of determining which is antecedent and which consequent
as between the personal and impersonal factors in the situa¬
tion. Are the peasants exploited because they are ignorant,
or are they kept ignorant because they are economically ex¬
ploited? And if the former, is their ignorance due to in¬
nate low intelligence or to lack of a fair chance in life?

Housing, Home Life and Standard of Living

The low economic and social status of the people of Por¬
tugal is further reflected in their home life and in the posi¬
tion of woman among them. A few descriptions of their
homes will show living conditions on the Continent. Says
Bell :

* V « fi *| •

Many families live from day to day and from hand to mouth
by odd jobs. . . . They live on little or nothing and devote
their energy and wits to pay arrears of rent sufficient to pre¬
vent them from being turned out of their houses, which often

1 Thomas-Stanford, op. cit., p. 68.
s P. T. L., op. cit., p. 356 and passim.

* Roundell, op. cit., p. 49.

* Johnston, “The Portuguese Colonies,” in The Nineteenth Century
and After, vol. lxxi, p. 499, March, 1912.

8 P. T. L., op. cit., p. 355.

* Thomas-Stanford, op. cit., p. 11.

66 PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND [66

consist of but one or two rooms. In one instance a family
of seven lives in a single room, the entire furniture con¬
sisting of an old mattress in one corner. . . . The cooking is
done over three stones. ... In many houses such a thing as
a bed is unknown, but in houses that can afford it the articles
are far more numerous (and ugly) than, for instance, in
Spain, and in the kitchen an infinite variety of pots and
pans fills up the room to the exclusion of cleanliness. . . .
Their state has not changed much since the sixteenth century
. . . . Overcrowding in unhealthy quarters in the towns and
gnawing poverty in the country 1

is the typical situation.

The same author in another book speaks of the houses
in Alemtejo as low and windowless but whitewashed. Of
those in Algarve, in extreme southern Portugal, he writes :

Many houses are low and miserable but scrupulously white¬
washed sheds of only two rooms, one containing a table, a bed,
a few graceful one-handled bilhas and small chairs set all
around the walls; the other a shed for the donkey which
. ... is almost considered one of the family. Children,
naked and baked by the sun sprawl in the doorway.2

Miss Clare, describing what is apparently northern Por¬
tugal, pictures peasant life in similar terms :

The house of the ordinary peasant is bare to destitution, his
windows are unglazed and he and his family eat squatting
on the clay floor of what is little better than a hovel, gathered
round a central bowl into which each dips his or her spoon
without further ceremony. . . . The wretched hamlets that
lie along the crest of the green-fluffed ridge are not the col¬
lection of pigsties and stables for which it would be easy to
mistake them, but the abodes of human habitation, swarmed

1 Bell, op. cit., pp. 28-30.

* Bell, In Portugal (London, 1912), pp. 31 and 61.

67] CONTINENTAL AND ISLAND BACKGROUND 67

over by tribes of Murillo-like children, of gaunt half-famished
dogs, of lean and ever-hungry goafs. There is lack indeed
of common decency. 1

This wretchedness is, however, not unrelieved by a touch
of the aesthetic. “ The humiblest, most ramshackle cottage
will have an old tin of carnations on its window ledge or
hanging anyhow from the wall.” 2 The same writer, how¬
ever, maintains that the Portuguese are not truly artistic.

This is shown in a thousand ways, in the curve of a chair,
the finish of a bookcase, in their buildings, in the color of
their dress and of the wash for their houses, in which
squashed hues and especially pink predominate; in the shape
of the water-jars, in which the soul of a Latin people is often
expressed.3

It must be admitted, however, that testimony is not unani¬
mous on this last point, and that what is ugliness to one
observer may be beauty to another.

The food of these peasants is likewise simple. In Estre-
madura it consists mostly of potatoes, cabbage and other
vegetables, bread of maize or rye, ham, wine and brandy.
All dip out of the same pot of sausage or the fat of ham.
In the hotter weather they eat salads of oil and pimento,
lettuce, garlic and olives.4

Poverty is also indicated by the extent to which women
are constantly engaged in severe labor. They work regularly
in the fields and even in the quarries, and they row heavy
barges.6 They work much harder, it is said, than the men.

1 Clare, “Another Letter from a Portuguese Country House,” in The
Living Age, vol. cclxii, p. 417.

1 Bell, Portugal of the Portuguese, p. 16.

3 Ibid., p. 21.

4 Bell, In Portugal, p. 69.

6 Ibid., p. 13.

68 PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND [68

The position of women in Portugal is another instance of
vague ideals. Woman is set on a pedestal, but women are not
always treated with consideration, and in some parts of the
country are little better than slaves. Over and over again
you will meet a man and a woman, husband and wife perhaps,
the man in lordly fashion carrying a small parcel or nothing
at all, the woman bowing under a huge load. . . . The peas¬
ant women continue to do twice the work of men, and to
receive half the wages.1

Home life in the Azores presents few contrasts to that
described above, according to the reports of visitors to the
islands. Thus Miss Baker describes a peasant’s hut in the
interior of Fayal in the eighties as follows:

The interiors are bare and poor: one room; rafters visible
above ; a floor of earth ; woven work of willow boughs some¬
times partitioning off one end of the room as a bedroom ; a
loft above it reached by a ladder and on the floor a pallet of
straw. There is neither chimney nor stove. The fireplace
is without crane or andirons, and is merely a broad stone
shelf built out from the wall, and on this a fire of furze and
faggots. For cooking utensils there are an iron pot and
trivets, and one or two red pottery jars and saucers.2

The same author pictures the interior of a peasant’s hut
in San Miguel. It was of :

one room with floor of earth strewn with rushes or pine
needles. Its furniture — two beds touching foot to foot, and
occupying one end of the room; two Eastlake chairs, ... a
deep stone window seat under the high window; a niche in
the opposite wall usually containing a bambino ; and a table.

The beds are made up high with ticks of homespun linen,
filled with husks, moss or a soft silky fibre . . . ; a hard

1 Bell, Portugal of the Portuguese, op. cit., pp. 7-8.

2 Baker, A Summer in the Azores (Boston, 1882), pp. 58-9.

6g] CONTINENTAL AND ISLAND BACKGROUND 69

round bolster and no pillows. When the family is too numer¬
ous to stow away in two beds, others are made up under^
them and trundled out at night. A loft is also made in the
peak of the roof for the big boys.1

An apparently lower standard of living is described on
the same island:

Halfclad women with folded arms, idle and inane but for
the look of stolid despair on their otherwise expressionless
faces, crouched on the floor of their squalid huts which they
shared with the hens and pigeons. Naked babies crawled
about the floors, and an army of brutal and savage children
ran clamoring after us for alms.2

The above descriptions are the most intimate that have
come to our notice and were written in the eighties before
the Azores had experienced the influence of the returning
emigrant to any great extent. Still earlier observers re¬
port conditions, if anything, still more primitive. Captain
Boyd in the thirties speaks of the exterior of the houses as
attractive, but of the interiors as uncomfortable and un¬
cleanly beyond description. The habitual filth resulted in
the prevalence of cutaneous diseases.3 In the fifties Weston
reports a peasantry living in miserable houses made of the
rudest-shaped stones, with roof thatched with straw and
leaves covered with mud, having neither windows, floors
nor furniture; and with pigs, hens and people sharing the
same room.4 Henriques writing in 1867 says that the
peasants lived in stone houses with no wooden floors, tile
or straw roofs, no chimneys and few glass windows.5

1 Ibid. ., p. no.

* Ibid,., p. 96.

* Boyd, op. cit., pp. 60 and 214.

* Weston, A Visit to a Volcano (Providence, 1856), p. 21.

6 Henriques, A Trip to the Azores (Boston, 1867), p. 37.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[70

Conditions have probably changed somewhat for the
better more recently. Emigrants returning in large num¬
bers have brought with them somewhat higher standards
together with their savings. The Republican government
has perhaps had a good influence. But the change comes
slowly so far as we can judge from the unsatisfactory
evidence at hand. Thus Callender in 1911 still records one-
story stone huts without flooring other than the bare earth
and without chimneys. His description of the preparation
of the family meal is not different from that of earlier ob¬
servers : “ When the Azorean peasant is hungry and needs
a stew, he gathers a few faggots, places them on the ground,
sets on the kettle or stew-pan, lights the fire ; then when the
dish is cooked the doors and windows are opened and the
smoke allowed to escape.” 1

Similarly Sandham writing only seven years ago tells of
animals living in the same house with the peasants of St.
Michael's although they have stalls in the garden : “ The
morning light is sure to discover all the animals nestling in
and about his bed, from the huge black pig and the tiny
donkey, down to cats, dogs, sheep and calves, half-starved
hens, clean fat rats, and cosmopolitan fleas.” 2

The average diet in the Azores is of the simplest, con¬
sisting principally of stew, fish, corn-bread, cabbage and
potatoes, all of which, according to some writers, are insuf¬
ficient in amount and kind.3 Ashe, in an early book, de¬
scribes a visit to “ the best informed islander I ever met ”
and reports her as glad to be invited to use her fingers in
place of knife and fork.4 In the eighties, at least, meat

1 Callender, op. cit., in Travel Magazine, vol. xviii, p. 50.

2 Sandham, op. cit., in The Century Magazine, vol. xci, p. 224, Dec., 1915.

* P. T. L., op. cit., p. 355.

4 Ashe, op. cit., p/258.

yi ] CONTINENTAL AND ISLAND BACKGROUND yi

was a rare item on Portuguese menus, and Miss Baker re¬
ported coarse corn bread with a bit of cheese, fish or peppers
and a cup of cold water as their principal foods. In another
place she adds : “ Their food is corn bread and a drink of
spring water, with now and then a few bitter beans and a
bit of dry fish as luxuries.” 1 Mrs. Roundell speaks of
meat as a Christmas luxury.2

In Madeira likewise, Miss Taylor reported in the eighties
that the peasants ate meat rarely and lived on vegetables,
maize meal boiled like porridge, yams, Spanish chestnuts
and brown bread, while near the coast much fish was used.3

We undoubtedly need more recent and satisfactory evid¬
ence on this matter of diet, but if there has been as little
change in this direction as in other respects we can think of
the Azorean peasant as still living on the simplest of fare.
Observations of his fellows in the United States tend to
confirm this idea.

In the islands as on the Continent the peasant woman is
a hard-working drudge. In the thirties Captain Boyd des¬
cribed the women of Pico as “ positive slaves ” who, by
hard labor, soon became decrepit and infirm.'4 If they are
not slaves to-day there can be no doubt that they do their
share of the hard labor in the fields and that they are bearers
of the heavy burdens. Many observers, however, attribute
the erect carriage of these peasant women to their habit of
carrying water-jars and other burdens on their heads.

Imperfect as are the above pictures and unsatisfactory as
are our sources for scientific purposes, it is apparent that
the Portuguese peasant on the Continent or in the Islands
is habitually poverty-stricken except, perhaps, when return-

1 Baker, op. cit., pp. 59 and hi.

2 Roundell, op. cit., p. 170.

3 Taylor, op. cit., p. 61.

4 Boyd, op. cit., p. 305.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[72

ing emigrants bring greater prosperity with them. Fortu¬
nately his home life is not utterly devoid of the picturesque
as seen in beautiful flowers outdoors, bright colored dresses,
gay festivals, or exquisite embroidery. It is in these pictur¬
esque aspects of life rather than in material welfare that the
Portuguese peasant is the loser when he emigrates to “ the
land of plenty.” It is not to be wondered at if he brings
with him much of the squalor and untidiness of some of the
homes abroad.

Religion, Superstition and Recreation

It may seem incongruous to discuss these three topics to¬
gether but with the Portuguese they are closely related.

Bell describes the Portuguese of the Continent as often
intensely religious but not priest-ridden.1 In his later book
he says:

Portugal has been fortunate in possessing an enlightenedi
clergy. Many priests were liberal in politics, and only a
few of them in some remote parts of the country were
fanatics. The mass of the people is equally unfanatic. But
only a section of the population of a single city — Lisbon — is
non-Catholicw Indeed, according to one calculation, there
are only six thousand non-Catholics in Portugal, or one in
every thousand inhabitants. To the mass of the people re¬
ligion is a pleasant show, and a refuge from the grinding
reality of their lives; the church ceremonies, the processions
and pilgrimages are the notes of holiday and gaiety in the
villages. . . . The cry of anti-clericalism in Portugal . . . .
is not in any sense national, but has been imported bodily
from abroad. ... In the public schools religion has been
forbidden by law, in the private it has only been given at
the expense of denunciation and persecution. When it is
remembered that in many parishes the priests have been de-

1 Bell, In Portugal, p. 8.

73] CONTINENTAL AND ISLAND BACKGROUND

prived of all authority, it will be seen how little chance there
is of the children receiving any religious instruction. . . .
In Portugal many children are being brought up to regard
material prosperity as the only good.1

But if the people are naturally religious their religious
beliefs seem to be vague :

Many prefer an undefined Pantheism and mystic love of
Nature or Humanity to dogmatic beliefs. The ostentatious
art of Roman Catholic ceremonies and the exact precision
of Protestant services are both in a sense congenial to them,
the former appealing to their fondness for pomp and show,
the latter to their quiet thoughtfulness. But neither the one
nor the other affects them with sufficient force to fasten upon
their minds a fanaticism which is foreign to dreamy and
comfortable natures. . . . Perhaps [Protestantism] is too
clear and reasonable for them.2

Perhaps this very vagueness of religious beliefs and in¬
fluence permits the perpetuation of popular superstition and
folk-lore. At any rate we find no lack of such elements in
the lives of these simple people. Crawfurd tells us that the
Portuguese ballads, myths and folk-lore are partly Moorish,
partly Latin and partly, (apparently) more strictly Portu¬
guese or native in their origin. He finds the fishermen stilt
believing in sirens and the peasants dreaming of enchanted
maids in their springs, and putting faith in many tales of
giants, gnomes, warlocks, sorceresses and spirits; while they
attribute their ills largely to Brux or omnipresent spirits
of the air.8

The intermingling of religion and superstition is seen
more clearly in the lucky days. Miss Clare tells how the

1 Bell, Portugal of the Portuguese, pp. 64-65.

* Ibid., pp. 9-10.

3 Crawfurd, Portugal, pp. 528-9.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[74

Portuguese cut flowers on Ascension Day to ensure pros¬
perity.1 She confirms Bell’s opinion, however, that priestly
intervention plays a lesser part among the Portuguese than
among the Spaniards.

.... Portuguese literature is full of superstitions and in
few countries can there be more legends and charms and in¬
cantations, ignorance thus fostering an immense popular lit¬
erature in prose and verse. The varieties of sorcerers and
diviners are many : there are bensedores and imaginarios,
magicos and agoureiros, bruxas and feiticeiras et cetera.2

The connection between religion and recreation consists
in the fact that religious festas and pilgrimages are perhaps
the chief form of popular amusement in Portugal, or at
least they have a recreative as well as a religious aspect.
Says Bell :

The villages themselves, their streets and houses are often
miserable enough, but they are enlivened by a large number of
festas through the year. The pilgrimage or romaria is
usually to some shrine in the hills or by the sea, and com¬
bines the character of a profane picnic with a religious motive.
The most famous shrine is that of Bom Jesus near Braga, but
every village has its small church or hermitage to go to
which a yearly procession is organized. In some parts of the
country the year begins with the janeiras, when groups go front
house to house with songs special to the occasion, after the
fashion of waits in England. ... It ends, of course, with
the festivities of Christmas, which in Portugal, where the
ties of family life are strong, is observed with a peculiar
devotion, and all the rites of the yule log and other ancient
customs, as the consoada or odd meal to pass the time while
waiting for the midnight mass called a missa do gailo. . . .

1 Clare, “Another Letter from a Portuguese Country House,” op. cit.,

p. 419.

* Bell, Portugal of the Portuguese, op. cit., p. 15.

75 ] CONTINENTAL AND ISLAND BACKGROUND

Between the Day of Kings and Christmas comes a long series
of feast days and pleasant customs. . . . But above all June
is the month of rustic merriment, with the fetes of St.
Anthony, St. John the Baptist, and St. Peter.1

St. John is the greatest of the Saints and his day is cele¬
brated in a manner in keeping with his importance. No one
reading an account of these festas and romarias can fail to
note the intermingling of piety and festivity which they il¬
lustrate.

St. John’s Day has also superstitions which are peculiar
to it.

Its hours between midnight and dawn are among the most
precious of all the year, and no witch who has the least ink¬
ling of her business will waste a single instant of them.
The dews (orvalhadas) then gathered have a special virtue,
as also rosemary and other herbs and water brought from the
mountains and streams. By the fountains appear enchanted
Moorish maidens combing their hair with combs of gold, and
many other spirits are abroad. It is the night, too, of the
great blue thistles or Jerusalem artichokes (alcachofras) and
other auguries of love. Next morning on St. John’s Day, the
sun dances at its rising, et cetera.2

These religious festivals and processions are far “ more
popular than the bull fight about which in Portugal there
seems to be something a little artificial.” Indeed these bull¬
fights cost too much for the peasants. Miss Clare tells us
that the pre-war prices for the worst seats were 2 i/2d. each.
She found each village with a barn-like theatre, however,
with either seats free to members or a charge of 4 i/4d. or
5 i/4d. which again excluded peasant's.3

In the islands we find a similar relationship between re-

1 Bell, Portugal of the Portuguese, pp. 50-51.

'Ibid., p. 54.

8 Clare, “Letters from a Portuguese Country House,” pp. 418-9.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[/6

ligion, superstition and recreation. According to the testi¬
mony of Portuguese priests in America the island population
is more religious than that of the mainland. This differ¬
ence may be a recent development, however, associated with
the revolution which was as much religious as political and
which had a more profound effect in Continental Portugal
than in the Azores. Webster, writing a century ago, des¬
cribes medieval religious customs in the Azores, with pro¬
cessions of penitent friars beating themselves, with even the
poor eager to put their children into the convents, with
penance done by means of prayer, fasting and walking bare¬
foot all over the island, and with indulgences sold in the
shops.1

If this is no longer a true picture of life to-day, never¬
theless religion .forms a very large part of the lives of the
islanders. Koebel says of Madeira : “ The Madeira peas¬
ant is essentially a churchman. His average intelligence
not being of a high order, it is to be doubted whether his
devotion partakes of much real understanding.” 2 Mrs.
Thomas-Stanford found a strong pagan survival in the
creed of the common people of Madeira but she did not re¬
gret the influence of the church upon the otherwise hum¬
drum lives of the people. The church, she says, “ with
her happy use of dramatic and picturesque art in services
and processions ” does “ much to infuse some interest and
variety into ” them.3 The peasant prays to different saints
according as he conceives them to be peculiarly able to satisfy
specific desires. The peasant also vows to perform unpleas¬
ant tasks such as carrying a bar of iron a distance or, in
the case of women, shuffling over sharp stones barefooted.

‘Webster, Description of the Island of St. Michael (Boston, 1821),
PP- 55-58 and 83-84.

* Koebel, Madeira Old and New (London, 1909), p. 145.

* Thomas-Stanford, op. cit., p. 31.

77] CONTINENTAL AND ISLAND BACKGROUND 77

Here the church is “ still [1909] whispering from her
towers the last enchantments of the Middle Ages.” 1

The present writer lias not seen similar accounts of pen¬
ance in the Azores in the writings of recent observers.
The processions, however, still form an important part of
the religious and recreational life of the people. In Ponta
Delgada the Procession of Santo Christo is one of the
most important, when, on the fifth Sunday after Easter, the
Image is taken from the convent and carried in procession
through the streets while a crowd of fifteen thousand people
participate or look on. To-day with the large number of
returned emigrants from the United States in the island,
this celebration is said to be the occasion for the production
of the American flag in a pyrotechnic display in the Park
of San Francisco. This and other processions form the
chief amusements of the populace here as in Portugal pro¬
per. The peasants come from the rural districts far and
wide and en route to the city they play their violas, sing and
dance. At specified places also, they have sham battles with
wax balls filled with water.2 As Mrs. Thomas-Stanford
says of Madeira, “ the holyday and holiday are still one.” 3

The statement that these festas are the sole amusement of
the people is, of course, not quite literally true. Koebel
adds to the carnival : kite-flying in infancy, courtship, guitar¬
playing and the explosion of fireworks, gossip and, to-day,
the moving picture, to complete the list of popular diver¬
sions. In Terceira, at least, a modified form of bull-fight¬
ing also is in vogue.14

In the Islands, as on the mainland, superstitions abound.
In Madeira “The state of fear in which the lower classes

1 Ibid., p. 32.

* Haeberle, op. cit., pp. 527-8, June, 1919.

* Thomas-Stanford, op. cit., p. 233.

* Haeberle, op. cit., p. 539.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[78

here, .though they are by nature of a cheerful temperament,
pass their lives is inconceivable to the educated northerner.”
They live in fear of the powers of darkness, of the authori¬
ties and of each other. Witches abound who go to the hills
to meet the devil. To avoid their influence one opens a pair
of scissors in the form of a cross. Charms are worn to
ward off the evil eye. A sprig of rosemary laid on the pig-
stye will protect that important animal.1 To find a hair-
ball in the stomach of an animal is a stroke of particularly
good fortune. One need only bake bread, put the ball into
it, and hide the loaf under an altar, to have one’s fondest
wish gratified. If your hair falls out, cut off a lock on St.
John’s night and bury it under a quick-growing plant such
as a pumpkin and throw it to a pig but do not eat the pig.
On important matters it is always well to consult the wise
woman or the wizard.2 It is no wonder, indeed, that phy¬
sicians both in Madeira and in the United States find it
difficult sometimes to win these people to the use of modern
medicine.

Both on the Continent and in the Islands, then, we find
the Portuguese devout, superstitious and fond of the pleas¬
ures of the festa and the procession. They are probably
more dependent upon the church for their pleasures and for
encouragement in the Islands than on the mainland, and
recent political changes have, to a slight degree, perhaps,
weakened this dependence. It is unfortunate that our
evidence of superstitious beliefs and practices comes so
largely from Madeira, but their prevalence among the im¬
migrants from San Miguel in Fall River, indicates that
they exist in no little degree in that island. It is unfor¬
tunate, also, that we cannot compare this trait among the
people of Fayal with the superstitions of San Miguel.

1 Thomas-Stanford, op. cit., pp. 126-8.

* Ibid., pp. 129-30.

79] CONTINENTAL AND ISLAND BACKGROUND

Educational Status and Illiteracy

The curse of Portugal is popular ignorance, and the
simplest, though not the most satisfactory measure of ignor¬
ance, is adult illiteracy. The general situation in Contin¬
ental Portugal is described by Miss Clare as follows : “ The
majority of laboring men only acquire the rudiments of
education during their terms of compulsory military ser¬
vice; while .... by far the greater number of women
go through life unable to sign their own names or read
that of another.” Therefore we find no newspapers among
the peasants.1 A traveller is made aware of this situation
by noting that the clothing shops have picture signs to ac¬
commodate their illiterate customers.2 The same situation
is brought out in the following table, which gives the latest
available information :

Table 8

Portugal: Per cent Illiterate of Population Over Seven Years Old 3

Total Men Women

1911 . 69.7 60.8 77.4

1900 . 74.1 65.0 82.1

1890 . 76.0 67.6 83.5

Thus in 1911 roughly three out of five adult men and
three out of four adult women were illiterate, which was an
improvement of only six or seven points over the figures
for twenty-one years previous. In 19111 the per cents of
illiteracy for the total population including children were:
men 68.4 per cent, women 81.2 per cent, total 75.1 per cent.
The same fact is brought out in Table 9 even more strik¬
ingly for here illiteracy is defined as inability to sign one’s
name to the marriage papers.

'Clare, “Another Letter from a Portuguese Country House,” op. cit.r,
p. 418.

3 Peixotto, op. cit., p. 628.

3 Portugal, Censo da Populagao, 1911, vol. i, p. xxii (Lisbon, 1915).

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[8o

Table 9

Percentage of Men and Women Applying for Marriage Licenses
who Signed the Marriage Papers — 1917 1

Percent Signing

District Number of Marriages Men Women

Portugal . 34,2io 53-68 34-58

Continent . 3I,6o6 54-89 33-71

Islands . 2,604 38.90 45.12

Ponta Delgada . 894 36.13 49-55

Funchal . 1,063 33-30 28.98

Angra . 403 43.42 57.57

Horta . 244 66.98 78.69

The somewhat better showing evident in this last table
is perhaps in part due to improvement between 1911 and
1917; but it also is probably due to the simpler definition of
illiteracy which it implies. In table 9, of course, the per¬
centages given are those for the literate. The literacy of
emigrants as compared with that of the general population
is discussed later.2 Our present interest in the above table
is in the high degree of illiteracy it reveals and in the dif¬
ferences between the several political divisions. Continen¬
tal men are more literate than the islanders, nearly sixteen
percent more of men seeking matrimony there in 1917, sign¬
ing the papers. Curiously enough, however, the situation
is the reverse, with respect to women, the island women
being more literate than those of the Continent in every
division except that of Funchal. Except in Funchal, again,
island women who marry appear to be more literate
than men. On the mainland they are considerably less
so. Finally, we note as in other tables, the relatively high
standing of the district of Horta where practically twice as

1 Repiiblica Portuguesa, Ministerio das Financas, Direcgdo Geral de
Estatistica, Repartiqao Central, Estatistica Demogrddca, Movemento da
Populaqao, 1917, table 1, p. 7.

2 Cf. infra, p. 1 14.

8i] CONTINENTAL AND ISLAND BACKGROUND 8 1

large a proportion of women marrying were literate as on
the mainland.

If we had more recent figures we should probably find
some improvement as a result of the efforts of the Repub¬
lican government. Yet it is not certain that the change
would be great, for authorities differ somewhat in the im¬
portance they attach to the plans and accomplishment of
the new regime. Young, speaking of conditions in 1916,
is optimistic and finds “ a national desire for literacy.” He
notes the decline in illiteracy shown by recent figures, calls
attention to the increased educational budget and empha¬
sizes the ambulatory and night schools established. As
against 5500 primary schools in 1910 he finds 7000 in 1914,
with 125 ambulatory schools and 160 night classes. He
also stresses the fact that grants to secondary schools, mus¬
eums, libraries and art schools have been increased “ with
excellent results.” 1

Bell, however, writing two years earlier is more cautious
in his acceptance of figures and less optimistic as to the
immediate future.

The Republic, [he says] was ushered in with pompous phrases
concerning education. In a few years there were to be no
more illiterates, in a few years there was to be a school for
every two kilometres throughout the country. But there has
been danger of more attention being given to the show than
to the substance of reform, and of education becoming more
and more a whited sepulchre. Yet ... . one must admit
that the Republicans realize the importance of education and
have a sincere desire to diminish the number of illiterates (as
though that in itself were a great gain). The institution of
night schools and of itinerate masters is no doubt a step in
the right direction. . . . The decree of 29th March, 1911,
reforming primary education is little more [than a piece of

1 Young, op. cit., p. 303.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[82

paper]. Primary education was transferred from the control
of the State to that of the local authorities, which tend toi
neglect it altogether.1

So-called compulsory education has existed in Portugal
since 1878, and to fix on a room or a house in a village
which might be used for educational purposes is often suf¬
ficient to add one more to the schools enumerated, but it does
not of itself educate the peasants. “ There the matter gen¬
erally ends. Neither books nor furniture nor masters are
provided, and that not from any carelessness or indiffer¬
ence, but because there is no money to pay for them/’ 2
The existing schools were poor enough and it would have
been better to improve them. “ They were for the most
part in hired unhealthy buildings, and the ill-paid or unpaid
schoolmasters taught as badly as they were paid.”

As we are not so much interested in very recent changes
but rather in conditions which surrounded those who later
went to New England, our chief concern is to note that
facilities for securing education were far from adequate
in the Portugal which they knew. So far as we have
evidence they were no better if as good in the Azores. The
figures for illiteracy seem to indicate that they were worse.

It is important for us to note, however, that there was ap¬
parently little popular demand for education in Portugal
at that time. To say this is not to say that such a demand
could not have been stimulated under different conditions.
But it did not exist even though Young may be correct in
saying that it does exist to-day. Bell tells us :

There is indeed little inducement for the peasants to send
their children to school, and considerable inducement to keep
them at home where they can be useful in the fields. In a

1 Bell, Portugal of the Portuguese, op. cit., p. 68.

* Ibid., p. 69.

83] CONTINENTAL AND ISLAND BACKGROUND 83

land of few industries where a large majority of the inhabit¬
ants live by agriculture and fishing, there is but little need of
book-learning, nor is there any universal book to be found
in the peasants’ houses as the Bible in England. ... If illiter¬
ates are disfranchized they look upon that rather as a bless¬
ing than as a penalty. . . . Some of the children are quite
keen to learn, and after being kept at work all day willingly
attend night classes; but there is many a family in which the
parents not only do not encourage the children to write and
read, but deliberately forbid it, considering that the draw¬
backs of education exceed its advantages.1

If we may trust Mr. Bell’s account then, the Portuguese
do not learn, and there is some evidence that they do not
want to learn. School attendance is not a part of their
mores and they have not been taught its advantages. Con¬
sidering the quality of their schools and the conditions sur¬
rounding their lives they may not be so short-sighted as
they appear at first thought. It is not surprising, therefore,
that we find a total of but 6,947 students in the eight
lycees.2 Nor would one expect a people with such stand¬
ards, such lack of opportunity, and such a background to
rush eagerly into our schools in America.

The fact of ignorance and illiteracy in the Islands is noted
by practically all observers. Captain Boyd back in 1834
spoke of the inhabitants as mild dispositioned and quick
to perceive, “ but in every class so deeply ignorant, and in
such a state of mental debasement that their existence is
not many degrees elevated above that of unreasonable [sic]
animals.” 3 Fifty years later Walker reported only 125
elementary schools in the whole archipelago with little pro¬
gress in thirty years time.'4 At the turn of the century

1 Ibid., p. 7 1.

* Ibid ., p. 72.

3 Boyd, op. cit., p. 48.

4 Walker, op. cit., pp. 126-7.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[84

an anonymous writer in the Nation calls illiteracy the
greatest handicap of the inhabitants, speaks of school houses
as rare features, gives the salary of the lycee professor as
75 francs a month, and tells a story of a schoolmaster who
was also a servant and whose salary was 35 francs a year.1
It is not surprising, therefore, that he found it the excep¬
tion for the peasant to have a newspaper. In Madeira in
1909 Mrs. Thomas-Stanford speaks of the laboring class as
“ utterly Illiterate and incapable of organization or of ex¬
pressing its wants or grievances.” She found the inhabi¬
tants of the northern part of the island as ignorant of the
rudiments of education as of the outside world. Many
died without even visiting Funchal.2

Ignorance is then the curse of the Portuguese before they
come to America. Ignorance, we shall find, is likewise
their handicap after they arrive.

Other Characteristics

Thus far we have seen that the Portuguese peasant class
is poor and often poverty-stricken though living under*
fairly favorable climatic conditions; that they have a very
low standard of living, dwelling in humble cottages which
are sometimes uncleanly and usually devoid of the barest
necessities, and eating the plainest of food; that they lack
knowledge of hygiene and sanitation; that they are usually
devout though somewhat less so in parts of the mainland
than on the Islands; that their religious ideas are somewhat
vague and associated with many superstitions; that their
recreation is limited and semi-religious in some of its as¬
pects; and that they are grossly ignorant, illiterate, often
lacking in a desire for education, though not unintelligent.
We noted also, some evidence of a slight change in this
last respect.

1 P. T. L., op. cit., p. 355.

* Thomas-Stanford, op. cit., pp. 212-3.

85] CONTINENTAL AND ISLAND BACKGROUND 85

It remains to list very briefly a number of other char¬
acteristics of the Portuguese peasants before following them
across the Atlantic.

Bell tells us that if we “ take the Irish peasant, add hot
sun and spice of the East, and perhaps something of the
Negro’s vanity ”, we have the Portuguese. “ The quick
intelligence, the dreamy melancholy, the slyness and love of
intrigue, the wit and imagination are here, and the power
of expression in words.” 1 They are a people “ hard¬
working, vigorous and intelligent, increasing fairly rapidly,
content with little, not willingly learning to read or write
buit in [their] own way eagerly patriotic.” On the other
hand, they love lottery, have a perpetual tendency to exag¬
gerate, a vague good-nature, an absence of discipline, a
belief in the efficacy of words and rhetoric. But their chief
general characteristic, according to this authority, is vague¬
ness. “ They think in generalities and abstractions.”
“ They have no love of bloodshed, but it is a state of mind,
rather than a course of action, and can be curiously com¬
bined with cruel persecutions in practice.” Ideally they
place woman on a pedestal, but in practice they grind her
with toil. Similarly their love of liberty is an ideal of
which they fall far short in practice. The same vagueness
pervades their business relations. We have already shown
that they are equally vague in their religious tenets and to
this vagueness they add a strong element of fatalism. They
do not know exact justice for they are too impulsive and
vindictive. They are devoted to music, flowers, dance and
song. Yet they “ are not artistic though they love nature.” 2

Crawfurd reports the Portuguese law-abiding citizens,3
and Miss Clare tells of the mutual confidence between them

1 Bell, Portugal of the Portuguese, p. 1.

'Ibid., chap, i, passim.

* Crawfurd, op. cit., p. 521.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[86

which leads a peasant to sell his oxen to a stranger on his
mere promise to pay.1 They are reputed to be hospitable,
courteous and tolerant. As workmen they are industrious,
ignorant and willing.2 They are reported by different ob¬
servers both cleanly and dirty, and no doubt differ among
themselves in this respect. “ The daily bath is not an in¬
stitution among the Portuguese, but they do wash their
clothes.” 3

Though wine drinkers, they are not intemperate either in
eating or drinking.4 Their standards of morality seem to
vary. “ In the interior the men are upright and self-respect¬
ing; the women chaste and faithful.” In the mountains a
girl who has been led astray has her locks clipped completely
short and kept so until marriage.5

In their dress the styles vary in different communities,
but they show a love of bright colors which are sometimes
praised and sometimes ridiculed by observers. Some visit¬
ors report the women fond also of heavy gold necklaces
which even the very poor wear ; while others note a tendency
toward cheap adornment. The solid gold ornaments are
apparently a characteristic of the north of Portugal. The
poor go generally barefoot although in Pico and Fayal either
rawhide sandals or wooden shoes are worn. In Madeira,
according to one writer, the peasants habitually walk bare¬
foot, but carry boots for use in church, often making one
pair go for several members of the same family.6 Callender

1 Clare, “A Letter from a Portuguese Country House,” op. cit.,
P- 595-

* Bell, In Portugal, pp. 6 and 24.

3“ Portuguese Vignettes,” in The Living Age, vol. cclxvi, p. 349.

4 Cf. Clare, “A Letter from a Portuguese Country House,” p. 418.

6 Ibid., p. 418.

6 Ramsey, “ Levada Walking in Madeira,” in The Living Age, vol.
cccvii, p. 661.

87] CONTINENTAL AND ISLAND BACKGROUND 87

declares that the social classes are marked out by the type
of footgear: the poorest class going barefoot, the next wear¬
ing wooden shoes, and the higher class assuming sandals.1
For the rest, the style of dress is variable, and except for
the universal kerchief worn by women is changed on emi¬
grating.

A single characteristic of the Azoreans must complete
this list. They show little regard for family names. Child¬
ren may take the name of either parent, and the mother of a
family will use her maiden name or that of her husband
indiscriminately. Nicknames are very common and result
from some trivial incident. Once applied, however, the
nickname may quite replace the family name of the recip¬
ient. One writer even reports that in the post-office in one
of the islands mail is sorted not by family names but by
given names, a pile of Antonios here and one of Michaels
there. This custom of frequent changes of name is most
confusing to the student who tries to follow a single family,
as the writer’s experience demonstrates.

Many of the above-mentioned characteristics of the Por¬
tuguese are highly desirable traits; others are less com¬
mendable. Perhaps the Portuguese may be characterized
as an industrious, simple-minded, ignorant people of kindly
but somewhat melancholy disposition.

Such are the Portuguese of the homeland. How does
emigration to New England affect them, and how do they
influence the social life of the American communities to
which they flock?

1 Callender, op. cit., p. 25.

CHAPTER IV

Immigration and Distribution in the United States

No student of history need be reminded that the Portu¬
guese are a migrating people. South America, Asia and
Africa have felt the Portuguese influence since the fifteenth
century. In South America, at least, the Portuguese in¬
flux has been very large and is continuing at the present
time. But, except for a few fishermen and seamen, it was
not until the middle of the nineteenth century that the Por¬
tuguese turned to North America in appreciable numbers.
Even in recent years, as the table below shows, only one in
four of Portuguese emigrants has been destined for North
America, and only one in ten of those from the Continent.
In very recent years, however, there has been an increased
emigration from the mainland to the United States.

Table io

Destination of Emigrants from Portugal,1 1913- 1917

T otal Emigrants Destined for North America

Born in Number Number Percent

Continent . 133,252 14,002 10.5

Islands . 29,811 26,499 88.9

Ponta Del . 13,234 12,764 96.4

Funchal . 8,492 6,210 73.1

Angra . 5,199 4,709 90.6

Horta . 2,886 2,816 97.6

Ultramarine . 348 33 9.5

All Portugal . 163, 41 1 40,534 24.8

1 Estatistica Demogrdftca, op. cit., pp. 30-55.

88 [88

IMMIGRATION AND DISTRIBUTION

89]

On the other hand, during the period covered by this
table, at least, nearly nine-tenths of the emigrants from the
Islands sought the United States or other North American
countries. Indeed the total emigration from the Islands to
North America exceeded by more than 12,000 the number
coming from all of Continental Portugal. Moreover, since
the emigration from the mainland to North America is
mostly of recent origin it is probable that the above table
exaggerates considerably the usual number and proportion
of Portuguese emigrants from Continental Portugal to
North America. At any rate during this five year period
the majority of Portuguese immigrants to the United States
came from the Islands and nearly all the Island emigration
went to North America.

In earlier years, also, the Islands undoubtedly sent a
much larger proportion of their emigrants to Brazil. Hoff¬
man, writing in 1899, speaks of the majority of Azoreans
entering the United States as coming from Fayal, St.
George and Flores while most of those to Brazil came from
San Miguel, Santa Maria and Terceira.1 All of these
islands are in districts which now, according to our table,
send most of their people to the United States. In the
vicinity of Fall River today by far the majority of the
Portuguese come from San Miguel, in the district of Ponta
Delgada. There has therefore been something of a change
in the source and direction of Portuguese emigration and
our table should be taken as characteristic of the period
which it covers only.

The latest official reports of Portuguese emigration
which are available are those for 1917. For the eleven
year period from 1907- 1917 between thirty and forty
thousand emigrants were usually recorded as leaving Por-

1 Hoffman, op. cit., p. 328.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[90

tugal each year. In addition, according to Bell, there was
a considerable clandestine emigration which escaped record.
“ It is impossible to keep count of those who cross the
frontier into Spain, and many even of those who emigrate
by sea succeed in escaping registration.” 1 2 Up to 1914 there
had been for many years a steady increase in emigration but
following that year there was something of a falling off.
1912 was apparently the banner year for Portuguese emigra¬
tion when the total number “ bordered on 100,000.”

The importance to the home country of this population
movement is seen in the following table.

Table ii

Portugal:2 Emigrants per Thousand Population

1908-1912

1913-1917

Continent .

. 6.75

4.06

Islands .

. 10.58

14.39

Ponta Delgada .

. 13-19

21.93

Funchal .

. 8.25

9.61

Angra .

IS-I3

Horta .

11.98

Portugal .

. 7-03

5-30

Thus the loss by emigration was, relatively to total popu¬
lation, 50 per cent greater in the Islands than in Continental
Portugal during the five year period 1908-1912, and three
and one half times as great from 1913-1917.

We note also that the Island districts, with the exception
of Horta, did not share the falling off in emigration which
the mainland experienced during the second half of the ten
year period. On the contrary, they lost more inhabitants
than before. If the United States should experience as

1 Bell, Portugal of the Portuguese, pp. 26-7.

2Estatistica Demogrdfica, op. cit., pp. 30-55.

IMMIGRATION AND DISTRIBUTION

91]

great a drain of population relatively as did the district
of Ponta Delgada from 1913- 1917, she would lose more
than two million people annually.

It is unfortunate that we do not have more recent data
on Portuguese emigration, to show the effect of post-war
conditions and of American immigration legislation. More
recent figures on Portuguese immigration into the United
States, which is our chief interest, are presented later in
this chapter.

Causes of Portuguese Emigration

Most of the causes of this loss of population were men¬
tioned in the last chapter. Young summarizes the chief re¬
pellent forces in Portugal as follows :

The pressure of direct taxation disproportionately heavy on
the peasant, the rise in prices due to the highest tariff in
Europe and an inconvertible paper currency, the absence of
capital for land development and the want of alternative em¬
ployment in industry, has been driving abroad not only the
surplus population, but even the necessary race stock. The
close relationship between the increase of emigration and the
increase both of food prices and of the inconvertible currency,
can be traced with considerable precision.” 1

The fact that one great cause of Portuguese emigration
is economic distress does not necessarily mean that Por¬
tugal is losing her very lowest economic class. In most
population movements of modern times, while it is the
laboring class which emigrate, it is at first the more ener¬
getic among that class who leave home. Later this selec¬
tive effect of emigration is weakened because of assistance
given by relatives and others to the weaker members of the
community to enable them Ito emigrate. Moreover, after*

1 Young, op. cit., p. 315.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[92

many have gone before it is less and less of an adventure to
follow. Nevertheless, it is seldom the very lowest grade
laborers and their families who emigrate. It is probably
not the very lowest of the Portuguese who leave home, even
to-day.

At least up to the period of the Great War it was the
more progressive districts of Northern Portugal which sent
emigrants to South America.

The strength of Portugal in one respect and its weakness in
another lies in the population being still mainly agricultural,
and emigration is necessarily mainly from the northern prov¬
inces where the peasantry is the most prolific, the most pro¬
gressive, and the most prosperous. The rate of emigration
is the highest from the less fertile inland fringe of these pro¬
vinces, and least from the center and south, and it began to
take on disquieting proportions coincidently with the financial
collapse in the early nineties.1

Mainland emigration to the United States, however, is said
to have been more largely from the less progressive southern
provinces.

Overpopulation, mentioned in the above quotation, has
been a factor in emigration from the Islands as well as
from the mainland. In Madeira, at least, it appeared as
early as the seventeenth century, and Koebel says that people
were sometimes transported to Brazil by royal order.2 But
apparently it was not overpopulation per se which caused
the voluntary movements of population, but overpopulation
when associated with a relative economic well-being and
energy slightly higher than that of the most degraded class.

Portugal is also overpopulated in the sense that, though

1 Young, op. cit., p. 315.

2 Koebel, Madeira, op. cit., p. 23. Cf. also Thomas-^Stanford, op. cit.,
p. 10.

IMMIGRATION AND DISTRIBUTION

93]

an agricultural country, she does not raise sufficient food
to support her population. This shortage of food would
not in itself be a cause of emigration, if Portugal produced
enough other commodities to exchange for food imports,
but she does not. Says Young: “Taking the latest infor¬
mation we find that the deficit in the native supply of
cereals is about one-third of the total consumption, and that
in the supply of wheat the deficit is even more serious, aver¬
aging about one-half the consumption.” The country does
not manufacture enough to export a surplus to pay for im¬
ported grain and so it is compelled to export its laborers
themselves.1 2 That is to say, Portugal being relatively un¬
productive finds herself with a poverty-stricken population.
The more progressive of the poorer class therefore emigrate
to lands with a higher productivity — lands which pay higher
wages or whose farms are more productive under the kind
of cultivation they can give. Many of these emigrants
being able to produce a surplus abroad, send it in the form
of money (bills of exchange) back to Portugal. These
money transactions create a demand in New York or
elsewhere for bills of exchange to send to Lisbon or Ponta
Delgada or other points in Portugal. These bills of ex¬
change, in turn, are used by Portuguese importers to pay
their foreign debts — that is, to pay for the excess of im¬
ports of food et cetera over exports. The money sent
home by emigrants is the equivalent of the money needed
to pay for these excess imports when sold at retail to con¬
sumers. This is what Young means when he says that
Portugal “ is dependent upon foreign supplies for its food,
and pays for this by exporting its own national labour,
and by exploiting the labour of its imperial possessions.” *

1 Young, op. cit., p. 314.

2 Ibid., p. 313.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[94

The expellent forces back of Portuguese emigration seem
to be primarily economic. They are not entirely such, how¬
ever. Portuguese men have emigrated to avoid military
service as well.1 Low as is the economic status of the
Portuguese peasant he has not looked upon three years
of service at eight cents a day less the price of his uniform,
as an attractive substitute for toil. He has therefore sought
to evade the laws and escape service by emigration. At
one time the government required a deposit of forty pounds
from each emigrant to be used to pay a substitute should
he not return for military duty.2 It has been such require¬
ments as this which have led to the considerable amount of
clandestine emigration.

In addition to these expellent forces, there are, of course,
the attractive forces in America. It is not because incomes
in Portugal or the Islands are low, but because they are
relatively low as compared with incomes in America, that
the Portuguese leave home. We have elsewhere estimated
the approximate economic gain which an unskilled Portu¬
guese emigrant to the United States could expect.3 In not
a few cases this hoped-for gain has no doubt proven il¬
lusory. Unemployment, unexpectedly high costs of living,
exploitation at the hands of native Americans or of fellow
countrymen, or other misfortunes have frequently cheated
the emigrant of expected gains. But there can be little
doubt that for the great mass of emigrants to the United
States, at least, there has been a genuine gain in real in¬
come. The continuance of emigration itself argues for
this conclusion. A comparison between living conditions
in the homeland and in New England supports it, while
increased savings, improved standards with longer resi^

1 Henriques, op. cit., p. 103.

* Walker, op. cit., p. 107; Roundell, op. cit., p. 50.

3 Cf. supra, p. 61.

IMMIGRATION AND DISTRIBUTION

95]

dence in the United States, and the success of many who
return home puts it almost beyond question.1 To avoid
possible misunderstanding it must be added, however, that
by improved economic rewards is not meant necessarily
just rewards. The Portuguese may be receiving more or
less than they earn in the United States. The present study
is not concerned primarily with that difficult question.

The forces attracting the Portuguese to the United States
seem to the present writer to be chiefly economic. The
glamor of America no doubt attracts somewhat; but the
non-economic advantages of America do not seem to loom
large in the minds of the Portuguese. They do not seek
religious freedom, political liberty or educational oppor¬
tunity.2 Eventually, if they are successful, America offers
them a much more complex environment and wider ex¬
perience but these can hardly appear as important parts of
the immediate prospect held out to the Portuguese peas¬
ant. Moreover, it is debatable whether they are not the
losers by the change in certain respects. The immigrant
quarter of a mill city is less picturesque than the rural sur¬
roundings of a hamlet in San Miguel, and the village gather¬
ings and religious festas either are not held or are less fre¬
quent and less intimate. The Portuguese are not im¬
mediately “ at home ” in the United States. At any rate
not a few elect to spend their old age in the old country.

No doubt there is something of the lure of the city for
some of them, but it seems to be a relatively weak force.
More important to-day are such seemingly minor factors as
letters from America and the influence of the returned
emigrant which is a composite of economic and other fac¬
tors. It has become almost a habit, in the Azores, to emi¬
grate to the United States. “ Almost all of the inhabi-

1 Cf. supra, pp. 65-72 and infra, pp. 275-282.

2 Cf. the discussion of these matters in chapter vi, pp. 306 ff.

96 PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND [96

tants of some of the islands have 'been in the United
States ”, says Haeberle.1 The Portuguese emigrate, then,
partly because it is the style to do so.

The emigration of the Portuguese is thus essentially an
economic phenomenon, but is stimulated also by non-econ-
omic causes. The Portuguese seek the United States be¬
cause they can earn more here and perhaps satisfy their
ambition to own land either in America or in the Islands.
Though as mill hands or small farmers in this country they
may remain poor, they are relatively well-to-do. Economic
inefficiency, overpopulation and mistaken politico-economic
governmental policies at home drive them from behind, and
opportunity for industrial employment or more independent
farming beckon them from abroad. In addition, they may
be experiencing to some slight extent the same lure to the
city which our own farm population feels, only as there is
practically no industrial opportunity at home, their city is
located abroad. It must be admitted, nevertheless, that a
fair minority seek rural life in America, that many of the
cotton mills are located in small villages, and that some
leave the city to take up farm land after reaching the United
States. In addition to the economic factors the desire to
avoid military service and the love of a change in line with
the fashion of the day, influence the peasant of the Islands.
Whether his choice is ultimately wise from his own point
of view, or beneficial to his adopted land, we can judge
somewhat better after we have examined his life in New
England.2

1 Haeberle, op. cit., p. 521.

* Much of this analysis of causes of emigration is confessedly based
upon a priori reasoning. To get at the real motives of the emigrants
some such method as that used by Thomas in ** The Polish Peasant
in Europe and America,” where correspondence is studied, would be
necessary.

IMMIGRATION AND DISTRIBUTION

97]

History of Portuguese Immigration Into the United States

Turning from causes to the history of Portuguese im¬
migration to the United States, we find that for the most
part the movement has been very recent and has been
directed either to California or to New England. Isolated
cases of Portuguese settlers are reported as early as the
seventeenth century, but it was not until the thirties and
forties of the nineteenth century that they began coming in
any numbers, and the great rush has been since 1890. Pro¬
bably the first groups came as sailors aboard the whaling
ships which used to land at Fayal and bring back natives as
part of their crews, to New Bedford and Cape Cod. In 1765,
we are told, restrictions were put on fishing by the Governor
of Labrador and in the following year he decreed that any
vessels in the Gulf of St. Lawrence coming from the Plan¬
tations and found to have any fish but whale aboard should
be confiscated. “ This action drove the fleet from these
seas and they pursued their calling along the edge of the
Gulf Stream, Western Islands, Cape de Verdes and Brazil
Banks.” Commercial intercourse between New Bedford
and the Azores began about 1830 and immigration with
it.1 That a number may have come on the whaling ships
is evident when we remember the size of the whaling in¬
dustry in New Bedford. At its height in 1857 the New
Bedford fleet numbered 329 ships and employed 10,000 sea¬
men.2 By 1867 the Portuguese of New Bedford became
sufficiently numerous to warrant the sending of a priest to
care for them, and two years later they are said to have
numbered eight hundred.3 As late as 1889, however, they

‘Ellis, History of New Bedford (Syracuse, 1892), pp. 41 1 and 578.

8 U. iS. House, 42nd Cong., 2nd Sess., Miscellaneous Documents, vol.
xiii, pt. 18, “ 10th 'Census of the United States,” vol. xviii, pt. 1, 1880
(Washington, 1882-3), p. 256.

3 Pease, History of New Bedford (New Bedford, 1918), p. 295.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[98

are not specially mentioned as cotton mill hands along with
the English, Scotch, Irish and French Canadians, although
they doubtless are included under the caption “ a few of other
nationalities.” 1 They must have entered the cotton mills
not long after this, for in 1899 Mr. Borden wrote: “The
nationality of the operatives [of New Bedford] has un¬
dergone radical changes .... Portuguese and French
Canadians predominating.” 1 Today there are perhaps 30,-
000 Portuguese or people of Portuguese descent in New
Bedford.

The stream of Portuguese immigration to California may
have begun as early as that to Massachusetts. We know,
at least, that a considerable number of Portuguese partici¬
pated in the gold rush of 1849, after which they continued
to come in increasing numbers to take up farming in that
state.3

The Portuguese immigration to Fall River, however, has
been much more recent, practically all having come within
the last thirty-five years. Despite their late arrival they
have increased rapidly in numbers until now they are only
less numerous there than in the New Bedford colony, and
make up about a fifth of the population. In Portsmouth,
Rhode Island a well-informed farmer told the writer that
he first saw a Portuguese in 1868 and that they began
coming in that neighborhood as early as 1872. As late as
1885, however, there was but one Portuguese landowner
in Portsmouth. The location of this property is marked
with a cross (x) on our map.

The first contacts of the Azores with America were, as
we have seen, through whaling ships which stopped at the

1 New Bedford Board of Trade, New Bedford, Mass., Its History
(New Bedford, 1889), p. 151.

* Borden et. al., Our County and Its People (Boston, 1899), P- 414.

1 Literary Digest, vol. lxiii, p. 40.

IMMIGRATION AND DISTRIBUTION

99]

port of Horta in the island of Fayal. It is natural, there¬
fore, .that the early comers to New England and California
as well were from that island and others of the more west¬
erly group. The large immigration of recent years to Fall
River and vicinity, at least, has been from the more east¬
erly islands of St. Michael’s and St. Mary’s. We have al¬
ready noted Hoffman’s reference to the particular sources of
early Portuguese immigration. “ Fifty years ago,” says
Callender, writing in 19 hi, “ Americans referring to the
Azores thought only of Fayal.” 1 Mrs. Caswell, writing in
the seventies of work among the Portuguese of Boston, is
apparently referring to the Fayalese women when she says
that a Portuguese woman “ abhors dirt and rags. Her
home is tidy, however poor.” 2 The Portuguese consul of
Boston, writing in the same number of the same magazine,
pictures the home life of these people in Fayal in different
colors from those of our last chapter : “ The poorer sort of
houses contain but one floor of hard clay, not much unlike
our cemented cellar floors. As you pass them you fre¬
quently observe through the open doors and windows the
neatly made beds, with parti-colored spreads of their own
manufacture over them, and which enhance the whiteness
of the pillows and turned-down sheets.” 3 Is this a bit
more evidence that the people of Fayal are a different type
of Portuguese from the rest, or must we make wide allow¬
ances for the words of a Portuguese official seeking favor¬
able consideration for his people by the philanthropists of
Boston, and who has perhaps seen Fayal peasant homes
through the open door chiefly? At any rate we have al-

1 Callender, op. cit., p. 34.

1 Caswell, “The Portuguese of Boston,” in The North End Mission
Magazine, vol. ii, p. 64, July, 1873.

* Henriques, “ The Portuguese in Boston,” in The North End Mission
Magazine, vol. ii, p. 74, July, 1873.

100

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[IOO

ready suggested that the Fayalese may differ somewhat
racially from other Portuguese; have found them living
somewhat better than others in their homeland; and now
possibly, we find evidence thatt their early homes in Boston
were in contrast to some Portuguese homes of to-day. We
do find such homes, however, in Fall River and Portsmouth
to-day. At any rate it is worth noting that the Fayalese
were the early comers to New England. This fact by itself,
quite apart from any possible natural difference, would lead
one to expect them to be more advanced to-day. To-day,
as table io shows, nearly half of the Portuguese immigrants
from the Islands come from the single district of Ponta
Delgada, which means the island of San Miguel for the
most part.

Statistics of Immigration to the United States

Table 12 below shows the number and sex of Por¬
tuguese immigrants to the United States since 1899, of emi¬
grants since 1908, and the net gain or loss since the latter
date. This is as far back as record was made of these
facts.

This table shows 9,457 more immigrants recorded as en¬
tering the United States than the Portuguese statistics re¬
cord as leaving Portugal for North America during the
period 1913-1917. The difference is presumably accounted
for by a difference in the enumeration year (in the United
States it is from June 15 to June 15), and by clandestine
emigration which escaped record in Portugal.

The total immigration of 143,653 shown by this table
for a period of 211 years is an average of a little less than
seven thousand per year. The number varies from 1574 in
1919 to 13,566 in 1913. The combined effects of war con¬
ditions and pf the literacy test are shown in the marked
falling off in immigration during the year 1918 and 1919.

! O i ] IMM1GRA TION AND DISTRIBUTION 1 0 1

Table 12

United States. Immigration and Emigration of Portuguese 1

Immigration-
Male Female Total

Emigration

Male Female Total

Net Gain or Loss
Total

1899 ....

.. IIOI

995

2096

1900 . . . .

. . 2386

1855

4241

1901 . . . .

. . 22 40

1936

4176

1902 . . . .

•• 3117

2192

5309

1903 ....

.. 4999

3434

84 33

1904 ....

. . 3867

2471

6338

1905 ....

1863

4855

1906 . . . .

.. 5096

3833

8729

1907 ....

. . 5812

3836

9648

1908 ....

. . 4019

2790

6809

633

265

898

Gain 5911

1909 ....

.. 2886

1720

4606

563

253

816

“ 3790

1910 ....

. . 4887

2770

7657

591

315

906

“ 6751

1911 . . . .

• • 4843

2626

7469

9 27

461

1388

“ 6081

1912 ....

• • 5938

3465

9403

1275

472

1747

7656

1913 ....

.. 8696

4870

13566

1128

455

1583

“ 11983

1914 ....

3387

9647

1397

45i

1848

7799

1915 ....

• • 2853

1523

4376

1962

564

2526

1830

1916 ....

. . 8010

4198

12208

1552

633

2185

“ 10023

1917 ....

. . 4878

53'i6

10194

946

367

1313

“ 8881

1918 ....

•• 1349

970

2319

1689

327

2016

“ 303

1919 . • • •

. . 1089

485

1574

3008

517

3525

Loss 1951

Totals . .

.. 87318

56335

143653

15671

5080

20751

Gain 69077

Emigration has also steadily increased and did not fall
off with war conditions in 1918 and 1919, the latter year
showing the greatest return movement on record. The re¬
turning emigration averaged about 1700 a year for the
twelve years on record but with wide variations from a
minimum of 816 in 1909 to a maximum of 3525 in 1919.
The net gain in twelve years was no less than 69,077 or
between five and six thousand a year on the average. In
1919 there was a net loss of 1951. Since this table was
made emigration has continued to exceed immigration

1 Computed from Reports of the U. S. Commissioner General of
Immigration, 1899-1919. These reports do not give data on emigration
prior to 1908. The totals for “ Emigration ” and for “ Net Gain or Loss ”
should not, therefore, be compared with those for “ Immigration.”

102

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[102

partly because of the literacy test enacted into law in 1917,
and partly, since May 19, 1921, because of the Three Per¬
cent Law which restricts the quota of admissable Portu¬
guese to 2520 or three per cent of Portuguese resident in
the United States in 1910. For example, in the immigra¬
tion year 1921- 1922, 2,486 were admitted or as near the
quota as the immigration could be stopped. It will readily
be seen that this quota is far below the normal immigra¬
tion before the literacy test was put into operation in 1917.
Thousands are said to be waiting their turn to come to-day
(July/ 1922). Unless the laws are modified the quota of
2520 bids fair to be the annual immigration from Portugal.

The table also shows that while the Portuguese immigra¬
tion is more largely male than female the excess of males
is not so great as for some other nationalities. About three
out of five immigrants have been males, but as more men
than women return, the actual disproportion of the sexes is
slightly less than this ratio would indicate. Census data on
the proportion of the sexes are given elsewhere.1 In 1917,
probably because of the War, more women than men came.
The demand for female labor in the cotton mills and even
on the farms in part accounts for the fairly high proportion
of women among Portuguese immigrants. An approximate
equality in the number of the sexes is, of course, a socially
desirable situation. The Portuguese have some excess of
males but not a great excess.

Table 13 gives estimates of the number of Bravas
coming to the United States since 1903. They have been
coming much longer than that, however, and the table merely
shows the recent situation. It contains those classified as
of “ African Descent ” but coming chiefly from the Cape
Verde Islands. These “ Bravas ” are not treated elsewhere

1 Cf. infra, p. 200.

IMMIGRATION AND DISTRIBUTION

103

103]

in this study. They form a distinct type and deserve sep¬
arate study. They are numerous in the cranberry bogs
of Cape Cod and also in New Bedford. They are rare in

Table 13

Estimated Immigration and Emigration of “Black Portuguese”1

Admitted Departed

1903 . 934

1904 . 439

1905 . 347

1906 . 301

1907 . 349

1908 . 70S 243

1909 . 615 279

1910 . 778 246

1911 . noi 155

1912 . 1103 268

1913 . 972 464

1914 . 1711 290

1915 . 838 224

1916 . 653 308

1917 . 940 168

1918 . 407 148

1919 . 329 11

Totals . 12522 2804

1 Compiled from the several Reports of the U. S. Commissioner Gen¬
eral of Immigration, 1903- 1919. These reports record immigration
classified both by “ country of last permanent residence ” and by “ races
and peoples.” For most of our purposes the latter classification which
has only been made since 1899 is preferable. Under this heading the
classification “ Portuguese ” includes only the so-called “ white Portu¬
guese” who are the subject of this study, and1 not the black Portuguese
commonly known as “ Bravas ” because many of them come from; the
island of Brava in the Cape Verdes. These black Portuguese are
classified in the Commissioner’s reports as ^African (black).” But no
attempt is made to distinguish them from the true African Negroes
except as their place of last permanent residence is also noted.

The above table may therefore include some true African negroes, but
it is the best estimate we have of the number of Bravas who have
come recently.

The reports do not give data on emigration prior to 1908. The totals
for the two columns are therefore not comparable.

IO 4 PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND [104

Fall River and there are none in Portsmouth, R. I. This is
fortunate for our study as the fact that they are a different
type and yet have Portuguese names would seriously com-

Table 14

State of Intended Future Residence of Portuguese Immigrants 1
(groups of less than ioo omitted)

Mass.

R. I.

Cal.

1899 ...

• • • 1405

216

325

1900 . . .

. • • 3244

383

372

1901 . . .

. . . 2968

421

483

1902 . . .

• • • 3109

535

795

1903 •••

• • • 5691

1029

1057

1904 ...

.. . 3920

769

1028

1905 ...

467

901

1906 . . .

. . . 6042

1020

1018

1907 ...

• • • 5674

745

1198

1908 . . .

• • • 3379

534

1104

1909 ...

. . . 2897

307

870

1910 ...

614

1386

1911 ...

. . . 3862

493

1762

1912 . . .

. . . 4967

780

1753

1913 ...

. . . 9002

1333

1839

1914 ...

. . . 6052

960

1562

1915 ...

. • • 2173

441

1184

1916 . . .

... 8469

1147

1131

1917 ...

. . . 6652

1266

702

1918 . . .

. . . 1088

257

230

1919 ...

... 466

88197

Hawaii N. Y. Conn. N. J . Pa.

113

108

519

260

475

1 14

276

412

433

109

1328

513

1115

524

381

864

371

548

619

1114

576

228

905

802

400

910

936

347

576

109

plicate our work. They are reported as more literate than
the white Portuguese in New Bedford, but opinions differ
as to the relative worth of the two groups.

Tables 14 and 15 give an idea of the distribution of the
Portuguese immigrants who have come since 1899 and who

1 Computed from the Reports of the U. S. Commissioner General of
Immigration, 1899-1919.

IMMIGRATION AND DISTRIBUTION

105]

have emigrated since 1908. They thus show recent changes
in the direction of the Portuguese movement of population
in the United States, and should be compared with table 26
below, which shows the Census data on the actual distribu¬
tion of the population in Census years. In tables 14 and
15 no entries have been made when, in a given year, fewer
than one hundred Portuguese entered or departed from a
given state.

Table 15

State of Last Permanent Residence of Portuguese Emigrants 1
(groups of less than ioo omitted)

Mass.

R.I.

Cal.

Hawaii N. Y.

N. J.

Pa.

1908 . . .

.... 558

129

1 22

1909 ...

443

IOO

126

1910 . . .

540

187

1911 ...

799

1 16

i53

249

1912 . . .

216

183

241

1913 ...

943

21 1

158

213

1914 ...

89S

359

186

246

1915

. . . . 1495

431

134

357

1916 . . .

1308

181

324

220

1917 ...

.... 692

141

139

202

1918 . . .

. . . . 1017

263

166

280

115

1919 ...

. . . . 1267

579

722

180

222

Totals .

. . . . 10976

3165

It is

interesting

to note

that

in 21 years time

Por-

tuguese planned to make their homes in Massachusetts.
If the figures were complete California would stand second
and Rhode Island third. It is curious also that the immi¬
gration to Hawaii during this 21 year period was concen¬
trated in six years but was of fair dimensions while it lasted.
In no year were as many as 100 Portuguese recorded as
returning from Hawaii. On the other hand, nearly 11,000
have returned from Massachusetts during the twelve year

1 Computed from the Reports of the U. iS. Commissioner General of
Immigration, 1908-1919.

I06 PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND [106

Table 16.

Occupations of Portuguese Immigrants 1

Professional

Skilled

Farmers

Unskilled

Misc.

None

Total

1899 ...

. 3

1415

577

2096

1900 . . .

. 4

238

3139

825

4241

1901 . . .

. 9

343

2796

960

4176

1902 . . .

332

2960

1993

5309

1903 ...

. 7

299

5225

157

2669

8433

1904 ...

. 3i

409

3571

113

2183

6338

1905 ...

. 3i

257

2841

1642

4855

1906 . . .

. 29

2 77

5348

2914

8729

1907 ...

. 3i

338

5358

3855

9648

1908 . . .

. 23

358

3557

2775

6809

1909 ...

. 24

149

2825

1528

4606

1910 . . .

. 20

219

4805

2518

7657

1911 ...

. 3i

356

107

4601

2259

7469

1912 . . .

. 42

37i

5588

3201

9403

1913 ...

. Si

495

135

8606

4203

13566

1914 ...

. 28

427

6301

2744

9647

1915 ...

. 36

249

2632

1323

4376

1916 . . .

. 43

482

8331

3168

12208

1917 ...

. 59

536

5646

132

3793

10194

1918 . . .

. 42

354

924

879

2319

1919 ...

. 49

375

556

499

1574

Totals .

. 593

6940

10 77

87025

1510

46508

143653

Per cent
of total

occupied .6 7.1 1.1 89.6 1.6

period of record, which is about one-fifth of the number
which came during the same time. Only a slightly smaller
proportion of the Rhode Island Portuguese emigrated dur¬
ing the eight year period 191 1-1918; while only about one-
eighth as many emigrated from California as entered during
this same period. This is probably due to the fact that the
Portuguese of California have many of them been there a
considerable time and because they are farmers rather than
mill hands. The Portuguese of New York, on the other

1 Computed from Reports of the U. S. Commissioner of Immigration.

IMMIGRATION AND DISTRIBUTION

107

107]

Table 17

Types of Unskilled Among Portuguese Immigrants

Farm Laborers

Fishermen

Laborers

Servants

Totals

1899 ....

. 79

715

621

1415

1900 . . . .

. 59

1592

1488

3139

1901 . . . .

. 231

1140

1425

2796

1902 . . . .

1857

889

2960

1903 ....

. 598

2793

1825

5225

1904 ....

. 534

1894

1076

3571

1905 ....

. 97

246

1674

824

2841

1906 . . . .

. 321

174

3109

1744

5348

1907 ....

. 347

3566

1368

5358

1908 . .. .

. 301

150

2163

943

3557

1909 ....

i860

666

2825

1910 . . . .

1 18

2980

IIOI

4805

1911 ....

. 772

187

2647

995

4601

1912 . . . .

. 1437

164

2809

1178

5588

1913 ....

. . 2898

120

3666

1922

8606

1914 ••••

2357

1409

6301

1915 ••••

. 631

125

1299

577

2632

1916 . . . .

. 2811

3541

1902

8331

1917 ....

2136

2842

5646

1918 . . . .

. 86

39i

429

924

1919 ....

. 53

298

167

556

Totals . .

..... 15381

1766

44487

25391

87025

hand are a peculiarly mobile lot.1 The possible beginning'
of an immigration stream to New Jersey and Pennsylvania
is also to be noted.

Portuguese immigration has long consisted predomin¬
antly of unskilled laborers. Table 16 classifies these im¬
migrants by occupation into five general groups; and table
17 subdivides the unskilled into “ farm laborers”, “fisher¬
men”, “laborers (unclassified) ” and “servants”.2

1 It should be noted that by comparing emigration and immigration only
in years when both amounted to 100 or more we probably somewhat
exaggerate the proportion emigrating.

* In the classification of occupations given in the Commissioner’s
Reports four general categories are qsed: “professional,” “skilled,’’

10S PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND [i08

These tables show that the Portuguese immigrants of
recent years have been nine-tenths unskilled, seven per cent
skilled, one per cent farmers, and about two and a half
per cent, or one in forty, professional or business men. This
great predominance of the unskilled must not be forgotten
when we evaluate these immigrants. Strictly speaking,
they should be compared with the unskilled of other nation¬
alities and not with those nationalities as a whole unless they
chance also to consist of the same proportion of unskilled.
Since such a comparison is impossible we must be cautious
in characterizing the Portuguese as low grade as compared
with other groups. Unskilled laborers are, of course, never
a fair sample of a nationality. Possibly they may be a
fairer sample of the Portuguese than of some other nation¬
alities because the opportunity to be anything else than an
unskilled laborer in Portugal or the Islands is perhaps less
than elsewhere. Nevertheless, the very fact1 of being en¬
gaged in unskilled work itself determines many other social
characteristics.

The next table should be used only with great cau¬
tion as a measure of the economic status of the Portuguese.
It gives the proportion who showed more or less than a
given sum of money to the American inspectors. It is
obvious that immigrants by no means always show all the
money they have with them. If they are wise they show*
only enough to get them past the inspectors. How much
they show will depend not only upon how much they have,

“miscellaneous” and “no occupation.” We have retained these classi¬
fications unchanged in table 1 6 except that the miscellaneous group,
which is not homogeneous, we have divided into “ farmers,” “ unskilled ”
and “ miscellaneous.” In its original form this group contained such
diverse classes as “ laborers ” and “ bankers.” Our miscellaneous group
now contains chiefly business men with the slight exception of a small
group of teamsters. They are too few to affect the general picture
which the table affords.

IMMIGRATION AND DISTRIBUTION

109

109]

but upon how well they have been coached, and upon
whether they are afraid to show what they have or not.
We are therefore justified in saying only that other things
being equal, a people who habitually show little money are
probably economically worse off than those who show more.

Table 18

Portuguese Immigrants Showing More or 'Less than Specified 1
Sums of Money at the Port of Entry

Number Showing Over $30 or $30 2 Number Showing Less

1899 .

159

1131

1900 .

269

2052

1901 .

310

2274

1902 .

365

2555

1903 .

695

5625

1904 .

473

3827

1905 .

537

2789

1906 .

598

4897

1907 .

721

5678

1908 .

45i

4350

1909 .

395

2761

1910 .

539

4512

1911 .

934

4216

1912 .

814

5179

1913 .

953

8549

1914 .

77 1

6671

1915 .

457

2859

1916 .

662

8895

1917 .

864

6479

1918 .

365

1351

1919 .

612

585

1 1944

87235

This table shows that 11,944 or 12 per cent of Portuguese
immigrants who were asked to show money at the port of
entry between 1899 and 1919 showed more than thirty

1 Derived from the several annual Reports of the Commissioner Gen¬
eral of Immigration.

2 The basis of classification was changed in 1904 from $30 to $50.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[i IQ

Table 19

Age of Portuguese Immigrants 1

Under 14

14-44

45 and over

1899 .

477

1487

132

1900 .

1105

2778

358

1901 .

1030

2774

372

1902 .

1439

34X0

460

1903 .

2072

5665

696

1904 .

4382

530

1905 .

1035

338i

439

1906 .

1821

6171

737

1907 .

243-1

6581

636

1908 .

1697

4665

457

1909 .

908

3404

294

1910 .

1526

5691

440

1911 .

1238

5765

466

1912 .

6939

601

1913 .

2301

10366

899

1914 .

1338

7769

540

1915 .

638

3427

3li

1916 .

1563

9725

920

1917 .

6738

1284

Under 16

16-44

45 and over

1918 .

581

1518

220

1919 .

234

1232

108

Totals .

27313 2

99593

10410

Per cents .

19.9

72.5

7-6

dollars from 1899 to 1903, or more than fifty dollars from
1904 to 1919. The Immigration Commission found wide
variations in the amounts shown by different nationalities.
Between 1904 and 1910 fifteen nationalities out of forty
showed a smaller sum of money than was shown by the
Portuguese. * The change in basis of classification made in

1 Computed from several Reports of the U. S. Commissioner of
Immigration.

2 The change in classification introduces a slight error, of course,
into our per cent calculations, but it is not serious.

* United States Immigration Commission Report, 61st Cong., 3rd Sess.,.
vol. i, p. 103.

IMMIGRATION AND DISTRIBUTION

III

III]

1904 does not seem to have appreciably affected the propor¬
tions in either class. The marked increase in the propor¬
tion showing more than fifty dollars in 1918 and 1919
probably does reflect the effect of the literacy test in select¬
ing a somewhat more prosperous as well as more literate
group. Except for these and one or two other years there
is little variation shown in the proportions in the two classes.

The economic and social status of a people depends in part
upon their age distribution. Tables 19 and 20 show the
age distribution of the Portuguese immigrants and emi¬
grants respectively.

Table 20

Age of Portuguese Emigrants 1

Under 14

14-44

45 and over

1908 .

697

151

1909 .

605

149

1910 .

663

147

1911 .

1064

213

1912 .

1435

202

1913 .

105

1308

170

1914 .

1603

1 16

1915 .

154

2123

249

1916 .

1662

337

1917 .

1002

247

Under 16

16-44

45 and over

1918 .

1609

329

1919 .

1 12

2811

602

Totals .

1257 2

16582

2912

Per cents .

6.1

79-9

14.0

These tables show that for the United States in both
the ingoing and outgoing streams of Portuguese migration,.

1 Computed from Reports of the U. S. Commissioner of Immigration,
1908-1919.

2 As in table 19 a slight error is involved in our percentages because
of the change in the basis of classification.

112

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[ 1 12

men and women in the prime of life predominate. Child¬
ren, however, form a small part of the emigrants while they
make up one in five of all immigrants. The proportion of
persons 45 years of age and over is twice as great among*
emigrants as among immigrants. The Portuguese then,
though bringing not a few children with them, are no ex¬
ception to the general rule that immigration consists chiefly
of those in the prime of life, the cost of whose up-bringing
has been incurred elsewhere. This is probably poor ec¬
onomy for the United States in the case of the Portuguese,
because it would have paid us better to have trained a
literate population even at some expense. The table also
seems to show that to a degree the successful Portuguese
return home to spend their earnings and their declining
years in the Islands or on the Continent.

Similarly tables 21 and 22 show the conjugal condition
of immigrant men and immigrant women respectively. Re¬
cord has been kept of the conjugal condition of emigrants
for too short a period to make the data worth duplicating.

Table 21

Conjugal Condition of Immigrant Portuguese Men 1

Age 14-44 (lb-44 for zqr8 and iqiq )

Single Married Widowed Divoreed Single

Age 45 and over
Married Wid. Divorced

1910 ..

1 722

209

1911 ..

1743

202

1912 . .

. . . 2405

2203

276

1913 ••

. . . 3612

3379

416

1914 ••

. . . 2720

2525

259

1915 ..

. . . I4IO

983

121

1916 . .

... 369O

2928

519

1917 ..

. . . 1836

936

792

1918 . .

• • • 530

343

104

1919 ..

613

298

Totals

... 2II08

17060

233

189

2951

239

1 Compiled from the

several

Reports

of the

u. s.

Commissioner

General of Immigration, 1910-1919.

IMMIGRATION AND DISTRIBUTION

113]

Table 22

■Conjugal Condition of Immigrant Portuguese Women 1

Age 14-44 (lb-44 for iqiS and iqiq)
Single Married Widowed Divorced

Single

Age 45 and over

Married Wed. Divorced

1910 . .

... 944

838

1911 ..

... 946

815

1912 ..

... 1166

1078

130

121

1913 ..

. . . 1849

1396

209

196

1914 ..

• • . 1370

1063

129

1915 ..

... 524

474

1916 . .

1129

172

144

1917 ••

... 2665

1151

131

193

171

1918 ..

... 343

276

1919 ..

... 149

149

Totals

... 11804

8369

568

197

1109

1093

As might be expected these tables show a predominance
of married men and women among the older age group, and
of single among the younger. The proportion of single is
somewhat greater among women than among men; and
the number of single men is more than double that of
women. Where the actual proportions of the sexes in the
Portuguese population are such as is shown in this table, one
would expect early marriage of women and perhaps im¬
morality on the part of men. Many of these young men,
however, return home to marry. The excess of married
men reflects the degree to which they leave their wives in
the old country. In this respect they are like most im¬
migrant men of the “ new immigration ”. The figures for
widowed women show that emigration is a means of meet¬
ing the problem of widowhood abroad. The number of
divorced is, as would be expected in a Catholic country,
very small.

One of the chief handicaps of the Portuguese immigrant,

1 Compiled from the several Reports of the U. S. Commissioner
General of Immigration, 19101919.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

114

[1 14

and one of his characteristics which most complicate our
social problems, is htis illiteracy. Table 23 shows the number
and percentage of illiterates among emigrants from Portugal
for the combined years 1909-1917. For the political divi¬
sions of the Islands it was possible to get data for the period
1913-1917 only.

Table 23

Literacy of Emigrants 1
(foreigners included) 2

1909-1917

Emigrants Number Illiterate Per cent Illiterate

From Total Men Women Total Men Women Total Men Women

Portugal . 393,589 268,858 124,731 246,747 147,489 99,258 62.69 54.86 79-58

Continent . 324,019 231,040 92,979 196,926 119,796 77, 130 60.78 51.75 82.95

Islands . 69,570 37, 818 31,752 49,821 27,693 22,128 71.61 73-23 69.69

1913-1917

Ponta Delgada . 13,489 6,273 7,216 9,541 4,644 4,897 70.73 74.03 67.86

Funchal . 8,528 5,145 3,383 6,420 3,847 2,5 73 75-28 74-77 76.06

Angra . 5,432 2,832 2,600 3,516 1,971 1,545 64.73 69.60 5942

Horta . 3,107 i,557 i,55o 1,478 795 683 47-57 5i-o6 44.06

Literacy in the above table means “ ability to read and
write ”. The first point which one notes in examining it
is the startlingly high proportions of illiterates among emi¬
grants from Portugal. We were prepared to find such
illiteracy, however, when we saw the illiteracy of the general
population.* Emigrants from Portugal are more than
three-fifths illiterate. Emigrants from the Continent are
more literate than those from the Islands, but this is because
of the large proportion of men in the total group — the
island women curiously enough being more literate than
the Continental. Among emigrants from the mainland the

r •

1 Derived from Estatistica Demografica, op. cit., Table 8, pp. 102-3
and Table 23, pp. 84-102.

2 Insignificant in number.

3 Cf. supra, pp. 79-80.

IMMIGRATION AND DISTRIBUTION

US]

illiteracy of women exceeds that of men by more than
thirty points, reaching for the latter the enormous figure
of 83 per cent. Even the Continental men, however, were
more than half illiterate. The emigrants from the Islands,
on the other hand, show much less difference between the
literacy of the sexes. Such difference as there is is in
favor of the women.

Quite as notable as these comparisons are those between
the different divisions in the Islands. The largest number
of emigrants to-day go from Ponta Delgada, and we shall
see that they make up the large majority of the Portuguese
in the communities we have especially studied. It is there¬
fore important to note that the emigrants from that district
are more illiterate than those from Angra or Horta, and
but slightly less so than those from Funchal. The greatest
contrast in other respects is that with the Horta group.
The Horta women are less illiterate by 23 points than those
from Ponta Delgada, and the men by practically the same
amount. Indeed the Horta men are slightly more literate
than their Continental brothers, while the Horta women
are but 44 per cent illiterate against 83 per cent for Con¬
tinental women. Whether attributable to race or to op¬
portunity these contrasts are very striking.

Comparing table 23 with table 8 2 above for the general
population of Portugal, we find that the emigrant men are
less illiterate than men of the general population. Thus
emigrant men were reported 55 per cent illiterate while
in 1911 61 per cent of the total male population were set
down as unable to read and write. Women in the general
population, however, were practically as literate as those
who emigrated. If we consider the general population
over seven years of age the men are again more illiterate
than emigrant men, but the women are more literate than
emigrant women.

1 Supra, p. 79.

H6 PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND [n6

Table 24 gives the number and proportion of adult illi¬
terate Portuguese immigrants to the United .States. Un¬
fortunately the Commissioner’s reports do not classify these
data by sex until 1908 and even then it is impossible to com¬
pute illiteracy ratios by sex because the number of men and
women over fourteen is unknown.

Table 24

Illiteracy of Portuguese Immigrants to the United States 1

1899-1917

Immigrants

Number

Per cent

over 14

Illiterate

1899 .

1059

654

1900 .

. 3136

1875

59-8

1901 .

. 3146

1884

59-9

1902 .

. 3870

2745

70.9

1903 .

. 6361

4645

73-0

1904 .

. 4912

3306

67.3

1905 .

. 3820

2543

66.6

1906 .

4667

67.6

1907 .

. 7217

5524

76.5

1908 .

. 5112

3308

64.7

1909 .

. 3698

2406

65.1

1910 .

. 6131

4162

67.9

1911 .

. 6231

3732

59-9

1912 .

. 7540

4224

56.0

1913 .

. 11265

6960

61.8

1914 .

. 8309

478o

57-5

1915 .

. 3738

2027

54-2

1916 .

. 10645

6226

58.5

1917 .

458o

57.i

Totals .

70653

63-3

This table shows the same excessive illiteracy. The per¬
centage of illiterates varied from 54 per cent in 1915 to 76
per cent in 1907, with a slight tendency to improvement in
the later periods. If we compare this table with table 23

1 Reports of the United States Commissioner of Immigration.

IMMIGRATION AND DISTRIBUTION

II 7l

117

using the same period of time (1909- 1913) only, we find
that 59.6 per cent of immigrants to the United States were
recorded by our inspectors as unable to read and write,
against 62.9 for all emigrants from Portugal and 71.6 for
those from the Islands. The difference in favor of the re¬
lative literacy of immigrants to the United States may re¬
present an actual selective process, or it may be due simply
to different standards in use in the two countries. In any
case the problem of illiteracy among our Portuguese im¬
migrants is obvious.

Table 24 above showed about one-fourth of Portuguese
immigrants to be in the habit of returning home, though
a much larger proportion have been going back in recent
years. Table 25 below gives the length of time which
these returning immigrants have usually spent in the United
States.

Table 25

Length of Residence in the United States of Portuguese
Emigrants 1 (where known)

Not over

5yrs.

5-io

10-15

15-20

Over

20 T otals

1909 .

573

190

815

1910 .

681

180

906

1911 .

911

320

1385

1912 .

1201

446

1746

1913 .

1067

416

1580

1914 .

1184

538

103

1845

1915 .

• 1915

459

2525

1916 .

• 1543

477

106

2185

1917 .

974

248

I3t3

1918 .

• 1573

380

2016

1919 .

• 2053

1295

151

3525

Totals .

• 13675

4949

808

230

179

19841

Per cents ....

68.9

24.9

4.1

1.2

•9

100.0

1 Computed

from Reports

of the

U. S.

Commissioner

General of

Immigration.

H8 PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND [ng

This table shows that more than two-thirds of those re¬
turning did so after a stay of five years or less; that a
quarter more had been in this country between five and
ten years ; one in twenty-five between ten and fifteen years,
and that those who had lived here longer were almost a
negligible quantity. Apparently, while a large proportion
of the Portuguese make their permanent residence in the
United States, a considerable minority return home after a
brief stay.

Distribution of the Portuguese in the United States

Before summarizing the history and characteristics of
Portuguese immigration it will be well to present a few
tables showing the distribution and occupations of the
foreign-born Portuguese in the United States as enumerated
by successive Federal 'Censuses,1 and by the Massachusetts
Census of 1915.

1 Unfortunately these Census data are unsatisfactory for this purpose
because of the indefiniteness and probability of error in the two classi¬
fications used — “ born in Portugal ” and “ born in the Atlantic Islands ”.
In the first place many individuals recorded as from Portugal are un¬
doubtedly from the Islands; and in the second place some, though
probably not a great number, classed as from the Atlantic Islands are
non-Portuguese. Even where Census enumerators are instructed to
distinguish between those born on the mainland and those born in the
Islands the results are open to great doubt. If one asks a Portuguese
where he is from, an Azorean from St. Michael’s may answer either
“ Portugal ”, “Azores ”, or “ iSan Miguel The last two answers will
lead to a correct classification, but the first will place his record among
those from the mainland unless the enumerator is careful enough to
ask a more specific question. The writer’s experience with classifica¬
tions made by others in Fall River, his own difficulties in securing correct
information on this point, and his knowledge of apparent errors in
classification in the communities which he has studied more intensively,
lead him to suspect that both federal and state figures which attempt
to distinguish between these two sources of immigration are open to
many errors and indeed may be worthless in this respect. Fortunately
the Immigration Bureau’s tables used above do not attempt to make this
distinction. Where we use Census data below we shall give the figures

IMMIGRATION AND DISTRIBUTION

1 19]

II9

Table 26

Residents in the United States Born in “ Portugal ” and the 1

“ Atlantic Islands ”

(INCLUDING ONLY STATES WITH IOO OR MORE OF THESE NATIVITIES)

Res.

Born

Census of

i860

1870

1880

i8go

1 goo

igio

ig20 5

U. S . . .

. Port. . .

. 4,116

4,540

8,138

15,996

37,144

59,360*

67,453 2

At. Is. .

. 1,361

4,219

7,512

9,739

io,955

18,274

38,984

Cal. . . .

• 1,459

2,507

4,705

9,859

12,068

22,539

24,517

At. Is. .

. 121

946

3,356

2,587

3,5i5

2,898

8,892

Conn. . .

. Port. . .

265

165

230 *

568

707

1,200

At. Is. .

194

183

210

Fla. . . .

. Port. . .

222

At. Is. .

291

109

Hawaii5. .

. Port. . .

6,512

7,585

At. Is. .

1,156

913

as they stand for immigration both from the Islands and from the
mainland. In communities where the Portuguese have settled in con¬
siderable numbers the sum, of these two figures will probably give
only a slightly exaggerated idea of the real number of Portuguese
here. For other communities the figures for Portugal will be usable
and those for the Islands will be of little value. The writer does not
recommend the use of these figures to determine what proportion of
our Portuguese come from the mainland — they probably very greatly
exaggerate that proportion.

1 Taken from, successive reports of the Bureau of the Census. See
footnote page 118, for cautions as to use of this table. All states or
territories are included which had a total from both sources of one
hundred or more individuals.

2 Figures for 1910 and 1920 for both “ Portugal ” and “Atlantic
Islands ” are for continental United States only. To make them more
comparable with earlier figures those for Hawaii should be added. In
addition there were also probably a very few in other non-continental
possessions of the United States. Figures for Hawaii in 1920 were not
available at the time this table was constructed.

3 The Fourteenth Census of 1920 showed that Maine, Texas and
Virginia (not shown in this table) also had slightly over 100 individuals
from these two sources.

120

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[ 120

Ill. .

Port. .

395

424

255

291

At. Is.

453

782

43i

272

362

194

i95

Ind. .

Port. .

200

At. Is.

Lou. .

Port. .

145

125

141

112

100

At. Is.

Mass.

• •

Port. .

988

734

1,161

3,o5i

1 3,453

26,437

28,315

At. Is.

433

i,944

2,421

4,973

4,432

12,816

25,230

Nev. .

Port. .

104

207

197

176

305

149

At. Is.

104

N. H.

• •

Port. .

115

At. Is.

N. J.

Port. .

145

646

At. Is.

192

179

N. Y.

• •

Port. .

353

237

295

284

362

660

1,404

At. Is.

152

137

496

461

74i

569

Ohio.

• •

Port. .

1 7

182

146

At. Is.

203

Ore. .

Port. .

1 15

142

174

125

At. Is.

Pa. .

Port. .

175

131

124

225

798

At. Is.

129

R. I .

• •

Port. .

146

210

833

2,545

6,501

8,624

At. Is.

185

547

320

716

2,991

Wash.

• *

Port. .

137

179

156

At. Is.

Table 26 shows the high degree of concentration of the
Portuguese in south-eastern New England, California and
Hawaii. In addition to the 8,498 Portuguese in Hawaii
who were born in Portugal or the Islands, there were in
1910 13,766 native-born of Portuguese descent and 3 7
others of Portuguese “ race ”, presumably born elsewhere,
making a total of Portuguese “race” of 22,301. They
made up in that year the most important single group of
so-called Caucasian peoples in the Hawaiian Islands. As
we shall not refer to this group in detail again we may note

IMMIGRATION AND DISTRIBUTION

121

12 1 ]

in passing that only about a third of the Hawaiian Portu¬
guese were dwellers in cities; that the ratio of males to
females was 107.8 (indicating a family migration) ; that
considerably more than half of the foreign-born Portuguese
had been in Hawaii since 1890 or longer; and that only
about a third of the adults among these foreign-born Portu¬
guese were illiterate. Undoubtedly a special study of the
Hawaiian Portuguese is needed.

Like the Hawaiian Portuguese those of California differ
from their New England brothers in being chiefly a rural
people, only 36 per cent being recorded as urban among
those of the Pacific Coast states while nearly 93 per cent
of the New England Portuguese are urban. In the Pacific
coast states the Portuguese made up in 1910 proportionately
a slightly more important element (2.4 per cent) in the for¬
eign population than they did in New England, (1.9 per
cent).

The Portuguese settlements in other regions besides
Hawaii, California and New England call for little com¬
ment as they are very few in number and some settlements
have grown up and disappeared between Census decades
while others, with the exception of those in New York, have
remained unimportant. The partial disappearance of the
few hundred in Illinois is perhaps worth noting. The var¬
iation between the proportions recorded as born in Portugal
or in the Islands probably is merely evidence of different
classification of the same groups in different years. From
1880 to 1910 the foreign-born Portuguese increased in the
country as a whole nearly one hundred per cent a decade.
There was something of a falling off in the last decade
and as noted elsewhere this falling off will probably con¬
tinue for some time.

It is also possible to trace the coming of the Portuguese to
the larger cities through the Census reports, but in most of

122 PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND [l22

them their numbers are so few that it is hardly worth
while to do more than mention a few cities at different
periods. In i860 Boston reported nearly 300 Portuguese1
and New Orleans 140. Ten years later Boston had added
about two hundred more, and San Francisco, Providence
and Fall River 2 had been added to the list,3 the last named
city reporting but 20 however. The Tenth Census of 1880
found these people in appreciable numbers also in Brooklyn
and Cambridge, and the Eleventh in Lowell, Oakland, New
Bedford, Sacramento, Somerville and Taunton. New Bed¬
ford at that time had 1,967 and was first in the list while
Taunton reported scarcely 100, and Fall River 705. In
1900 Gloucester, Honolulu and Lawrence showed Portu¬
guese settlements, those in the first two cities being of con¬
siderable size with no less than 2,406 in Honolulu and
nearly 600 in Gloucester. To-day (1920) the most import¬
ant Portuguese settlements in the larger cities are the fol¬
lowing :

Table 27

Foreign-born Portuguese in Selected Cities, 1920

Born in

Portugal

Atlantic Islands

New Bedford .

. 7,457

9,772

Fall River .

. 5,663

6,401

Oakland, Cal .

. 4,281

346

Providence .

. 1,661

92 7

Lowell .

402

Cambridge .

. 1,946

346

New York .

414

Boston .

. 957

294

1 The term “ Portuguese ” will be used1 in these paragraphs as re¬
ferring to all reported as born in Portugal or the Atlantic Islands.
The possible error in this procedure has already been noted.

2 New Bedford undoubtedly had more Portuguese than Fall River at
all periods but was not included in the list of cities reporting until 1890.

3 With the exception of Fall River we are mentioning only cities with
at least a hundred Portuguese.

IMMIGRATION AND DISTRIBUTION

123

123]

Taunton Mass, though not belonging in the above group
of large cities, has 1,542 reported as born in Portugal and
1,662 as born in the Atlantic Islands. We have not secured
data on Portuguese urban population in small cities outside
of New England.

Turning to the region of our special interest we find the
Portuguese of New England very largely in south-eastern
Massachusetts and in Rhode Island. In 1870 the early
comers were found distributed chiefly in the following
counties of Massachusetts listed in order of importance:
Bristol, Suffolk, Barnstable, Essex, Middlesex and Norfolk.
This shows the importance of the early settlements in and
near New Bedford, Boston and on the Cape. To-day the
order of importance is : Bristol, Middlesex, Plymouth,
Essex, Barnstable, Suffolk, Hampden, with less than 500
each in any of the other counties. The relative importance
of Bristol County has increased due to continued growth of
the settlement in New Bedford and the rise of the only less
important group in Fall River. Despite many Portuguese
on the farms this growth has followed the development of
industrial cities and has been especially marked in the cotton
mill centers. The following table shows the “ Portu¬
guese ” population in cities and towns of Massachusetts
having 10,000 or more population in 1920.

No other cities of this size reported so many as 100
Portuguese in 1920, and the population of smaller places
was not classified by country of birth at the date of writ¬
ing (1922). The Massachusetts Census of 1915 shows,
however, that the Portuguese are an important element in
many smaller towns. These state figures are for those

124

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[124

Table 28

Foreign-born Portuguese Population in Massachusetts Cities and
Towns 1 Having 10,000 or more Total Population in 1920

Born in

New Bedford . . . .

Portugal Atlantic Islands

. 7,457 9,772

Fall River .

. 5,663

6,401

Taunton .

. i,542

1,662

Lowell .

402

Cambridge .

. 1,946

346

Boston .

. 957

294

Somerville .

. 686

239

Gloucester .

. 34i

516

Peabody .

. 318

200

Lawrence .

. 49i

Attleboro .

. 172

Holyoke .

. 194

Brockton .

. 162

Chicopee .

“ born in Portugal, including island possessions Only

towns not included above are given below :

Table 29

Portuguese in Other Massachusetts Cities and Towns, 1915

Provincetown .

962 Bridgewater ....

Plymouth .

959 Westport .

. 188

Dartmouth .

928 Middleborough .

. 179

Fairhaven .

700 Hudson .

. 175

Falmouth .

658 Freetown .

Wareham .

634 Tisbury .

Dighton .

403 Mattapoisett _

. 153

Somerset .

393 Harwich .

. 151

Ludlow .

377 W. Bridgewater

. 149

Seekonk .

276 Raynham .

. 141

Nantucket .

229 Easton .

. 133

Rehoboth .

229 Edgartown .

Carver .

220 Acushnet . .

Oak Bluffs .

216 Holyoke .

. 11 7

Swansea .

212 Bourne .

. 114

Marion .

21 1 Cohasset .

. 1 14

Barnstable .

210 Brockton .

Milford . .

. 101

1 From the 14th Census of the United States.

IMMIGRATION AND DISTRIBUTION

125

125]

Reference to a map of Massachusetts will show that
these smaller towns are for the most part in the eastern and
especially south-eastern part of the State.

In Rhode Island the Portuguese population of to-day are
found in all five counties although there are practically
none (18) in Washington County. The largest number
are in Providence County, with more than 2800 in Bristol
County. The County of Newport where our rural study
was made reports 77 8 as born in Portugal and 1,081 as
born in the Atlantic Islands. The State as a whole re¬
cords 8,624 of the former and 2,991 of the latter. The
probable inaccuracy of this distinction has already been
noted.1 The Rhode Island cities with over 10,000 popula¬
tion reported foreign-born Portuguese as shown in the fol¬
lowing table:

Table 30

Foreign-born Portuguese Population in Rhode Island Cities and
Towns2 Having 10,000 or more Total Population in 1920

Born in

Portugal Atlantic Islands

Providence . 1,661 927

Bristol . 2,228 67

East Providence . 989 516

Pawtucket . 1,102 61

West Warwick . 542 10

Newport . 290 133

Cumberland . 373 8

Cranston . 165 23

Central Falls . 152 o

In considering the occupations of the Portuguese of New
England we shall confine our attention to those resident in

1 Cf. supra, p. 1 18.

* From the advance sheets of the 14th Census of the United States.
Cities and towns reporting less than a hundred are not included.

I26 PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND [126

Massachusetts.1 2 In the year 1915 of the 673,509 foreign-
born 14 years of age and over, gainfully employed., in the
State, 29,606, or 4.4 per cent were born either in Portugal
or in the Atlantic Islands, and practically all of the latter
were from the Azores. The difference between the Por¬
tuguese and other foreign-born with respect to employment
of women and girls is slight, 5.0 per cent of gainfully em¬
ployed women being Portuguese and 4.2 per cent of gain¬
fully employed men.

The following table gives the proportion of all foreign-
born Portuguese gainfully employed in each of the nine
major divisions of occupations used in the Census, and
similarly the proportion of all foreigmborn in each division.

Table 31

Distribution of Foreign-born Portuguese and of Other Foreign-born
in Major Occupational Groups, Massachusetts, 1915 2

Agriculture

Extraction

Manufacturing

Transf’or-

Forestry and

and

tation

Animal Husbandry

Minerals

Mechanical

Portuguese .

. 9.8% (less than) .1%

747%

3-5%

All foreign-born

■ 4-5%

.2%

57-8%

Personal

and

6.5%

Trade Public
Service

Professional

Domestic Clerical
Service

Total

Portuguese .

•4%

54%. *5%

100.1%

All foreign-born

.. 9-5% 2.3%

2-5%

14.2% 2.5%

100.0%

It must he remembered that this and the following com¬
parisons are all with other foreign-born and not with the
total of gainfully employed in the State. Moreover, un-

1 The following description of the occupational distribution of the
Portuguese of Massachusetts is derived and the percentages computed
from the Decennial Census of the Commonwealth, 1915, pp. 497 and
S36-631.

2 Computed from Census of the Population of the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts, 1915, part iv.

IMMIGRATION AND DISTRIBUTION

127

127]

like some of the tables in the next chapter, we are here com¬
paring the Portuguese with a group of which they them¬
selves form a part. A comparison between the Portuguese
and the non- Portuguese, including in the latter the native-
born as well as other foreign-born, would doubtless make
still more striking many of the contrasts we are noting
here. Table 32, beyond, shows that the Portuguese are
more frequently found on the farm than are the foreign-
born in general, that they are negligible in mining, and that
three-fourths of them are in manufacturing pursuits as
against less than three-fifths of the foreign-born in general.
In every other group of occupations except agricultural and
manufacturing the Portuguese are considerably less con¬
spicuous than the general group. Especially notable is the
fact that but .4 per cent of them have attained professional
positions while six times that proportion of the general
group have been thus advanced ; and the fact that only one-
fifth the proportion of Portuguese are in clerical positions
as of the foreign-born of the State. On the other hand, it
is perhaps a point in their favor that but 5.4 per cent are
in domestic and personal service as against 14.2 per cent of
all foreign-born.

The significance of these contrasts will become more
clear in the discussion below where the composition of these
groups is examined. It is to be noted, however, that the
percentages given below, unlike those in Table 31, repre¬
sent the proportion of the foreign-born in each occupational
group who are Portuguese. The following list gives these
proportions in all the important major divisions of occupa¬
tions and most of the subdivisions. It omits, however, a
number of smaller groups of less importance numerically
or of less significance for our present study.

128

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[128

Table 32

Occupations of Foreign-born Portuguese in Massachusetts, 1915 1

Total

Portuguese

Per cent

Foreign-born

Portuguese

Agriculture, Forestry,

Animal Husbandry .

30,200

2,893

9.6

Farmers .

6,199

561

9.0

Farm laborers .

ii,45o

931

8.1

Fishermen and Oystermen _

3,304

974

29-5

Fruit-growers and Nurserymen

153

7 1

46.4

Laborers in Gardens, etc .

4,109

122

3-0

Lumbermen, etc .

758

•7

Manufacturing and Mechanical ..

389,286

22,118

5-7

Apprentices .

1,244

1.8

Bakers .

3,883

2.0

Blacksmiths, etc .

212

10.4

Boilermakers .

728

•3

Masons .

4,698

103

2.2

Builders and Contractors .

2,863

1. 1

Cabinet-makers .

1,268

5-0

Carpenters .

21,778

457

2.1

Compositors and Type-setters .

2,001

1.0

Coopers .

492

4-7

Dressmakers, etc .

5,440

2.0

Dyers .

1,518

3-0

Electricians, etc .

1,954

Mechanical Engineers .

317

•9

Stationary Engineers .

3,983

•9

Engravers .

314

Filers, grinders, etc .

1,863

2.8

Firemen (n. 0. c.) .

4,38o

387

8.9

Foremen and Overseers .

6,513

108

i-7

Glassblowers .

6.7

Jewelers, etc .

732

i-5

Manufacturing Laborers (n. 0. c.)

57,636

3,927

6.8

Building and Hand Trades ..

21,792

849

3-9

Chemical .

1,042

1.2

Clay, glass and stone .

i,2S4

5-3

Iron and steel .

7,94i

286

3-6

1 Computed from The Decennial Census of the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts, part iv, table 29.

IMMIGRATION AND DISTRIBUTION

129

129]

-Other metal .

Lumber and Furniture .

Textiles .

Other Industries .

-Loomfixers .

Machinists, etc .

Managers, superintendents ....

Manufacturers .

Officials .

Mechanics (n. o. c.) .

Milliners, etc .

Molders, etc .

Oilers of machinery .

Paper-hangers .

Pattern-makers, etc .

Plasterers .

Plumbers, etc .

Printing Pressmen .

Pollers (Metal), etc .

Roofers and Slaters .

Sawyers .

Semi-skilled (n. o. c.) .

Chemical .

Clay, glass and stone .

Clothing .

Food .

Harness and saddle .

Iron and steel .

Other metal .

Liquor and beverage .

Lumber and furniture .

Printing and publishing .

Paper and pulp .

Shoe factories .

Tanneries .

Textiles .

Beamers, warpers and slashers

Doffers, etc .

Carders, combers and lappers
Drawers, rovers and twisters

Spinners .

Weavefs .

Winders, reelers and spoolers

688

Ii5

16.7

1,464

3-9

11,286

2,231

19.8

12,169

3i 1

2.6

3,018

2.3

16,833

105

i,347

5,3i6

179

81 1

•7

1,017

3,454

1-7

549

150

26.8

407

1.0

554

1,068

1.4

2,998

270

•3

3-5

564

•7

280

3-6

186,851

15,460

8.3

1,183

2.4

965

4.0

2,907

109

3-8

3,597

142

3-9

626

12,126

161

2.3

2,960

1.0

896

1. 1

5,790

184

3-2

1,604

4,688

1. 1

27,475

246

-9

5,830

185

3-2

99.543

13,785

15.8

1,900

128

6.8

3,2iS

1,189

37-0

5,9io

1,225

20.7

6,661

1,904

27.1

14,493

2,710

18.7

34-090

2,321

6.8

7,010

1,663

24.1

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND [130

Other textile occupations . . .

26,264

2,745

10.5

Electrical supply .

1,940

•5

Paper box .

971

1. 1

Rubber .

5,661

268

4-7

Other factories .

5,7i6

1.2

Sewing machine operatives, etc.

9,384

257

2.7

Shoe-makers and cobblers (not

factory) .

3,233

1.9

Skilled (n. 0. c.) .

436

•7

Stone cutters .

2,262

•4

Structural ironworkers .

390

•3

Tailors and tailoresses .

8,122

1 13

1.4

Tinsmiths and coppersmiths ....

1,200

•4

Upholsterers .

562

•4

Transportation (Water) .

43,877

1,031

2-3

Captains and other officers ....

501

8.4

Longshoremen .

1,870

156

8.4

Transportation (road and street)

15,027

343

2-3

Cab and hack drivers .

403

i-7

Chauffeurs .

3,472

1-3

Teamsters, etc. (n. 0. c.) .

8,427

244

2.9

Livery foremen .

159

Garage keepers and managers .

173

Hostlers and stable hands .

1,646

i-7

Stable keepers and managers . .

183

2.7

Transportation (Railroad) .

i5,9io

279

1-7

Laborers .

6,590

235

3-6

Locomotive engineers .

366

•3

Locomotive firemen .

289

i.7

Motormen .

2,480

•3

Officials .

105

Overseers and foremen .

830

•5

Street-car conductors .

1,381

•7

Switchmen and yardmen .

985

•9

Other transportation .

8,140

127

1.6

Express, post, etc .

1,628

•7

Trade .

63,798

1,427

2.1

Bankers, etc .

399

•3

Clerks (not sales) .

690

•7

Commercial travelers .

L737

Deliverymen .

6,378

1 77

2.8

Floor-walkers, foremen, etc. . .

452

1-5

IMMIGRATION AND DISTRIBUTION

I3I]

131

Inspectors, etc .

Insurance agents and officials .
Laborers in coal yards, etc. . . .

Laborers, etc. in stores .

Newsboys .

Real estate agents .

Retail dealers .

Salesmen and saleswomen ....

Undertakers .

Wholesalers, etc .

Public Service (n. o. c.) .

Laborers .

Policemen .

Professional Service .

Actors .

Architects .

Artists .

Authors, editors and reporters

Chemists .

Civil and mining engineers

College professors .

Clergymen .

Dentists .

Draftsmen .

Lawyers .

Musicians .

Photographers .

Physicians and surgeons .

Showmen .

Teachers .

Trained nurses .

Veterinary surgeons .

Semi-professional .

Domestic and personal service. . .

Barbers .

Bartenders .

Boarding-house keepers .

Midwives and nurses .

Saloon keepers .

Servants .

Waiters .

147

•7

1,366

1.8

2,270

220

9-7

1,422

3-3

192

1,578

1-3

26,740

421

1.6

17,492

352

2.0

153

3-9

552

15,402

364

2.4

8,955

260

2.9

1,328

•4

17,019

124

•7

207

•5

163

410

1.2

268

•4

221

203

1 77

1,202

2.2

404

2.5

468

415

1,423

462

1-5

993

224

3-6

2,935

•3

4,480

1,399

1-5

95,855

1,576

1-7

6,036

392

6.5

2,059

2.5

5,209

163

3.i

3,000

•9

442

1. 1

46,608

440

•9

7,100

•4

132

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND [132

Clerical .

16,562

135

Agents, canvassers, etc .

Book-keepers, cashiers, ac-

1,026

i-3

countants .

4,72i

Clerks (not store) .

8,133

Shipping clerks .

2,736

1.0

Other clerks .

5,397

Stenographers and typewriters

B752

Since, as we noted above, 4.4 per cen/t of the adul't foreign-
born gainfully employed are Portuguese, in the above table
the Portuguese have their expected proportion of represen¬
tatives when they show a percentage of 4.4. If now we
consider some of the more interesting groups, we may
divide our data arbitararily into five divisions of unequal
intervals as follows:

1. Portuguese extremely rare or not found — those showing under 1%

in the table

2. Portuguese relatively few in numbers — those showing 1-3.3%

3. Portuguese in about normal proportions — those showing 34-5-3%

4. Portuguese somewhat conspicuous — those showing 5.4-10.0%

5. Portuguese very conspicuous — those showing over 10%.

Group 1. Using this classification we find that the Por¬
tuguese are extremely rare in the general groups of pro¬
fessional service and clerical occupations and in most of the
more skilled subdivisions of these and the other groups.
To mention a few examples, we find very few Portuguese
engineers, mechanics, manufacturers, pattern makers,
plumbers, structural iron workers, railroad officials (none),
conductors, bankers, wholesale dealers, book-keepers, or
stenographers (none). Of eighteen professional gtoups
the foreign-born Portuguese are non-existent in five and
make up less than one per cent in all but five.

Group 2. The Portuguese are also relatively few in numb¬
ers in the general fields of transportation, trade, public ser¬
vice. semi-professional service, and domestic and personal

IMMIGRATION AND DISTRIBUTION

133

133]

service. This last field is not, however, for the most part
one requiring high grade intelligence. In the professions
of artists, clergymen, dentists and photographers we find
the Portuguese relatively few but slightly more numerous
than in other professions except the small group of showmen.
In group 2 we also find the majority of the skilled workers
who were not included in group 1.

Group 3. This group contains a small number of occupa¬
tions but none of the general divisions. We find about the
proportion of Portuguese which we should expect among
railroad laborers, undertakers, showmen, cabinet-makers^
coopers, laborers in three of the manufacturing industries,
metal rollers, sawyers, and among the semi-skilled of four
industries.

Group 4. Turning to the groups of occupations where
the Portuguese are somewhat conspicuous we find the two
general groups of agricultural (and related) occupations
and of manufacturing and mechanical pursuits included,
and within the latter the intermediate group of the semi¬
skilled. As farmers and farm laborers among the agri¬
cultural group; as firemen (except locomotive or fire de¬
partment), and as unclassified laborers in the manufacturing
group, and in the two sub-groups of beamers etc., and weav¬
ers in the textile mills ; as boat’s officers, longshoremen and
sailors in transportation; and as laborers in yards, in trade;’
the Portuguese are somewhat conspicuous. The group in
water transportation is interesting as representing presum¬
ably the older type of immigrants from the Azores and as
differing from the type we study particularly in the next
chapter. With these possible exceptions and that of some
of the farmers these occupations are not those requiring
great skill.

Group 5. Finally we find among those occupations where
the Portuguese are remarkably conspicuous the interme-

134

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[134

diate group of semi-skilled workers in textile mills, and the
sub-groups of fishermen and oystermen and fruit-growers
and nurserymen among the agricultural division; of black¬
smiths, laborers in “ other metal ” industries, laborers in
textile mills, oilers of machinery, and in six sub-divisions of
the semi-skilled textile workers — bobbin boys, doffers and
carders, combers and lappers, drawers, rovers and twisters,
spinners, winders, reelers and spoolers, and “ other textile
occupations The only really skilled group among these
are the blacksmiths and there are but 22 of them.

Our table leaves no doubt that the Portuguese are
characteristically unskilled and semi-skilled workmen and
women in Massachusetts with five or six hundred classified
as farmers. If we had used the Rhode Island figures the
proportion of farmers would probably have been greater.
The Portuguese also are still prominent in fishing and
other sea-faring occupations but their total number in these
pursuits, though considerable, is not great when compared
with those in the textile mills. Indeed slightly more than
half of the gainfully occupied Portuguese of Massachusetts
were reported as working in unskilled or semi-skilled oc¬
cupations in the textile mills in 1915. Even within the
textile mill occupations there is some evidence that the
Portuguese are employed in largest numbers in those oc¬
cupations requiring least skill.

All this is only to be expected. An illiterate people are
attracted to the textile mills where there is a demand for
their labor. In the textile mills they are found in occupa¬
tions for which they are adapted and can be easily trained.
In addition some continue the farming or fishing to which
they have been accustomed; a good many enter unskilled
or semi-skilled work in new fields, and a few of the abler
and of those who have been longest in the new country rise
to more attractive positions.

IMMIGRATION AND DISTRIBUTION

135

135]

It is interesting to try to compare tlie occupational status
of the Portuguese as reported at the time of immigration
with that of Portuguese in the United States. It is im¬
possible to do this accurately. Table 16 above, it will be
remembered, showed that about nine-tenths of Portuguese
immigrants had been unskilled laborers in their homeland.
We have no comparable category in our table of occupa¬
tions in Massachusetts, but by adding together the numbers
in occupations obviously of this nature we find about 27 per
cent 1 which we may estimate to be unskilled. But this
leaves out all cotton mill operatives except laborers.
Though such operatives are classed as semi-skilled a large
majority of the Portuguese engaged in them would be
considered by some to be little above unskilled laborers.
If we add the semi-skilled in textile mills we find about
73 per cent in our group of relatively unskilled laborers. If,
again, we add all Portuguese listed as in any semi-skilled
occupations we find a total of something like 79 per cent, to
compare with 90 per cent among immigrants. Even if we
accept this largest percentage, then, we find some apparent
improvement in occupational status of the Portuguese after
settling in Massachusetts. The real question here is : Is
the change from the work of a peasant or farm laborer in
Portugal and the Islands, to work such as the Portuguese
do in cotton mills, an advance in occupational status ? The
present writer would say that it is to some degree, but others
might think differently. There is also, of course, the ques¬
tion whether the Portuguese who settle in Massachusetts
are a fair sample either of Portuguese immigrants to the
United States or of the economic success of Portuguese in
the United States. While this question cannot be answered

1 This and the following percentages were computed from The
Decennial Census of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1915, part
iv, table 29, passim.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[136

finally, it is probable that the cotton mills do not attract to
Massachusetts the highest types of Portuguese, and also
that the Portuguese of California have been somewhat more
successful economically than those of Massachusetts. If
this is so, then it would seem to follow that even consider¬
ing the foreign-born alone, immigration to Massachusetts
has improved somewhat the occupational status of these
people. To say this is not to deny the obvious fact that
they have remained as they came — characteristically un¬
skilled or at best semi-skilled laborers.

We have discussed briefly the sources, causes and history
of Portuguese emigration to the United States. We have
shown some of the important characteristics of the Portu¬
guese as immigrants, their distribution in the country, and
their occupational status in Massachusetts. We can better
evaluate the significance of the change, to them and to
others, after we have studied some of them more intimately
in the next chapters.

CHAPTER V

Portuguese Infant Mortality

A consideration of infant mortality among the Portu¬
guese will be of interest in itself and also as an index of
the social status of these people. As will appear below, the
mortality of Portuguese infants is shockingly high.
Whether such excessive infant mortality measures chiefly
the inherent nature of a people or the advantages and dis¬
advantages of their environment is in dispute. It probably
measures both, and most readers will agree with Davis when
he writes : “ A high infant mortality rate .... reflects on
clergy, physicians, nurses, school teachers and editors alike
and gives a low rating for the intelligence of the people.” 1
Differences of opinion arise, however, as soon as one at¬
tempts to apportion the responsibility between the families
immediately concerned and the rest of the community.

Such differences of opinion are not lacking in our more
serious studies of infant mortality. They appear as dif¬
ferences of emphasis upon one or the other of two groups
of alleged causes for infant mortality. The first group in¬
cludes the more impersonal factors such as insufficiency of
family income, the employment of mothers both before
and after childbirth, unsanitary and overcrowded living
conditions, and lack of provision by the community for
care of infants and for education of mothers. The second
group of factors includes customs and beliefs of certain

1 Davis, “ Infant Mortality in the Registration Area for Births ", in
the American Journal of Public Health, vol. x, pp. 338-341, April, 1920.

137] 137

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

138

[138

nationalities which are detrimental to the child, ignorance
or indifference of mothers, improper feeding, illiteracy or
inability to speak English, low-grade intelligence, too fre¬
quent pregnancies and sometimes alleged innate racial
characteristics of certain groups.

No reputable student of infant mortality, of course, con¬
fines his attention to one group of these causes alone, but
the difference in emphasis is undeniable. For example,
Davis 1 and Hibbs 2 stress the more personal causes of
infant mortality; while such writers as Dublin 3 and Miss
Lathrop 4 emphasize the more impersonal factors. The
tendency in the more recent studies has been to give weight
to both groups of causes with perhaps an increasing em¬
phasis upon personal characteristics.

The Racial Hypothesis

It is important to note, however, that even an extreme
emphasis upon such a personal factor as ignorance, does
not necessarily imply that the writer holds such ignorance
to be a racial trait — an innate characteristic. Ignorance,
though a personal characteristic, may obviously be the re¬
sult either of low-grade innate capacity or of lack of op¬
portunity to learn, or it may be a product of both these
factors. Those, therefore, who stress personal character¬
istics as causes of infant mortality think of them either as
essentially inborn and permanent or as subject to partial
or complete modification under more favorable conditions.

Popularly, however, personal traits are thought of as in-

1 Ibid., p. 341.

2 Hibbs, Infant Mortality: Its Relation to Social and Industrial Con¬
ditions (New York, 1916), p. 58.

s Dublin, “Infant Mortality in Fall River, Mass.,” in American
Statistical Association Publications, vol. xiv, p. 517.

4 Lathrop, “Income and Infant Mortality,” in American Journal of
Public Health, vol. ix, p. 27 4, April, 1919.

PORTUGUESE INFANT MORTALITY

139

139]

herent in the individual or group. An explanation of in¬
fant mortality in terms of racial heredity is the easy expla¬
nation — it calls for no further investigation and for no
community action. It is important therefore that we not
only ask whether infant mortality is due to personal or
impersonal causes but also whether such personal causes as
exist are racial or acquired. It so happens that in Fall
River some who think they can demonstrate that the causes
are personal — ignorance, indifference of mothers et cetera —
are concluding that they are innate and therefore ineradic¬
able so long as the racial composition of the city remains
as it is. A prominent business man of that city said to
the writer : “ It is the Portuguese who are responsible for
our high infant mortality rate; but the Portuguese are half
negroes anyhow.” He may be right in his conclusion, but
the mere fact that personal factors are prominent in the in¬
fant mortality of the Portuguese does not of itself prove
his point.

We may get a little light upon this racial hypothesis by
comparing the infant mortality among the Portuguese with
that of other groups in some degree similar to them in
racial characteristics, and with groups of different racial
makeup. The Portuguese have some negro blood ; 1 they
are predominantly of Mediterranean stock; they are largely
foreign-born with old world mores; and they may be rac¬
ially and culturally contrasted with other European nation¬
alities. We shall therefore consider four questions: (1)
Is a high rate of infant mortality a characteristic which the
Portuguese have in common with the negro? (2) Do
immigrants of predominantly Mediterranean stock have
similarly high rates in the United States? (3) Is excessive
infant mortality characteristic of the foreign-born in gen-

1 Cf. supra, ch. ii.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

140

[140

eral? (4) Have other nationalities shown infant mortality
rates comparable with those of the Portuguese?

We cannot answer these questions finally because we do
not possess statistics for each of the groups mentioned liv¬
ing under precisely the same conditions as the Portuguese
and comparable with them in every respect. We must use
such data as we have, therefore, with great caution.

The Mortality of Negro Infants

If the Portuguese infant death rate is due to an inter¬
mixture of negro blood we should expect to find that other
things being equal negroes would have as high or higher
rates. Every bit of evidence demonstrates that negro in¬
fants die in greater relative numbers than do white infants.
We have at hand as evidence the general tables of the
Federal Birth Statistics and special studies made in Balti¬
more and Detroit. In 1920 the white infant mortality rate
for the Birth Registration Area was 82 while the colored
rate was 132.1 For cities the corresponding figures were
87 and 158, and for rural districts 76 and 118. Thus, for
the country as a whole the colored had a rate 61 per cent
higher than the white, the contrast being somewhat greater
in cities than in rural districts. In Massachusetts the white
rate of 90 was somewhat higher than for the country as a
whole and ithe colored rate of 128 considerably lower. For
the six years 1915-1920 the excess of the colored rate over
the white for the country as a whole varied from a minimum
of 58 per cent in 1919 to a maximum of 87 per cent in
1916. The variation in Massachusetts was from a mini¬
mum of 34 per cent in 1917 to a maximum of 66 per cent
in 1919. Rhode Island has been dropped from the Regis¬
tration Area since 1918 but prior to that the excess of the

1 These and the following data are taken from U. S. Bureau of
the Census, Birth Statistics for the Registration Area 1920 (Washington,
1922), pp. 26 et seq.

PORTUGUESE INFANT MORTALITY

141]

141

negro rate over the white rate varied from 68 per cent in
1918 to 75 per cent in 1917. This contrast between negro
and white infant mortality rates is well-nigh universal
though varying considerably in degree. In New York City
the colored rate varied in 1920 from 144 in Brooklyn to
224 in the Bronx. Whatever the variation, however, the
negro rate exceeds the general rate at every age period.1

An examination of the causes of death by color shows
some striking contrasts. The negro infant mortality rate
in 1920 was three times the white for influenza; six times
for dysentery;2 seven times for tetanus; four times for
syphilis ; and nearly eight times for unknown and ill-defined
causes. One the other hand, the excess due to diarrhea and
enteritis and to prematurity was inconsiderable, while the
whites exceeded the negroes in their death rate from injuries
at birth and from malformations.3 Davis mentions the
correlation between a high general infant mortality rate and
a high death rate from diarrhea and enteritis.4 5 This ap¬
pears to be absolutely but not relatively true of the negro.
In other words, the excessive infant mortality of the negro
is not due primarily to abnormally high mortality from dis¬
eases due to improper feeding, although the rate from these
causes is higher for negroes than for whites.

Special studies of infant mortality in Baltimore and De¬
troit show similar contrasts between white and negro rates.
In Baltimore the negro rate was 159 against 96 for whites.3

1 U. S. Bureau of the Census, op. cit., pp. 35-36.

1 It is possible, however, that the word “ dysentery ” may be loosely
used in some communities to include what is elsewhere called “ diarrhea
and enteritis.”

3 Ibid., pp. 37-38.

4 Davis, op. cit., p. 339.

5 Woodbury, “ Infant Mortality Studies of the Children’s Bureau,”
American Statistical Association, Publications, vol. xvi, p. 38.

142

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[142

In Detroit the negro rate of 1 5 1 exceeded that for native
whites by 56 points and was higher than that of any for¬
eign-born group, although the Greeks, with a rate of 149,
were barely below the negroes.1 Palmer attributes the high
negro rate from respiratory diseases to climatic change. In
this respect the negro is similar to the Portuguese, but his
low rate from prematurity is in contrast with a high one
for the Portuguese.2

There is no question, then, that negroes have higher rates
of infant mortality than do whites in the United States.
How far, if to any degree, this characteristic is a purely
racial trait is less easy to determine. Mangold writing in
1910 says of this matter:

The negro possesses certain constitutional disqualifications on
account of which he suffers from a uniformly high death rate
in every age period of life. . . . The mortality of negro in¬
fants is more than twice as high as that of whites. The
wide disparity between the rural and urban ratio is evidence
that his high mortality is not entirely dependent upon heredity,
but is attributable in large measure to other causes.3

It may be added that to-day the negro infant mortality rate
is considerably less than “ twice as high ” as that of the
whites, and that that fact is added evidence that it is not
entirely due to racial constitution ; unless, indeed, it be main¬
tained that in a very short time a process of selection has
greatly improved the negro stock in this respect.

At this point it will be well to compare negro and Portu¬
guese infant mortality rates. We shall discuss below4

1 Palmer, “Infant Mortality in Detroit,” American Journal of Pub¬
lic Health, vol. xi, pp. 502-506, June, 1921.

3 The Woman’s Club of Fall River, Report on Infant Mortality (Fall
River, 1915), p. 14.

3 Mangold, Child Problems (New York, 1910), p. 39.

4 Cf. infra, p. 150 ff.

PORTUGUESE INFANT MORTALITY

145

143]

several studies of the Portuguese showing infant mortality
rates varying from a minimum of 188 for certain rural
Portuguese and for native-born of Portuguese descent in
Fall River, to 299 for a group of foreign-born Portuguese
in Fall River. These rates are higher than those quoted
above for the negro except that for the Bronx. In other
words, there is a greater contrast between the rates of the
Portuguese in certain communities and the general rates
for whites for either the Registration Area, Massachusetts
and Boston, than between the colored and white rates for
these latter areas. Unfortunately, we have to use rates for
smaller localities for the Portuguese and in these areas the
number of infant deaths among the negroes is too few for
comparison.

A high infant mortality rate is, then, a characteristic
which the Portuguese have in common with the negro, but
in the communities we are studying their rate is higher than
the usual rates for negroes. In view of the great variabil¬
ity of the rates for both Portuguese and negroes, and in
view of the paucity of our data, the writer does not feel that
the racial hypothesis is proven. Neither is it proven that
negro blood is not a factor in Portuguese mortality.

Infant Mortality and General Nativity of Mothers

General comparisons between infant mortality among
children of native and of foreign-born mothers are of little
value for our study. For the Registration Area the statis¬
tics show for 1920 a rate of 75.8 for native-born whites
and of 96.9 for foreign-born.1

In the more careful studies of the Children’s Bureau, also,
the infants born to foreign-born mothers were usually found
to have a higher mortality rate than those born to native-
born mothers. For example in Akron, Ohio the rate for

1 U. S. Bureau of the Census, op. cit., p. 35.

144

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[144

children of native mothers was 70.1 against 109.3 f°r f°r~
eign-born; in New Bedford the corresponding rates were
108.4 and 138.9 respectively; in Saginaw, Michigan 70.5
and 127.6; in Waterbury, Connecticut 97.9 and 134.8; in
Manchester, N. H. 128.1 and 183.5; in Johnstown, Pa. 104.3
and 1 71. 3; in Montclair, N. J. 49.0 and 88. i.1

On the other hand, in Baltimore, Md. fhe rates for child¬
ren of native and foreign-born mothers were the same,2 and
in Brockton the foreign-born rate was only 92.0 while the
native was 101.5.3 But perhaps the situation in New York
City is the most important exception to the general rule that
foreign-born mothers lose their children more f requently than
native-born. In studying the statistics for 1915 Guilfoy
found that while the general rate was 98.2, the rate for
children of native-born mothers was 106.3.4 A computa¬
tion from Guilfoy’s table gives a rate of 95.3 for children
of foreign-born mothers — eleven points below that for
children of native-born mothers. Guilfoy’s explanation is
as follows : “ The foreign stock of recent acquisition, i.e. the
Italian and Jewish mothers, seem to be of sturdier mould
than those of native origin.” 5

1 See U. S. Department of 'Labor, 'Children’s Bureau, Infant Mortality
Series, as follows: no. 11, .Haley, “Infant Mortality in Akron, Ohio,”
p. 17; no. 10,. Whitney, “Infant Mortality in New Bedford, Mass.,”
p. 18; no. 9, Allen, “Infant Mortality in 'Saginaw, Mich.,” pp. 22-23;
no. 7, Hunter, “Infant Mortality in Waterbury, Conn.,” p. 70; no. 6,
Duncan and Duke, “Infant Mortality in Manchester, N. H., p. 58;
no. 3, Duke, “ Infant Mortality in Johnstown, Pa., p. 27; no. 4, “ Infant
Mortality in Montclair, N. J.,” p. 16.

*Woodbury, op. cit., p. 38.

3U. S. Department of Labor, Children’s Bureau, op. cit., no. 8, Dempsey,
“ Infant Mortality in Brockton, Mass.,” p. 24.

4 See reference to 'Guilfoy’s study in Meyer, Infant Mortality in New
York City (New York, 1921), pp. 32-39. See also Guilfoy, The In¬
fluence of Nationality upon the Mortality of a Community, in Depart¬
ment of Health, New York City, Monograph Series, no. 18 (New York,

1917).

5 Guilfoy, op. cit., p. 12.

PORTUGUESE INFANT MORTALITY

145

145]

Obviously, in view of such discepancies as the above data
disclose, we cannot say that the mere circumstance of for¬
eign birth of mothers in itself is always a factor in exces¬
sive infant mortality. We must use more refined data and
compare the mortality of infants of different nationalities
separately. We may also ask in passing whether some of
the discrepancies in the relative mortality rates of children
of native and of foreign-born mothers may not be explained
by the varying composition of the group “ native-born ”.
For example, a Sicilian mother born the year after her
parents arrived from Sicily is, of course, native-born. She
has been subjected to some of the influences of the American
environment, including perhaps that of the American school.
Her children dying under one year of age go to swell the
infant mortality rate of the children of native-born mothers.
Yet in many American communities such a mother is
racially very different from the Teutonic types of mothers
with whom she is classed. Moreover, she has very likely
lived in an Italian colony and she may be culturally also
more Italian than American. Our category “ native-born ”
is far from representing a homogeneous group. Moreover,
that group varies greatly in different communities. There¬
fore it is not strange if the infant mortality rates of the
native-born differ in different communities. To stress this
point is not, of course, in the least to deny the validity of
Guilfoy’s contention that the presence of many Italians and
Jews in New York City is a chief cause for the relatively
low infant mortality rates of the foreign-born.

We conclude, therefore, that a high rate of infant mor¬
tality is a characteristic which the Portuguese share with
some, but by no means with all, the foreign-born. We shall
see that the Portuguese rates are among the highest.

146

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[146

Infant Mortality of South Europeans

As representatives to some degree of the Mediterranean
race the Portuguese may share with them some inherent
traits which may conceivably account in part for their ex¬
cessive infant mortality. But where shall we find examples
of pure Mediterranean stock with which to compare them?
The best that we can do will be to consider the mortality of
other South Europeans in the United States. Obviously,
such a comparison is open to serious objection. South
Europeans are not uniformly of Mediterranean stock.
South Italians may be fairly good examples of that race,
but our statistics do not distinguish between north and
south Italians, although we know that the latter outnumber
the former as immigrants to this country. It is only with
the greatest caution, therefore, that we may use the follow¬
ing data.

In the Birth Registration Area of the United States the
infant mortality rate for children of Italian mothers in 1920
was 94.1 as compared with a general rate for the foreign-
born of 96.9.1 This is the only group for which we have
figures for the whole Registration Area which we are in
any degree warranted in assuming to be predominantly of
Mediterranean stock. Since the Italian rate is lower than
the general rate for foreign-born we find so far no confirma¬
tion of the suggestion that South Europeans are character¬
ized by a high infant mortality rate. Indeed the Italians
are one of the two nationalities whose presence, according
to Guilfoy, tends to depress the infant mortality rate for
New York City.

By referring to the following table we may compare
the mortality of the Italians with that of other nationalities.*

1 U. S. Bureau of the Census, op. cit., p. 35.

* The figures for Johnstown, Montclair, Manchester, Waterbury,

147]

PORTUGUESE INFANT MORTALITY

147

Table 33

Infant Mortality Rates in Specified Cities Classified by
Nativity of Mothers

Johnstown, Pa.

Montclair, N. J.

Manchester, N. H.

Waterbury, Conn.

Brockton, Mass.

Saginaw, Mich.

New Bedford, Mass.

Akron, Ohio.

Pittsburgh, Fa.

Detroit, Mich.

New York, N. Y.

Baltimore, Md.

Bohemians .

135

English .

101

138

French Canadians . .

Germans .

Greeks .

Hebrews ... ...

225

135

105

149

1 1 6

Irish .

185

129

• .

1 19

Italians .

183

. .

IIO

128

1 1 6

. .

103

Lithuanians .

Lithuanians and Poles.

Magyars .

Poles .

189

208

1 1 6

180

120

103

163

Portuguese .

Scotch .

201

Serbo-Croatians. . . .
Swedes .

264

This table indicates that the Italian rates varied all the
way from 72 in Brockton to 183 in Johnstown. Surely no
conclusions as to the mortality of the Mediterranean stock
in the United States can be drawn from figures so diverse.

Brockton, Saginaw, New Bedford, Akron' and Pittsburgh are from
the published studies of the Children’s Bureau, Infant Mortality Series,
Nos. 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 respectively, published 1915-1920.

Those for Detroit are from Palmer and Blakeslee, “ Infant Mortality
in Detroit,” American Journal of Public Health, vol. xi, pp. 502-507.
Those for New York are from. Meyer, op. cit., p. 34. Those for Detroit
are from Woodbury, op. cit., p. 38.

The figures for New York and Detroit are not quite comparable with
the rest since they refer to country of birth rather than to nationality.
Where this fact made the figures without value they have been omitted
for these two cities.

148

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[148

The Infant Mortality of Different Nationalities

But can we say that a certain approximate rate of infant
mortality is a characteristic of any nationality? Disregard¬
ing the Portuguese for the moment, let us examine table 33,
page 147 above, to see what degree of uniformity we find
for given nationalities. For many nationalities the number
of studies is too few to permit our drawing conclusions.
Quite possibly this is true of all of them. As they stand,
however, the variation in rates among different studies is
as follows : for the English 39 points in two studies; French
Canadians 142 points in three studies; Germans 30 points
in three studies; Irish 76 points in two studies; Polish 78
points in five studies; and Italians 12 1 points in seven
studies.

We see that the variability among different communities
is considerable. We cannot say that a given nationality
shows, regardless of other conditions, approximately the
same infant mortality rate. Neither can we say that a
given nationality is always characterized by a relatively
high or low rate as compared with another. It is true
that the Poles show in all communities studied a uniformly
high rate; but in New Bedford their rate exceeds slightly
that of the French Canadians, while in Manchester it falls
considerably below theirs. This variability does not, of
course, prove that the characteristics of nationalities are
not factors in determining their rate of infant mortality.
Presumably each nationality may contain different types,
different social classes, perhaps even different racial stocks
in different communities. Or, the nationality may find
itself exposed to environmental conditions so different in
different places that no uniformity in its infant mortality
rates appears. In other words, it seems that the causes of
infant mortality are too complex to be explained in terms

PORTUGUESE INFANT MORTALITY

149

149]

of nationality alone; or else that each nationality is too
heterogeneous in its composition to be treated as a unit. In
a community demanding skilled labor a different type of
immigrants will be attracted than in a community requiring
unskilled, though the nationality may be the same in each
case. A community of north Italians is not comparable
with a community of south Italians. We stress this point
here because below 1 we do explain Portuguese infant mor¬
tality largely in terms of national traits. We also note
below 2 the existence of different types of Portuguese.
Since our data are now so meager we must confine our gen¬
eralizations to communities studied instead of attempting
to characterize whole nationalities.

The susceptibility of particular nationalites to certain dis¬
eases has sometimes been noted. Whether such suscep¬
tibility will result in a high infant mortality rate or not
will depend, of course, upon the influence of other counter¬
acting factors. Guilfoy finds Italian mothers remarkably
free from premature births with resulting infant deaths.3
Meyer commenting on Guilfoy’s study concludes : “ It would
seem that the influence of the racial factor was most marked
in the groups of diarrheal and congenital diseases.” 4
Palmer and Blakeslee 5 and Meyer 6 note the abnormally high
death rates from respiratory diseases among Italian infants,
Meyer attributing it to climatic change. Those inclined to¬
wards the racial hypothesis for infant mortality will note
that Italian, Portuguese and negro infants all show high
rates from respiratory diseases. Thus a single disease

1 Cf. infra, pp. 192-3.

2 Cf. infra, pp. 343-4-

3 Guilfoy, op. cit., p. 12.

4 Meyer, op. cit., p. 36.

5 Palmer and Blakeslee, op. cit., p. 506.

* Meyer, op. cit., p. 36.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

150

[150

seems to be characteristic of these nationalities; but we
cannot say that a high infant mortality rate is also char¬
acteristic of them regardless of differing conditions.

The Infant Mortality of the Portuguese Urban and Rural

Our information as to the infant mortality of the Por¬
tuguese is confined to four localities and four sources. We
have an excellent Children’s Bureau study of infant mortal¬
ity in New Bedford; a Bureau of Labor Statistics study of
the effects of the employment of women on infant mortality
in Fall River in 1908; an unusual study of all infants born
in Fall River during three summer months of 1913 under¬
taken by the Fall River Woman’s Club with the assistance
of Dr. Louis I. Dublin; and such additional data as the
writer has been able to gather for 1920 in Fall River, for a
number of years in Porstmouth, R. I., and just a hint of
the situation in Provincetown, Mass. Unfortunately, the
Bureau of the Census does not present separately births
and deaths for the Portuguese in the Birth Registration
Area, although in a few cities this means losing sight of the
most important single group. In none of the Children’s
Bureau studies except New Bedford were the Portuguese
of sufficient importance to warrant their separate consider-
tion.

What, then, are the facts as shown by these studies? The
Bureau of Labor Statistics study was concerned with the
factor of employment of women as related to infant mor¬
tality and will be referred to later under that head. As it
was a study of deaths only no infant mortality rates by
nationality were figured.

The Woman’s Club investigators adopted a method new
at that time. They traced all births registered, and such
others as could be found, which had occurred during the
summer period of three months. They followed these

PORTUGUESE INFANT MORTALITY

151]

151

children throughout a year of life recording the conditions
surrounding them and noting the mortality for that year.
As noted above, the infant mortality rates obtained in that
way are not exactly comparable with other rates, because
the mortality may be affected by the fact that these infants
passed their earliest months of life during the heat of sum¬
mer. After making allowance for the infants who were
lost sight of during the year Dr. Dublin finds a general in¬
fant mortality rate for the city of 202.4; for infants born
to native mothers of 152.9; for infants born to mothers
born in Portugal and the Azores of 298.9; for infants born
to mothers born in Canada of 172.4; and for infants born
to mothers born in other countries of 200.0. Needless to
say, these rates are shockingly high, although, as noted above,
they probably exaggerate the true rates somewhat. As for
the Portuguese, practically thirty per cent of their infants
died before they reached their first birthday anniversary.1

For New Bedford the Children’s Bureau study found a
general infant mortality rate of 130.3. Classifying the
foreign-born mothers by nationality the Portuguese showed
much the highest rate (200.9) otf any group. The Poles,
the next group, had a rate of only 119.8 with the French
Canadians slightly lower with 115.5.2 Thus on the face
of the figures the infant mortality problem of New Bed¬
ford appears to be pretty largely a problem of the Portu¬
guese nationality. To quote from that study: “ If the Por¬
tuguese group with its high birth and high mortality rate
were omitted from New Bedford, the rate would have been
only 103.7 or much more like that of Brockton.” 3 The

1 Dublin, “ Infant Mortality in Fall River, Mass.,” reprinted from
the Quarterly Publications of the American Statistical Association,
June, 1915, p. 12.

3 Whitney, op. cit., p. 18.

3 Ibid., p. 69.

152

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[152

Portuguese are said to make up roughly a quarter of the
total population of New Bedford to-day, yet each year
since 1918 at least, more than half the infant deaths have
been in Portuguese families.1 Except for the year of Miss
Whitney’s study we do not have information as to what pro¬
portion of the births in New Bedford are in Portuguese
families. Consideration of the above startling figures helps
one to understand the significance of the advertisement of
an enterprising photographer in one of the Portuguese dis¬
tricts : “ Photos live after death — Bring the old folks, bring
the babies.”

The writer has also analyzed the birth and death statis¬
tics for Fall River using the records in the office of the
City Clerk. The method here was slightly different, how¬
ever, for by including births and deaths of infants born to
native mothers of Portuguese descent with those of infants
of foreign-born Portuguese a comparison between Portu¬
guese and non-Portuguese stock was possible. Thus this
table refers to descent rather than to nativity.

Table 34

Infant Mortality in Fall River, Mass., 1920
(stillborn excluded)

Non-Portuguese compared with Portuguese 2

Descent of Mothers Births Deaths under one year I. M. Rate

Non-Portuguese . 2483 271 109.1

Portuguese . . . 1054 228 216.3

1 New Bedford, Mass., Board of Health, Annual Report for 1920,
proof sheets shown the writer. Also computed from other material
furnished by the Board.

2 Births and deaths to Portuguese mothers married to non-Portuguese
included as “ Portuguese ”. Births and deaths to mothers who were
non-Portuguese but who were married to Portuguese included as “ non-
Portuguese ”. In the few cases where it was necessary to determine
nationality by names a slight error may be involved. The writer be¬
lieves it to be very slight. If such errors occur they operate to under¬
state by so much the number of Portuguese births and deaths. The
employment of Portuguese midwives or physicians was of some help in
doubtful cases.

PORTUGUESE INFANT MORTALITY

153

153]

The contrast shown by this table is interesting. It be¬
comes still more so when' we reflect that among the non-
Portuguese we include foreign-born French-Canadians,
Poles, Italians, Syrians, English and Irish. That despite
this the Portuguese rate is practically double that of the
non-Portuguese is indeed remarkable.

The following table divides our Portuguese into two
groups of mothers, “ native-born of Portuguese descent ”,
and “ foreign-born.”

Table 35

Infant Mortality of Portuguese
(stillborn excluded)

Fall (River, Mass., 1920

Mothers Births Deaths under one year I. M. Rate

Native-born Portuguese descent 90 17 188.9

Foreign-born Portuguese . 964 21 1 218.9

The above table will perhaps be disappointing to those
who expect to see the problem of infant mortality disap¬
pear after the immigrant has become adjusted to American
conditions. A difference of but thirty points in favor of
the native-born mothers of Portuguese descent is not very
great. In view of the importance we have attached else¬
where 1 to the effects of residence in this country upon the
standard of living of the Portuguese, the writer is some¬
what surprised at the smallness of the difference in these
rates. The New Bedford study showed a much greater
influence of residence here.2 Perhaps the numbers con¬
cerned are too small to be significant, and at any rate the
difference is in the right direction.

Our infant mortality rates for the rural community of
Portsmouth are not strictly comparable with those given

1 Cf. infra, pp. 275-282.

2 Cf. infra, p. 159.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

154

[154

above. Since Portsmouth records only about a dozen in¬
fant deaths a year no significant rates for any one year
can be figured. Therefore our data are for a period of
eleven years beginning in 1910. A longer period was not
used because prior to 1910 there was no assurance that
births had been registered with even their present degree
of completeness. Since 1910, however, under the direction
of the present town clerk, the reports of physicians, mid¬
wives or other witnesses of births have been checked up
by sending a messenger from the Town Clerk’s office to
report unregistered births. Physicians have been at times
very tardy in reporting births in Portsmouth, but despite
the fact that Rhode Island has been dropped from the
Birth Registration Area, it is believed that registration has
been reasonably complete in Portsmouth since 1910.

The Portsmouth data also classify as Portuguese all
mothers whether foreign-born or native-born of Portuguese
descent. In this respect they are comparable with the data
given in Table 35 above for Fall River. Since the two
groups of mothers have not been separated, however, the
rates are not quite comparable with those of the other studies
quoted above. In Portsmouth, however, the number of
women of Portuguese descent born in this country is so
small that their inclusion can have but little effect upon the
infant mortality rate. Thus table 62 1 shows but thirteen
mothers of families resident in Portsmouth who were born
in this country. This fact may possibly account in part
for the difference in the mortality rate of the Portuguese in
Portsmouth and in Fall River, but the writer does not be¬
lieve this is the true explanation. Table 36 below gives
the record of births and infant deaths in Portsmouth for
the eleven year period 1910- 1920 inclusive.

1 Cf. infra, p. 274.

1910

ign

1912

1913

1914

1915

1916

1917

1918

1919

1920

155]

PORTUGUESE INFANT MORTALITY

155

Table 36

Portsmouth, R. I., Births and Deaths under One Year 1910-1920

Classified by Descent

Native * Portuguese* Other Foreign Unknown Totals

Births Deaths Births Deaths Births Deaths Births Deaths Births Deaths

1 7

214

574

108

859

142

Portsmouth, R. I., Combined Infant Mortality, 1910-1920

(stillborn excluded)

General infant mortality rate . 165

Rate for children of native mothers (those of Portuguese descent

omitted) . 112

Portuguese (including native-born of Portuguese descent) . 188

Other foreign rate . 100 4

The above table is instructive. While the rate for the
non-Portuguese native-born is abnormally high as it is, the
presence of the Portuguese raises the general rate for the
town from 112 to 165, or fifty-three points. That the Por¬
tuguese of Portsmouth should lose nearly two out of every

1 Computed from birth and death registers in Town Clerk’s office.

1 Omitting those where either parent was of Portuguese nationality —
these were few in number.

3 Including births and deaths of infants whose parents were born in
the United States but who were of Portuguese descent.

4 This rate is probably too low because of the mobility of the popu¬
lation after the closing of the coal mines.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

156

[156

ten babies born, before they are a year old, is mute testimony
to the conditions among these people. It is not to mini¬
mize the importance of the economic factors in infant mor¬
tality that we call attention to the fact that these babies
die without any of the handicaps of city and industrial life
to which high infant mortality is frequently attributed.

In three communities and four studies the Portuguese
have shown an extremely high mortality of infants. In
New Bedford they had a rate of 201 ; in Fall River of 218.9
for foreign-born and of 216.3 when natives of Portuguese
descent are included; in Portsmouth of 188 when natives
of Portuguese descent are added; while Dr. Dublin found
a still higher rate for summer-born babies in 1913. Even
if we grant the entire contention of those who stress non-
personal causes of infant mortality we must admit that the
Portuguese do largely account for the excessively high in¬
fant mortality rates of these communities. Whatever the
cause it is the Portuguese babies that die. Perhaps future
study will discover Portuguese communities, say in Cali¬
fornia or elsewhere, without this extraordinary mortality
of infants ; but to date we must characterize these people as
afflicted with this curse wherever they have been studied.1

The Portuguese lose somewhat fewer babies in rural
Portsmouth than in urban Fall River. This is in spite of

1 Since this paragraph was written the writer has figured the Portu¬
guese and non-Portuguese infant mortality rates for Provincetown for
the five year period from 1916-1920. During this period there were
519 births and 48 deaths under one year recorded. 383 births and 32
infant deaths were of children of Portuguese parents. Thus the Portu¬
guese infant mortality rate is 84 and the non-Portuguese 118 for the
five years combined. This is in contrast to our other data. The lower
rate for the Portuguese may be due to longer residence here or it may
be due to the presence in Provincetown of a different type of Portu¬
guese. The earlier settlers there were fishermen largely from the
Horta District, but we have no recent data on the present composition
of the population.

PORTUGUESE INFANT MORTALITY

157

157]

practically entire lack of community aid in Portsmouth.
In Fall River and New Bedford a great deal of most ex¬
cellent work is being done for babies of all nationalities. In
Fall River a splendidly organized District Nursing Asso¬
ciation is the chief educational and remedial force. In New1
Bedford a similar though smaller Instructive Nurses As¬
sociation co-operates with the City Board of Health. In
Portsmouth, except that recently the Child Welfare Bureau
of the State has sent a nurse to look up new-born babies,
and except for a year’s experiment with a Red Cross nurse,
the babies are left to survive or perish without community
aid.

In Portsmouth the extremes of poverty were quite as
evident as in Fall River if one may judge by living condi¬
tions. It must be confessed, however, that Fall River was
seen under favorable economic conditions and that many a
Portuguese farmer who lives in dirt and squalor is saving
money to purchase a farm.

Women are employed in Portsmouth quite as much as in
Fall River, but they work in the fields, an employment which
is harder than mill work but which does not take the mother
away from home and so perhaps is somewhat less important
in interfering with breast feeding. In the absence of an
intensive infant mortality study in Portsmouth we have no
information as to methods of feeding nor as to other matters
of similar importance. If the work of the city nurses
counts for anything breast feeding should be more common
there than in the country. Perhaps birth returns are more
complete in the city but this would operate to exaggerate
the rural rate so that the true rate would be lower still as
compared with that in Fall River.

The factors which may in part account for the higher
city rate are: somewhat greater congestion in living quar¬
ters, employment of mothers away from the home, the

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

158

[158

healthful out-door life in the rural community, and the better
adaptation of the Azorean peasant to the simple life of the
farm. Yet however we explain the lower rural rate of 188,
it cannot be city life alone which causes the high mortality
among Portuguese infants.

Length of Residence in the United States

The Portuguese do have an abnormal rate of infant mor¬
tality. We hesitate, however, to conclude that the presence
of the Portuguese must always mean this curse because of
the paucity of our data, the great variation shown by
other nationalities in different communities, and because of
the variation among the Portuguese themselves. Anyone
confining his attention to the Children’s Bureau study of
Manchester, might easily come to the conclusion that the
presence of French Canadians will always mean a high in¬
fant mortality rate, for in that city they showed a shocking
rate of 225. 1 Yet in New Bedford, also a cotton mill city,
the same nationality had a rate scarcely half that they
showed in Manchester. Speaking of this difference the
report on New Bedford comments: “ The difference in these
figures is the more difficult to explain since both cities are
textile centers and in both a large proportion of the French
Canadian mothers worked in the mills. The New Bedford
group represented an earlier immigration and therefore
many have already adopted American customs.” 2

In view of the correlation shown elsewhere between length
of residence and standard of living the writer is inclined
to accept this explanation. To accept it is, of course, to
emphasize ignorance and national characteristics as causes
of the immigrant’s ills. It is at the same time a conclusion
which permits one to be somewhat hopeful of improved

1 Cf. table 33, supra.

* Whitney, op. cit., p. 19.

PORTUGUESE INFANT MORTALITY

159-

159]

conditions even for a very ignorant people. This tentative
conclusion is also in harmony with the explanation offered
in the Manchester study. “ In their method of feeding and
in the size of their families the French Canadians show dis¬
tinctive conditions which may account partly for the dif¬
ference between their infant mortality rate and the rates
of other groups of foreign-born.” 1 Thus at the end of
three months 75.9 per cent of other foreign, 60.9 per cent
of native, and only 52.6 per cent of French Canadian
mothers were feeding their babies exclusively at the breast.2
The French Canadians also had unusually large families.3

Neither the studies of infant mortality in Fall River nor
our own investigations permit us to correlate infant mor¬
tality with length of residence in this country. But Miss
Whitney's study in New Bedford gives data on this subject.
There for the Portuguese white group the infant mortality
rate decreased in a striking manner as the length of resi¬
dence increased. Portuguese mothers who had been here
less than three years had a rate of 283, while those resident
here from twelve to fifteen years had a normal rate of only
9 5. 4 Moreover, our comparison between mothers in Fall
River of Portuguese descent and those born abroad con¬
firms this impression though in a less striking way.5 Still
more, in the writer’s judgment, do the findings of this study
with reference to standard of living and length of residence
confirm this conclusion.

1 Duncan and Duke, op. cit., p. 63.

* Ibid., p. 68.

5 Ibid., p. 1 18.

4 Whitney, op. cit., p. 20.

5 Cf. supra, p. 153.

j6o PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND [160

Inability to speak English

Common sense would assure us that ability to speak Eng¬
lish must be an asset to a mother in caring for her children.
Yet evidence is strangely confused on this point. Among
Italians in Waterbury 1 and among French Canadians in
New Bedford 2 the reverse was found to be true. The
weight of evidence is, however, with common sense; among
non-English speaking nationalities of Saginaw and of New
Bedford considerably higher rates were found for those
who had not mastered the English language ; 3 and among
the Portuguese of New Bedford, the children of 571
mothers who wTere unable to speak English died at a rate
of 224.8, as against only 82.9 for children of mothers who
could speak it.4 The large number of Portuguese mothers
who are ignorant of English is thus probably a fairly im¬
portant characteristic which makes for high infant mor¬
tality.

Illiteracy of Mothers

The New Bedford study does not show how large a pro¬
portion of Portuguese mothers were unable to read or write
in their own language, but we have shown elsewhere 5 that
the Portuguese are among the least literate of our im¬
migrant nationalities with an illiteracy of about two-thirds
that in their homeland. For all nationalities in New Bed¬
ford the rate for children of literate mothers was 107. 1,
and for those of illiterate it was 188.0. Too great em¬
phasis can scarcely be laid upon this matter of illiteracy.

1 Hunter, op. cit., p. 74.

2 Whitney, op. cit., p. 20.

* Allen, op. cit., p. 25 and Whitney, op. cit., p. 20.

4 Whitney, op. cit., pp. 20-21.

5 Cf. supra, p. 1 16.

PORTUGUESE INFANT MORTALITY

161

161]

It is not so much that illiteracy causes infant mortality, al¬
though it no doubt is a real factor. It is rather that illiter¬
acy is such a good index of the ignorance of a people. No
one can visit the Portuguese homes of the poorer type with¬
out being impressed with the intellectual barrenness of their
lives. It is not surprising that people so ignorant are un¬
able to keep their babies alive.

Attendance at Childbirth

The habit of employing midwives to deliver infants some¬
times, though not always, implies less expert care at child¬
birth and by some has been associated with a high infant
mortality rate. Statistics, however, have sometimes seemed
to prove the opposite where physicians, who doubtless at¬
tend the more serious cases, have been seen actually to lose
more infants than have the midwives. It is therefore un¬
safe to draw dogmatic conclusions as to the influence of at¬
tendance by midwives. We shall nevertheless simply note
the facts : In New Bedford “ The racial group which had
the largest percentage of births attended by midwives was
the Portuguese white with 56.8 per cent.” 1 A little over
half the Portuguese colored (Bravas), somewhat under
half the Poles, only 1 1 per cent of the English and a
“ negligible ” proportion of French Canadians and other
nationalities employed midwives. The infant mortality
rate for all mothers employing midwives was 169.1 against
115.5 f°r those employing physicians. In Fall River the
writer has found on investigation that 65.7 per cent 2 of
all Portuguese births occuring in 1920 were attended by
midwives. As this percentage is based upon a considera¬
tion of native-born of Portuguese descent as well as foreign-
born Portuguese it seems to show that the employment of

1 Whitney, op. cit., pp. 31-33.

2 Cf. table 37, p. 162.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

162

[162

midwives was somewhat more common among the Portu¬
guese of Fall River than among those of New Bedford.
For the reasons given above, however, we can hardly list
the employment of midwives among the characteristics of
the Portuguese which make for a high infant mortality
rate.

Table 37

Attendance at Childbirth,1 Fall River, Mass., 1920

Birth Reported by

Physician

Midwife

Father

Nurse Unknown

No one 3

Neighbor

Mother born in

Total

St. Michael’s .

■ 73

459

539

Terceira .

St. George .

Azores (not specified) . .

. 118

1 16

1 3

I 250

Lisbon .

1 7

Portugal (not specified)

. 5i

J 139

United States .

• 65

105

Bermuda .

Brazil .

Hawaii .

Cape Verde .

Canada 2 .

France 2 .

England 2 .

Mexico .

Ireland 2 .

Scotland 2 .

Madeira .

Totals .

• • 327

726

5 1

2 1105

Per cents .

65.7%

4.0%

4% .1%

•3%

.2 % 100.3

Preventable Causes of Death

The standards of care given babies are largely reflected
in the death rates from gastric and intestinal diseases. Re¬
spiratory diseases are also, according to the Children’s

1 Computed from the Birth Register of Fall River, Mass, for 1920.

2 Father Portuguese but mother non-Portuguese.

3 That is no attendant.

PORTUGUESE INFANT MORTALITY

163]

163

Bureau, an index of child care. In New Bedford the
death rates from gastric and intestinal diseases were 31.6
for the native-born, 54.9 for the foreign-born and 101.9
for the Portuguese, showing that this nationality is almost
entirely responsible for the excessive rate for the foreign-
born from these causes.1 For respiratory diseases the
rate among children of native mothers was 17.8, of foreign-
born 31.8 and of the Portuguese 51.0. To quote the study:

The causes of these unfavorable conditions resulting in a high
rate of infant mortality from intestinal and respiratory dis¬
eases, must be sought in the kind of care given the infants,
in the kind of feeding, and also in part in the customs of the
mothers and in the surroundings in which they live.2

While the Woman’s Club study of infant mortality in
Fall River gives no tables showing causes of death by
nationality, those responsible for this study have informed
the present writer that the Portuguese who made up 39 per
cent of all infant deaths studied, made up about 50 per
cent of deaths from diarrhea and enteritis, 53 per cent of
deaths from diseases of the lungs but only 27 per cent of
deaths from diseases of early infancy. The study also
make? the following comment :

The death rate of the Portuguese infants is unfortunately
large, 298.9 per thousand. ... It may be seen by reference to
the record cards that a great many of these fifty-two Portuguese
infants who died, were born in poor condition, and that the
majority had mothers who were themselves in poor condi¬
tion if not actually sick. The most notable excess of deaths
was from diseases of the respiratory organs, though the Por¬
tuguese infants have also far more than their proportion of
deaths following premature birth.3

1 Whitmey, op. cit., p. 23.

* Ibid., pp. 24-5.

*The Woman’s Club of Fall River, Report on Infant Mortality (Fall
River, 1915), P- 14-

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

164

[164

Dr. Dublin, who throughout stresses economic rather than
personal causes of infant mortality, says in this connection :

The foreign-born mother in Fall River, for example, is more
likely to work in the mills during pregnancy, to have many
children, and to live in crowded and unhygienic quarters.
She, more than the native mother, reflects the injurious in¬
fluences of an unfavorable industrial and economic environ¬
ment. We find accordingly that the excessive deaths of in¬
fants of foreign-born mothers are due especially to pneu¬
monia, to diarrhea and enteritis, and to premature birth and
congenital debility. We may illustrate the above with refer¬
ence to infants of Portuguese mothers who showed the highest
death rate. Of the 182 mothers 72, or 39 per cent, were en¬
gaged in work outside the household during pregnancy, while
only 17 per cent of the mothers of other nationalities were so
engaged. Of the fifty-two deaths of Portuguese children
20 were due to diarrhea and enteritis, 17 to pneumonia and
bronchitis, and 13 to prematurity, congenital debility and
other causes peculiar to early infancy.1

Thus one interpreter emphasizes the poor physical con¬
dition of the Portuguese ; the other .the great amount of
outside work on their part. We shall discuss this economic
factor later.2

Artificial Feeding of Infants

Artificial feeding is universally recognized as a factor
in infant mortality. When it is combined with uncleanli¬
ness and ignorance on the part of mothers its effects are
most pronounced. Woodbury, for example, found the rate
for the breast-fed to be only 21.3 per cent of that for the
artificially fed.3 While often due to physiological causes

1 Dublin, “ Infant Mortality of Fall River, Mass.,” reprinted from the
Quarterly Publications of the American Statistical Association, June,
1915, P- 13.

2 Cf. infra, p. 171.

5 Woodbury, op. cit., p. 40.

PORTUGUESE INFANT MORTALITY

165]

165

beyond control, artificial feeding seems often to be traceable
either to employment of mothers away from home, lack
of adequate provision on the part of the community for
the instruction and aid of mothers, ignorance of mothers
or too frequent pregnancies. These various more funda¬
mental factors are considered elsewhere.

In neither account of the 1913 study of infant mortality
in Fall River do we find data on the method of feeding clas¬
sified by nationalities. Both accounts show the usual rela¬
tionship between artificial feeding and a high infant mor¬
tality. In the study of infant mortality in Fall River for
the year 1908, however, we learn that only among Irish
mothers was breast feeding less common than among the
Portuguese. The percentages of breast-fed infants by
nationalities were: Polish 55.6 per cent, French Canadians
33.6 per cent, Portuguese 27.4 per cent and Irish 16.7 per
cent.1

In the New Bedford study we read : “ A much smaller
percentage of the infants of Portuguese-white mothers than
of other foreign nationalities was breast-fed, smaller even
than that of the infants of native mothers. The Portu¬
guese contributed the largest proportion of mixed-fed in¬
fants.” In the third month 39.9 per cent of Portuguese
infants, 37.7 per cent of infants of native-born mothers,
and 28.5 per cent of infants of other foreign-born mothers
were fed artificially.2 That other factors may nevertheless
be quite as important as the method of feeding is indicated
by the fact that the infants of native-born mothers who fed
their babies artificially had a mortality rate of 153.2, while
those of foreign-born mothers had a rate of 247.1. 3 Im-

1 U. S. Bureau of ‘Labor Statistics, Bulletin no. 775, Summary of the
Report on the Condition of Women and Child Wage-earners in the
United States, p. 356.

* Whitney, op. cit., p. 33.

* Ibid., p. 35.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

1 66

[16 6

proper feeding does nevertheless probably account for the
high death rate from gastric and intestinal causes among
Portuguese infants.1 Thus we find that improper feeding
is common among the Portuguese mothers and helps to ex¬
plain the high mortality of their infants.

Inadequate Income

Perhaps no other alleged cause of infant mortality has
been more emphasized than the low incomes of fathers.
This is, of course, the fundamental economic factor to
which other factors such as employment of mothers, over¬
crowding in the home, et cetera, are largely though not en¬
tirely secondary.

Most studies have shown that the infant death rate drops
as the fathers wage or income rises. Miss Lathrop, who
lays great stress upon this economic factor, summarizes
the results of the Children’s Bureau studies thus :

The fathers of 88 per cent of the babies included in the
Bureau's studies earned less than $1250 a year; 27 per cent
earned less than $550. As the income doubled the mortality
rate was more than halved. Which is the more safe and
sane conclusion: that 88 per cent of all these fathers were
incorrigibly indolent or below normal mentally, or that sound
public economy demands an irreducible minimum living stand¬
ard be sustained by a minimum wage and such other expe¬
dients as may be developed in a determined effort to give every
child a fair chance?2

In support of her argument Miss Lathrop quotes figures
from the Bureau’s studies in Johnstown, Manchester,
Brockton, Saginaw, New Bedford, Waterbury, Akron and
Baltimore. In all cases the infant mortality rate was seen

1Ibid.) p. 36.

2 Lathrop, “ Income and Infant Mortality,” in The American Journal
of Public Health, vol. ix, p. 274, April, 1919.

iSy] PORTUGUESE INFANT MORTALITY 167

to vary markedly with income of fathers except in Brockton
where the rate for those with incomes of over $1250 was
73.5 as against 67.1 for those with incomes under $550.
For all cities combined the rate for the high income group
was but 64.3 while that for the low income group was 15 1.4.

In New Bedford as elsewhere the infant mortality rates
were thus found to vary with the father’s income. There
one-fifth of all fathers had incomes of less than $450.x and
their infants had a mortality rate of 201.9; while those
infants whose fathers received over $1250 a year had the
remarkably low rate of 59.9. 2

Neither account of the Woman’s Club study of Fall River,
as published, gives figures as to income. We present here¬
with a more recent tabulation of data obtained in that study
covering this factor though very inadequately. Except for
the appearance of some government data on wages in Fall
River this table could have been constructed in 1915 when
the study was published. This was not done because of
the incompleteness of the data. The matter of income is
so important that it seemed best to include this table in the
present study despite its incompleteness.3

1 Care must be taken not to compare incomes in different cities for
these studies were made at different times and radical changes in
incomes have taken place since this study in New Bedford was made.
This fact does not, however, invalidate comparisons between income
groups in the same study.

s Whitney, op. cit., pp. 39 et seq.

* This table is a revision by the writer of a table furnished by the
authorities in Fall River who were active in the earlier investigation.
For the facts therein contained, therefore, they are responsible. The
revision and the comments are those of the present writer. The table
was constructed as follows. Most of the original schedules gave the
occupation of the father. In some cases information was obtained after
the first study was made. In not a few cases the actual weekly wages
of fathers were recorded. Where these were not recorded the occupation
was used as a guide where possible. Had the income groups used been
narrower this course would have been impossible. In all doubtful cases
fathers’ incomes were classified as unknown.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[168

1 68

Table 38

Weekly Wages of Fathers at the Time of the Births of their Children

Fall River, 1913

(those of mixed descent and “Americans”1 omitted)

Under $ 12 a week Over $12 a week Wage unknown Totals

No.

Per cent

No.

Per cent

No.

Per cent

French Canadian

... 52

25%

22%

53%

210

Portuguese .

... 125

61%

5%.

34%

204

Polish .

74%

25%

English .

30%

21%

49%

Irish .

... 13

25%

23%

50%

Italians .

Jewish .

Syrians .

... 5

Totals .

... 288

43%

14%

288

43%

669

Nothing more than a general impression is warranted
from this very imperfect table. Its significance depends
much upon the composition of the group “ wage unknown
The list of occupations under this heading is too long to
print here but it may be said that it includes in about equal
proportions occupations such as “ storekeepers ” where one
would expect the income to be over $12 a week, and “ farm
laborers ” where it may have been less. The writer gets
the impression from a study of this table that the Portuguese
do belong to a low income group in Fall River but that it
is no lower and probably not so low as that of the Poles.
In other words, this table confirms the usual discovery that
a low income group also has a high infant mortality rate;
except that the Poles seem to be a still lower income group.
We have no data as to the infant mortality of the Poles in
Fall River except the information that only 13 per cent of

1 In this table those only are included both of whose parents and all of
whose grandparents were of the nationality under consideration. Simi¬
larly, “Americans ” who are omitted consist of only 37 children whose
parents and grandparents were native-born.

PORTUGUESE INFANT MORTALITY

169]

169

the 80 Polish babies studied by the Woman’s Club in
1913, died. We noted that they had shown uniformly high
rates lin other studies. In table 40 .below 1 we show that
while 50.9 per cent of Portuguese children died before they
were five years old, only 35.2 per cent of Polish children
died before that age. Our above table is too incomplete
to make comparisons between income and infant mortality
of other descent groups possible. If our Poles were a little
more numerous and our data more complete the comparison
between Poles and Portuguese would be very significant.
As it is, they seem to indicate that the inferior non-economic
characteristics of the Portuguese outweigh in their influence
upon infant deaths, their somewhat superior economic posi¬
tion. The writer does not assert that this is true. Many
more comparisons of this kind will be necessary, and com¬
parisons based upon more accurate and complete data, be¬
fore we can assert or deny that national characteristics
are more important in their effects upon infant mortality
than is income.

Of course the most obvious objection to attributing a
high infant mortality to low wages because the two are
often correlated, is the danger that both high infant mor¬
tality and low wages may be due to a common cause or
group of causes. The Portuguese are relatively recent
immigrants, they are relatively ignorant of American ways
as compared, let us say, with the French Canadians, and
they are relatively illiterate. These characteristics among
others all make for a high infant mortality rate, and they
also make for relative economic inefficiency. Relative econ¬
omic inefficiency means relatively low incomes, other things
being equal. This is undoubtedly one of the reasons why
so large a proportion of Portuguese are in unskilled work
in the cotton mills or elsewhere. Even though the Portu-

1 Infra, p. 185.

170

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[170

guese should prove to be peculiarly efficient in these un¬
skilled ocupations, it would still remain true that they have
as yet largely failed to reach the better paid occupations
where we find other nationalities in larger numbers. It
is true that Fall River does not offer so many opportunities
for more skilled work outside of the cotton mills as do
some other communities; yet other nationalities have found
such better-paid occupations in larger numbers than have
the Portuguese.

It is conceivable that this is only a temporary situation.
It is conceivable that with the removal of illiteracy and other
changes the Portuguese may enter better paid occupations.
The writer’s study in Portsmouth makes him somewhat
optimistic of this ultimate result. It is conceivable, too, that
the Portuguese may be somewhat more exploited than other
peoples because of their ignorance. We have gathered no
data on this subject. But granting all this, the danger men¬
tioned above still remains and there is some evidence that
it is real. When we correlate low wages and high infant
mortality, to repeat, there is a danger that we may be
largely measuring the results of a common cause — the ignor¬
ance of the people under consideration. There is abundant
evidence in this study and elsewhere that ignorance is a
reality among the Portuguese.

On the other hand, the writer would not be understood as
implying that there is no causal relationship between low
income and high infant mortality. 'Undoubtedly higher in¬
comes would mean better food, better housing, and better
surroundings in general. In the long run, despite much
ignorance, a rise in income raises the standard of living.
That such an effect is not immediate, however, the war ex¬
perience with higher real wages in some occupations abund¬
antly proves. There is no evidence of which the writer is
aware that the higher real wages in the cotton mills saved
the lives of Portuguese babies in 1919 and 1920.

PORTUGUESE INFANT MORTALITY

171]

171

The Portuguese then are a low income group and low
incomes are correlated with high infant mortality. It is
not proven that these low incomes are or are not important
causes of the high infant mortality. To the writer, while
both ignorance and low income doubtless have their in¬
fluence, the former seems the more fundamental among the
Portuguese.

Employment of Mothers Before and After Childbirth

The evidence as to the importance of the employment of
mothers in the problem of infant mortality is somewhat
conflicting. Mothers who have been employed outside the
home have usually lost their babies more frequently than
those not so employed. Thus for the combined figures of
the Children's Bureau for Brockton, Manchester, Saginaw
and New Bedford, the mortality rate for children whose
mothers were not gainfully employed was 105.5, f°r child¬
ren whose mothers were gainfully employed 158.4, and for
those whose mothers were gainfully employed away from
home it was 179.1.1 The greatest contrast was for Saginaw
where the rate for children of unemployed mothers was
only 78.3, while where they were employed it was 132.7.
On the other hand, Brockton was an exception to this gen¬
eral rule with a rate for the former of 105.5 as against only
85.5 for the latter. The type of employment, the type of
employee and the degree of skill is very different in Brock¬
ton from what it is in the cotton mill cities.

So far as insufficiency of income is a cause of infant
mortality the employment of mothers may tend to prevent
death. As Ashby says : 2 “ There is the question whether
the baby is not worse off, if the family is in great poverty
with the mother at home than if she is employed and thereby

1 Dempsey, op. cit., p. 38.

1 Ashby, Infant Mortality (Cambridge, 1915), p. 38.

172

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[1 72

assisting to augment the family income.” As Hibbs says,
the fundamental economic and industrial factor in infant
mortality is low wages. Employment of mothers is merely
a means of remedying low income. Moreover, it does not
prove employment of women to be the chief cause to cor¬
relate the proportion of women employed and the mor¬
tality rates, for along with this factor go usually a high
proportion of foreign-born, a high female illiteracy and a
high birth rate.1 The same author writing in 1916 con¬
cluded on this point : “ Little accurate information is avail¬
able on this point, yet enough to show that the proportion
of mothers employed in gainful occupations does not ac¬
count for the excessive mortality in industrial cities.” 2

We have already noted above 3 Dr. Dublin’s comment
for Fall River that about twice as large a proportion of
Portuguese mothers as mothers of other nationalities were
engaged in work outside the household during pregnancy.
From this fact and the fact of the high infant mortality of
the Portuguese he assumes a causal relationship between
employment of Portuguese mothers and the early deaths
of their infants. He himself says, however: “ It has been
impossible to determine from the schedules .... how long
before childbirth the employed mothers quit work, or how*
soon after childbirth work was resumed.” In view of this
lack of information in his data and of the results of other
studies where this information was available, his assump¬
tion of causal relationship does not seem to be established,
despite a fairly strong presumption. Moreover, he does
not present information showing just how employment af¬
fected the welfare of the children.

1 Hibbs, op. cit., pp. 126-127.

1 Ibid., p. 105.

3 Cf. supra , p. 164.

PORTUGUESE INFANT MORTALITY

1 73

173]

The earlier Fall Fiver study of 1908 made a special in¬
vestigation of the effect of the employment of mothers upon
infant mortality. Unfortunately infant deaths alone were
studied so no comparative mortality rates for children of
employed and of unemployed mothers could be figured. It
was found that 45.9 per cent of the 580 mothers studied
were employed outside the home during pregnancy.1 But
while 271 mothers continued work at home up to within
four days of childbirth, only fourteen remained so long at
work away from home. The investigators conclude : “ It
would appear then that the conditions which were found
existing do not indicate that the work of the mother in
the cotton mill before childbirth was producing results
notably different from the work of mothers at home.” 2

Of the effect of work after childbirth the authors say:
“ Artificial feeding .... was much more general among
the children of mothers at work than among the children of
mothers at home.” 3 But they found that only 83 or 14.4
per cent of all children dying under one year had been de¬
prived of -the mother’s care because of her going to work.
“ This per cent represented the extent of the possible ef¬
fect of the mother’s absence from home.” But in only 42
cases or 7.9 per cent of all was the mother’s nursing in any
way affected by her absence from home. Nevertheless,
among this small number, diarrhea, enteritis and gastritis
killed an 80 per cent larger proportion (62.7 per cent) than
where mothers remained at home (34.6 per cent). They
concluded : “ The high infant mortality rate of Fall River
as a whole clearly is not due, except in very small part, to
the excessive rate among the children of mothers at work
outside the home. . . . The mother’s ignorance of proper

1 Bureau of Labor Statistics, op. cit., p. 340.

'Ibid., pp. 3SO-3SI.

8 Ibid., p. 353.

174

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[174

feeding, of proper care, and of the simplest requirements
of hygiene ” was considered the chief cause. “ To this all
other causes must be regarded as secondary.” 1 * *

On the other hand, comparison of the bare figures for the
infant mortality of children of mothers gainfully employed
with those for children of housekeepers certainly indicates a
high correlation between employment of mothers and ex¬
cessive infant mortalit}'. Dublin presents such a compari¬
son for Fall River and shows a rate for children of house¬
keepers of 160.5 and for children of mothers gainfully em¬
ployed of 303. 6. 2 The account of the same study published
by the Fall River Woman’s Club divides the group “ gain¬
fully employed ” into 107 who were also housekeepers whose
infants showed the shockingly high rate of 592.0, and
“ gainfully employed not housekeepers ” whose rate was
only ri8.8.s It adds, “ Therefore gainful employment
seems not in itself a factor in the infant mortality of the
births here considered.” 4 Whether one agrees with this
interpretation of the data or not, it is a striking enough
fact that 107 women in Fall River should have tried to raise
a baby, work away from home and keep house at the
same time, and that the price they paid for the attempt was
the loss among them of nearly six out of every ten children,
born, before they reached their first birthday anniversary.
This is a terrible state of affairs whether it was poverty
chiefly or ignorance chiefly which led them to go to work
or to lose their babies. In the face of such facts one can¬
not avoid giving some weight to employment of mothers in
accounting for infant mortality.

1 Bureau of Labor Statistics, op. cit., p. 358.

5 Dublin, op. cit., p. 14.

* Fall River Woman’s Club, op. cit., p. 15.

4 It is interesting to note what different interpretations are made of
the same data by different students.

PORTUGUESE INFANT MORTALITY

175

175]

In the New Bedford study data are given showing the
higher rates for children of employed mothers, but this
study emphasizes still more, if anything, the effect of the
ignorance of the Portuguese and their national habits. 47
per cent of the births studied there were to mothers gain¬
fully employed during the year preceding the baby’s birth.1
The mortality of children whose mothers were gainfully
employed was 154.1, but where they were not so employed
the rate was 108.8. A slightly higher rate (167.8) was
found where the mother was employed away from home.2
With reference to employment after childbirth the same
study shows that of 578 live-born infants whose mothers
worked outside the home 146 died during the first year
giving a rate of 252.6. But 103 of these deaths occurred
before the mother went to work and so cannot have been
affected by her employment.3 To quote:

The effect upon infant mortality of the mother’s employment
away from home during the year after the infant’s birth may
be shown by the following calculation. There were 475 in¬
fants who were alive when their mothers commenced or re¬
sumed work. If the average infant mortality rate for the
city for the remainder of the year had prevailed among them
a total of 29 deaths would have occurred; but actually 43 of
their infants died. The ratio of 43 to 29 expresses the extra
mortality among these infants of gainfully employed mothers.4

This is equivalent to a ratio of 148 to 100. We may note
in passing that the ratio between the Portuguese infant
mortality rate and the general rate was 155 to 100. Of
course the former rate cannot be accepted as measuring the

1 Whitney, op. cit., p. 41.

3 Ibid., p. 4 2.

3 Ibid., p. 43.

*Ibid., p. 44.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

176

[176

real effects of employment of mothers because we do not
know how comparable the mothers or the infants were in
other respects. The comparison is also an understatement
of the effects of employment in that the rate which is taken
as normal includes children of employed as well as unem¬
ployed mothers. Moreover the children of mothers who
went to work were presumably somewhat older than those
of mothers in general as it isi in the later months of
the child’s life that mothers are more liable to leave their
children to go to the mill. Since the older children may
have had a lower death rate this fact also tends to an under¬
statement of the effects of employment.

With such diversity of evidence it is very difficult to
come to any conclusion at all. The writer feels that the
Fall River data are too striking to permit us to dismiss em¬
ployment as a rather unimportant factor among a fair
number of children in that city. Nevertheless, the evidence
from other sources is much less striking. Moreover, some
information from England where the problem is not so com¬
plicated by the presence of foreign nationalities tends to
contradict the Fall River evidence. Thus in a study in
Birmingham England it was found that of 3777 mothers
visited in three years, 1908-1910, 1657 were employed in
gainful occupations, 1441 being employed in factories and
675 elsewhere. The infant mortality rate was 173 among1
children whose mothers were gainfully employed and 179
among children whose mothers were not so emlployed.1.
Such data and the results of the other studies quoted above
make one hesitate to give full credence to the apparently
fatal effect of employment shown by the 1913 study in
Fall River. We are handicapped in coming to a conclusion
also by the lack of information in the Fall River study for

1 Hibbs, op. cit., p. no.

PORTUGUESE INFANT MORTALITY

1 77

I77J

1913, as to the time when mothers went to or quit work
with reference to the birth of the child, and as to the effect
of employment on the welfare of the child. In the earlier
investigation of 1910 where these matters were more care¬
fully studied the number of infants actually adversely af¬
fected by the mother’s employment was found to be much
less than appeared at first consideration. Nevertheless, the
ill effects of employment where it was at a time and under
circumstances which affected the child, were all the more
striking. Whether a similar analysis of the Fall River
study of 1913 would have disclosed similar explanations
for the high mortality cannot be said.

Summarizing then, we can say that the Portuguese mothers
are employed in Fall River to a larger degree than other na¬
tionalities; that children of mothers employed away from
home died in that city at a much higher rate than those not so
employed, especially where house-work was combined with
work elsewhere ; that information is lacking as to the extent
to which this employment actually affected the lives of the
children; that an earlier study showed that the numbers af¬
fected were not sufficient to make employment a chief cause
in determining the general rate; that some effect (but much
less striking) of the employment of mothers was found in
New Bedford ; that very high rates are found in Portsmouth
without employment of mothers away from home; that
evidence as to the effect of employment of mothers in
other cities and in Birmingham, England is conflicting; and
that therefore we can come to no scientific conclusion on
this important matter. After some study the writer’s
opinion is that employment of mothers is a contributing
cause but not the fundamental cause of the high mortality of
Portuguese infants. Another student might come to the
opposite conclusion, however.

i ;8

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[I7S

Size of Families and Frequency of Pregnancies

In the writer’s judgment insufficient attention has been
paid to the relationship between frequency of pregnancies
and the number of dependent children, and the mortality
rates of infants. The two factors are not the same, as will
be shown. This relationship has usually been shown by
means of comparing the infant mortality rates of children
born to mothers of different ages. The age of the mother
should be an approximate index of the size of the family
but is not a perfect one. The Fall River study of 1913
showed the usual relationship between age of mother and
infant mortality — the rate rising as the age increased.1 A3
more accurate method is to find the number of dependent
children alive in each home at the time of the recorded
birth. This, of course, does not measure the effect of fre¬
quent pregnancies. Table 39 below is a recent tabulation
from the same schedules which were used in the 1913 Fall

Table 39

Dependent Children and Descent, Fall River, 1913
(no mixed descent considered)

1 child.

| 2 children.

| 3 children.

| 4 children.

| 5 children.

| 6 children.

| 7 children.

| 8 children.

| 9 children.

| 10 children.

| 1 1 children.

None.

Totals.

Average.

French Homes .

Portuguese Homes ....

Polish Homes .

English Homes .

Irish Homes . .

Italian Homes .

• •

209

203

I f\

2.4

1-4

1-5

1.6

2.7

t rr

8! .7

Totals .

142

il..

210

655

1.8

1 Woman’s Club, op. cit., p. 13.

PORTUGUESE INFANT MORTALITY

179

179]

River study. It will be noted that the Portuguese were
bom into homes with but 1.4 dependent children on the
average. This was the smallest family shown by any
nationality except the Syrians who were few in number.
The Italians had the largest number of dependent children
in itheir homes but they too were too few to be of signi¬
ficance and no infant mortality rates were figured for them
in Dr. Dublin’s report. The French Canadians had on the
average one child more than the Portuguese, and they had
an infant mortality rate of 172.4 as against 298.9 for the
Portuguese.

The relatively small number of dependent children in
Portuguese homes is probably accounted for in part by
the fact that they are a newer immigration than the French
Canadians who were probably composed of a larger number
of women who had been married a number of years. This,
however, cannot be proven. It also must be due in part
to the fact that Portuguese children die at a higher rate
than do the French Canadians. We show in a later table1
that at the end of the fifth year about half of the Portu¬
guese children have died whereas only about three tenths of
the French Canadian children fail to survive the fifth year.
In any event in view of the very high birth rate among the
Portuguese 2 their relatively small families cannot be due
to fewer pregnancies.

The size of the Portuguese families does not differ
greatly from those of other nationalities. Such difference
as exists, however, is of course a factor in the economic
status of these people. Adequacy of income is largely de¬
pendent upon the number to be supported in the family.
While the high death-rate among Portuguese children doubt-

1 Cf. infra, p. 185.

2 Cf. infra, p. 288 ff.

jgo PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND [180

less involves considerable expense for funerals and for medi¬
cal attention due to miscarriages, it is safe to say that the
smaller size of the family makes the economic burden less
for the Portuguese than for most other nationalities.

All this does not mean that the Portuguese do not often
have too large families which are a real burden to them.
They do. It simply tends to modify to this extent the
economic causes of their ills.

The question of the number of pregnancies seems to be
a much more important one. Hibbs shows that the effects
of many pregnancies are both prenatal and postnatal. The
postnatal are seen in the overcrowding of the home and
a lower per capita income while the children are young.
This effect we have already discussed. But he also main¬
tains that frequent pregnancies are correlated with improvi¬
dence and low grade intelligence of the mother.1

Woodbury, in an article in which he has in view most of
the studies of the 'Children’s Bureau, lays especial stress upon
this factor. He concludes that the rate increases as the
number of successive births following one another by in¬
tervals of less than two years, increases. “ One might
fairly conclude that an important cause of high infant mor¬
tality is the lack of proper spacing of births.” 2 We have
shown elsewhere 3 that Portuguese women had a refined
birth rate in 1920 or 199.3 as compared with a rate of 103. 1
for non- Portuguese. We have also shown the frequency
of their pregnancies.'4 This wide discrepancy is in spite of
the fact that the non-Portuguese included large numbers
of other foreign-born with high birth rates and also in spite

1 Hibbs, op. cit., p. 58.

1 Woodbury, op. cit., pp. 43 and 46.

31 Cf. infra, p. 292.

4 Cf. infra, p. 296.

!8i] PORTUGUESE INFANT MORTALITY 181

of the fact that the Portuguese included the native-born of
Portuguese descent. If we consider foreign-born Portu¬
guese only we get a refined birth rate of 21 7.1. In the
writer’s opinion this excessive birth rate goes far to ex¬
plain the high infant mortality of the Portuguese despite
their smaller number of dependent children.

Other Characteristics of the Portuguese as Related to

Infant Mortality

The frequency of pregnancies is apparently closely con¬
nected with another characteristic of some of the lower
grade Portuguese, — a certain apparent indifference to the
welfare of their children. I say “ apparent ” indifference
advisedly for it may be more apparent than real. The
writer visited many homes of Portuguese in Fall River in
company with district nurses. In one of the poorest homes
the mother was cooking in a kitchen full of young children
— her own and those of neighbors. The youngest was ill
and the nurse told the mother that the baby would die if
it did not get better care. “ Oh well ”, she replied as she
stirred the stew, “ one more in heaven then.” This is
merely a single incident. It is not typical of the attitude of
most Portuguese mothers visited, but it is an extreme ex¬
ample of the feeling of the lowest grade Portuguese when
babies are so numerous as to be a bit in the way in the
kitchen. On returning to Portsmouth a second summer
the writer expressed sympathy to an unusually bright young
mother on the death of her baby the year previous. “ I got
another now,” was her only reply. Such incidents do not
prove Portuguese mothers lacking in maternal love; they
express in the writer’s judgment, the effect upon women of
mediocre education of the habit of experiencing a preg¬
nancy almost every year.

The fatalistic beliefs of any people tend toward indif-

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

182

[182

ference toward the efforts to help them or their families.
Unfortunate or unhealthy conditions resulting from their
own ignorance or inertia are attributed to the will of God
and therefore accepted as unalterable.

In common with the more ignorant of other nationalities
there is an almost universal use of the blind rubber nipples
known as pacifiers, comforts or bluffs. These are supposed
to stop the crying but so confirmed is the habit of popping
them into the mouths that they are often thrust back when
the babies have voluntarily expelled them and are laughing
or perfectly happy. These are sometimes moistened in the
mouths of the mothers before giving them to the babies.
They are dropped on the floor or used by the other children
and returned to their owners without washing. Some of
the mothers have reached the point of hiding them when the
nurse is heard coming up the stairs, and are even ready to
apologize for not getting them out of sight sooner.

More serious in its results is the not uncommon custom
of feeding bread and milk or bread and water to the babies
of a few days or a few hours of age. This is rubbed into
a more or less moist paste and carried to the mouth on a
spoon or the unwashed finger of the grandmother and not
infrequently that same finger will be used to assist the pro¬
cess of swallowing by pushing the substance part way down
the throat.

Some of the homes are as well kept as could be expected
considering the lack of conveniences, but too many are
overcrowded and unsanitary with toilets in the cellar or in
the corner of the pantry, — often without even a partition
to screen them. The flies are numerous and no attempt is
made to keep them out or to cover the food on the pantry
shelves.

The physician is often at a loss to know what prognosis
to give the parents regarding the sick children. If he says

PORTUGUESE INFANT MORTALITY

183]

183

the child is not very ill, then they feel he is not required for
a second visit; if he feels it more serious then they conclude
it may die anyway and there is no necessity of wasting1
money for his services or for medicine.

These examples illustrate Portuguese characteristics nearly
all of which may be resolved into the one major trait of
ignorance. Whether this ignorance can itself be traced
'back to low grade native intelligence or whether it is
the product of illiteracy and other handicaps is more diffi¬
cult to say. We have compared elsewhere 1 the school records
of Portuguese and non-Portuguese children. We found the
comparison unfavorable to the Portuguese, but whether
their backwardness could be explained chiefly in terms of
home backgrounds of illiteracy and ignorance, or was due
to innate mental weaknesses we could not determine. It is
unfortunate that we have not records of mental tests ap¬
plied to Portuguese. The army tests given to immigrants,
however, have raised the question whether such tests really
do measure innate mentality apart from opportunity. The
fact that immigrant soldiers long resident in this country
did very much better than those who had recently arrived,
raises a strong suspicion that the tests do not altogether
eliminate the factor of opportunity. Still it would be well
if we could add the Portuguese I. Q. to our list of traits.

In the absence of direct proof we may suggest the likeli¬
hood that emigration from the Islands is not selecting the
abler from among the Portuguese people. So long as the
cotton mills employ relatively unskilled labor, so long will
they attract relatively ignorant elements from among our
immigrant throng. To say this is not to suggest that the
Portuguese as a whole are naturally inferior. This point
is far from being established though it may be true. It is
simply to point out that these simple-minded people are

1 Cf. infra, p. 316 ff.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

184

[184

attracted here because, with all their illiteracy and low-grade
intelligence, they can do the simple things which the cotton
mills need to have done.1

Mortality of Children under Five Years of Age in

Fall River

Before we summarize the above discussion of infant
mortality we shall present the results of a study of the mor¬
tality of children under five. These children are the same
which were the subject of investigation in the 1913 study
of infant mortality in Fall River. They were followed for
four additional years and the writer is able to show the
results through the kindness of the authors of the original
study. They should have both the credit and the respon¬
sibility for the data presented. The comments thereon and
some revision in the table have been made by the writer.

Table 40 below shows for the 802 infants born during the
summer months of 1913 the number of children emigrating
or lost sight of, the number dying, and the proportion dying
before they were five years of age, all classified by nation¬
alities. The percentages have been figured on two bases :
total births including those which emigrated or were lost
sight of ; and those remaining after deducting those emigrat¬
ing or lost sight of. Somewhere between these two rates
lie the true figures. In the present writer’s judgment it is
more nearly accurate to deduct the emigrants before figur¬
ing the rates. But since these children emigrated or were
lost to view at different ages, this procedure somewhat ex¬
aggerates the mortality. On the other hand, it is obvious
that to assume that all who were lost to view are now liv¬
ing outside of Fall River must be to understate consider¬
ably the number and proportion dying.

1 Compare, however, what was said above on the racial character¬
istics of the Portuguese, supra, pp. 22-50.

PORTUGUESE INFANT MORTALITY

185]

185

Children of all types of descent, except those of mixed
descent, have been listed by name even where the numbers
were few. The groups are listed in order of descend¬
ing rates, but no rates are set down where the number of
births considered was under 50. It must be carefully
noted that this table refers to descent and not to nationality.
That is to say, under each category are included native-
born with native parents whose grandparents were born

Table 40

Mortality Under Five Years by Descent, Fall River, 1913-1918

Total

Emigrated or

Births

lost from Deaths in

Per cent 1

Per cent

Descent

Considered view 5 years

Dying

Syrians .

Portuguese .

41.7

50.9

Poles .

... 80

237

35-2

Irish .

... 51

29.4

31-9

French Canadians .

. . . 210

24-3

31-3

“ Americans ” .

• •• 37

English .

... 71

12.7

17.0

Jews .

Italians .

... 23

Mixed descent . . . .

... 100

19.0

24.7

Total .

... 8011 2 3

1 77

214

26.6

34-2

abroad. This method leaves classified under “ Americans ”
only those all of whose grandparents were born in this
country. Those of mixed descent are omitted from each
group and themselves grouped together under “ Mixed des¬
cent ”. Unfortunately this table does not permit us also
to distinguish those who are techincally native-born of

1 Based upon total births.

2 Based' upon children remaining in Fall River until end of study or
until death, and who were not lost from view.

3 One unknown omitted.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

1 86

[186

native parentage from those whose parents were foreign-
born.

It is interesting to note from the above table that the
Portuguese retain much of their excessive mortality through
the fifth year. Their mortality for the five year period is,
as compared with that of the French Canadians, somewhat
less excessive than it was at the end of the first year of life.
The French Canadians are probably favored, however, by
the fact that they presumably include a larger proportion
of children of native parentage than do the Portuguese, who
are a much more recent immigration. That more than
half the Portuguese who could be followed through the
five year period had died, is a striking evidence of their
excessive mortality in Fall River. The only group whose
mortality exceeded theirs, the Syrians, were too few in
number to permit of any conclusion as to their character¬
istic mortality.

As these children were visited periodically by a district
nurse, some interesting records are available as to other
social handicaps under which some of these children lived.
These social handicaps were only such as were brought to
the attention of those who made the study either as a result
of a personal visit or through the records of some other
social organization. No one of these handicaps taken by
itself is of great significance for our study. The fact, for
example, that four French Canadian children had parents
who were chronic drunkards and that no Portuguese were
so noted, may or may not be indicative of a national char¬
acteristic; the numbers are too few to permit a conclusion.
If all social handicaps noted could be reduced to a common
denominator and summated we might compare the relative
handicaps of the different groups. Since this is impossible
we shall simply enumerate a number of the more important
handicaps noted, indicating with respect to which the Por-

PORTUGUESE INFANT MORTALITY

I87]

187

tuguese children seemed peculiarly unfortunate, and which
were least noticeable among them. We shall most fre¬
quently make comparisons between the Portuguese and the
French Canadians who made up the largest groups, with oc¬
casional reference to the Poles.

The following social handicaps seem to have been fairly
evenly distributed among the different descent groups :
illegitimacy (21 cases) although the Poles had none; tuber¬
culosis in the ,home (39 cases) ; home supported by over¬
seers of the poor ( 1 1 cases but Poles had none) ; father
died without leaving support (Poles no cases, Portuguese 4,
French 2) ; brutal parents (9 cases) ; born twins (26 cases) ;
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children in charge
of family (5 cases).

The only handicaps from which the Portuguese seemed
especially to suffer (though none of these are to be thought
of as typical of the Portuguese) were: immigration from
abroad during pregnancy (13 cases of which 9 were Por¬
tuguese) ; and no attendant at birth (3 cases, two of which
were Portuguese).

On the other hand the Portuguese seemed unusually free
from the following handicaps : desertion of family by
father (17 cases, none Portuguese); both parents chronic
drunkards (9 cases, none Portuguese) ; mother dying at
childbirth or soon after (18 cases, of which 2 were Portu¬
guese). The general impression which one receives from
examining the data upon which the above list is based, keep¬
ing in mind the proportion of the different descent groups
in the total of births, is that the Portuguese have as many
but hardly more of these social handicaps than other groups.
The more general and more important social handicaps such
as illiteracy, inability to speak English et cetera are treated
elsewhere in this study.

!88 PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND [188

Summary and Tentative Conclusions

We are now in a position to summarize our information
on infant mortality among the Portuguese. We have
found their infant mortality rates to be extraordinarily
high both in one rural and two urban communities, though
highest in the cities. Remembering that our conclusions
apply only to the communities studied, and that even there
many of them are purely tentative, let us review briefly the
relationship of the Portuguese to each of the more import¬
ant alleged factors in infant mortality.

i. Race. We have insisted that the Portuguese are a
nationality and not a race: that racially they are made up
of a number of strains on the mainland though remarkably
homogeneous with respect to the chief physical criteria of
race. We have shown evidence for the belief that they are
somewhat less homogeneous in the Islands and have queried
whether a strictly scientific study should not recognize the
difference between different types predominating in differ¬
ent islands. We have seen that they contain an intermix¬
ture of negro blood varying in degree in different places
but probably more prominent on the Islands than on the
mainland. We have suggested the possibility, but have not
proven it true, that emigration selects stock with a larger in¬
termixture of negro blood than is characteristic of their
group as a whole.

Pursuing the racial clue we have inquired whether a high
infant mortality is a characteristic which the Portuguese
have in common with the negroes in the United States.
We found this to be true but noted that the Portuguese
have rates higher than those for negroes in the same sec¬
tions of the country. Because of this, because other nation¬
alities have shown rates higher than those of the negro,
because negro rates vary so much from time to time and

PORTUGUESE INFANT MORTALITY

189]

189

from district to district, we concluded that the intermixture
of negro blood could not be proven to be the cause of the
high infant mortality of the Portuguese.

We also examined the suggestion that a high mortality
of infants may be a characteristic of the Mediterranean
race. We found our data very limited but because of the
low mortality of the Italians we rejected this suggestion as
at least an inadequate explanation. We found, however,
that many South Europeans have a high death rate from
respiratory diseases among their infants.

2. Nationality. We found that rates of infant mor¬
tality are far from constant iwithin a given nationality; nor
are high rates without exceptions characteristic of the for¬
eign-born as a whole. We also found cases where the
same nationality had a high rate in one community and a
low one in another. Nevertheless, we found that the Por¬
tuguese have shown a uniformly high and an excessively
high rate in all communities studied to date, except Pro-
vincetown.

3. Length of Residence in the United States. We found
that for all nationalities for which we have information the
infant death rate drops as the length of residence increases,
and that the Portuguese are no exception to this rule. We
were disappointed, however, that the native-born of Por¬
tuguese descent did not show a more marked improvement
in this respect over the foreign-born Portuguese.

4. Illiteracy. We found a very high degree of illiteracy
among the Portuguese, and that all studies have shown that
the illiterate have a higher infant death rate than the literate.

5. Ability to speak English. We found a large propor¬
tion of Portuguese mothers unable to speak English and
found that this trait also is associated, as a rule, with high
infant mortality.

6. Employment of midwives. We saw that the Portu-

190

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[190

guese prefer to employ midwives at childbirth, but we were
unable to attribute infant deaths to this practice with con¬
fidence. Portuguese babies do not as a rule die from diseases
of early infancy.

7. Deaths from preventable Causes. We found that
Portuguese babies are especially liable to die from diseases
which are most easily prevented with ordinary care on the
part O'f the mother.

8. Feeding. We found some evidence that Portuguese
mothers are less likely to nurse their babies at the breast than
are the mothers of some other nationalities; and we saw
that lack of. breast feeding is recognized as one of the chief
immediate causes of infant mortality.

9. Income. Although our data were incomplete, we
found the Portuguese a low income group. We found a
single nationality showing an apparently lower income than
the Portuguese, but with a lower infant mortality rate.
As compared with all other nationalities, however, the Por¬
tuguese seemed to have both a lower average income and a
higher infant mortality rate. We found nearly, but not
quite, universal testimony that infant mortality increases
as the father’s wages decrease; but we also found many
competent authorities doubting the importance of this cor¬
relation. We concluded that there probably is some causal
relationship between income and infant mortality, but in¬
clined to the belief that for the most part .low wages and
high infant mortality are effects of a common cause, namely
ignorance and inefficiency.

10. Employment of mothers. We found Portuguese
mothers rather frequently employed both on the farms and
in the city. We found a high proportion of employment
of Portuguese women associated with a high infant death
rate for the nationality as a whole. We (saw, however, that
study has shown that the number of employed women who

PORTUGUESE INFANT MORTALITY

I9I]

191

neglect (their children because of employment is not as great
as has sometimes been asserted. We felt, therefore, that
employment of mothers could not account for all the excess
of mortality found among children of Portuguese women.
So extremely high, nevertheless, are some of the death rates
reported for employed women, especially where they com¬
bine housework and employment outside the home, that we
could scarcely escape the conclusion that this is a real cause
of the evil. But since rates almost as high were found
among Portuguese in rural districts, and since in New4
Bedford the evil effects of employment were less evident
than in Fall River, we prefer to list this cause as a minor
factor, though an important one, accounting in part, per¬
haps, for the higher death rates for urban than for rural
Portuguese. We admit, however, that a conclusion on this
point is peculiarly difficult to reach.

11. Number of pregnancies. We gave evidence that the
Portuguese are a very prolific people but not a people with
larger families of dependent children than other nationali¬
ties. This fact led us to minimize the economic effects of
the large family among the Portuguese, but to stress all
the more the importance of a lack of proper spacing of
pregnancies — a further evidence of improvidence and ignor¬
ance.

12. Other social handicaps. By listing a number of
special handicaps by nationality we found that most of them
were present among the Portuguese in about the same
proportions as among other nationalities.

13. Other characteristics. We discussed a number of
minor characteristics of the Portuguese which would seem
to effect the mortality of their infants, and found that most
of them were secondary effects of the general factor of low-
grade understanding. We found it impossible to determine,
however, whether this low-grade understanding was due

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

192

[192

to low innate intelligence or lack of opportunity especially
in the Islands. We nevertheless expressed the belief that
the process of emigration was presumably not selecting the
superior intellectual classes of Portuguese, because such are
not attracted to a cotton mill community. We have hope,
however, that longer residence in this country and perhaps
a greater effort to help these people may raise their
standards of living and that with their improvement the
infant death rate for the Portuguese may fall.

14. We found that excessive mortality continued to be
a characteristic of the Portuguese at least until the end of
their fifth year.

15. Climate. We noted in another chapter the contrasts
between the climate of the Islands and that of the communi¬
ties studied. The effects of such a climatic change seem to
be still too little known to warrant a conclusion, although
some have attributed high infant death rates from respira¬
tory diseases to this cause.

General Conclusion

We do not yet know enough about the Portuguese to
formulate dogmatic conclusions as to the causes of their
admittedly excessive infant mortality. Communities may
yet be found where this characteristic is not present. Such
facts as have been gathered lead the writer to recognize the
importance of both types of causes distinguished at the
beginning of this chapter.1 Starting with a considerable
prejudice in favor of the economic and non-personal causes
of infant mortality, he finds his emphasis changed at the
close of this study. While there can be little doubt that
a better income would benefit the Portuguese and eventually
would raise their standard of living and to some extent

1 Cf. supra, p. 137.

PORTUGUESE INFANT MORTALITY

193

193]

reduce their infant mortality, it could hardly do so unless
it could also remove the personal causes of the infant deaths.
The latter seem to be the immediate and probably the
more important factors. If the writer were compelled to
list the most important causes of infant mortality among
the Portuguese, he would say that ignorance on the part
of mothers, improper spacing of pregnancies which accom¬
panies ignorance, and certain other characteristics of the
nationality were the primary causes, with low incomes and
employment of mothers as important secondary factors.
What the infant mortality of the Portuguese will be in the
future time only can tell.

CHAPTER VI

The Portuguese of Portsmouth, R. I. and Fall

River, Mass.

For a more intensive study of the Portuguese in Ne\V
England we have selected two communities — Portsmouth,
Rhode Island and Fall River, Massachusetts. In Fall River
our house to house study has been confined to fifteen city
blocks, the choice of which will be explained later, but statis¬
tics for the entire city have also been analyzed. In Ports¬
mouth very nearly 100 per cent of the Portuguese families
were interviewed.

The United States Immigration Commission which made
its report in 1911 studied a number of Portuguese including
a few of those then living in Portsmouth, Rhode Island.
Only 20 families were personally interviewed in this com¬
munity, however. In addition, the Commission included
a less detailed study of 55 Portuguese households in Cali¬
fornia, and of 232 Portuguese households in manufactur¬
ing and mining, chiefly in New England. 6319 Portu¬
guese individuals were also included in its study of em¬
ployees in manufacturing and mining. We shall refer to
the results of this study at appropriate points. But with
the exception of the study of the 20 families of Portsmouth
no community of these people was investigated intensively.1

1 United iStates Immigration Commission Report, 61st Cong., 3rd Sess.,
Washington, 1911. We may note here that the Commission found little
which is not in harmony with the present study. Their study, though
necessarily less intensive, has the advantage of comparing certain char-
194 [194

I95] PORTSMOUTH, R. 1. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 195

When these communities were first selected it was
thought that they would prove fairly representative, at
least of the white Portuguese of New England. As the
study progressed, however, it became apparent that there
are several types of white Portuguese. Those from the
mainland are in some respects unlike those from the Azores
or Madeira; and differences appear even between im¬
migrants from different islands of the Azores. It is also
quite possible that the cotton mills attract a somewhat dis¬
tinctive type and that therefore the Portuguese of Fall
River and vicinity may not be entirely representative. For
this reason it will be necessary to confine any conclusions
we may reach to the two communities studied. Neverthe¬
less, there is little doubt that the types we are studying
make up a very large element in the total of Portuguese
immigrants.

The reasons for the selection of Fall River and Ports¬
mouth were the following :

1. Fall River is the second largest Portuguese center in
America. There are probably 10,000 fewer people of
Portuguese descent there than in New Bedford and the
latter city is the older settlement. For several reasons,
however, New Bedford would have been a less satisfactory
city to study :

a. The very age of the settlement makes it more difficult
to separate the Portuguese from the other inhabitants be¬
cause the longer immigrants are resident in America the
more likely are they to anglicize their names and conceal
their nationality in other ways.

b. A greater difficulty in New Bedford is the presence

acteristics of the Portuguese with those of other nationalities. Their
study of 20 families gives possibly a slightly more favorable impression
of Portuguese rural homes than will be found below. See especially
vol. i, pp. 316-328, 552-557 and 639. Also vol. xxii, pp. 443-461.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

196

[196

there of a large number of Bravas or black Portuguese.
These people are a distinct type but having Portuguese
names they cannot be distinguished in written records.
Fall River has but few Bravas.

2. Fall River is also more distinctly a cotton mill city
than is New Bedford where there are somewhat more
varied industries. This fact simplifies the industrial factor
in our study.

3. Fall River, somewhat more frequently than New Bed¬
ford, has been the subject of previous studies. There are
thus available for comparison two studies of infant mortality
in Fall River, various wage and cost of living studies, a
housing survey and a recent survey of public schools.

4. The original choice of Portsmouth was more nearly
a matter of chance but it proved a wise choice. Like Fall
River this rural community was largely a one occupation
town. Moreover, the problem of analysis was simplified
there because the Portuguese make up practically the only
foreign element. Besides the relative simplicity thus se¬
cured the contrast between the two communities in this re¬
spect was of interest.

5. Portsmouth is also a good town to study because it
gives us a picture of Portuguese life when these people are
left largely to their own devices without much help from
the native population.

Composition of the Population

Portsmouth, Rhode Island is a small town of 2,590 in¬
habitants situated at the northern end of the Island of
Rhode Island which it shares with the town of Middletown
and the city of Newport. The Federal Census of 1920
divides the population of Portsmouth into 1300 male and
1290 female; and by nativity into 1072 native white of
native parentage, 915 native white of foreign or mixed

I97] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 197

parentage; 584 foreign-born and 19 negro. The Census
does not tabulate the age distribution of the population by
nationality, and the present writer has therefore prepared
the following tables direct from the original Census sched¬
ules in Washington.

Table 41

Age Distribution of the Population of Portsmouth, R. I.,1 1920

Portuguese 2 Non-Portuguese Non-Portuguese

Age

Descent

Native-born

Foreign-born

Colored

Groups

Male Female

Under 1 ...

.. 18

i-4 .

.. 70

5-9 .

.. 92

125

10-14 .

.. 89

15-19 .

• • 55

20-24 .

. . 30

25-29 .

.. 25

30-34 .

.. 30

35-39 .

•• 43

40-44 .

.. 30

45-49 .

•• 33

1 7

50-54 .

. . 16

55-59 .

.. 6

60-64 .

65-69 .

•• 4

70-74 .

.. 4

75-79 .

80-84 .

85-89 .

Unknown ..

• •

Totals .

•• 549

528

696

651

1 This table was made possible through the kindness of the Director
of the Census who put the schedules at the writer’s disposal. It no
doubt contains some minor errors as it was not feasible to recheck the
figures. The total population agrees with that given in the advance
sheets of the Census which have since appeared, but there is a small
and unimportant discrepancy between the totals for the sexes.

2 The term “ Portuguese descent ” is used to include both foreign-

198

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[198

Table 42

Percentage Distribution in General Age Groups

Portuguese Descent Non-Portuguese Descent

Under 5 . 17.1% 7-7%

5-9 . 20.2 8.1

10-14 . 15.5 7-8

15-19 . 9-2 7-2

20-44 . 28.6 33.5

45 and over . 9.5 35.6

Totals . 100. 1 99.9

Fall River, Massachusetts is a city of 120,458 inhabitants
situated near the mouth of the Taunton river about twelve
miles north-east of Portsmouth. According to the advance
sheets of the 14th Census 57,918 are male and 62,5 67
female. By nativity 19,168 are native white of native par¬
entage, 45,235 native white of foreign parentage, 42,331
foreign-born white and 371 negro or other colored. Thus
more than a third of the population of Fall River were
born abroad making her one of the most foreign of the
large cities of the country. Tables 43 and 44 below give
the age distribution of the total population of Fall River
and of those of Portuguese descent.

born and the descendants of foreign-born. The latter are chiefly chil¬
dren. Our house-to-house study found out of 333 fathers and mothers
whose birthplace was known but 6 fathers and 13 mothers who were
born in America. A few children of these native-born mothers of
Portuguese descent are included in our “ Portuguese ” group.

igg] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. igg

Table 43

Age Distribution of the Total Population of Fall River 1 and of those

of Portuguese Descent,2 1920

Total Population Portuguese Descent

Male Female Male Female

Age groups

No.

( y0TotalPop

No.

% Total Pop.

Under 1 . .

1482

2.6

1402

2.2

502

4-5

33-9

465

4.2

33-2

Under 5 . .

6788

11 .7

6852

11.0

1857

16.5

27.4

1895

16.9

27.7

5~9 .

6676

n-5

66 13

10.6

1507

134

22.6

1616

144

24.4

10-14 _

6024

10.4

6100

9-8

ii93

10.6

19.8

1192

10.7

19.5

15-19 ....

5215

5820

9-3

1006

8.9

19-3

1126

10. 1

19.3

20-44 _

21129

36.5

23998

38.4

4278

38.0

20.2

4202

37-6

1 7-5

45 or over .

12073

20.8

13170

21. 1

1403

12.5

1 1 .6

1156

10.3

8.8

Totals

999

—

62553 100.2

1 1244

99-9

19.4 11187

100.0

17.9

1 This table, like Table 41, was obtained from the original Census
schedules through the kindness of the Director of the Census. Like
it also this table may contain minor errors as the labor involved in re¬
checking the figures was prohibitive. The total in the table falls 23
short of the total subsequently published by the Bureau, but this error
is insignificant in a total of more than 120,000 inhabitants.

2 This group includes all of Portuguese descent wherever born.
Table 44 below separates these into native-born of Portuguese or mixed
parentage, native-born of native parentage but of Portuguese descent,
and foreign-born. It is impossible more than to guess at possible errors
in our Portuguese group. The Census gives data on the foreign-born
Portuguese only and these are divided into those born in the Atlantic
Islands and those born in Portugal. The total given for these two
nativities is 12,064 which is 401 less than our total for foreign-born
Portuguese. The difference is presumably made up of Portuguese born
neither in Continental Portugal, the Azores nor the Cape Verde Islands,
but largely in South America, Hawaii and Madeira. We have included
the few Portuguese born in Hawaii as foreign-born. Any native-born of
Portuguese descent whose parents were also native-born and who have
anglicized their names were indistinguishable from the native-born and
are included with them. These last are unquestionably exceedingly
few in number, however.

200

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[200

Table 44

Age Distribution of the Population of Portuguese Descent, Fall River, Mass., 1920 1

Native-born of

Total

Foreign or mixed

Native

Portuguese

Foreign-bom

Parentage

Descent

Age Groups

Male

Female

Male

Female

Male

Female

Male

Female

Under 1 . . . .

490

460

502

465

i-4 .

1318

1393

1355

1430

5-9 .

140

146

1353

1460

1507

1616

10-14 .

264

2 73

924

913

1193

1192

15-19 .

572

652

429

472

1006

1126

20-24 .

814

1102

178

199

994

1301

25-29 .

969

996

1052

1067

30-34 .

859

660

889

688

35-39 .

764

632

778

650

40-44 .

555

481

565

496

45-49 .

53i

422

533

427

50-54 .

355

269

357

272

55-59 .

235

190

237

190

60-64 .

146

134

146

135

65-69 .

70-74 .

75-79 .

80-84 .

85-89 .

90-94 .

95-99 .

Totals .

6360

6105

4834

5038

1 1244

11187

We may now compare our urban and rural communities
with respect to their composition. In Portsmouth we find
a little over half the population to be native-born and non-
Portuguese, a little over two-fifths to be of Portuguese des¬
cent, only one in sixteen to be foreigners other than Portu¬
guese, while a single family is colored. More careful ex¬
amination of the foreign non-Portuguese group would show
these to be made up pretty largely of English, Irish and

1 From the orginal Census schedules. Cf. footnote to Table 41.

201 ] PORTSMOUTH, R. 1. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 20I

Scotch. To the popular mind, at least, the Portuguese are
the only foreign nationality in this rural community.

Very different is the situation in Fall River. There the
Portuguese make up a large element but are only one of a
number of foreign groups. They are, it is true, the largest
single element among the foreign-born, exceeding in num¬
bers even the French Canadians. But the Federal Census
of 1920 shows more than 10,000 of the latter besides nearly
8000 English, 3200 Irish, 2500 Poles, 1600 Russians (pre¬
sumably mostly Jews), and smaller groups of Italians,
Syrians and Scotch. Despite their large numbers, then,
the Portuguese make up but 18.6 per cent of the total popu¬
lation of Fall River. The Portuguese in Portsmouth have
as neighbors American farmers of “ the old stock ” or other
Portuguese. In Fall River they are more likely to rub
shoulders with French Canadian, Jew, Pole or Syrian than
with the Anglo-Saxon.1

In Portsmouth the contrast between the age distribution
of the Portuguese and of the native-born non-Portuguese
is striking. The former show relatively many more child¬
ren and much fewer elderly people. This contrast is most
striking between Portuguese and non-Portuguese women
over 45. Among the Portuguese such women make up but
6.7 per cent of the total Portuguese female population, while
among the non- Portuguese they make up no less than 34.3
per cent. This situation reflects not only the relative youth
of the Portuguese immigration, but also the emigration
from the rural township of the younger native women.
The situation is only less striking in the case of men.

The contrast between the age distribution of the Portu¬
guese and non-Portuguese is brought out also by compar¬
ing the proportions of the total population which the former

1 The English are numerous, it is true, but they are not very frequently
neighbors of the Portuguese.

202

PORTUGUESE IN, NEW ENGLAND

[ 202

constitute at different age periods. With a single exception
the proportion of Portuguese decreases as the age rises.
The proportion of Portuguese among the population under
one year of age is four times the proportion among men
and women over 45 years of age.

Turning to the data from Fall River we find contrasts
less striking but roughly similar. There, too, the Portu¬
guese make up nearly four times as large a proportion of
the infants under 1 as they do of men and women over 45.
They have not far from twice their normal proportion of
infants under 1 and about half their proportion of people
past the prime of life. The fact that our non- Portuguese
in Fall River are composed of large numbers of other for¬
eigners ,as well as of native-born make these contrasts the
more worthy of note. The difference between the two
communities in this respect is also due, no doubt, to the
fact that in Fall River we do not see the exodus of young
men and women among the native stock. The significance
of these differences in age distribution will appear as we
discuss different social phenomena where age is an im¬
portant factor.

The Portuguese have been coming to these two com¬
munities for approximately the same period of time.1 The
coming of the Portuguese to the little town of Portsmouth
is strikingly illustrated on our map. Whereas in 1885,
thirty-five years before the date of our study, there was
but a single Portuguese landowner in Portsmouth, to-day
194 different families own or rent land there and 84 are
taxed for land. We cannot say how many were renters
at the earlier date but the number was very small, the
great influx having come since 1890. In another place

1 Cf. tables and discussion, pp. 98 and 104 ff.

203] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS . 203

we show1 that 139 out of 155 Portuguese fathers and 151
out of 155 Portuguese mothers who were born abroad came
to Portsmouth after 1890; and 113 fathers and 130 mothers
came after 1900. In Fall River likewise these people have
come chiefly since 1890.

Opportunity in Porstmouth and Fall River

Such being the relative numbers of these recent immi¬
grants in our two communities, into what sort of an envir¬
onment do they enter? What are the opportunities offered
such a people in Portsmouth and in Fall River?

Climate

The climate of New England is not such as to make the
Portuguese feel at home. The average annual mean tem¬
perature at Fall River from 1886-1903 was reported as
49 degrees Fahrenheit, with a winter mean of 29, spring
48, summer 68 and fall 54.2 The extremes of temperature
are, however, much greater than these figures would in¬
dicate. At Narragansett, R. I., the highest temperature re¬
corded for a 23 year period was 94 degrees and the lowest
12 below zero; while at Boston for a 34 year period the
corresponding figures were 102 and 13 below respectively.
The Portuguese from the Azores, then, come from a warmer
and more even climate. We have seen 3 that at Ponta
Delgada the mean annual temperature is some 13 degrees
warmer than that reported above and that the range of
temperature is only about 42 degrees. While the above
figures which give extremes somewhat exaggerate the dif-

1 Cf. infra, tables 63 and 64, pp. 275-6.

* U. S. Dep’t of Agriculture, Weather Bureau, Bulletin Q, Climatology
of the United States (Washington, 1906), p. 158; and Bulletin O, Tem¬
perature and Relative Humidity (Washington, 1905), pp. 5, 7 and 27.

s Cf. supra, p. 57.

204

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[204

ference in the variability of temperature there is a very
wide difference between New England and the Azores in
this respect. The Portuguese have never before exper¬
ienced such cold as that of our New England winters for
freezing temperature has been almost unknown to them,
and they have seldom felt such heat as July can bring in
this region. The winters are undoubtedly the most trying
time for them here, and sometimes tempt them to the
sunnier clime which their brothers in California enjoy.
This climatic change may conceivably account for not a
few of the ills which the Portuguese experience before they
become adjusted to changed conditions.

The mean annual rainfall at Fall River is reported as
49.5 inches or about 14 more than that at Ponta Delgada.
Without the distinct rainy season of the Azores, and with
fewer rainy days, more rain falls in southern Massachusetts
than in the Islands. The weather reports for Massachu¬
setts report a total of 80 rainy days a year with a precipi¬
tation in the wettest year on record of 63.6 inches and of
40.0 in the driest.

As for other natural advantages, the Portuguese farmer
finds in Portsmouth a fertile soil as good as the state can
offer with a ready market for all that he can raise of the
chief crops — potatoes, peas, beans and some strawberries,
together with other miscellaneous vegetables and milk and
live stock. He can buy land for from $100 to $300 an
acre and rent it for from $10 to $15 a year. The Portu¬
guese mill hand in Fall River shares only indirectly in the
natural advantages of the city which include a good climate
for textile manufacture, a favorable location for marketing
products and excellent water-power. Distance from the
source of supply of raw material is, of course, the great
handicap.

Nature gives the Portuguese an opportunity to make a

205] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 205

living on the farm or in the cotton mill, but she is not so
kindly in her effect upon his physical comfort.

Contacts with Americans

When the peasant from St. Michael’s arrives either in
Portsmouth or in Fall River, he finds himself in America
but not of America. The innumerable differences between
himself and the native-born American isolate him ; and this
isolation is also promoted by peculiar conditions of the en¬
vironment in which he finds himself.

In Portsmouth the Portuguese immigrant is fortunate if
he begins as a farm laborer for one of the more progressive
American farmers or for a fellow-countryman who knows
the farming and marketing methods of the community.
The Portuguese bring with them patient industry and some
knowledge of cultivation, but there is much to learn under
new conditions.

Work as a laborer is only an apprenticeship, however,
for every true Portuguese is ambitious to farm for him¬
self, and his next step is to rent a farm from a native family
where the man has either died or moved to the city. Then
the Portuguese immigrant sends for his wife, if she has
not already come, and a life of real isolation begins. This
isolation is especially pronounced if he has chosen a farm
off from the main highway as is frequently the case. Even
then he has some contacts, of course, when he takes his
vegetables to market, purchases seed or supplies, or goes
to the town hall to procure a license for the inevitable dog.
But these contacts are for the new-comer very transitory
and he has no share in such active community life as there
is. For his wife the isolation is well-nigh complete for
she toils all day in the fields, bends over the wash-tub in the
yard, or minds or neglects the rapidly accumulating brood
of children. About every year she gets a very few days

206 PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND [206

vacation from these occupations to bear another child. Her
life is altogether at home and she seldom talks with a native
woman and never on the same social plane. As for the
children, they run wild until the school age is reached when
the mother is only too glad to get them out from under foot
until they are strong enough to work in the fields, when
their attendance becomes less regular. If a visitor drives
up to such a secluded farm house these younger children
may be seen peeking out from behind the curtains or from
around corners. On the visitor’s nearer approach they
scurry away like rabbits, to return, perhaps, when the con¬
versation with the mother reassures them. In school, of
course, they do learn American ways and see some American
children, but there is some evidence that they tend to form
separate play groups. In one school, as we shall see, there
are but two non-Portuguese children; but this is unusual
and to some “ Ports ” school opens a new world. In gen¬
eral, however, life for the new-comer in Portsmouth is
one of isolation. His illiteracy, foreign ways, and inability
to speak English would create this isolation even if he were
welcomed by the old stock. As compared with some other
foreign communities Portsmouth evidences; remarkably little
open hostility to the Portuguese, but they certainly are
not “ of ” the community which, though fast going to seed,
is nevertheless Yankee, Protestant, relatively clean and just
a little self-satisfied.

The isolation we have just described applies to new¬
comers. After considerable time has elapsed and the Portu¬
guese have become semi-“ Americanized ” the isolation de¬
creases. Not a few Portuguese farmers are respected,
some even admired, by the older native stock. One resid¬
ent of long standing delights in telling of kindly neighborly
acts by the Portuguese nearby. On the occasion of illness
one of them did all the farm chores for a considerable

207] PORTSMOUTH , R. I. AND FALL RIVER , MASS. 207

period and refused to accept payment for his work. The
fact, also, that there is but one Catholic church in the town
brings the few non-Portuguese Catholics into contact with
the Azoreans and these contacts reach even the women.

At least two minor efforts have been made to help the
Portuguese of Portsmouth to adapt themselves to the new
conditions. The teacher of the Coal Mines School has
taken an especial interest in these people and has attempted
to establish a class for adults; and near Bristol Ferry two
cultured women have done what they could to cheer and
uplift a few of the children through the establishment of
a kindergarten and through a Christmas dinner given to
children of the community regardless of nationality.
Praiseworthy as have been these efforts, however, they have
been either too transitory or too localized to have an ex¬
tended influence. There is no evident lack of goodwill to¬
wards the Portuguese in Portsmouth. For the most part
they are left alone, appreciated as good industrious work¬
men by most of the people, and vaguely feared as the com¬
ing “ race ” by the more thoughtful. The Americanizing
influence of school, church et cetera, can best be appraised
after we have described these various aspects of the social
life of the Portuguese in Portsmouth.

For the moment we may summarize the situation in
Portsmouth as one of isolation for the Portuguese new¬
comer, but with slowly increasing contacts which reach the
children most intimately in school, the father less so in his
business relations, and the wife at home least of all.

Despite this isolation in Portsmouth, it is questionable
whether the Portuguese are not more nearly of the com¬
munity there than in the city. It is true that their con¬
tacts were few for a number of years, but such contacts as
they have are with the native-born “ of the old stock
Moreover, class lines are much less rigid in the country than

208

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[208

in the city. The most successful Portuguese farmer may
live very much like his Anglo-Saxon neighbors, and his
neighbor is as likely to be a native of the same occupation
as himself, as a fellow-countryman. In Fall River, on the
other hand, his neighbor is a mill-hand of either Portuguese
or some other foreign nationality. The “ upper-class,”
whether native or foreign-born, live “ up on the hill ” and
there are but few Portuguese among them. The Portu¬
guese of Fall River, it is true, associate much more inti¬
mately with non-Portuguese of their class, than they do in
Portsmouth. There can hardly be said to be Portuguese
colonies in Fall River, although there is a slight tendency,
by no means universal, for Portuguese to occupy the same
block or group of tenements. But the Portuguese belong to
the great group of mill-hands, and between them and the
controlling Anglo-Saxon element there is a great gulf fixed.
As we shall see the crossing of this gulf is by no means an
easy task. The Portuguese may save money and own pro¬
perty, but he may not manufacture cotton goods. If it be
argued that this gulf is of the Portuguese’s own making
or is due to his own personal weaknesses, the reply is that
we are not trying to explain the gulf or to determine re¬
sponsibility for its existence. The gulf exists as a fact
and it is a cause of real isolation to the newcomer.

If assimilation progresses most satisfactorily where there
are contacts with other elements in the same social class,
then Fall River is the place for such contacts. But if it
is favored by life in a relatively simple environment where
economic success comparable with that of the remnants of
the old stock is within the bounds of possibility, then Ports¬
mouth is to be preferred.

209] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 2og

Economic Opportunity

Economic opportunity in Portsmouth consists principally
in the opportunity to do farm work for others and when
financially able to rent or purchase land at rents and prices
indicated above. At the peak of the rise in prices and
wages farm laborers were said to be asking $75 a month
and board, a sum which farmers complained was prohibi¬
tive for them. Since 1920 the wages of farm laborers have
undoubtedly fallen.

In addition to farming Portsmouth offers employment to
a few laborers and a few skilled men at the Government
Coaling Station and on the railroads. The coal mines
operated about ten years ago proved a failure, and the
laborers’ cottages erected at that time are now occupied by
Government and railroad employees chiefly.

No attempt has been made to measure the cost of living
in Portsmouth and so to estimate real incomes. There is
no reason to doubt that it is similar to that in other rural
communities of Rhode Island and that it is lower than costs
in the city. For our purpose it is sufficient to note that
costs are low enough to enable the Portuguese to make good
economically, as we shall see. It will be much more pro¬
fitable for us to turn to Fall River where more accurate
figures for real incomes may be determined. It must be
remembered that the Portuguese have in good times the
alternative of remaining on the farms or going to the city
to the cotton mill. Indeed there seems to have been an
approximately equal flow of population in each direction.

Fall River is “ the foremost center of cotton manufac¬
turing in the New World ” 1 and boasts some 75,000 looms,
3,000,000 spindles, and 30,000 cotton mill employees.2 It

‘Fenner, History of Fall River (New York, 1906), p. 46.

7 Howard, “ The Fall River Sliding Scale Experiment,” in the American
Economic Review, vol. vii, p. 530, Sept., 1917.

210

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[2 10

is said to produce 2,000 miles of cotton cloth a day.1 If
we were to add to cotton mill employees those employed in
occupations subsidiary to cotton manufacture and those who
work to maintain the cotton mill employees, Fall River
would appear almost as much a one-industry community
as does the little town of Portsmouth. In reality, of course,
the number of occupations is much greater in Fall River,
but the fundamental industry is the manufacture and finish¬
ing of cotton goods, although there is also a large hat fac¬
tory and smaller shops making braid, pianos et cetera. As
compared with cities like Worcester, Mass. Fall River cer¬
tainly offers very little variety of industrial opportunity.

It is maintained by some, however, that this one industry
offers ample chance for advancement for an ambitious
people, and that mill managers are constantly at a loss to
find, locally, reliable well-trained men to take the more re¬
sponsible positions which are frequently open in the mills.
Nevertheless, the fact remains that the labor demand of the
mills is chiefly for unskilled or semi-skilled workmen and
women. Above these semi-skilled positions there is little
opportunity for the skilled man. It is conceivable that
much of the working class population of Fall River is in¬
capable of performing more skilled work. But be that as
it may, we have to record the fact that Fall River lacks a
variety of industrial opportunity, and that her cotton mills
do not offer a regular progression of increasingly exacting
and correspondingly well-paid positions between those of
the unskilled doffer or sweeper, and the executive positions
for which the supply of able men is said to be below the
demand. Therefore Fall River attracts low-grade workers,
and therefore, perhaps, the more able among those who do
come find less chance for advancement than they would
elsewhere — in a shoe city for example.

1 Dwight, “ First Aid to 30,000 Children,” in the Child Labor Bulletin,
vol. v, p. 213, Feb., 1917.

2i i ] PORTSMOUTH, R. 1. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 2II

But most immigrants who come to Fall River are pre¬
sumably thinking of immediate income rather than of ulti¬
mate opportunity. In common with most cotton manufac¬
turing centers, Fall River can use labor of low grade and
pays correspondingly low wages. The wages have been
much higher than those in the southern mills, however, and
somewhat higher apparently than those in the mills of New
Hampshire and Rhode Island. In New Bedford a some¬
what finer grade of cloth is made and a somewhat higher
grade of employees is found.

Residents of Fall River say, however, that while indivi¬
dual wages may be low, the mills supplement the family
income by offering employment to women and children as
well as to men. That such employment is a boon from the
standpoint of immediate need and immediate economic wel¬
fare, there can be no doubt. From the long-time point of
view the benefit is perhaps more questionable. In defense
of the mills it must be said, however, that employment of
women and children is not a new experience to these im¬
migrants; that among the Portuguese at least it is quite
as prevalent among the independent farming population as
in the industrial city; that it is less prevalent in the north
than in the south, and less in Fall River cotton mills than
among the cotton mill employees of the country as a whole.
About 1906, 6.1 per cent of all operatives in cotton mills
of Fall River were children under 16 years of age, as
against 12.8 per cent for the country as a whole.1 More
recent statistics would probably show somewhat less con¬
trast between Fall River mills and those of the country
as a whole because of the partial elimination of very young
children from the mills of the South. Recent Massachu-

1 U. S. Senate Document No. 645, vol. i, p. 217, in 61st Cong., 2nd Sess. ;
Senate Documents, vol. lxxxvi, 1919-20, “ Women and Child Wage-
earners in the United States.”

212

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[212

setts legislation raising the requirements for working
papers to an educational attainment of six instead of four
years schooling, is also somewhat reducing the number of
children between the ages of 14 and 16 in the mills. Never¬
theless, Fall River has offered and does still offer employ¬
ment to large numbers of women and children in the cotton
mills. We show elsewhere 1 the types of occupations which
children habitually enter in Fall River when they first leave
school.

Fall River then, affords employment for unskilled or
semi-skilled workers. What wages does Fall River offer?
In answer to this question we have at hand wage data for
certain cotton mill operatives of New England in 1905-6
contained in the study of Women and Child Wage-earners
just referred to; data on wages in Massachusetts cotton
mills for 1916, 1918 and 1920 from the studies of the
United States Bureau of Labor Statistics; and a special
tabulation of the wages of women in Fall River cotton
mills in 1917 compiled for the writer by the Massachusetts
Department of Labor and Industries. We have also in¬
formation from the Cotton Manufacturers’ Association of
Fall River as to changes in the weaving rate from time to
time. This weaving rate is the basis from which other
rates are figured in Fall River. The following tables give
certain data from these four sources.

Table 45

Actual Weekly Earnings in 44 New England Cotton Mills 2

1905-6

Male

Female

Doffers .

.... $5.62

$4.85

Ring-spinners .

. . . . 5-63

6.17

Scrubbers and sweepers _

. . . . 5-32

4-74

Speeder tenders . .

. . . . 8.44

7.67

Spoolers .

5-79

Weavers .

Cf. infra, p. 232.

. . . . 8.76

7.85

2 U. S. Senate Document No. 645, op. cit., p. 328.

213] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 213

The above table is interesting chiefly as showing wages
paid at a time when the Portuguese were coming to Fall
River in large numbers. It is faulty in that it refers to
mills in different parts of New England although it is de¬
finitely stated that Fall River is included in the study. As
we do not have data on the cost of living at this period it
is impossible to discuss the adequacy of these wages. With
all due allowance for the marked changes in costs and wages
since 1906 there is no question but that the above wages are
low.

Table 46 which follows gives the changes in the basic
weaving rate in Fall River according to information fur¬
nished the writer by the Cotton Manufacturers’ Associa¬
tion. “ Changes in wages are based on the price for weav¬
ing 47 J4 yards of 28" 64/64”.

Table 46

Changes in Weaving Rate, Fall River, Mass.

FOR SOME YEARS PRIOR TO MARCH 25, 1912 THIS RATE WAS 1 9.66 CENTS

Advance 10% March 25, 1912 to 21.63 cents.

Advance 5%. Jan. 24, 1916 to 22.71 cents.

Advance 10% Dec. 4, 1916 to 27.48 cents.

Advance 10% June 4, 1917 to 30.23 cents.

Advance 12*4% Dec. 3, 1917 to 34.01 cents.

Advance 15% June 3, 1918 to 39.11 cents.

Advance 15% June 2, 1919 to 44.98 cents.

Advance i2l/2% Dec. 1, 1919 to 50.60 cents.

Advance 15% June 1, 1920 to 58.19 cents.

Reduction 22}/ 2% Dec. 30, 1920 to 45.10 cents.

214

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[214

Table 47

Weekly Wages in

Massachusetts Cotton Mills 1

Full- Est.

Index No.

Actual

Time

Actual

Actual Wages

W ages

Wages

1920

Occupations

1916

1918

1920

Oct., 1919 (1916 equals 100)

Card-strippers male .

..$io.37

16.93

28.67

28.58

22.39

276

Drawing-frame tenders male

• • 8.49

13.00

25-14

26.94

17.19

296

Drawing-frame tenders female 7.57

11.48

19.16

1945

15-18

254

Slubber-tenders male .

20.18

31-84

31-82

26.69

249

Speeder-tenders male .

19.91

32.42

33-56

26.34

275

Speeder-tenders female .

14-57

23.17

24.72

19.27

232

Mule spinners male .

27.25

39-57

43.63

36.04

196

Frame spinners male .

13-32

25-93

30.19

17.62

291

Frame spinners female .

14-45

22.07

24.24

19.11

244

Doffers male .

.. 8.60

13.38

22.35

24.14

17.70

260

Doffers female .

.. 8.1 1

13.05

18.41

19.92

17.26

227

Spooler-tenders female .

.. 8.38

1245

20.79

22.75

16.47

248

Warper-tenders female .

14.29

22.75

24.58

18.89

227

Beamer-tenders male .

.. 15.24

25.23

36-46

37-30

3346

239

Slasher-tenders male .

.. 1549

22.63

3245

33.89

29.92

209

Drawers-in female .

. . 10.69

15.40

23.82

25.39

20.37

223

Loomfixers male .

. . 16.32

24.03

37-20

37.92

31.77

228

Trimmers or inspectors female 7.45

10.30

16.74

17-59

13-63

225

Weavers male .

. . 10.52

15.99

26.13

28.70

21.15

248

Weavers female .

.. 9.88

14.83

24.00

26.30

19.61

243

Other employees male 2 ... .

. . 11.30

1741

22.68

23.86

23.02

201

Other employees female2 .. .

10.92

15.92

17.48

14.44

208

1 U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics,

Wages and Hours of Labor in

Cotton Goods Manufacturing, in Bulletin No. 239, pp. 83ff., No. 262,
pp. 88ff., No. 288, pp. i8ff. The estimated actual wages for October,
1919 were computed by the writer by adding to the wage data for 1918
15% plus 15% in accordance with table 46 which shows these increases
made June 3, 1918, and June 2, 1919. The writer had ascertained from
the Bureau that the wage data for 1918 were recorded as of a date prior
to June 3, 1918.

2 Wages for “ other employees ” are probably not comparable as be¬
tween the different years because the occupations included in this
category are not exactly the same, a few occupations not shown in this
table having apparently been taken out of this category and listed
separately in 1920.

215] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 215

Table 48

Weekly Earnings and Rates of Women Cotton Mill 1
Employees, Fall River, Mass.

Rate

Earnings

Est.

Jan.-fune

Jan.-June

Rate

Earnings

No.

1917

1920

Oct. 1919

Speeder tenders . . .

117

$10.22

$16.73

Frame spinners . . .

217-811 2

$12.17

8.65

$25.77

14.17

Weavers .

421

10.35

16.94

Doffers .

149

6.65

14.08

For the purposes of our discussion we shall disregard
table 45, simply noting that, like the more recent tables, it
shows that cotton mill employees receive low wages.
Table 47 is for cotton mill employees in Massachusetts and
so raises the query as to how representative it is of wages
in Fall River mills only. We may get a partial answer to
this query by comparing the wage data for women workers
in Fall River given in table 48 with corresponding data in

1 Computed from unpublished tables furnished the writer by the
Massachusetts Department of Labor and Industries. The rates and
earnings given in the first two columns were taken from payrolls in the
period January to June, 1917. June 4, 1917 there was an advance in
wages in Fall River cotton mills of 10%. The figures in columns three
and four in this table assume that the data were gathered before the
wage advance in the last month of the period. Since the June payrolls
were included in the actual computations of the Bureau it is probable
that our estimates of rates and earnings for 1920 and 1919 respectively
are very slightly too high since they were computed by adding the suc¬
cessive increases to a base which included the month of June. The
maximum possible error which this procedure involves is about 2/2%
in the estimated rates for 1920 or the estimated earnings for 1919. If
this error exists, as seems probable, then we should deduct about 65
cents from the estimated rate for frame spinners and1 35 cents from that
for doffers. Similarly the estimated earnings for speeder tenders would
be 42 cents too high, those for frame spinners 35 cents too high, and
those for weavers 42 cents too high. Estimated rates and earnings are
obtained by adding the proper percentages given in table 46 to the
rates and earnings given in the first two columns.

2 217 for earnings and 81 1 for rates.

216 PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND [216

table 47. Unfortunately, we have but four groups to com¬
pare, because the numbers in other occupations were too few*
to warrant the use of the data. For speeder tenders female,
the estimated earnings for Oct. 1919 in table 47 is $19.27
as compared with $16.73 in table 48. For frame spinners
the corresponding figures are $19.11 and $14.17; and for
weavers $19.61 and $16.94. Thus we find that for these
three occupations there is a difference of from two to nearly
five dollars a week between the estimates for Massachusetts
and those for Fall River. When we compare the full time
wages for Massachusetts (Table 47) with the estimated
rates for 1920 (Table 48) we find similarly that the Mas¬
sachusetts figure for doffers is $19.92 as against $14.08
according to the figures for Fall River. On the other
hand, the situation is reversed when we consider rates for
frame spinners, although the difference is not so great. The
Massachusetts figure for them is $24.24 while the Fall
River figure is $25.77. Table 47 shows that there is in
Fall River a great difference between the rate and the
actual earnings of the spinners considered by the State
Bureau. While the 1917 rate was $12.17 the actual earn¬
ings were only $8.65. It must be noted, however, that
neither the mills nor the spinners considered are identical
in the two cases. Whereas 217 female frame spinners in
two cotton factories were considered in figuring the actual
earnings, 81 1 in seven factories were used to find the figure
for rates. Whether the difference between earnings and
rates is due to differences between the mills considered, or
the amount of voluntary or involuntary short-time, we can¬
not say. The possibility that such differences exist between
mills in the same city, suggests that considerable differences
may exist between mills in different communities in Mas¬
sachusetts. It does not inspire much confidence in the re¬
presentativeness of the wage data given in table 47, which

217] PORTSMOUTH R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 217

we are compelled to use for what they are worth. Never¬
theless, with the exception of wage rates for frame spinners
the differences we have noted have all shown lower earnings
or rates in Fall River than in the state as a whole. It is
probable, though not certain, therefore, that by using the
data for earnings in Massachusetts cotton mills we shall
overstate, rather than understate, the actual earnings in Fall
River.

Turning, then, to the data for Massachusetts mills given
in table 47 we note that actual earnings and full-time wages
did not differ very greatly in 1920 except for mule spinners
and male frame spinners who actually earned about four
dollars less on the average than their full-time wages would
have brought them. 1920 was, it is true, a year of un¬
usually full employment. An inspection of the actual and
full-time wages given in tables for 1916 and 1918,1 how¬
ever, shows no absolute differences as great as the two men¬
tioned for 1920. The relative difference appears to be
about the same as in 1920. As our interest is chiefly in
actual earnings rather than in rates we shall therefore use
the former remembering that voluntary or involuntary un¬
employment reduces them to somewhat less than full-time
wages.

Disregarding the group “ other employees ” we find
weekly earnings varying in 1920 from $16.74 for female
trimmers or inspectors to $39-57 for male mule spinners
with the numerically more important groups of frame spin¬
ners, weavers et cetera occupying intermediate positions.

Data as to wages are of small importance, however, ex¬
cept as they are related to information as to the cost of liv¬
ing. Real and not monetary wages are the test of economic
welfare and opportunity. Here we have available some
studies of the Bureau of Labor Statistics for different com-

1 Not shown here for lack of space.

218 PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND [218

munities in the United States, and a special study of living
costs in Fall River made in October 1919 by the National
Industrial Conference Board. Unfortunately the former
studies too often do not show Fall River data separately
and can only be used for certain details. The latter are of
interest because made by a group of representatives of the
manufacturers. It is no criticism of the National Industrial
Conference Board to call attention to the fact that their data
on the cost of living will not tend to exaggerate costs, nor
to overestimate the amount needed for the maintenance of
a “ reasonable ” or a “ minimum ” or an “ American ” stand¬
ard of living.

According to this study in 1919

to maintain a family consisting of man, wife and three child¬
ren under fourteen years of age at a minimum American
standard of living but without any allowance for savings,
$1,267.76 will be required, or a steady income of $24.38 per4
week. . . . To maintain a somewhat more comfortable stand¬
ard, again without specific allowance for savings, $1,573.90
per year will be necessary or a steady income of $30.27 per
week.1

The fifth column in table 47 gives estimated weekly earnings
for 22 occupational groups in the cotton -mills, 12 of which
consist of males. If we use the lower standard set by this
manufacturers’ association we find among males that draw¬
ing-frame tenders, frame spinners, doffers and weavers all
fell below it. That is to say, to the extent that our figures
are acceptable, these four large groups earned less than
sufficient to maintain themselves and a family of five at
this minimum standard. If we adopt the higher of the

1 National Industrial Conference Board, The Cost of Living Among
Wage-Earners, Fall River, Massachusetts, October, 1919 (Boston, 1919).
p. 1 7.

2i9] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 219

two standards we find that only mule spinners, beamer
tenders and loomfixers were able to support familes without
other financial assistance, even though they put aside no
savings. How large a proportion of these workers were
actually married men with families to support it is im¬
possible to say. That wages of husbands fall below our
minima in certain occupational groups is, however, well
known. For example there are many married doffers, and
their earnings were in 1919 far from sufficient to maintain
a family of five on the Board’s minimum. Many doffers
are, on the other hand, mere boys just out of school. The
large group of male weavers are set down as earning $21.15,
or more than three dollars less than the lower family
minimum.

Does it follow, then, that Fall River mill families were
necessarily suffering in Ocotober 1919? No, except in in¬
dividual cases. They were relatively well-to-do and re¬
latively happy as we shall show. But it does follow that,
if our statistics are true, children in many families must go
to work as soon as they are fourteen, and mothers in many
cases. Their earnings supplement those of the father of
the family and enable the family to live at their standard
and even to save considerable sums. It also probably fol¬
lows that many Fall River families live at something be¬
low an “ American standard of living ”. Are these em¬
ployees paid less than they earn, or is the lower grade cotton
mill operative incapable by his own labor of supporting a
family of five in Fall River, just as he was incapable in the
old country? The present writer does not know.

In order to get an idea of the extent to which women and
children supplement the family income we can examine data
as to the sources of family incomes in Fall River. In 1919
the incomes of 158 families in Fall River were studied by
the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Unfortunately some of

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

220

[220

these data are lumped in with those for other cities. If the
proportion of families in the different income groups was the
same for Fall River as for other cities studied, 88.5 per
cent of the families had incomes between $900 and $2100,
with 56 per cent between $1200 and $1800. The follow¬
ing table shows the relative proportions of Fall River fam¬
ilies, as compared with all white families studied, having
incomes from designated sources.

Table 49

Proportions of Families Having Income from Specified Sources1

U. S.

Fall River

12,096 total

158 white

white families

families

studied

Income from wife .

. 8-9%

15.8%

Income from children .

. 18.6

27.2

Income from dependents . . .

. 7

Income from lodgers .

. 5-i

Income from garden, etc. . .

. 44-3

22.2

Income from gifts .

. 73-3

77.8

Income from rents and

other in-

vestments .

2.5

Income from other sources

26.6

This table shows that Fall River as compared with the
other 91 localities studied had a high proportion of families
with incomes from wives and from children and a low pro¬
portion with incomes from lodgers and from rents and
other investments. The relatively low proportion with in¬
comes from garden and poultry is due to the fact that many
of the other communities are rural. The Portuguese, at
least, keep poultry and have gardens whenever it is phy¬
sically possible to do so. Of the 92 localities studied, Fall
River stood last in proportion of families with incomes
from lodgers, 89th from rents and other investments, but

1 Monthly Labor Review, vol. ix, pp. 29-41, Dec., 1919.

221 ] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 221

8th from wives and 6th from children. Practically four-
fifths of the total income of these Fall River families came
from husbands, between two and three per cent from the
twenty-five wives employed, 14 per cent from children, a
little over 2 per cent from gifts and the balance from de¬
pendents, lodgers, rents and other investments and miscel¬
laneous sources. The average total income among Fall
River families was $1,365.03.

That Fall River mill families were relatively well off in
1920 is evident from a comparison between their wages in
that year and those of 1916 and earlier; and from a com¬
parison between the cost of living in each year. In table
46 we have shown the percentages of advances in wages
in Fall River cotton mills. Between Jan. 24, 1916, and
Dec. 29, 1920 these increases amounted to an advance of
156.2 per cent. Advances in actual earnings are shown
for 23 occupational groups in table 47. The contrast be¬
tween wages of 1916 and those of 1920 are shown in the
column of index numbers. These index numbers vary from
a low of 196 for mule spinners to a high of 296 for male
drawing-frame tenders. Although all wages in Fall River
are said to be based upon the weaving rate we see that actual
increases in earnings in Massachusetts vary considerably
among occupations. For all except mule spinners, however,
money wages considerably more than doubled during this
four year period.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the index
numbers for the total cost of living increased from 103.6
(Average 1913 equals 100) in Dec. 1915 to 216.5 *n June
1920, or 104 per cent.1 The National Industrial Confer¬
ence Board found an increase in Fall River of 73 per cent
from October 1914 to October 1919.2 The rise between

1 Monthly Labor Review, Oct., 1920, p. 689.

2 Op. cit., p. 15.

222

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[222

1914 and the beginning of 1916 was not great, but from
that time on the increase was so rapid that it makes great
difference in what month of the year statistics are gathered.
All that we can say is that the rise between the date in 1916
when the wage data were gathered (mostly in May)1 to the
date of those gathered in 1920 (mostly in July) was cer¬
tainly more than 77 per cent and probably not far short
of 100 per cent. If we take 100 per cent as a high esti¬
mate of the increase in cost of living in 1920 over 1916 and
refer to our wage table (47), we see that all cotton mill
operatives with the possible exception of mule spinners were
better off economically at the latter date than at the former,
while some had received a very large increase in real wages.
Since 1920 both costs and wages have dropped but we have
not made calculations to determine which has fallen the
more rapidly.

Summarizing our wage and cost of living information,
we may say that according to our imperfect data many
Fall River mill operatives have received wages too low to
permit of family support by one wage-earner at “ Ameri¬
can ” standards, but that their relative economic well-being
has improved during the period of rising costs beginning
in 1916. If wages were “ insufficient ” in 1919 and 1920
they were, of course, more insufficient in earlier years.
When a family is larger than normal and when there are
no additional bread-winners the situation is still worse.
But when the family is not too large, and when women and
children are supplementing the family income, a wage-
earner’s family in Fall River has had a choice between
spending more now and saving for the future. Such is
economic opportunity in Fall River cotton mills as judged

1 Letter to the writer from Chas. E. Baldwin, Acting Commissioner
of Labor Statistics, dated Aug. 18, 1922.

223] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 223

from data on economic opportunity in Massachusetts mills
in general. It cannot be denied that there is opportunity
outside the mills, but for the great mass of wage-earners
in Fall River the cotton mill is the means of livelihood.

A partial confirmation of this evidence of low earnings
is seen in accounts of family expenditures in Fall River.
It must be very carefully noted in this connection, how¬
ever, that many families with low standards of living spend,
even on low incomes, less than they earn. We shall find
evidence of this among our Portuguese.

In the study of family budgets referred to above 158
Fall River families were included. 48 of those with in¬
comes between $1200 and $1500 spent $624 annually for
food, the largest sum for all the 91 localities listed in the
study. For all families studied the average expenditure
for food was $511 and the median $505. When only
families of the same income ($1300) and of the same size
are considered Fall River again stands first in the food ex¬
penditure of 43 communities. In expenditure for rent, on
the other hand, Fall River stood 85th in the list of 91
localities.1 This does not necessarily mean that wage-
earners were not willing to spend more for rent. Says the
Conference Board of Fall River tenements:

The ordinary tenement in Fall River contains from three to
five rooms with toilet, and rents range from $1.25 to $4.00 per
week. For the larger sum a bath would be included. There
are very few heated apartment houses, and rents for these
would be more than $20 a month. The majority of wage-
earners probably pay between $1.75 and $3.00 per week and
do not have a bath. The demand for the larger apartments
with baths far exceeds the supply. Many families are forced

1 Ogburn, “A Study of Rents in Various Cities,” in the Monthly Labor
Review, Sept., 1919, p. 10.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

224

[224

to live in inferior and crowded quarters at the present time
[October, 1919], because no others are to be obtained.1

The above was written at the beginning of a period of
rising rents in Fall River and corresponds with the writer’s
investigation except that rents had risen somewhat by 1920.
In 1919, according to the study of the Bureau of Labor
Statistics, the average rental paid by Fall River families
was $2. 5b.2 No exceptional overcrowding was shown, the
families averaging 1.1 persons per room or about the same
as for families in general.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics also rates thirty cities
according to the amounts spent by families for the mis¬
cellaneous items in the budget. Here Fall River stands
first in the list of expenditures for church, 18th for in¬
surance, 23rd for amusements, 25th for uplift and educa¬
tion, 26th for street-car fares, 28th for charities, 29th
for sickness and last for “ patriotic purposes ”.3 Such rat¬
ings do not show, however, the reasons why little was
spent for some of these items. The reason might con¬
ceivably be lack of need, lack of desire, necessity for spend¬
ing more for other more pressing needs, or because the
community furnished some of these things gratis. Per¬
haps Fall River families spend more for food because they
are obliged to; but it is equally likely that they prefer eat¬
ing well to living well.

Opportunity to Find a Desirable Home

Other opportunities and handicaps in Fall River are in
part dependent on this fundamental economic situation
which we have described, and in part independent of it.
Thus the opportunity to secure a sanitary and attractive

1 National Industrial Conference Board, op. cit., pp. 5-6.
1Ogburn, op. cit., p. 10.

8 Monthly Labor Review, vol. ix, Nov., 1919, p. 18.

225] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 225

home is in part limited by income and in part by the
number of homes available at a reasonable rental. We
have noted above the scarcity of desirable homes in 1919.
As is well known this scarcity of the better sort of houses
was at that period characteristic of most communities in
the United States. On the other hand, as we have seen,
rents are low in Fall River.

No one will deny that the sections of the city where
most of the Portuguese live are unattractive. There is
a dreary monotony of plain two and three story frame
buildings with accommodations for from two to twelve
families, sometimes fronting the street, and sometimes
ugly alleys. In most yards the tramp of many feet has
prevented the growth of grass although there are excep¬
tions to this. Even where the interiors of the tenements
are well-kept, hallways are apt to be defaced and uncleanly.
What is everybody’s business is no one’s business.

Unfortunately, we have no reliable study of housing
conditions in Fall RSver. Early in 1912 a supposedly
scientific study of housing was indeed made by the Di¬
rector of the Bureau of Social Research for New England.
Unfortunately, an examination of the methods of this
survey, at least in the parts of the city with which the
present writer is acquainted, does not inspire confidence
in the representative character of this study. Under the
head of “ Field of investigation ” the author says :

The desire of the committee was to ascertain general condi¬
tions rather than startling abuses. It was therefore found
advisable, in fairness to the city, not to pick individual houses
but to take whole sections and record both sanitary and un¬
sanitary conditions, normal and abnormal structures, and base
conclusions upon an average.1

1 Aronovici, Housing Conditions in Fall River (Fall River, undated,
but study made in 1912), p. 2.

226 PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND [226

A map is then presented showing areas covered, and while
a little thought would tell the reader that these areas must
contain far more than the 279 buildings investigated, he is
given the impression from the text that practically all
houses in the areas indicated were studied. The present
writer knows nothing of the representativeness of this study
except as it refers to fifteen city blocks bounded by Broad¬
way, Columbia, Hunter and Division Streets. Within that
area he feels sure, however, that very far from all buildings
were examined, and, what is much more important, that
those examined were not a fair sample of the whole dis¬
trict. These fifteen city blocks contain to-day not far from
300 numbered dwellings. The writer examined the original
schedules for the housing survey and found that, leaving
William Street out of consideration,1 a total of 29 dwellings
had been investigated. But these 29 can hardly be con¬
sidered representative. In general the living conditions in
this district grow worse as one approaches the corner of
Broadway and Columbia Streets and improve as one goes
either south or east from that point. But an examination
of the schedules shows that no less than seventeen of the
twenty-nine houses investigated were located in the one
block bounded by Broadway, Columbia, Eagle and Hope
Streets — by far the worst block of the fifteen. Moreover,
although the whole section is included in the shaded area
on the map, as though all parts had been examined with
equal care, no schedules were found for Division, Hunter
or Grant Streets within the boundaries mentioned above.
These streets are, according to the present writer’s investi¬
gation, decidedly the best streets in the section. With
great regret, therefore, we are obliged to forego the use of

1 The present writer inadvertently omitted to include this street when
examining the schedules.

227] PORTSMOUTH , R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 227

this housing survey, in our attempt to appraise the oppor¬
tunity which Fall River offers to its wage-earners to secure
homes. Neither have we any study of our own to offer
in its stead, except the information given below as to liv¬
ing conditions among about 100 Portuguese families in the
Columbia Street district.

It is a matter of general knowledge, however, that hous¬
ing conditions of mill workers in Fall River are not ideal.
The general appearance of the houses is unattractive. The
general absence of a bath has already been noted. In one
of the worst types of dwellings the toilet is in a corner of
the pantry with only a curtain separating it from the room.
During the high rent period tenants complained of the dif¬
ficulty in getting landlords to make repairs. If he were to
consider the houses themselves alone, the writer would pre¬
fer life in the farm houses of Portsmouth without running
water, to life in the mill houses of the city which he has
seen; — at least he would prefer it if he could live there be¬
fore the Portuguese had occupied them.

Thus one’s estimate of the opportunity for normal home
life in Fall River will depend upon one’s idea of what con¬
stituted “ normal ” home life. The homes seem to be poor
and unlovely, but not generally unsanitary. The propor¬
tion of the sexes is approximately equal with a slight excess
of females. The low wages, no doubt, do tend to compel
a postponement of marriage and to limit the possibility of
occupying an “ American ” type of home. On the whole,
the writer would consider the opportunity poor and such as
to satisfy only a people accustomed to adverse living con¬
ditions.

Opportunity for normal home life in Portsmouth is per¬
haps better than in Fall River. The homes of the farming
population there are of various types. It has seldom been
necessary for newcomers to build new homes unless they

228 PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND [228

have so desired, because the native population has moved
out leaving ample accommodations. Many of the houses
left are old and poorly equipped and most are, of course,
lacking in modern conveniences, but these conditions are
the typical rural situation. In place of more modern plumb¬
ing in Fall River, the inhabitant of Portsmouth has country
air, ample space indoors and out, low rents, variety in type
and location, and attractive rural surroundings. The con¬
dition of one’s home in Portsmouth depends much more
upon one’s own ability to make something of it than does
that of a Fall River tenement. A state investigation pub¬
lished in 1907 showed about two rooms per person in Ports¬
mouth or about twice the space available in the city.1 With
the growth of large Portuguese families the ratio of people
to rooms has possibly increased somewhat, but not greatly,
for the population has declined in the last ten years.

Opportunity for Education

In educational opportunities offered there is naturally a
considerable contrast between the two communities. In
Portsmouth the schools are small, the distances in some
cases considerable, and the school committee in charge ap¬
parently increasingly indifferent. The writer has been told
that the committee takes the attitude that there is no use
improving schools for the Portuguese to utilize. Without
reflecting in the least upon the conscientious work of the
teaching staff, the quality of instruction to be expected in
Portsmouth may be judged from the fact that the highest
salary paid to any teacher in 1920 was $695, as compared
with $1500 paid to teachers in Fall River elementary
schools after five years of service.2 The town has seven

1 R. I. Bureau of Industrial Statistics, Annual Report for 1907,
Part I, Bulletin iii, p. 333.

* Portsmouth, R. I., Report of Town Officers (Newport, 1920), p.
14. Fall River, Mass., Report of the Public Schools, 1920 (Fall River,
1921), p. 69.

229] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 229

elementary schools for the first four grades, one of which
also cares for all the fifth grade pupils. In addition there
is one school for grades six to nine but no high school.
Pupils wishing secondary education go either to Newport
where they can get tuition free, or to Fall River where a
fee of $125 a year is charged. The Superintendent of
Schools is paid a salary of $300. Six of the school houses
are old-fashioned one-room buildings. The more central
school at Newtown is more modern and the Quaker Hill
School near the Town Hall is, in physical appearance, a
fairly up-to-date establishment with running water, flushed
toilets and well-lighted rooms. Granting a fair amount of
conscientious work on the part of teachers, Portsmouth can
hardly be said to stimulate the love of education as well
as might be wished.

In Fall River we find the relatively high-grade schools
characteristic of Massachusetts cities. A special survey of
Fall River Schools by an unusually competent committee,
though never published, has enabled the writer to get a fair
estimate of the quality of educational opportunity in Fall
River, as late as 1917. This survey reports the Fall River
tax rate for school purposes as next to the highest among
cities of its size in the United States. The report criticized
the distribution of the money obtained, however, on the
ground that a disproportionate amount ($87.49 per student)
was spent for secondary education, as compared with the
sum ($34.91 per student) spent for elementary education.1
Of 36 Massachusetts cities Fall River had the largest staff
of high school teachers per unit of all but three. She also
stood third from the last among these cities in the propor¬
tion of the population in the high schools (125 per ten
thousand) being followed only by Chicopee and New

1 Lincoln, et al., Survey of the Schools of Fall River (Report sub¬
mitted May 25, 1917), ch. ii, p. 26.

230

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[230

Bedford. Of cities in the United States with a population
of between 100,000 and 150,000 Fall River was fourth
from the end in this respect being followed by Memphis,
New Bedford and Bridgeport.

The survey also lays special stress upon the great exodus
of children from Fall River schools as soon as they reach
the age of fourteen. “ Probably three-fifths of the child¬
ren of Fall River leave school as soon as they reach the age
of 14.” The committee found but 21125 children aged 14-
18 in school out of a possible 1 0,000. 1 The following table
showing the pupils enrolled in Fall River schools by grades
indicates the great falling off in registration as soon as the
sixth, seventh and eighth grades are reached. Commenting

Table 50

Fall River, Mass., Pupils in Public Schools by Grades,

December, 1916 2

Grades

Boys

Girls

Total

Kindergarten .

_ 196

202

398

Grade 1 .

1179

2467

“ 2 .

1141

2209

“ 3 .

.... 974

989

1963

“ 4 .

1098

2174

“ 5 .

.... 1143

993

2136

“ 6 .

.... 685

757

1442

“ 7 .

. 465

470

935

“ 8 .

- 355

337

692

High 1 .

. 224

255

479

“ 2 .

192

360

“ 3 .

184

314

4 .

. 104

155

259

Post-graduate .

. 6

Special .

. 291

245

536

Sub-Freshmen . .

. 14

Totals .

8231

16418

1 Ibid,., p. 121. If continuation schools are counted this number has
presumably increased since 1917.

2 Lincoln et al., op. cit., ch. iv, p. 8.

231] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 231

upon this situation the Committee says : “ It is believed by
the survey committee that this [leaving school at the age of
fourteen] is not due so much to financial necessity as to the
fact that the education provided in grades seven and eight
is not of a character suited to encourage pupils to continue
this education.” 1 Be that as it may, there is no question
that children leave school to go to work as the following
table makes evident.

Table 51 shows a very considerable exodus of children
into industry in 1916. That this was not a year when an
abnormally large number of children went to work is shown
by the fact that the annual reports of the Public Schools for
1919 and 1920 show respectively 3174 and 2978 employ¬
ment certificates issued to different children between the
ages of 14 and 16. These numbers were exclusive of
vacation employment certificates and home permits. The
table also brings out the degree to which the cotton mill is
the goal of such children, in that more than four-fifths of
all children going to work entered the mills. The propor¬
tion of girls entering cotton mills was larger than that of
boys.

So far as recent school reports show the educational
policy of recent years, there seems to be a curious conflict
between a desire to keep the children in school longer, and a
fear lest what they learn shall make them dissatisfied with
the life of a mill operative. This latter fear has led to a
demand for increased emphasis upon practical and indus¬
trial courses. The following from the report of 1919* is
worth reproducing :

Manual training is vital to Fall River. No industrial com-

1 Ibid., ch. iv, p. 8.

,p. 15- j

232

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[232

munity can lay the proper educational foundations for its
youth without that training. Fully four-fifths of the wage-
earners of the city are engaged in the manufacturing indus¬
tries. An exclusively bookish education has created in the
minds of many of them a radically wrong attitude towards
life. It is undeniable that working at cotton manufacturing
is looked upon as a necessary evil, as a last resort, as some¬
thing to be given up if possible.

Table 51

Fall River, Mass., Occupations Entered by Children Leaving

School,1 1916

Cotton Industries

Boys

Girls

Totals

Weaving room .

161

261

Doffing .

. 53

179

232

Sweeper (spinning room) .

183

Spinner . . .

108

Spool attendant .

Drop wiring (weave room) .

. 54

Cleaner .

. 32

Braider .

. 9

Bobbin boy .

. 19

Winder tender .

Filling carriers .

Trimmer .

Work on rollers .

Harness maker .

. 3

Table boy .

. 13

Hanking cord .

Shuttle boy .

Drawing-in tender .

. 4

Cloth handler .

Single-end piler .

Heddle boy .

. 4

Envelope filler .

Yarn carrier .

. 7

Back boy .

. 7

Tuber . .• . .

. 9

Finisher (shirt waists) .

Bale sewer .

. 5

1 Lincoln, et al, op. cit., ch. iv, p. 12.

233] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 233

Waste boy .

Cutter-off (cloth bags) .

All others .

• • 59

Totals (“cotton”) .

695

1359

Non-cotton occupations

Boys

Girls

Totals

Clerk .

■■ 45

Helper .

.. 24

Errand boy .

Messenger (business) .

(telegraph) .

Office boy .

House work .

Machine shop work .

Homework (estimated) . .

Hat factory (mostly ironing machines) .

■ • i5

Helper on wagon .

Bobbin Co .

All others .

.. 47

Total (“ non -cotton”) .

310

Grand totals .

•• 875

794

1669

The educational problem suggested by this quotation is
too large for discussion in this study. Is the educational
problem of Pall River to make “ educated ” people love to
tend looms? Or is it to make them dissatisfied with the
cotton mill, and if so who is to tend the looms? Or is it
rather, as Arthur Pound would have us believe, to teach
them how to use their leisure time profitably and intelli¬
gently? If cotton mill work is all which these people are
capable of performing, it is surely no kindness to them to
lead them to despise it. If, on the other hand, they can be
fitted for more exacting work they should be given the op¬
portunity. The writer makes no pretense of answering
these questions. The above quotation is of interest to us
as indicating that education in Fall River had seemed to
lead to dissatisfaction with cotton mill work, and as show¬
ing a possible change in educational policy. Perhaps Fall

234

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[234

River needs different kinds of education adapted to the dif¬
ferent mental capacities of different types of population.

In addition to its regular day elementary and high schools,
the public school system also affords special classes for sub¬
normals in which 115 pupils were enrolled during the
school year 1919- 1920; an independent evening industrial
school for women with an enrollment of 1075 and an aver_
age attendance of 663 ; one for men with an attendance of
but 40; elementary evening schools with an enrollment of
1150 and an average attendance of about half that number;
and classes in agriculture attracting 225. In addition a
small day industrial school gives instruction to some 34
boys in interior decorating and cabinet making.

Fall River also has numerous parochial schools attended
chiefly by French Canadians but not as a rule by Portu¬
guese, although there is one such school especially for that
nationality. The quality of the instruction in these schools
need not be discussed here for they are merely an alterna¬
tive to instruction in the public schools for those who wish
a combination of religious and secular training and who
can pay the fees asked. There are practically no other
private schools in the city, and the children of the wealthier
parents invariably attend the public schools.

Also located in Fall River is a state institution — 'the
Bradford Durfee Textile School. This school has both
day and evening classes. The entrance requirements for
the day school are that the candidate must be at least 16
years of age and must either present a high school certi¬
ficate or pass an examination in Arithmetic and English.
Actually, most pupils have had at least two years of high
school training. Four courses are offered: one in general
cotton manufacturing requiring three years of attendance,
and two-year courses in designing and weaving, the chem¬
istry of dyeing and engineering. In the year ending Nov.

235] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 235

30, 1920, 97 students were enrolled, 57 of whom were re¬
sidents of Fall River. The evening classes attract a larger
number and very different type of students. Very many
are mill operatives who wish to prepare themselves for
some particular mill occupation. There are 13 or 26 week
courses in one particular subject and most students take
but one course. In 1921, 1292 students were enrolled in
these classes nearly all of whom were residents of Fall
River. The actual attendance, however, was but 755.

In accordance with a state law passed in 1918, continua¬
tion schools were established in Fall River in 1920 to pro¬
vide schooling for minors between the ages of 14 and 16
who are employed not less than six hours per day, or who
remain at home under special home permits.1 Boys may
go to either of two schools — one where carding, spinning
and weaving are taught, and one where automobile repair¬
ing, electrical work, woodwork, mechanical drawing, and
commercial branches are the subjects. The girls in the
same group receive instruction in home nursing, care of
infants and home management, and the regular academic
subjects which are required; and in cooking, sewing, mil¬
linery and commercial subjects which are electives. “ The
entire school in its three divisions has had over 2500 pupils
per week, making it by a considerable margin the largest
school of its kind in the state, exception being made of the
Boston school which has about twice its membership.” 2

Special educational work for immigrants is also carried
on in the Fall River evening schools and by the Fall River
Immigrant Committee. The latter organization was until
recently financed by some of the cotton mills but is now'

1 54th Annual Report of Public Schools of Fall River (Fall River,

1920) , p. 27.

* 55th Annual Report of the Public Schools of Fall River (Fall River,

1921) , p. 1 7.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

236

[236

(1922) on an independent basis. According to its an¬
nual report for 1920, 350 aliens had been in attendance in
its English classes and 288 in advanced or citizenship
classes. This organization seems to have been able to get
the interest of the different nationalities to some degree by
establishing classes in clubs or in shops. Their attendance
records are more satisfactory than those of the classes in
the public schools where the work has been handicapped by
the lack of a full-time director of Americanization work.
The Immigrant Commission is useful to immigrants in many
other ways besides this, such as aiding in the transmission
of money home, assisting candidates for citizenship in the
courts, conducting public receptions for new citizens, hand¬
ling foreign letters and cables, issuing affidavits, co-operat¬
ing with other social agencies, delivering formal and in¬
formal lectures on various subjects, et cetera. All these
aids are lacking in the rural community of Portsmouth, ex¬
cept as the people go to Fall River or elsewhere for them.

Thus, as would be expected, Fall River offers much more
in the way of educational advantages to the newcomer,
than does Portsmouth. Whether the new emphasis upon
practical education is desirable, whether too great stress is
given to high school education or not, it cannot be denied
that there is much more educational opportunity in Fall
River than the population takes advantage of.

Opportunity to Keep in Good Health

We may get a rough idea of the health opportunity in
our two communities by noting natural and sanitary con¬
ditions, by referring to such vital statistics as are available,
and by examining the organized efforts to promote health
in each community. We shall do this very briefly.

Portsmouth impresses one as a heathful community.
Except at one marshy spot the island is high and dry and

237] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 237

the hills and part of the shore line are a summer resort for
the well-to-do, including a few of great wealth. The
winter’s cold is no doubt trying for those who have seldom
known frost at home. As in most rural communities sani¬
tary conveniences are within the reach of only a few; and
whether the lack of them will be a menace to health will de¬
pend upon the intelligence with which people live, and the
enforcement of health regulations by the community. This
enforcement is probably less strict and less necessary than
in the city.

Death rates for a single year would be without signifi¬
cance for Portsmouth because of the small population.

Table 52 shows a total of 1315 deaths in Portsmouth in
36 years. By dividing the last thirty years into three
periods of ten years each we find an average of 27.1 deaths
per year during the first decade, 41.5 during the second and
48.2 during the third. If we should assume the absolute
growth of population to have been constant between the
Census years of 1890, 1900, 1910 and 1920 and should
use the estimated population for about the middle of our
decades (1896, 1906 and 1916 respectively) as a base, we
should get very roughly the following average death rates
for each of the three decades: 13.3, 16.9, and 18.4, re¬
spectively. A moment’s thought, however, will show that
we cannot consider these rising rates as indices of an in¬
creasing menace to health in the community, but as indica¬
tions of a great change going on in the characteristics of
the population of the town. A glance at tables 41 and 42 1
shows the marked difference to-day between the age distri¬
bution of the Portuguese and that of the non-Portuguese.
Reference to our chapter on infant mortality 2 will also
show the marked difference in the number of infant deaths

1 Page 155-

2 Cf. especially pp. 197-8.

238

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[238

Table 52

PORTSMOUTH, R. I., DEATHS BY NATIVITY, 1885-I92O 1

Native Portuguese Other

Year

Non-Portuguese

Descent

Foreign

Negro

Unknown

Totals

1885 ....

1886 ....

. 23

1887 ....

. 15

1888 ....

. 20

1889 •• • •

. 19

1890 .. . .

. 23

1891 .. . .

. 20

1892 .. . .

. 29

1893 ....

. 18

1894 ....

. 17

1895

. 17

1896 ....

. 24

1897 •• ••

. 15

1898 ....

1899 ••••

1900 .. . .

1901 .. . .

. 24

1902 .. . .

1903 ....

1904 .. ..

. 29

1905 ....

. 17

1906 .. . .

. 3i

1907 ....

1908 .. . .

. 20

1909 ....

. 35

1910 .. . .

. 30

1911 .. . .

. 33

1912 .. . .

. 18

1913 ••••

. 3i

1914

. 21

1915 ....

. 20

1916 .. . .

1917 ....

. 28

1918 .. . .

. 19

1919 ....

. 28

1920 . . . .

. 24

Totals .

. 837

360

1315

1 From Register of Deaths for Portsmouth, R. I., 1885-1920.

239] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 239

among Portuguese and non-Portuguese. The marked rise
in the death rate for Portsmouth can probably be explained,
therefore, as a result of (n) the exodus of the younger
native stock leaving an abnormal proportion of aged among
natives; (2) the coming of a people with a high birth rate
and hence the opportunity for many infant deaths; and
(3) the coming of a people with an abnormally high infant
death rate. These forces have apparently more than offset
the fact that the Portuguese bring few aged with them. If
we may assume that in the first of our three decades Ports¬
mouth had a normal population, we may say that a death
rate of 13.3 was low at that time, and that, so measured, the
community may be rated as healthful.

As for organized public health work in Portsmouth it is
almost nil. Reasonably competent physicians are on call,
children in the schools are given simple eye and ear tests;
and an experiment was once tried with a Red Cross nurse
from Newport to visit families and examine children in the
schools. This experiment proved a failure, however, be¬
cause of lack of interest on the part of the community. In
1920 the Child Welfare Bureau of the State of Rhode
Island began sending a nurse to look up new-born infants
and to advise mothers as to their care. Her visits are but
once a year, however, and while the work is greatly needed
such a nurse can not have the influence of a resident district
nurse. Beyond this and individual efforts of teachers and
other residents little has been done to promote health in
Portsmouth.

Turning to Fall River we find a city unattractive but not
noticeably unsanitary. Its degree of healthfulness may be
judged from the following table showing the city’s death-
rates for successive years from 1911 to 1919 inclusive and
for the period 1906 to 1910, compared with corresponding
rates for other cities of Massachusetts.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND [240

Table 53

Death Rates of Five Massachusetts Cities 1
Average

Cities

1906-10

1911

1912

I9I3

1914

1915

1916

1917

1918

1919

1920

Boston .

. 17.9

17-3

16.6

16.8

16.6

16.7

17.6

174

2 3.6

157

15-5

Cambridge .

. 15.1

15.3

13-3

13.8

13.6

14.2

14.8

211. 1

134

14.9

Fall River . .

. 19.7

17.9

16.6

17.8

18.1

16.8

18. 1

17.6

23.8

144

147

Lowell .

• 194

18.0

17.6

16.2

16.6

177

17.5

22.2

15-2

15.8

Worcester ..

. 17.1

15-7

16.1

15-5

15-0

17-3

16.3

21.6

14.8

This table shows Cambridge to have had the lowest death
rate of these five cities, W orcester next with Boston, Lowell
and Fall River running close together but with Fall River
showing slightly the highest rate for the early five year
period and for six of the ten more recent years. Fall
River has, however, improved her relative standing in the
state during the years 1919 and 1920. These five cities
are the only ones in Massachusetts for which the Census
Bureau computed rates. For the year 1920 the writer has
computed rates for the other two cities in the state having
over 100,000 population and finds a rate for Springfield of
13.2 and for New Bedford of 14.4. In using these rates
we are in danger of assuming that we are measuring only
the healthfulness of the community when we may as well
be measuring the health habits of its inhabitants. We may
also be seeing the result of peculiar age and sex distribu¬
tions of the population. Fall River may conceivably have
had a slightly higher death-rate in many years for any of
the following causes or for a combination of them : be¬
cause she is naturally slightly less healthful; because less
efficient efforts have been made to promote public health
there; because the Portuguese (or other types) live there

1 Rates for all years except 1920 are from Bureau of the Census,
Mortality Statistics 1919 (Washington, 1921), p. 12. For the year 1920
the writer computed the rates from an advance report on deaths for
1920 published by the Bureau using the figures for population given in
vol. i, of the Census of Population for 1920.

241 ] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 241

in large numbers; or because the total population is at
those age periods when the death-rate is normally higher.

In order to enable us to judge whether age and sex have
'been factors in the difference between Fall River’s death-
rates and those of other cities, the writer has computed the
following table of corrected death-rates.

Table 54

Corrected Death-Rates for Five Massachusetts Cities 1
Average

Cities 1906-10 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920

Boston . 19.8 19.2 18.4 18.6 18.4 18.5 19.5 19.3 26.1 17.4 17.2

Cambridge . . 16.2 16.4 14.3 14.8 14.6 14.6 15.2 15.9 22.6 14.4 16.0

Fall River ... 22.1,, 20.1 18.7 20.0 20.3 18.9 20.0 19.8 26.8 16.2 16.5

Lowell . 21.4 19.9 19.4 17.9 17.9 18.3 19-5 J9-3 24.4 16.7 17.4

Worcester ... 18.6 17.1 17.5 17.5 16.9 16.3 18.8 17.7 23.5 16.1 16.1

1 The crude death-rates presented in Table 53 were corrected for age
and sex as follows : The distribution by age and sex of the total popu-
tion of New England) for 1910 was assumed to be a standard age and
sex distribution, and the deaths per 1000 male and female in each age
group were assumed to be standard mortality rates. The age and sex
distribution of the population of each of the five cities in 1910 was
assumed to be representative of the age and sex distributions of these
cities’ populations for the period 1906-10, and for each of the years 1911
to 1920 inclusive. This latter assumption probably involves a small
error, since the age and sex distributions of the populations of the five
cities doubtless varied slightly from year to year. However, it was felt
that the 1910 distributions were sufficiently representative as bases for
calculating death-rates, and since the actual distributions for the other
years would necessarily have been based upon population estimates, the
1910 figures have been used. It should be added that the 1920 Census
volumes on population now available do not classify populations by the
age groups 15-24, 25-44 or 45-64- Since these age groups are significant
in refining mortality rates, the 1920 figures were not used.

A “ factor of correction ” was computed for each of the five cities
by dividing the death-rate of the standard population by the calculated
standard death-rate of each city. The “ corrected ” death-rates in Table
54 are the products of the crude rates (Table 53) by these “ factors of
correction.” The “ corrected ” rates, therefore, show variations due to
other factors than age and sex.

A more detailed description of this method of correcting crude death-
rates will be found in Newsholme, Vital Statistics, Chapter XII, page
109 et passim.

242

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[242

This table shows the same relative standing of the death-
rates of the five cities, even when allowance has been made
for the influence of age and sex upon mortality. If Fall
River’s death-rate has been higher than that of some other
communities, it has not been due to an abnormal distribution
by sex or to an abnormally large proportion of people at
those age periods when death-rates are high. As com¬
pared with the other five cities the refined death-rate for
Fall River is relatively higher than the crude death-rate.
The difference is not, however, great. To the writer it seems
that the somewhat higher death-rate in the earlier years in
Fall River may be largely explained as due to excessive in¬
fant mortality which we have discussed elsewhere. The
decline in general death-rate of recent years has been par¬
alleled by a decline in infant mortality.

As Fall River is a textile manufacturing city an especial
interest attaches to the data on tuberculosis risk. The Fed¬
eral Study of Women and Child Wage-earners made about
1906 concludes that work in the cotton mills is injurious to
women and that the risk from tuberculosis is especially
high.1 To obtain an estimate of the tuberculosis rate for
the city of Fall River we have taken the five-year period
1915-1919 inclusive. During the decade 1910-1920 the
population of Fall River increased only by 1190. There
can, therefore, be no great error involved if we assume
that the population increase was evenly distributed during
this period and that the population increased by 119 an¬
nually. During these five years there were in Fall River
907 deaths from tuberculosis.2 This gives us an average
tuberculosis rate for the period of 140 per 100,000 popula-

1 Senate Document No. 645, in Senate Documents, vol. xcix. Women
and Child Wage Earners in the United States, vol. xiv, pp. 31-3.

1 From the annual reports on Mortality Statistics of the United States,
1915-1919.

243] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 243

tion. For the same period the rate for the registration
area of the United States was 124. To the extent that
this difference is due to external conditions of life in Fall
River, we may say that there is a somewhat abnormally
great tuberculosis risk in this cotton mill city. It is ob¬
vious, however, that there are other possible explanations
of this somewhat higher rate, such as that of a peculiar
susceptibility to this disease on the part of the inhabitants
of the city.

Fall River is fortunate in having organized public health
work on a considerable scale. The chief organizations
doing this work are a reasonably efficient Board of Health
and medical and hospital service, and a remarkably well-
organized District Nursing Association supported partly by
private philanthropy and partly from the fees of patients
wTho can afford to pay. In 1920 the Board of Health
reported besides its agent, an inspector of plumbing, two
sanitary inspectors, one inspector of slaughtering, one
bacteriologist, two milk inspectors, one market inspector,
three consulting specialists, one tuberculosis nurse, two in¬
fant welfare nurses and a medical inspector of schools for
each of the eight districts.1 The writer has made no
special study of the work of these officials but those in¬
terested consider it reasonably efficient.

The District Nursing Association reported in March
1921 : “ Beside the nine nurses working in the factories,
which are fully paid for [by the corporations], there are
thirteen nurses doing general work and three doing child
welfare work only, and a superintendent and supervisor
These nurses ministering both to the very poor and to
those able to pay part or all of the sixty-five cents average

1 Annual Report of the Board of Health for the Year Ending Dec.
31, 1920.

244

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[244

cost of a visit, attended to the needs of prenatal cases, the
mother and new-born child, the pre-school and school child,
the youth, the middle-aged and elderly people. In the year
ending March 1921, “ 39,998 visits were made to the homes
of 5,701 individuals, not counting the 15,338 visits made
by the child welfare nurses.” In addition to this regular
nursing service this organization supervises the work of a
tuberculosis nurse partially maintained by the Anti-tuber¬
culosis Society, employs a visiting housekeeper, a domestic
science worker and a summer director of boys’ work. It
also conducts six infant welfare stations besides its own
headquarters, and a social settlement.1

A newcomer to Fall River, then, even though himself
somewhat ignorant of health problems in an industrial
city, finds not a few whose duty it is to safeguard his
health, and many others on whom he may call for assistance
in time of need. Such help must be listed among the assets
of life in Fall River.

Opportunity for Recreation

Life is not. complete without the opportunity for a nor¬
mal amount of recreation. In Portsmouth there is no
public provision for recreation of any kind, nor is there
commercialized recreation except for a summer resort at
the extreme northern end of the island. But as in most
rural communities nature affords ample space for self-di¬
rected play and in Portsmouth the ocean adds its special at¬
tractions. Recreation, therefore, is just what the inhabit¬
ants make it. “ Foreigners ” are not welcome at one or
two points where natives or summer residents have mon¬
opolized choice bathing places, but there is ample space for
them elsewhere, though at less attractive spots.

Annual Report of the District Nursing Association of Fall River,
1920-21, passim.

245] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 245

In Fall River recreation is both public, private and com¬
mercialized. The city possesses three parks and some
smaller greens and playgrounds comprising some 100 acres
of land. There is a special playground director with head¬
quarters at the Boys’ Club. Five years ago there was some
complaint that the playgrounds were not easily accessible
for all the children, a defect which was partially remedied
at that time.1 When the writer asked representative social
workers of the city what sort of social survey would most
aid their work, they were unanimous that a study of recrea¬
tional facilities was most needed. They emphasized the
necessity of protecting the water supply from pollution, the
danger to bathers from sewage deposited in the bay and
the restricted bathing area which is therefore beyond walk¬
ing distance for large numbers of people.

The chief form of commercialized amusement in Fall
River is moving pictures.

There are a dozen houses in the city to which admission is
usually fifteen cents with the war tax. Children are admitted
to the smaller houses on Saturday afternoons for six cents.

. . . One or two of the theatres frequently offer vaudeville
shows and plays for which prices of admission range as high
as $2. There are also a number of public dance halls to
which admission is twenty-five cents.2

The opportunities to hear concerts at reasonable prices are
numerous and such concerts are well attended, while during
the summer months band concerts in the public parks are
provided by charitable citizens.

In addition to these public and commercialized amuse¬
ments the very size of the community makes possible a

1 Cf. Dwight, “ First Aid) to 30,000 Children,” in the Child Labor
Bulletin, vol. v, p. 214.

National Industrial Conference Board, op. cit., p. 9.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

246

[246

greater number and variety of social organizations for re¬
creational purposes. Aside from those organized by the
churches or by the wage-earners themselves several others
are worth noting. The Boy Scouts who are 600 strong in
Fall River, have but few Portuguese members. The leaders
of this organization say that this is not because the Portu¬
guese are not wanted, but because they do not know of the
opportunity. The fact that many of the troops have their
headquarters in Protestant churches and that the leadership
is Protestant for the most part, no doubt discourages the
Portuguese from taking advantage of membership in this
organization, although it is avowedly non-sectarian. But
the most important recreational organization organized for
rather than by the mill population is undoubtedly the Boys’
Club. Here the Portuguese and other foreign nationalities
are welcome and feel at home. The Club has a total mem¬
bership of some 2800 of whom 1500 are boys under 14 years
of age. A reasonably well-equipped and much-used build¬
ing is provided with a small library, baths, swimming pool,
gymnasia, pool and billiard tables, bowling alley, and facili¬
ties for playing many other games. No similar club exists
for girls or women of this class, although they have the
use of the baths at the Boy’s Club at certain times.

Recently it has been complained that there is a tendency
towards professionalism in recreational activities, the people
seeming to prefer watching sports to actively participating
in them. But this tendency is of their own choosing and
is regretted by recreational leaders in the community. All
in all, Fall River offers considerable opportunity for recrea¬
tion. Playgrounds should be better located perhaps, bath¬
ing facilities might well be provided nearer to the center of
the city, a girls’ club corresponding to the Boy’s Club is
needed, and possibly the right leadership might educate
people to demand more elevating forms of amusement than

247] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 247

some of those which are now patronized. We shall refer
briefly later to recreation as provided by the Portuguese
themselves or by them as they are organized into churches.

Summarizing this imperfect picture of opportunity in our
two communities we may say:

1. In Portsmouth the Portuguese come to a rural com¬
munity with few contacts but with some opportunity to
learn from the American farmers. Contacts are most
numerous for children and for men, and least frequent for
the women. In Fall River they find a more complex envi¬
ronment with few contacts with native-born but with many
contacts with other foreign groups, and with more effort
than in Portsmouth, at least, to assist them in solving their
real problems.

2. In both communities they find a somewhat unaccus¬

tomed and trying climate to which it is not easy to adapt
themselves. |

3. Economic opportunity in both communities is some¬
what narrow, but is of a sort to which they are either ac¬
customed or can easily be adapted. Chance for economic
success in Portsmouth depends upon hard work and upon a
willingness to live at a low standard of living. Success
comparable with that which they see among native farmers
is not beyond the range of possibility, however. In Fall
River they can expect but low real wages, albeit higher than
those to which they have been accustomed. If they marry
they must either live on a very low plane or expect their
wives and children to continue to work outside the home
as they have been accustomed to do in the Islands. Their
chance for much advancement in the mills is not great, but
after several members of the family have been working
some time they may hope to accumulate savings by dint of
economy.

4. The housing problem is not apparently acute in either

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

248

[248

community. The city affords more conveniences but dwell¬
ings are more attractively located in the rural community.
Approximate equality in the numbers of the sexes favors
normal family life, but low income may be expected to
delay marriage.

5. In each community the numbers of their own people
are sufficient to insure religious and social leadership by
leaders of their own nationality, so far as the right sort of
men are available.

6. The educational opportunity in either community is
far superior to what the Portuguese have known in the
Azores. Judged by modern standards that offered in Ports¬
mouth leaves much to be desired, however. In Fall River
reasonably efficient elementary schools are found. A recent
change in educational policy seems to stress practical educa¬
tion and some small effort is made to meet the special needs
of immigrants. For those who go on to advanced work,
secondary and some specialized education is open, but only
a small proportion of wage-earners are able or wish to
take advantage of the opportunity. The mores of wage-
earners in Fall River are strongly set against higher educa¬
tion.

7. The health risk in Portsmouth does not seem to be
great but the rapidly changing composition of the popula¬
tion makes death rates but poor indices of health conditions.
There is practically no organized public health work there.
In Fall River there is a possible tuberculosis risk to con¬
sider, but the city has had a death rate only slightly higher
than other cities of its size in the state of Massachusetts.
Such difference as there is is not due to an unfavorable age
distribution of the population. While there are other pos¬
sible causes it would seem that the excessive infant mor¬
tality discussed in another chapter might account for a
higher death rate in Fall River than in the other cities.

249] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 249

Moreover, the Fall River death rate has decreased consider¬
ably very recently.

8. Recreational opportunity in Portsmouth is that of a
typical rural community by the seashore. In Fall River
there are some handicaps in this respect, although the city
is not without efforts to give immigrant children and adults
a normal opportunity to play.

It is difficult to say whether total opportunity is greater
in Portsmouth or in Fall River. Opportunity cannot be
evaluated except in relation to the type of people who are
to use it. It behooves us, therefore, to consider character¬
istics of the Portuguese and their achievement in the two
communities.

Portuguese A chievem ent

As noted in another place, our information as to Por¬
tuguese achievement is derived partly from an analysis of
statistics for Fall River and Portsmouth as wholes and
partly from a survey of selected Portuguese families in
Fall River, and of all Portuguese families in Portsmouth.
It is necessary at this point to justify the choice of
the 102 families studied in Fall River. These families
all lived within fifteen city blocks bounded by Broad¬
way, Hunter, Columbia and Division streets. This district
was chosen on the advice of the District Nursing Associa¬
tion and the Association for Community Welfare 1 of Fall
River as one which would be representative of the home
life of typical Portuguese mill hands. Both organizations
agreed that it would not illustrate either the worst or the
best Portuguese homes though it would include a wide

1 While the writer must acknowledge much friendly assistance on the
part of these and other organizations, it must be understood that they
are in no way responsible for the present study. Indeed, the writer
knows of some statements with which some of them are not in sympathy.

250

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[250

range of living conditions. A little more than half the
families were visited in company with a nurse and the bal¬
ance with a kindergartener. The former were a selected
group in so far as families reached by public health nurses
are a selected group. Families which had had neither births
nor illness in recent years were less likely to be on the As¬
sociation’s list, but such are comparatively few in this com¬
munity. As the nurses visit poor and well-to-do alike in
this section there was little if any selection of economic
class. The highest grade houses were perhaps a bit less
likely to be visited but these proved also least likely to house
Portuguese.

Such selection as was involved in the co-operation of the
nurses was largely overcome by the visits with the kinder¬
gartener. These were made later than most of the visits
with the nurses and a deliberate attempt was made to in¬
clude streets and houses which had been neglected pre¬
viously. Nevertheless, the number of families visited in
a block was roughly related to the number of Portuguese
living in that block. Except for the fact that families and
not single men or women were visited, and the likelihood
that the interest of the nurses in young children and mothers
may have selected families of the younger generation, the
writer believes that a representative group of Fall River
Portuguese has been studied. The age selection involved
may be judged by comparing the age distribution of Por¬
tuguese given in table 43 1 with the following for the mem¬
bers of the 102 families we have visited. We see from this
comparison that the group we have studied contains an ab¬
normally large number of children under ten years of age,
a small proportion of young people 15-19, an abnormally
small proportion of men and women over 45 and a normal

1 Page 199.

25 1 ] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 251

Table 55

Fall River, Mass., Age Distribution of Members of the
102 Families Studied

Age Number Percent

Under 1 . 33 6.9%

Under 5 . 131 27.3

5-9 . 77 16.0

10-14 . 48 10.0

15-19 . 25 5.2

20-44 . 181 37-7

45 and over . 18 3.8

Total . 513 100.0%

percent in the other age groups including the important one
of those aged 20-44.

In addition to this evident selection of the younger age
groups, there is a possible selection of the St. Michael type
of Portuguese. All information which the writer has
gathered indicates that this type predominates in the whole
city, but if there are colonies of Portuguese from the other
islands elsewhere our study of these families is not repre¬
sentative of them. On the whole, it will be wisest to dis¬
tinguish our study of families from our data for the whole
city by calling the former a study of families of the younger
generation of Portuguese who have, for the most part, emi¬
grated from the island of St. Michael’s. 80 out of 88
fathers whose birthplace was noted had been born in St.
Michael’s.

Occupations

We have already described in Chapter 4 the occupations
in their homeland of Portuguese immigrants to the United
States,1 and those of Massachusetts Portuguese after they

1 Pages 106-8.

252

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[252

have settled here.1 The 193 heads of families studied in
Portsmouth comprised: 2 proprietors (not farmers); 14
skilled laborers, including 9 on farms and 5 mechanics or
carpenters; 92 farmers, 38 of whom owned their land, 47
of whom rented it, and 7 whose status was unknown; 78
unskilled laborers, including 27 farm laborers, 16 laborers
at the coaling station, 8 railroad laborers, 4 working in a
shipyard, 3 truckmen, 19 unclassified laborers, and one*
woman doing home sewing. We find, therefore, that the
Portuguese of Portsmouth are engaged in similar occupa¬
tions to those they left in the Azores, but that the proportion
of those in independent farming has greatly increased if
we may trust our data on occupations abroad.2 It is, of
course, possible that a larger proportion of those owning
or renting land in the islands took up farming in this
country, than of those who had been laborers at home.

Information as to the occupation of fathers in Fall River
was nearly always obtained from the wife and her know¬
ledge of or ability to describe the exact occupation was often
unsatisfactory. The following table, which gives these oc¬
cupations exactly as the women gave them, undoubtedly
contains some duplications of occupational groups especially
where the room or mill in which the husband worked is the
only basis for classification.

While some of these classifications are unsatisfactory it
is evident that about three-quarters of these men were em¬
ployed in the cotton mills or the print works. Whether this
occupational distribution indicates a rise in occupational
status over that in the islands depends chiefly upon whether
one rates the typical mill work performed by these Portu¬
guese as more or less skilled than that of unskilled laborers
in the Azores.

1 Pages 126-136.

2 Cf. tables 16 and 17, pp. 106-7.

253] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 253

Table 56

Fall River, Mass., Occupations of Fathers

Laborers . 16

Doffers . 1 1

Weavers . 6

Print Works . 6

Firemen . 5

Bleach room . 5

Clerks . 4

Unknown . 4

Dyers . 3

Spinners . 2

Second hands . 2

Insurance agents . 2

Barbers . 2

Folders . 2

Piler, third hand, stone mason, cobbler, card room,
foundry, boxer, starcher, grocer, cloth room, real estate,
garage, packing room, dental laboratory, sampler, cotton
sheds, rag factory, shaft cleaner, sexton, hotel worker,
N. Y. boat, baker, inspector, conductor, paint room,
truckman, yard hand, lunch room proprietor, and dead,
one each. One man was also at home unoccupied.

Economic Achievement

Wage data are always difficult to obtain through family
interviews. No attempt was made to do so in Portsmouth,
partly because so large a proportion of the men were inde¬
pendent farmers, and partly because the conditions under
which the families were visited gave no excuse to question
the wage-earners about their income. We shall give below
estimates of economic achievement in Portsmouth as
measured by living conditions and ownership of property.

In Fall River an attempt was made to secure data as to
income directly from the women interviewed wherever
possible. Wage information was thus obtained for 53 out
of 1 01 fathers. The ignorance of some of the mothers,
the importance of some of the cases where the information
was not obtained, and especially the fact that the interviews

254

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[254

covered three summers during a period when wages were
changing rapidly make the results of little value except for
very rough calculations. Four men only were reported as
receiving $30 a week or over, 33 between $20 and $29,
and the balance under $20. Most of the latter were prob¬
ably recorded before the rise in wages of 1920. Doffers,
weavers and spinners are the only groups for which we have
presented wage statistics earlier in this chapter. Reference
to table 47 1 will show that men in these three occupations
were paid between $20 and $30 in 1920, in Massachusetts
mills. In our chapter on infant mortality we have pre¬
sented some evidence that the Portuguese are the lowest-
paid nationality in Fall River with the exception of the
Poles.2 We find an individual instance, however, among
our 1 01 men of a wage of $55 a week paid a mason.

1 Page 214.

2 Cf. supra, p. 168.

The Immigration Commission studying 3,125 male Portuguese em¬
ployees in mining and manufacturing found average weekly earnings
of $8.10 which was the lowest figure among 61 nationalities except that
for the Albanians ($8.07) and for the Turks ($7.65). The average for
all foreign-born was $11.92.

The Portuguese family income, however, was relatively high, aver¬
aging $790. Twenty-one out of 34 nationalities showed a lower average,
and that for the foreign-born as a whole ($704) was lower than that for
the Portuguese.

This contrast between individual wages and family incomes is
apparently accounted for in part by the fact that except for the Syrians
and French, the Portuguese had the largest proportion of families
(27.9%) with income from wives. Twelve other nationalities had a
larger proportion of families receiving income from children, but the
Portuguese had the largest proportion, except the Syrians, of children
aged 6-16 at work. Thus the youth of the children rather than any
disinclination, or lack of need to send them to work, seems to account for
the somewhat better standing of the Portuguese with respect to child
labor. Only 120 Portuguese families were included in this last study,
so that one must use the data with caution. United States Immigration
Commission Report, 61st Cong., 3rd Sess., Washington, 1911, vol. i,
pp. 367, 412, 414 and 472.

255] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 255

It must be confessed that these data on wages are far
from satisfactory. It is all the more important, therefore*
that we use other means to measure economic success or
failure.

We may first inquire as to the reputation of the Portu¬
guese as workmen.

Everyone agrees that the Portuguese are capable farmers
and good farm laborers. Testimony to this effect comes
not only from the inhabitants of Portsmouth, but from
those who have observed them on the farms of Cape Cod
and elsewhere. They are in the fields as long as it is light
and employ the labor of every member of their families old
enough to wield a hoe. Being in addition exceedingly fru¬
gal and understanding intensive farming they are success¬
ful on New England farms where the native farmer has
either failed or found more lucrative employment in the
city. Their economic success is often, however, at the
expense of the health and happiness of wives and children,
and it spells hard work with little recreation for the whole
family.

When the Portuguese first came to the cotton mills of
Fall River their labor was much prized. Some employers
complain to-day that they lose their energy and docility
when they become half-Americanized and that the second
generation are a “bad lot” in the mills. At the time of
our study the Portuguese had been especially active in the
doffers’ strike in 1919, and that fact may possibly account
in part for the relatively low esteem in which they were held
by some employers at that time. It is also complained in
some quarters that the Portuguese are frequently guilty of
the larceny of cloth from the mills. Our evidence for ar¬
rests given below 1 does not bear out this alleged criminal¬
ity, but it is argued that arrests are only made occasionally,

1 Cf. infra, p. 327 ff.

256 PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND [256

for such offenses as these have come to be incidents to be
expected where the Portuguese are employed. Even these
critics admit, however, that the Portuguese are a frugal
folk who are making good industrially.

The frugality and economic success of the Portuguese of
Portsmouth is attested not only by general observation, but
by their rapidly increasing purchases of land. The writer
examined the original census schedules showing the owner¬
ship of homes in Portsmouth and found 171 homes re¬
corded which he classified as occupied by families of Por¬
tuguese descent. Of these 118 were rented homes, 26 were
owned but mortgaged, 24 were owned without encumbrance,
and in three cases the nature of the tenure was unknown.
Considering the short length of time that these people have
been in Portsmouth 1 and the small capital with which most
of them start this would appear to be a remarkably good
showing. Table 57 taken from the Portsmouth Tax Book
shows the assessed valuation of property of Portuguese

Table 57

Assessed Value of Property, 1920, Portsmouth, R. I.

Owner

Corporation .

Portuguese .

Non-Portuguese .

Land Value

$183,275.

132,850.

1,345,315.

Buildings and
Improvements

$ 266,775 •
65,550.
1,158,300.

T angible
Personal
$16,000.
36,850.
192,450.

Intangible

Personal

none

2,500.

736,100.

T otals

$466,050.

237,750.

3,432,165.

Totals .

$1,661,440.

$1,490,625.

$245,300.

$738,600.

$4,135,965.

Portuguese

Paying .

IOI

Portuguese

Av. Value .

$1582.

$886.

$752.

$625.

$2354.

Portuguese %
Total value
(Omitting
corporations) ..

9.0%

54%

16.1%

•3%

6-5%

1 Cf. infra, pp. 275-6.

257] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 257

and non-Portuguese for the year 1920. In that year there
was a total of 1 194 different individual taxpayers exclusive
of business concerns and corporations. Of these 1194,
however, no less than 488 were non-residents and were
chiefly owners or renters of small shore lots which they
occupy during the summer months. Of resident tax-payers
601 were of non-Portuguese descent and 100 of Portuguese
descent and there was also a single non-resident Portuguese
taxpayer. The Portuguese thus make up about a seventh
of the total resident tax-payers. They own about a six¬
teenth of the total assessed value of the property of indivi¬
duals and something over one-fourteenth of that of resident
individuals. If we were to deduct the value of the pro¬
perty of the two Vanderbilt families, then the Portuguese
would be seen to own nearly an eleventh (in value) of the
remaining property of residents. The Portuguese of Ports¬
mouth, as we have seen, make up about a third (32.5 per
cent) of the total male population fifteen years of age and
over.

Starting with these facts we may make several compar¬
isons. In the first place, we note that over half of the Portu¬
guese families of Portsmouth (100 out of 194) own pro¬
perty through the person of one of their members. 84 are
taxed for land, 74 for buildings and improvements, 49 for
tangible personal property and only 4 for intangible personal
property. They thus own about one-seventh of their normal
proportion of land according to value; about one-sixth of
their proportion of buildings and improvements; almost ex¬
actly a half of their proportion of tangible personal property;
but only one one hundred and eighth of their proportion
of intangible personal property. More significant, perhaps,
is the fact that the value of their total assessed property is just
one-fifth of its normal value. That is to say, the Portuguese
who make up 32.5 per cent of the total male population

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

258

[258

fifteen years of age and over, are assessed for 16.2 per cent
of the total assessed value of property. This figure becomes
two-ninths if we consider only resident tax-payers ; and three-
elevenths if we leave out of consideration the two Vanderbilt
properties. In all probability there are other large estates
which should be disregarded on the ground that they are
really summer residences only. So that it probably some¬
what understates the case for the Portuguese if we say that
they should have something less than four times their pre¬
sent property holdings to make as good a showing as do
the typical non-Portuguese residents. All, of course, both
Portuguese and non-Portuguese, who have insufficient pro¬
perty to be taxed are omitted from this calculation.

We must guard against too dogmatic conclusions from
these data. There is no doubt that the Portuguese are still
far below the natives in respect to property ownership.
There is little doubt, also, that some of the most able natives
have left the township. Nevertheless, when we consider the
recent immigration, illiteracy, low standard of living, and
other handicaps of the Portuguese, their degree of success
in accumulating property seems remarkable. We know that
much of the land, both Portuguese and native, is mortgaged ;
but we do not know which is the more heavily mortgaged.
We do know that the Portuguese holdings are rapidly in¬
creasing and that the normal progression among these people
is from the status of farm laborer, to that of tenant, to
that of owner with mortgage encumbrance, and often to
that of owner without encumbrance. A change from the
situation in 1885 where there was but one Portuguese land-
owner, to that of 1920 with 84 is startling. If this ten¬
dency continues Portsmouth will soon not only be a com¬
munity of Portuguese people but will be Portuguese-owned.

Ownership of landed property is a better index of econ¬
omic progress in a rural community than in the city where

259] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 259

many families occupy a single tenement block, and where
savings are put into other forms of investment than land.
No study of the tax books of Fall River has been made,
but we have examined the property plot books for the fifteen
city blocks where our 102 families live. It is a cause for
some surprise that more than half of this land is found to
be owned to-day by Portuguese. We do not know how
many of these landowners accumulated their capital out of
savings from mill wages. Possibly none at all. But such
a showing indicates that some Portuguese, at least, “ are
making good ” in this respect. The records also show that
the transfers of land in this district from non-Portuguese
to Portuguese ownership have increased rapidly during and
since the recent period of relative prosperity among Fall
River mill hands. A prominent Portuguese citizen of
Fall River informed the writer that 80 per cent of the pur¬
chases of land in Fall River during the five-year period
(1917-1921) had been made by Portuguese, and that the
Portuguese are proprietors of 128 business establishments
in the city. He also stated that 60 per cent of the deposits
in savings banks had been made by them. An attempt
was made to check up this last statement by reference to
bank treasurers. Unfortunately the bank in which the Por¬
tuguese have the largest amounts deposited declined even
to estimate the proportion of their deposits made by these
people. The estimates of the other banks fell far below
the figure given above but were based upon total deposits
and not upon money deposited in recent years. All agreed
also that the Portuguese have increased their savings greatly
since the war.

Another method of estimating the economic success of
the Portuguese is to examine the lists of business and pro¬
fessional men given in a city directory. For this admittedly
crude test data from New Bedford 1 was used instead of

1 It must be admitted that this procedure is open to the serious objection

26o

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[260

from Fall River, partly because the information was more
readily obtained from the former source and partly because
the Portuguese have had more time in which to attain such
success in New Bedford. As we were compelled to use the
directory of 1918 our data does not reflect the effects of the
period of post-war-time prosperity. Table 58 shows the
results of this effort. This table probably somewhat un¬
derstates the proportion of Portuguese in these professions
and businesses, and for two reasons. In the first place, in
the case of partnerships and corporations as well as of con¬
cerns where the owner’s name does not appear it is im¬
possible to tell when there are Portuguese associated in the
business. Such firms appear in the totals and so the pro¬
portion of Portuguese names is understated. The number
of such cases is not so great, however, as seriously to affect
■the general impression given by the table though it may be
of some importance in connection with a few particular oc¬
cupations. Secondly, some Portuguese may have anglicized
their names, and while we have seen that this process usually
does not affect the first name, it is perhaps slightly more
liable to do so in the case of business men than among the
general population.

Table 58

Portuguese in Business and Professions, 1918,

New Bedford, Mass.

Portuguese T otal

Occupations Names Names

Architects . 0 11

Artists . 0 5

Accountants . 0 6

that we do not know whether the proportion of St. Michael Portuguese
is as great in New Bedford, as in Fall River. It probably is not. But as
all our data tend to show that the St. Michael Portuguese are among the
least advanced type, and as the New Bedford data show but a mediocre
achievement, the table possesses some value despite this weakness.

261] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 26 1

Auto accessions .

Auto repairs .

Auto stations .

Autos .

Bakers .

• • 1 7

Bicycles and repairs .

•• 3

Billiards and pool .

•• 5

Blacksmiths .

Boatbuilders .

Carpenters and builders .

Clergymen .

• • 3

Clothing .

Comber supplies .

Constables .

Contractors and builders .

.. 4

Coopers .

Cream .

Dairy .

Dentists .

• • 3

Dressmakers .

•• 5

122

Druggists .

,. 6

Dry goods .

Electricians, etc .

Engraving .

Expresses .

Fish and oysters .

. 26

Florists .

Fruit .

Furniture .

• 3

Garages .

• 3

Gas-fitters .

Retail grocers .

. 98

366

Hairdressers .

• 54

183

Hardware .

• ~

Justices of peace .

Lawyers .

. 6

Machinists .

Manufacturing companies ....

Market gardeners .

Masons .

Men’s furnishings .

Milk . .

Millinery .

Musical instrument makers ...

262 PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND [262

Notaries public .

Nurses .

Painters .

• • 3

Phonographs .

Photographers .

•• 3

Physicians .

.. 6

128

Pictures and frames .

Printers .

2 :

Publishers .

Real estate agents .

• • 7

Restaurants .

.. 8

Sausage manufacturers .

• • 3

Second-hand goods .

Shoe dealers .

.. 3

Shoemakers and repairs -

,.. 17

Stables .

Steamship agents .

•• 3

Tailors .

Teachers .

Teamsters .

Undertakers . .

Variety stores .

,. . 17

203

Wines and liquors .

. . . 10

Wood and coal .

■ 3

When all allowances are made, however, the table seems
to show that the Portuguese have by no means entered the
business or professional world in a ratio proportionate to
their share in the total population. The Portuguese make
up not far from a quarter of the total population of New
Bedford. In only fifteen of the seventy-one categories of
the table have they this or a larger proportion of names.
With the exception of hairdressers and retail grocers these
fifteen do not include the numerically important occupations,
nor do they as a rule include those occupations requiring
most training. Among the professions we note that there
are but three Portuguese dentists out of fifty-seven ; but six:
lawyers out of seventy-two; but three nurses out of ninety-
six ; and but six physicians out of one hundred twenty-eight.
Similar differences are found for most of the skilled trades.

263] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 263

It seems remarkable that not a single Portuguese name is
distinguishable among those of teachers in New Bedford.

In partial explanation of this poor showing we may note
that while it is true that a number of Portuguese have lived
in New Bedford for many years, and not a few have been
born and reared there; nevertheless the great bulk of them
are comparatively recent immigrants who could hardly be
expected to have acquired the capital for business nor the
education for the professions. Moreover, all the handicaps
discussed elsewhere are stumbling blocks along the path
from the laborer’s or peasant’s hut where no one reads or
writes, to the status of a learned profession, skilled trade or
business.

The Standard of Living of the Portuguese

An investigation of living conditions is still another
method of estimating the economic achievement of a people.

In order to study living conditions among the Portu¬
guese a house-to-house visitation was made of practically
every Portuguese family in Portsmouth and of the 102
families in Fall River the selection of which has already
been described. Necessarily the women were more often
interviewed than the men, because the men were usually at
work in the fields or in the mill.

The writer was fortunate in securing as interpreter a
woman of Portuguese descent with the training of a dis¬
trict nurse. She had had practice in taking family histories
and readily adapted herself to the purposes of the investi¬
gation. Much credit is due her for her untiring energy
and for her intelligent interest which did much to make
possible such success as was obtained.

The entire township of Portsmouth was covered once in
the summer of 1919. Experience showed, however, the
desirability of adding one or two questions to our schedules,

264 PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND [264

and a second visitation was made to all but one small section
of the township the following summer. In this way an al¬
most complete census of the Portuguese in the community
was secured. Indeed, the total population of Portuguese
descent which we enumerated was 1171 including 41 board¬
ers, or 94 more than the Federal Census records. The date
of enumeration was not exactly the same, however.

The following information was obtained on our schedules
wherever possible although it was not all used in the tabu¬
lation : names, ages, occupations and dates of immigration
of all members of the family; the number of persons in the
household with boarders distinguished; the number of
rooms ; how long the father and mother had been married ;
whether the home or farm was owned or rented ; and a rating
of the standard of living as explained below. On the second
visitation the birth place was determined more definitely so
as to give the name of the island in the Azores or elsewhere
from which the father or mother came.

In probably 95 per cent of the cases the writer personally
entered the home and when he did he always personally
made the rating for standard of living. The few cases
where the nurse went alone were mostly houses where the
writer was personally acquainted with the occupants and
already knew the conditions.

Where the Portuguese seemed sufficiently intelligent and
spoke English, the purpose of the investigation was ex¬
plained to them. This was impossible in very many cases,
however, as it would have been impossible to make the real
meaning of the study intelligible to the people. In such
cases one of two methods were adopted : either the nurse
entered the home as a friendly visiting nurse and took the
family record in the course of her “ official ” duties ; or else
the family were informed that “ a census ” was being taken.

The method of rating the standard of living of these

265] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 265

people was admittedly imperfect, though possibly the best
which could have been employed under the conditions of the
investigation. The writer had visited a number of Portu¬
guese homes before this actual study was begun. He had
thus a general notion of living conditions among them.
These had included a few of the best and a few of the worst
types of homes which were found. Taking the best home
as an upper standard and the worst as a lower, nine classes
were distinguished beginning with class “ a ” as the best
and ending with class “ a minus 8 ” as the worst.

The judgments which were made were based upon at
least three different elements: neatness; quality and variety
of furniture and other household equipment; and evidence
of artistic or intellectual taste such as pianos, books et cetera.
The appearance of the exterior of the house was also con¬
sidered but probably more weight was given to interior
than to exterior conditions. So far as exteriors entered
into the rating the appearance of the house rather than that
of the barns or outhouses was considered. This was for
two reasons. In the first place our ostensible errand was
often to see the baby, and this errand did not make a re¬
quest to see the barns natural. Secondly, since the inter¬
view was usually with the mother it seemed advisable to
confine the judgment somewhat to those parts of the house¬
hold over which she had more immediate oversight. It is
admitted, however, that a well-mowed lawn — a rare occur¬
rence — and a flower garden weighed somewhat in the higher
ratings. Also it is difficult to prevent the presence of such
obstacles as garbage and tin cans in the yard from influ¬
encing one’s impression, even though the wife may not have
been responsible for them.

The following hypothetical pictures of five of the classes
of homes may give some idea of the standards used :

266 PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND [266

Grade “ a House may be small or large but usually re¬
cently painted ; lawn mowed as a rule ; porches and entrance
free from litter; kitchen or living room furnished with modern
conveniences such as would be available in the country; alu¬
minum tea-kettle or other shining kitchen ware, a stove well-
polished ; cans of preserves ; floors spotless or nearly so ; neat
wall paper; books and reasonably artistic pictures; musical
instruments visible if parlor is seen ; perhaps a camera on the
table and good family photographs; occupants neatly dressed,
the mother perhaps apologizing for being caught in a some¬
what soiled apron; children under control and attractively
dressed ; interest in the study which was being made ; not nec¬
essarily evidences of wealth but of reasonable comfort. In
brief the writer’s idea of the standard of living of a reason¬
ably well-to-do, intelligent American farmer’s home with a
neat woman presiding over it but without frills.

Grade “ a minus 2 ”. Either a home with grade “ a ” stand¬
ards of neatness and intellectual interest, but with consider¬
ably lower degree of variety and quality of equipment and
with evidences of low income; or a home with evidence of
considerable spending but with some slovenliness such aa
children’s underclothing lying on a chair, crumbs not swept
up or soiled upholstering on furniture. The walls, however,
will be papered or else painted and scrupulously neat. The
lawn may or may not be mowed — more often not. The house
perhaps in need of paint but nowhere falling to pieces. The
atmosphere perhaps comparable to that of a third-class hotel
with which one puts up but which one cannot be said to enjoy.

Grade “ a minus 4 ”. This grade is the modal grade. It
therefore is the one of which the writer thinks most fre^
quently as the home of the typical Portuguese farmer and his
numerous family. It is usually the former residence of some
Anglo-Saxon who has died or given up the struggle with the
soil. The house is not the better for its new owners. The
yard is somewhat littered and full of hens and ducks. The
paint is wearing off the exterior of the house and one of the
front blinds is broken. The walls inside are painted dark blue

267] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 267

or green, but have a number of rather cheap pictures upon
them in somewhat gaudy frames. The pictures represent re¬
ligious subjects. The rooms are furnished reasonably well,
but everything is dingy and in poor taste. One suspects that
the corners of the room and especially a crack or two in the
plaster may house creeping things. Large tubs stand in the
yard with a rather corpulent woman bending over one of
them. Her children are numerous and barefooted. She, how¬
ever, has both shoes and stockings on, is genial and well-man¬
nered. In the kitchen, conveniences are few and the mother
wipes crumbs off a wooden chair for her guests to sit upon.
Everything has the appearance of being made for use and of
being everlastingly used. If one gets a peep into a bedroom
or livingroom, however, there is some attempt at decoration,
albeit cheap and gaudy. The beds are often tumbled and do
not look inviting to the scrupulous. No books are seen.
There are lace curtains at the windows though sometimes they
are a bit soiled. The walls are fairly sound and some of the
rooms are papered, but the paper has several tears in it.

Grade “ a minus 6 ”. This grade may best be described as
intermediate between grade “ a minus 4 ” and “ a minus 8 ”.
Either no papered walls are seen or the paper is very much
torn and soiled. The plastering is broken in a number of
places, and you are very certain that the bugs are playing
there. Furniture is of the simplest, but there is always a
sewing machine. There is an unpleasant odor quite evident,
of which you had a slight suspicion in some of the grade “ a
minus 4 ” houses — an odor of Portuguese soup and people and
probably other things. What a wreck they have made of the
house — but then they do work everlastingly hard — and what a
swarm of children the mother does not care for. Some gar¬
bage has been left where it fell on the kitchen floor, and gar¬
ments lie about in disorderly heaps. The older of the two
women is without shoes or stockings and her hair is unkempt.
You do not stay long after the statistics are taken, and brush
past the chickens which are roosting on the doorstep.

Grade “ a minus 8 A once respectable house has been

268

PORTUGUESE IN NEIV ENGLAND

[268

ruined by the occupancy of more people that it was intended
to hold ; or a larger building appears scarcely less disreputable
although many rooms are unoccupied. The house is almost
literally without furniture except one or two chairs and a
littered sewing machine. The plaster has not even been
painted for years. One room has a few shreds of its former1
paper hanging in tatters on its walls. The floor is covered,
with garbage and old clothes, and the former has attracted the
chickens indoors. The odor is almost unbearable. Occupants
are dirty and half-clad, and give every evidence of ignorance.
Women are bare-footed, but they will try to hide their feet
behind the table as they talk to you.

Classes intermediate between the above five were some¬
times distinguished. The factors which determined the rat¬
ing of particular homes varied greatly and independently of
one another. For example, the house of the largest Por¬
tuguese tax-payer in the town was rated “ a ” because the
evidence of means outweighed a certain degree of disorder
in the kitchen, which, as it happened, was the only room
seen in that home. Similarly one grade “ a minus 4 ” house
might be neat but with unusually meager equipment, while
another might be fairly well stocked with furniture et
cetera, but unusually untidy.

The standards used are open to the objection that they
are subjective — based upon the judgment of the visitor made
during a rather brief interview. The writer believes, how¬
ever, that they are more satisfactory than more objective
measures alone would have been; for it is often little intan¬
gible differences or seemingly petty details which make up
the real difference between a low and a high standard of
living. At any rate, the nature of the inquiry precluded the
use of the same objective measures of living conditions in
all homes, for the occasion was often merely a friendly call
which made it impossible to request permission to examine
bedrooms or toilets or other possible criteria.

269] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER , MASS. 269

Undoubtedly, the greatest difficulty in this attempt to rate
homes, however, was the fact that -the homes were visited on
different days and at different hours of the day. No
woman’s kitchen looks the same just after the soiled dinner
dishes have been piled in it as it should look at four o’clock
in the afternoon; and Monday is usually a less satisfactory
day for a call than some other days in the week. Because
of these difficulties injustice has no doubt been done in some
of the ratings. We can only say that such injustices were
inevitable and that they probably affected all grades of homes
about equally. The fact that when a second visit was made
to a large number of the homes in the following summer
scarcely any occasion was found to change the first ratings
seems to show that they were approximately correct. No
assumption is made, however, that they represent more than
approximate estimates of standards of living.

The same methods were used in the house to house study
in Fall River as in Portsmouth. No grade of home in Fall
River is, of course, exactly like the corresponding grade in
Portsmouth because city tenements are not like rural farm¬
houses. Comparisons between the two are therefore less
justified than comparisons between different classes in the
same community.

The percentages of homes in each of the nine classes is
shown in the following table :

a-i

CL — 2

a~3

a-4

o-5

a-6

a-7

a— 8

T otal

Portsmouth . . . .

... 7-1%

7-i

16.5

IS-9

22.0

154

11.0

1.6

3-3

99.9

Fall River .

... 2.9

18.6

21.6

28.4

2.0

4.9

0.0

100.0

This table shows that while the average rating for Fall
River homes was higher than that for Portsmouth, the pro¬
portion both of very good and very bad homes was greater
in the rural community. As our rural study included all
types of homes while our urban was somewhat selected as a

270

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[27a

community which would contain typical Portuguese mill
hands, this is the result which would be expected. It is
also probably true that the city would not permit many
families to live in the filth in which our grade “ a minus 8 ”
families in Portsmouth are found. The writer did visit
one family in Bristol, Rhode Island, however, for whom he
would have had to create an “ a minus 9 ” grade.

It is possible also to compare Portuguese homes in Ports¬
mouth with those in Fall River with respect to the number
of persons found in them per room. Unlike the above rat¬
ings, however, this comparison is influenced very much by
the homes available — a factor largely out of the control of
the Portuguese. In Portsmouth the average number of
persons per room in 193 Portuguese homes was found to be
1. 1 1 and the median 1.00. In Fall River the corresponding
figures for 100 families are 1.42 and 1.40 respectively.
This figure is very close to that found by the Immigration
Commission (1.38). They also found a higher degree of
overcrowding among 14 out of 39 nationalities investigated
than they found among the Portuguese.1 The following
table shows the percentages of total Portuguese families in
each comm tnity having given numbers of persons per room.

Table 59

Per cen of Portuguese Homes Having Given Number of
Persons Per Room

Number

Families Under 1 1—1.50 1. 51-2.00 Over 2 T otals

Number Per cent

Portsmouth . 188 38. 4 7. 11. 5. 101.

Fall River . 100 12. 53. 27. 8. 100.

While no shocking overcrowding was found in either
community it is evident from the above table that more space
was available in the rural community. This is just what
would be expected.

1 United States Immigration Commission Report, 61 st Cong., 3rd Sess.,
Washington, 1911, vol. i, p. 431.

271] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 271

No data on rents were secured in Portsmouth because rent
there would include the rent of the farm land. In Fall
River 100 families were found to be paying an average of
$3.22 per week rent and the median rental was $3.20. As
about three-quarters of these data were secured in 1920 this
situation reflects in part the effect of the rising rents in that
year. Similar data for 1921 would, however, have probably
shown somewhat higher rents.

We may now correlate standard of living as we have
measured it, with other factors in the lives of the Portuguese.
The correlation between occupation and standard of living
for 172 families in Portsmouth is shown in the following
table.

Table 60.

Portsmouth, Rhode Island, Occupation and Home Ratings of

Portuguese Fathers

a-i

a-2

a-3

a-4

a- 5

a-6

a-7 a-S Total,

Proprietors .

Skilled laborers .

Gardeners, head farm-

ers, dairymen .

Mechanics, carpenters

Farmers .

Renters .

Owners .

Status unknown .

Unskilled laborers ....

T ruckmen .

Coaling station .

Ship yard .

Railroad .

Farm laborers .

Unclassified Miscel- ■

lane ous .

Totals .

172

In addition to these 172 fathers there were 22 families where the
occupation of the fathers was not reported. These included 2 skilled
laborers, 10 farmers and 10 unskilled laborers.

2/2

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[272

We find in this table that all proprietors, ten out of
twelve skilled laborers, forty out of fifty-six farmers, three
out of seven in miscellaneous occupations and twenty-three
out of sixty-five unskilled laborers lived in homes of the
four superior classes. They therefore rank in the order
named. In the occupational subdivisions the contrast be¬
tween owners and renters of farms is noticeable and as
would be expected; twenty-four out of thirty-five owners
living in homes of the four superior classes, as compared
with only thirteen out of forty-four renters. Skilled labor¬
ers with ten out of twelve in the superior groups outrank
even the owners of farms.

In our Fall River material the number of men in each
occupational group was too few to warrant the construction
of a table similar to the above. In Portsmouth it cannot be
denied that there is a high degree of relationship between oc¬
cupation and living conditions.

One of the most interesting questions, but one which our
data will not permit us to answer satisfactorily, is the ques¬
tion of possible relationship between island of birth and
economic achievement. In Fall River practically all of our
Portuguese (80 out of 88 cases where the information was
obtained) whose homes were studied were from St. Mich¬
ael’s, so that we cannot compare them with those from other
islands. In Portsmouth no less than no out of 164
foreign-born Portuguese fathers, and 91 out of 102 foreign-
born mothers whose exact home abroad was known were
from St. Michael's, Tables 61 and 62 show for fathers
and mothers respectively the relationship between home
rating and source of immigration. The figures for many
of the islands are too small to be of any significance. It
is interesting to note, however, that 34 out of no or only
31 per cent of fathers from St. Michael’s, as compared with
30 out of 59 or 51 per cent of fathers from other islands

p p

273] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 273

are found in the four superior types of homes. Similar
figures for mothers computed from table 62 show 32 per
cent of St. Michaelese mothers as against 51 per cent of
mothers from the other islands in the better homes.

Table 61

Birthplace of Fathers and Home Ratings, Portsmouth, R. I.

S. Mi. S. Ma. S.G. F. Ter. P. Gr. Lis. Mad. Br. Amer. Un. Totals.

Home Ratings

. 4231 1 2 13

I . 4 22 I I 3 13

a-2 . 11 1 3 3 3 I I 2 5 30

a-3 . 15 3 3 1 1 6 29

a-4 . 22 1 611 I 1 I 6 40

a-5 . 26 I 1 28

a-6 . 14 1 2 1 2 20

a-7 . 2 1 3

a-8 . 3 1 26

Unknown . 9 1 2 12

Totals . no 5 23 n 4 1 1 1 21 6 29 194

Key to Tables 61 and 6 2

S. Mi. — St. Michael’s

S. Ma. — St. Mary’s

S. G. — St. George

F. — Fayal

Ter. — Terceira

P.— Pico

Gr. — Graciosa

Lis. — Lisbon

Mad. — Madeira

Br. — Brazil

Amer. — America

Ire. — Ireland

Un. — Unknown

274

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[274

Table 62

Birthplace of Mothers and Home 'Ratings, Portsmouth, R. I.

S. Mi. S. Ma. S. G.

Ter. P. Gr.

Lis. Mad.

Br.

Ire.

Amer.

Un.

T otals.

Home Ratings

&•••••••••••

3 5

a- 1 .

4 3

a-2 .

11 1 1

a-3 .

13 3

a-4 .

21 1 4

a-5 .

22 3

a-6 .

1212

a-7 .

2 1

a-8 .

3 1

Unknown . • .

7 1

Totals • • • •

98 3 24

194

In view of the contrasts between the islanders which we
have discovered in other chapters', this difference is of con¬
siderable interest. Its importance is somewhat brought into
question, however, by the fact that while the St. Michael’s
Portuguese fathers had averaged to be in this country 15.9
years, those from other sources had averaged 23.2 years. Per¬
haps the difference in living conditions between these groups
is accounted for by the shorter residence in this country of
those from St. Michael’s. Nevertheless, it would be very
interesting if we could compare the ratings of Fayalese with
their brothers from St. Michael’s. We had in Portsmouth
but 11 fathers and 18 mothers from Fayal. Only one of
these fathers had a home rated below “ a minus 4 ” while
no less than 45 of the no from St. Michael’s were so rated.
Similarly only one of the 18 Fayalese mothers had homes
of the lower ratings while 39 mothers out of 98 from St.
Michael’s did. We have information as to both the length
of residence and island home of 9 of our n Fayalese
fathers and find that they have averaged to be here 18.4
years against 15.9 for the St. Michaelese. This difference
of but 2^2 years is not very great and leaves one with just
a suspicion that the difference in the ratings of families from

275] PORTSMOUTH, R. 1. AND FALL RIVER, MASS.

these two islands may be due to a difference in type as well
as to this slight difference in length of residence. We must
admit that this evidence is but slender. It acquires weight,
if at all, only when considered in connection with our other
evidence of contrast in type between the different islands.

Tables 63, 64, 65 and 66 show the relationship between
the length of residence in the United States and the home
rating of families in Portsmouth and Fall River. Table
63 shows that only 7 fathers and ri mothers of Portuguese

Table 63

Immigration of Fathers and Home Ratings, Portsmouth, R. I.

Ratings

a-i

a-2

a-3

a-4

a-5

a-6

a-7

a -8

T otals

Unknown

Born in U. S.

51-55 years .

46-50 “ .

41-45 “ •

36-40 “ .

31-35 “ •

26-30 “

21-25 “ .

16-20 “

II-I5 “ •

6-10 “ .

i-5 1 “ •

Father dead .

Unknown . . .

10 2

Totals .

182

Average

Years in U. S.

29-5

27.4

20.6

15-0

17.4

15-2

154

13.0

18.0

18.8

’A single father who has been in this country somewhat less than a
single year is included in this group.

2 One woman with illegitimate son omitted.

276

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[276

Table 64

Immigration of Mothers and Home Ratings, Portsmouth, R. I.

Ratings

a-i

a-2

a-3

a-4

a-5

a-6

a-7

a -8

Totals

Born in U. S.

. 2

46-50 years .

41-45 “ •

36-40 “ .

31-35 “ •

. 2

26-30 “

. 2

21-25 “ .

. 1

16-20 “

• 3

11-15 “ .

6-10 “ .

i-5 1 “ •

. 1

Mother dead .

Unknown . . .

. 2

Totals .

• 13

172 2

Average

Years in U. S.

22.4

22.5

17.0

15.8

14.2

1 1.6

13-5

13-0

14.7

15-5

Table 65

Immigration of Fathers and Home Ratings, Fall River, Mass

Ratings

a-i

a-2

a-3

a-4

a-5

a-6

a-7

a -8

T otals

Born in U. S.

31-36 years .

26-30 “

. 2

21-25 “ .

. 1

16-20 “

n-15 “ •

6-10 “

i-5 “ •

Father dead .

Unknown . . .

Totals .

• 3

102

Average

Years in U. S.

26.3

19.1

13-0

14.8

14.9

14.6

11.0

15.5

*A single mother who has been in this country somewhat less than
year is included in this group.

a One woman with illegitimate son omitted.

Unknown

277] PORTSMOUTH , R. I. AND FALL RIVER , MASS. 277

Table 66

Immigration of Mothers and Home Ratings, Fall River, Mass.

1 Ratings a

a-i

a-2

a-3

a-4

a-5

a-6

a-7 a-8

Totals Unknown

Born in U. S. .

4 1

2 1

1 2

126-30 years . . 2

21-25 “ . . 1

1 16-20 “

11-25 “ ..

6-10 “

i-5 “ • •

; Unknown ....

Totals . 3

102

descent in

Portsmouth

were

born

America.

For 155

foreign-born fathers whose length of residence in the United
States is known the average period of residence was 18.8
years; while for 137 foreign-born mothers the correspond¬
ing period was 13.6 years. In Fall River the fathers had
been here 15.5 years on the average and the mothers 14.6
years; while one father and ten mothers were born in
America. On the whole these periods do not seem any too
long for a people two-thirds illiterate to demonstrate their
capacity for adaptation to a changed physical and social
environment.

All four of these tables show some degree of relationship
between home conditions and length of residence. Divid¬
ing our tables at the line between the “ a minus 3 ” and “ a
minus 4 ” groups, we find that in Fall River 59 foreign-born
mothers who lived in the better homes had been in this
country 15.1 years on the average, while 30 whose home
ratings were lower had been here 13.7 years. For fathers
the corresponding figures are 15.9 and 14.6. In Portsmouth

1 One of French Canadian parentage.

2 Italian parentage.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

278

[278

the mothers in the higher grade homes had been here on the
average 5.1 years longer than other mothers; while fathers
in the better homes had been here 4.1 years longer. The
correlation, measured in this way, is seen to be greater in
the rural community than in Fall River, and greater for
men than for women.

We have also figured the coefficients of mean square con¬
tingency 1 for each of these four tables.

xThe coefficient of mean square contingency used in this study is a
method devised by Karl Pearson, for measuring the relationship be¬
tween series of attributes. It is based upon assumptions and mathe¬
matical processes that make unity an expression of the utmost devia¬
tion from a pure chance relationship, where the number of attribute
classes is infinitely great. For any finite number of classes the maxi¬
mum value of the coefficient is less than unity but approaches unity
as the number of classes is increased. Thus if “ home conditions ”
were classified in only two grades and “length of residence” in only
two classes, the highest possible value of the coefficient would be
.707. If we should increase the number of classes for each attribute
to 4, the maximum value of the coefficient would be .866, and so on!
with a greater and greater number of classes. On the other hand, if
the numbers of cases found in all the classes, regardless of the number
of classes into which the two attributes are divided, were exactly the
numbers that could be expected there by pure chance, the value of the
coefficient would be zero.

The dependence of the maximum value of the coefficient upon the
number of attribute classes in the contingency tables necessitates the
greatest caution in comparing coefficients derived from tables which
have not the same number of classes. Thus, if the coefficient of
mean square contingency derived from a table of four classes for
each attribute were found to be .866 and the coefficient derived from;
a table of 8 classes for each attribute were also' found to be .866, we
should not be justified in saying that the degree of relationship was
the same. In the former case the relationship would be perfect (the
maximum value of the coefficient for four attribute classes being;
.866), while in the latter case the maximum, value of the coefficient is
.935-

Moreover, it should be noted that an insufficient number of cases
brought under observation might cause deviations from the pure
chance distribution by classes that would not in any sense indicate

279] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 279

Table 63 shows the relationship between the home rat¬
ings of families in Portsmouth and the length of residence
in the United States of the fathers of these families. The
coefficient of mean square contingency for this table is .55.
The highest possible value of the coefficient for a table com¬
posed of this number of attribute classes is .949. The
coefficient therefore shows a fairly high degree of relation¬
ship between the attributes, and indicates that, if other
things are equal, the longer the time the Portsmouth fathers
have been in the United States the higher, by the definition
used in this study, will be the standards of living of their
families.

The same reasoning and interpretation is applicable to
Table 64 which shows the relationship between the home rat¬
ings of families in Portsmouth and the length of residence
in the United States of the mothers of these families.
Here the coefficient of mean square contingency is .461'
and, with the same qualifications made for the coefficient
described above, we may say that the longer the time the
Portsmouth mothers have been in the United States the
higher will be the standards of living of their families. It
will be noted however that the degree of relationship be¬
tween the attributes is slightly less for the mothers than for
the fathers.

relationship, but merely the fact that the samples classified were not
representative.

The coefficient of mean square contingency resembles the Pearsonian
coefficient of correlation, but differs from it in that the contingency
coefficient cannot be expressed with the algebraic plus or minus signs.

For the mathematical derivation of the coefficient of mean square
contingency and a more detailed discussion of its significance and limi¬
tations, see Rugg, Statistical Methods Applied to Education (Boston,
New York, Chicago, 1917), pp. 299-307; and Yule, An Introduction to
the Theory of Statistics (6th Edition, London, 1922), pp. 63-72, and
PP- 375-377-

28o

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[280

Tables 65 and 66 show identical relationships for the
Portuguese mothers and fathers of Fall River. The coeffi¬
cient of mean square contingency for Table 65 is .405. The
coefficient of mean square contingency for Table 66 is .421.

In order to make clearer to the general reader the rela¬
tionship shown in Tables 63, 64, 65 and 66, the attribute
“ home rating ” or “ standard of living ” is divided into the
three categories “ good ”, “ fair ” and “ poor ”, and the
attribute, “length of residence”, into three categories, “21
years and over ”, “ 1 1 years to 20 years ”, and “ less than
11 years”, in the supplementary Tables 63 A, 64 A, 65 A
and 66 A. In these supplementary tables the absolute num¬
bers are reduced to percentages. Comparison of the per¬
centage columns of the tables shows that for Providence,
Rhode Island, and for Fall River the longer the fathers and
mothers have been in the United States, the higher the stand¬
ard of living ratings of their families. Great caution must
be exercised, however, in drawing conclusions from tables
in which the percentages are based upon such small totals.

Table 63A

Relation of Standard of Living (Home Rating) to Length of Time
in United States of Fathers, Portsmouth, R. I.

(figures taken from table 63)

Length of Time Standard of Living

Fathers Have

Been in United Good Fair Poor Totals Unknown

States

a a-i a-2 a-3 a-4 a-5 a-6 a-7 a-8

No. %. No. % No. % No. % No. %

21 years and over . 26 46.4 22 22.6 1 3.4 49 26.9 0

1 1 years to 20 years - 1 7 3°-4 48 49-4 22 75-9 87 47.9 8 72.7

Less than 11 years . 5 8.9 16 16.4 5 U-3 26 14.3 2 18.2

Unclassifiable . 8 14.3 n n .2 1 3-4 20 10.9 1 9.1

Totals . 56 100.0 97 100.0 29 100.0 182 100.0 11 100.0

281] PORTSMOUTH, R. 1. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 28i

Table 64A

Relation of Standard of Living (Home Rating) to Length of Time
in United States of Mothers, Portsmouth, R. I.

Length of Time
Mothers Have
Been in United
States

21 years and over .

1 1 years to 20 years . . . .

Less than 1 1 years .

Unclassifiable .

Totals .

(figures taken from table 64)

Standard of Living

Good

Fair

Poor

Totals

Unknown

a a-

■1 a-2

a-3 a-4 a-5

a-6 a-7 a-8

No.

38.9

14.2

0.0

19.7

4-7

1 7

31.5

45-i

59-2

43-1

52-4

12.9

27.5

29.6

23.3

28.6

1 6.7

13.2

1 1.2

13.9

14-3

100.0

172

100.0

Table 65 a

Relation of Standard of Living (Home Rating) to Length of Time
in United States of Fathers, Fall River, Mass.

(figures taken from table 65)

Length of Time
Fathers Have
Been in United
States

Good

Standard of Living
Fair Poor

Totals

a a-

No.

■1 a-2

a-3

No.

a-4 a-5
%

a-6

No.

0-7 a-8
%

No.

21 years and over .

25.0

15.0

0.0

18.7

1 1 years to 20 years ....

52.3

54-7

40.0

52.9

Less than 1 1 years .

22.7

20.8

60.0

23-5

Unclassifiable .

0.0

9.4

0.0

4-9

Totals .

100.0

102

100.0

282

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[282

Table 66a

'Relation of Standard of Living (Home Rating) to Length of Time
in United -States of Mothers, Fall River, Mass.

(figures taken from table 66)

Length of Time Standard of Living

Mojhers Have

Been in United Good Fair Poor Totals

States

a a-

No.

■1 a-2

a-3

No.

a-4 0-5
%■

a-6

No.

a-7 a-8

No.

21 years and over .

34-1

22.6

0.0

26.5

1 1 years to 20 years . . . .

36.4

54-8

60.0

47*1

Less than 11 years .

29.5

16.9

40.0

23-5

Unclassifiable .

0.0

5-7

0.0

2.9

Totals .

100.0

102

100.0

It is encouraging to find this degree of progress made
by these people in this country, for it leads us to hope that
a longer residence may see their standards of living rising
as those of other immigrant groups have risen. One who
views the worst or even the typical Portuguese immigrant
home in the country, may well fear for some of the standards
of life which seem so essential to middle or upper class
Americans. The pessimist sees only the onrush of a horde
of low-standard peoples. The optimist may take heart, per¬
haps, when he finds that ten or twenty years on a Rhode
Island farm or in a cotton-mill tenement may raise that
low standard, not indeed to that which our idealism de¬
mands, but to something a little more respectable. A more
rapid advance can hardly be expected until illiteracy and ig¬
norance have been banished from among these immigrant
populations.

The optimist may take heart also, if he confines his visits
to a score or so Portuguese homes in Portsmouth where
real advance, and even the beginnings of real cultural de¬
velopment may be seen. There are Portuguese homes with

283] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 283

smooth-mowed lawns, with a love of beauty, with aversion
to dirt, with pianos, and cameras and automobiles, and even
with small family libraries within the bounds of the little
town of Portsmouth. They and their examples are the
hope for the future.

Finally, we have data on the correlation between the size
of the family and the home rating. In the chapter on in¬
fant mortality and further on in this chapter we note that

Table 67

Children Living at Home and Home Rating, Portsmouth, R. I.

Ratings a a-i a-2 a-3 a- 4 a -3 a-6 a-j a-8 Totals Unknown

Children

None . 23 3 2 2 3 1? 2

One . 11 4 2 4 1 13 I

Two . 25 7 4 3 3 2 26 2

Three . 1 6 8 2 6 3 1 27 3

Four . 13 2 3 11 6 2 28 o

Five . 31 3 3 5 3 6 1 1 26 1

Six . 1 4 2 3 1 2 13 2

Seven . 1 1 1 2 2 2 1 1 11

Eight . 1 3 1 6 1 2 14

Nine . I 2 1 4

Ten . 11 2

Eleven . 1 1 2

Unknown . I 1

Totals . 13 13 30 29 40 28 20 3 6 182 11

Average per

Family . 3.7 2.2 3.1 3.2 4.7 3.7 5.3 7.3 6.2 4.0

- v — ”” 'J v V 1 ■■ ' 1 ' J

3-3 4-7 4-7

The coefficient of mean square contingency for this table is .52.

the Portuguese are characterized by a remarkably high birth
rate, but that because of their high child death rate and of
the fact that many of the parents have been married but a
few years, the average size of the Portuguese family is
not as great as would be expected. Table 67 compares for
Portsmouth the number of children in the family with the
rating. The very large family is seen to be the exception
among those with the highest ratings, and the very small
family is unusual among those with the lowest ratings. A

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

284

[284

wide distribution is found among- the intermediate groups.
The average number of children per family is seen to be 4.0,
and the families with ratings ranging from “ a ” to “ a
minus 3 ” have but 3.3 children per family; while those with
the rating of “ a minus 4 ” as well as those with ratings
higher than that have an average of 4.7 children per family.

Table 68

Children Under 10 Living at Home and Home Rating, Portsmouth, R. I.

Ratings a a-i a-2 a-j a-4 a-j a-6 a-7 a-8 Totals Unknown

Children

None . 78 6 4 5 5 1 1 37

One . 2 7 8 7 3 2 29

Two . 25 8 6 5 6 2 1 35

Three . 4 5 8 6 7 2 32

Four . 1 48662 27

Five . 1 1 6 1 1 10

Six . 1 2 3

Seven . 1 1

Totals . 13 13 26 27 39 28 20 3 5 174

Unknown . 21 3 16

V - v - * ' — . . V - '

Average per

Family . 1.5 2.8 2.2

The coefficient of mean square contingency for this table is .598.

Table 68 was constructed in order to eliminate the in¬
fluence of children in the family who were old enough to
be useful on the farm. We find here that families with
ratings of “ a ” to “ a minus 3 ” average to have 1.5 children;
while families with the lower grade of homes average to
have 2.8 children. Similarly the coefficient of mean square
contingency is a little higher (.60) for this table than for the
other. It is thus the young children whose presence is
associated with bad living conditions.

Interpreting the coefficient from each of these tables in
the light of the explanation given above, we may say that
there is a fairly high degree of relationship between home
rating and the number of children in the family. In other
words, the coefficients indicate that, if other things are equal,

285] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS . 285

Table 69

Children Living at Home and Home Rating, Fall 'River, Mass.

Ratings a a-i a-2 a-j a- 4. a -5 a-6 a-j a-8 Totals Unknown
Children

None . 12 1 4

One . 6 11 4 4 1 2 28

Two . 12 5 3 4 15

Three . 4 1 7 7 I 20

Four . 23 3 6 5 1 20

Five . 1 1 2 I 5

Six . 2 1 3 6

Seven . 3 3

Eight . 1 1

Totals . 3 19 22 22 29 2 5 102

Average per

Family . 3*3 2.8 1.6 2.3 3.5 2.5 3.6 2.8

' - v - ' > - V - '

2*5 3*5

The coefficient of mean square contingency for this table is .513.

the fewer the number of children in the home, the higher,
by the definition used in this study, will be the standard of
living of the family.

Tables 67, 68 and 69 have been converted, for the benefit
of the general reader, into simple tables by combining the
original classes of the two attributes into larger categories
and reducing the absolute numbers to percentages. The
results are given in the supplementary tables 67 A, 68 A,
and 69 A, and show the same general relationship between

Table 67 a

Relation of Standard of Living to Number of Children
Living at Home, Portsmouth, R. I.

(figures from table 67)

Number of Chil- Standard of Living

dren Living

Good

Fair

Poor

Totals

Unknown

at Home

a-i a-2

a-3

a- 4 a -5

a-6

a-7 a -

-8

No.

No Children .

. 8

14*3

7.2

0.0

8.2

18.1

One to Three.

.27

48.3

34-o

20.6

36.3

54.6

Over Three . •

.20

35*7

58.8

79*4

100

54*9

27*3

Unclassifiable

. 1

i*7

0.0

0.6

0.0

Totals .

•56

100.0

182 100.0

100.0

286

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[286

standard of living and number of children in the home as
was indicated by the contingency coefficients. Here, again,
great caution must be exercised in drawing conclusions from
percentages based upon such small totals.

Table 68a

Relation of Standard of Living to Number of Children under
10 Living at Home, Portsmouth, R. I.

(figures from table 68)

Number of Chil¬
dren under 10

Standard of Living

Living at

Good

Fair

Poor

Totals

Home

a-i a-2

a ~3

a- 4 a-5

a-6

a-7 a-8

No.

No Children .

.. 21

38.8

14.7

3-7

One to Three

.. 28

S'-9

56.8

51-8

Over Three . .

•• 3

5-6

27.4

44-5

Unclassifiable

• • 2

3-7

1. 1

0.0

Totals .

.. 54

100.0

176 ]

20.5

54-5

23.3

*•7

100.0

Number of Chil-

Table 69A

Relation of Standard of Living to Number of Children
Living at Home, Fall River, Mass.

(figures from table 69)

Standard of Living

dren Living

Good

Fair

Poor

Totals

at Home

No.

a-2 a-2

a~3

No.

a-4 a-j

a-6

No.

a- 7 a-S

No.

No Children . . .

6.8

1.9

0.0

3-9

One to Three . .

68.2

56.6

60.0

61.8

Over Three . . . •

1 1

25.0

41.5

40.0

34-3

Unclassifiable . .

0.0

Totals .

100.0

102

100.0

Table 69 for Fall River is comparable with table 67 for
Portsmouth. We are first struck by the comparatively
small families of the city Portuguese, who average to have
but 2.8 children per family, as against 4.0 for rural families.
This may be due in part to the possible selective effect of
our method of study which probably included an abnormal
proportion of young mothers who had not borne many child-

287] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 287

ren. The infant death rate is somewhat larger for the city
than for the rural community also. Here families with
ratings of from “ a ” to “ a minus 3 ” had on the average
2.5 children per family and those with the higher ratings 3.5
or exactly one child per family more. The coefficient or
mean square contingency here was .51. Here again there
seems little doubt that the over-large family is closely as¬
sociated with undesirable home conditions, but whether it is
the economic effect of the large family or the ignorance so
often correlated with an excessive birth -rate it is more dif¬
ficult to say. At any rate there can be little doubt that very
many Portuguese families would be better off with somewhat
smaller broods.

Summarizing what we have had to say about the econ¬
omic achievement and standard of living of ,the Portuguese,
we may say that they are a low income group, with the
asset of thrifty habits which perhaps yield somewhat after
an exposure to American industrial environment; that they
are still a relatively small but rapidly increasing factor in
property ownership, savings bank accounts and the tax;
lists ; that they are on an extremely low plane 1 in many
cases but that their status improves very considerably as
time goes on ; that there is a strong possibility that the stand¬
ard of living varies among immigrants from the different
islands, so that our conclusions had best be confined to the
large group from St. Michael’s; that home conditions are
related to occupation of fathers about as one would expect ;

1 The writer is unable to agree with the conclusion of the Immigra¬
tion Commission in its study of 20 Portuguese families in Portsmouth,
that the Portuguese have on the whole as good surroundings as native
farmers who rent or own small farms. The Commission, however,
was apparently giving more weight than this study gives to the ap¬
pearance of the land itself. The present writer would agree that the
Portuguese are second to none in their ability to make the land pro¬
duce. United States Immigration Commission 'Report. 61st Congress,
3rd Session. Washington 1911. Vol. XXII, p. 451.

288

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[288

that they are somewhat better where the mother remains at
home than where she goes out to work; and that there is
a fairly high correlation between the over-large family and
low-grade homes especially where that family is below the
age where they can be assets on the farm or in the mill.

Vital Statistics and Health

In our discussion of infant mortality we have already
commented on the high birth-rate of the Portuguese as a
possible cause of their high infant mortality. It is im¬
portant therefore to consider the rate of natural growth of
these people in our two communities.

Table 70 1

Native, Portuguese’ and Other Foreign Births,’ Portsmouth, R. I., 1910-1920
Native 3 Portuguese 1 Other Foreign Unknown Totals

Live

Still

Live

Still

Live

Still

Live

Still

Live

Still

1910 .

.... 19

1911 .

1912 .

- 14

1913 .

1914 .

.... IS

1915 .

1916 .

1917 .

1918 .

1919 .

. 25

1920 .

. 29

Totals .

574

859

Table 70 shows births in Portsmouth, Rhode Island for
the eleven-year period 1910-1920. The number of births in

1 Computed from the Portsmouth Birth Register in the Town Clerk’s
office.

2 That is of Portuguese descent, including births to parents who
though born in the United States were themselves of Portuguese
descent.

5 Omitting births where either parent was of Portuguese descent.

289] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 289

Portsmouth in a single year are too few to enable us to
figure a useable birth rate. We must therefore content our¬
selves with a rough estimate of the average rate for the
eleven years. We have not attempted to use birth data
earlier than 1910 because before that date no canvasser was
employed in Portsmouth to find births which had not been
reported by physicians. The writer believes that reports of
births and deaths are reasonably accurate for these eleven
years provided they are obtained from the town records rather
than from the state reports. Serious errors occur in the
state reports because the figures are sometimes sent to Pro¬
vidence before the late birth returns are in. Rhode Island
was dropped from the registration area for several years,
not 1 because of inaccuracies in returns but because they were
late.

Our table shows 859 live births during the eleven-year
period or an average of 78.1' per year. The population of
Portsmouth declined between 1910 and 1920 from 2681 to
2590. This decline was due to the closing of the coal mines
early in the decade. The assumption that the loss of 91
people was evenly distributed throughout the decade is prob¬
ably incorrect but the error involved is unavoidable. This
assumption gives us a population in 1915 (the middle point
in our eleven-year period) of 2636. On that figure as a
base we have figured a very rough estimated birth-rate for
the entire period of 29.6.

It is equally difficult to estimate comparative birth-rates
for the Portuguese and the native-born non-Portuguese for
we have figures which classify the population by nationality
only for 1920. It is practically certain that during our
eleven-year period the native non- Portuguese population has
remained nearly stationary though it may have declined a

1 Letter from the Bureau of the Census to the writer.

290

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[290

little. The loss due to the closing of the coal mines, how¬
ever, was a loss mostly of foreign-born non-Portuguese. On
the other hand it is even more certain that the Portuguese
population has increased during this period. If, therefore,
we figure birth rates on the incorrect assumption that both
these elements in the population were in all years the same
as they were in 1920 we shall get results which will be in¬
correct, but which will give us too low a rate for the Portu¬
guese and probably one which will be approximately correct
for the native non-Portuguese. The latter would be, if any¬
thing, too high. Therefore this procedure will tend to un¬
derestimate the contrast between the Portuguese and non-
Portuguese birth-rates. Using this method, we get a native
non-Portuguese crude birth rate of 14.5 to compare with a
Portuguese rate (including all of Portuguese descent) of
48.5. In other words the natural increase of the Portuguese
would seem to be more than three times that of the native
non- Portuguese.

The assumption that the number of women aged 15-44 re¬
mained constant throughout the 11-year period is, if any¬
thing, one which would be still more liable to give a refined
birth rate too low for the Portuguese and too high for the
native-born non-Portuguese. This assumption gives us a
average refined birth rate (births per 1000 women 15-44)
for the non-Portuguese native-born of 74.1, and for those
of Portuguese descent of 270.4. So estimated, the Portu¬
guese refined birth rate is 3.6 times that of the “ old stock ”
— a contrast even greater than that between the crude rates.
The relatively high Portuguese rate in Portsmouth, then,
is not due to the presence of a larger proportion of women
aged 15-44. 'An examination of the age distribution given
in table 42 1 shows, however, that the Portuguese do have a
larger proportion of women in the early part of the child¬
bearing period.

1 Page 198.

291] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 291

We have computed from the original birth returns in the
office of the City Clerk of Fall River the number of births
to women of Portuguese descent, and to those of other than
Portuguese descent for the year 1920. We find 1062 Por¬
tuguese births and 2524 non-Portuguese, both being ex¬
clusive of stillbirths. In determining these figures we had
three checks on nationality or descent — the recorded birth¬
place of parents, the names of parents and of children and
in some cases the employment of a Portuguese midwife.
No case was found, however, where a Portuguese midwife
was employed and where the birth was not clearly either
Portuguese or non-Portuguese by the other criteria.1

The total population of Fall River in 1920 was 120,485
which gives us a crude birth rate of 29.8, which curiously
enough is within .2 of the estimated rate for Portsmouth.
Referring to table 43 2 we find that the population of Portu¬
guese descent in Fall River in 1920 numbered 22,431 giving
a crude Portuguese birth rate of 47.3, 1.21 points lower than
our estimated rate for Portsmouth. The non-Portuguese
population numbered 98,027 giving a rate of 25.7. This

1 Forty-two out of the 1062 births recorded as Portuguese in the
table would not have been so recorded under the usual definition of
that term, because neither of their parents was born in Portugal nor
in any of her possessions. These included thirty cases where both
parents were born in the United States. In one of these thirty cases
both parents were born in Hawaii; in another one parent was born
there; and in two others one parent only was recorded — probably
cases of illegitimacy. In the other eleven cases one parent was born
in the United States and the other in some foreign country other than
Portugal. All but one of these eleven were evidently cases of mixed
marriages. The one doubtful case was where one parent was born
in Bermuda and was quite probably also of Portuguese descent. The
countries included in the mixed marriages were Canada (four cases),
Syria (two cases), and one case each from Ireland, Scotland, France,
Bermuda and Italy. The remaining case was one where one parent
was born in France and one in Mexico but of Portuguese descent.

2 Page 199.

292

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[292

rate is not comparable with the rate for the native non-Por¬
tuguese in Portsmouth since the former includes non-Portu¬
guese foreign-born. The contrast between the Portuguese
and non- Portuguese rates in Fall River is all the more strik¬
ing, however, for that reason. Table 43 also enables us to
figure refined birth rates for the Portuguese and non-Portu¬
guese. There were in 1920 24,490 non- Portuguese women
aged 15-44 inclusive in Fall River. There were 2524 births
to non-Portuguese women which gives a refined birth-rate
of 103. 1. Similarly we find a refined rate for Portuguese
women of 199.3. When it is remembered that among the
non-Portuguese with whom our Portuguese are compared
are very large numbers of other foreign groups including
some who like the French Canadians are noted for their high
vitality, this last comparison becomes very striking.

It is interesting at this point to turn back to our vital
statistics from Portugal and the Islands 1 to see whether
Portuguese vitality is adversely affected by removal to this
country. For the five-year period 1913-1917 the highest
crude birth-rate for any district was 36.64 for Ponta Del-
gada — the district from which most of the Portuguese we
are studying come. But this rate is more than ten points
lower than our crude rate for the Portuguese of Fall River
and still lower than our estimated rate for Portsmouth.
Similarly the highest refined rate which we found for any
district in any year was 158.97 for Ponta Delgada in 1915
which compares with our 199.3 f°r Portuguese of Fall River
and with our estimate of 270.4 for those of Portsmouth.
We are, it must be admitted, insufficiently informed as to
the reliability and comparability of the data from these Por¬
tuguese districts, but the differences are sufficiently great
to suggest that the Portuguese of our communities have a
higher rate of natural increase than their brethren at home.

1 Cf. tables 6 and 7, pp. 53 and 55.

293] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 293

At least two possible explanation's might be offered for this
situation. The class of people who emigrate from these
Islands are presumably of a higher vitality class than are the
general population. Also the improved economic status of
the Portuguese in America may affect their birth rate fav¬
orably. It is true that the long-time effect of rising stand¬
ards of living is usually a decline in the birth-rate, but the
immediate effect is usually just the opposite. No doubt
both of these factors help to account for the high vitality of
Portuguese immigrants.

It is still more important to compare the vitality of foreign-
born Portuguese women in Fall River, with that of native-
born women of Portuguese descent. We have 982 births
recorded for 1920 to foreign-born Portuguese mothers,11
and hi to native-born women of Portuguese descent. *
Table 44 3 shows that there were in 1920 4523 foreign-
born Portuguese women aged 15-44 and 805 native-born of
Portuguese of mixed descent. We have then a refined birth
rate for the former of 21 7.1 and for .the latter of 137.9.^
This difference is considerable and seems to show that the
Portuguese, in common with other nationalities, reduce their
birth-rates in the second generation. Moreover, this con¬
trast seems to be in spite of the fact that the native-born
women of Portuguese descent include a much larger pro¬
portion of women in the more fertile younger age groups.

1 We have included among the Portuguese foreign-born mothers 12
born either in Brazil or Bermuda who were evidently of Portuguese
descent.

2 Unlike our other figures for births these births both include still¬
births. It would have been better to have eliminated them but as the
proportion of still-births among Portuguese births was almost exactly
the same in 1920 as among non-Portuguese, the idea of relative fertility
given by the figures is not materially altered.

3 Page 200.

4 These figures are not comparable with our other refined birth-rates
because they include still-born. See note (1).

294

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[294

Thus percentage computations from table 44 show that
84 per cent of native-born Portuguese women aged 15-44
were between the ages of 15 and 24 as against 39 per cent
of native-born women of Portuguese descent. Unfortu¬
nately we are unable to further refine our data by consider¬
ing the relative numbers in each group who were married.
We show below 1 that foreign-born Portuguese women mar¬
rying after coming to this country average to marry two
years later than do the native-born of Portuguese descent.
On the other hand the fact that the proportion of native-born
aged 15-19 is considerably greater than that of the foreign-
born leads one to suspect that a larger proportion of native-
born of Portuguese descent aged 15-44 are single than of
foreign-born Portuguese. On the whole, however, con¬
sidering the net effects of these various factors — 'the much
higher refined birth-rate of foreign born; earlier marriage
of native-born, but larger proportion of very young among
the native-born women of Portuguese descent — 'there seems
little doubt that Portuguese women of the second genera¬
tion are considerably less fertile than those who were born
abroad. This is an important conclusion, for it correlates
with the rising standard of living which we have shown 2
to be characteristic of the Portuguese who have lived here
for a considerable period.

In order to estimate roughly the proportion of a Portu¬
guese woman’s time which is normally devoted to child-bear¬
ing a study was made of the intervals between births to
Portuguese women bearing children in Portsmouth in the
years 1919 and 1920. It was not feasible to consider a
longer period because of the many duplications of names and
of the frequent recording of the same parents under dif¬
ferent names. It would have been still better to consider

1 Cf. infra, p. 305.

2 Cf. supra, p. 275 ff.

295] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 295

all Portuguese births for a single year in a large city; but
unfortunately both the New England cities containing a con¬
siderable number of Portuguese (Fall River and New Bed¬
ford) are located in Massachusetts where the number of the
birth is not recorded when the birth is registered.

We show below 1 that Portuguese women of Portsmouth
average to marry at the age of 21. Our very rough estimate
of the birth interval was therefore made by subtracting 21
from the mother’s age at the time of her most recent birth,
and dividing the remainder by the number of the birth.
Thus Mary Pimental’s tenth child was recorded and her
age given as 40. 21 from 40 leaves 19 which divided by

10 gives an average interval between births for this mother
of 1.9. Whether we are justified in using this procedure
even for rough estimates depends upon the representative¬
ness of our data as to the age at marriage, the accuracy of
the figures for age of mothers and number of birth, and the
correspondence between the age at marriage in Portsmouth
and the age at which mothers married before their immigra¬
tion, were married. While all three of these sources of error
undoubtedy exist there is no apparent reason why the first
two should be more liable to result in an understatement of
the interval between births than the opposite. As for the
last source of error we can only say that if Portuguese
women marry younger in the Azores than in Portsmouth,
then our estimates of intervals are by so much too small.

Keeping the above sources of error in mind we may re¬
port that our study showed an average interval for Portu¬
guese mothers reporting births in 1919 of 2.01 years and for
those reporting in 1920 of 1.56 years, or 1.77 for the two
years taken together. When it is remembered that preg¬
nancies not resulting in child-birth are not considered, and
that marriages where more than one or two children could

1 Cf. infra, p. 304.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

296

[296

not be born for physiological reasons are included, it is seen
that the normal state of the married Portuguese woman who
is in good health is, in the rural community of Portsmouth
— well-nigh continuous pregnancy or child-bearing. This
fact is the more notable when it is remembered that these
women were at all ages within the child-bearing period, al¬
though naturally among the Portuguese, as among all peoples,
the earlier years of maturity are the more fertile. The
average age of the women considered was 30.5 years. The
distribution of ages of mothers and the corresponding aver¬
age intervals are shown in the following table.

Table 71

Estimated Intervals Between Births for Portuguese 1
Mothers of Portsmouth, R. I.

(1919 AND 1920 COMBINED)

Mothers

Number of

Average

Ages

Mothers

Interval

Under 20 .

. 7

•73 2 years

20-24 .

. 17

•97

25-29 .

. 24

1-45

30-34 .

. 32

2.29

35-39 .

. 18

2-73

40-44 .

. 6

2.81

Under 45 .

1.77 years

1 Computed from the Register of Births of Portsmouth, R. I.

’Three mothers had their first child before they were 21 years old.
These were recorded as having had an interval of one year although
they probably will have more children before reaching that age. On
the other hand intervals as small as .25 and .33 were averaged in with
the rest where, for example, four or three children had been born by
the twenty-first birthday. This latter procedure though based upon
intervals which are physiologically impossible, is statistically justified.
This is because such cases are presumably offset by those of women
marrying above the average age, for whom intervals have been reck¬
oned greater than those actually occurring. For example a woman
marrying at the age of 24 and registering her first child in that year
would be reckoned as having had an interval of three years when
actually she might thereafter bear a child a year.

297] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 297

According to this table it is not far from the truth to say
that married Portuguese women under 30 years of age who
bear any children have a child every year, and that those
in the higher age groups have one every two to three years.

Turning to mortality data we find the Portuguese also
with an abnormally high death-rate. We have already dis¬
cussed infant mortality among these people in a separate
chapter. 'Earlier in this chapter 1 we have given a table of
deaths classified by descent for Portsmouth. We also sur¬
mised that the coming of the Portuguese had been a chief
factor in the apparent rise of the death rate in the town
during the last thirty-six years. Unfortunately the changes
in the number and age distribution of the Portuguese have
been so rapid that it is not feasible to even estimate Portu¬
guese death rates for ten-year •periods, as we have done for
the general population. Neither are the deaths in 1920 suf¬
ficiently numerous to enable us to figure a Portuguese rate
for that year. All that we can say is that the range in
number of deaths per year has recently been from 13 to 26
and that the Portuguese population has recently been in the
neighborhood of a thousand. One gets the general impres¬
sion that if the high infant mortality of the Portuguese
could be eliminated, the death rate for higher age periods
would not be very excessive; but whether the absence of
aged people will account for this situation is not proven.

We can get some notion of the health of school children
in Portsmouth from 232 school health cards filled out by a
Red Cross nurse, following examinations of that number of
children made in 1919. Of these 232 cards 145 were for
Portuguese children and 83 for non-Portuguese mostly of
the “ old stock ”. Four were for half-Portuguese children.
78 per cent of the non-Portuguese children were classed as
having some physical defect, and 96 per cent of the Portu-

1 Cf. supra, p. 238.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

298

[298

guese children. 81 per cent of Portuguese children and
54 per cent of non-Portuguese were reported as having one
or more of the following defects — diseased tonsils, nasal
obstructions or adenoids. Considering that about % of
the children were Portuguese, we note that there was no
striking difference between the Portuguese, and non-Portu¬
guese in the prevalence of such troubles as eye defects,
or defective hearing and discharge from the nose. But
the Portuguese children showed more than their proportion
with marked mental deficiency (5 out of 7) ; bad posture
(18 out of 24); curvature of the spine (all of the six) r
malnutrition (20 out of 26) ; rickets (all of the three) ,*
suspected tuberculosis (4 out of 5) ; enlarged glands (all
of the 3) ; pediculosis (all of the 9) ; ring worm (all of the
3) ; and cardioadenitis (24 out of 35). The non-Por¬
tuguese did not show more than their proportion of any
defects which appeared in any considerable numbers. In
addition 8 Portuguese children were reported as being sub¬
jected to cruelty in their homes; while 3 7 or one in four of
the Portuguese children said they drank no milk at home,
while only 6 non-Portuguese children were so listed. With
regard to food also 11 Portuguese children and 6 non-
Portuguese were said to be receiving food with insufficient
nourishment; while 13 Portuguese and no non-Portuguese
were reported as not getting enough food. 13 Portuguese
children also were said to be inadequately clad with cloth¬
ing in poor condition, while none of the other group were so
classed. The writer was told of two children whose father
made part of his living selling milk, and who fed milk to his
hogs but who gave his children none.

These data, though the result of a single study, show
plainly that the Portuguese children of Portsmouth are handi¬
capped physically, and that sometimes, though by no means
usually, these handicaps may be traced to adverse home con-

299] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 299

ditions. They also show, as might be expected, that child¬
ren of Portsmouth of whatever nationality are in need of
the assistance of a school nurse.

For Fall River we have more accurate and complete data
as to mortality. Table 72 gives the deaths of people of
Portuguese descent in Fall River in 1920 classified by age
groups. One is immediately struck by the large number
of deaths of very young children and by the relatively small
number of deaths in the older age periods. The marked
excess of male deaths is also notable.

Table 72

Deaths by Age Groups for People of Portuguese 1 Descent,

Fall River, 1920
(stillborn omitted)

Age at death

Number of deaths
Male Female

Under 1 .

.... 143

i-4 .

.... 47

5-9 .

10-14 .

15-19 .

20-24 .

25-29 .

30-34 .

3 '

35-39 .

40-44 .

- 7

45-49 .

50-54 .

.... 13

55-59 .

60-64 .

65-69 .

70-74 .

75-79 .

80-84 .

85-89 .

90-94 .

95-99 .

278

196

Computed from Fall River

for 1920.

300

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[300

Table 73 shows the birth-place of the parents of decedents
(with stillborn included) in Fall River in 1920.

Table 73

Birthplace of Parents of Portuguese Decedents of 1920

in Fall River

(stillborn included)

Birthplace Fathers

Azores . 430

Portugal . 35

Fall River . 11

Madeira . 14

Unknown . 9

U. S. outside of Fall River . 7

Syria . 2

Italy . 2

Brazil . 2

Hawaii . 1

Bermuda . 1

Ireland . o

Canada . o

England . o

Mothers

444

5i4 5i4

This table incidentally reveals how recent has been the
immigration of the Portuguese. Of the 514 pairs of parents
only 19 fathers and 24 mothers were native-born (including
those born in Hawaii) . The general death irate of Fall River
in 1920 was 14.7.1 There were in that year a total of 1771
deaths (exclusive of stillborn), of which 469 were of Portu¬
guese descent and 1302 were non- Portuguese. The total
population of Fall River was 120,458 of whom 22,431 were
of Portuguese descent and 98,027 were non- Portuguese.
From these data we figure a crude Portuguese death-rate
of 20.9 as against a rate for the non-Portuguese of 13.3.
Moreover 228 of the Portuguese deaths and 271 of the

1 For this and other rates cf. supra, p. 240.

30I ] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 301

non- Portuguese were deaths of infants under one year of
age. From our discussion of infant mortality it has been
evident that the mortality among infants is extremely high
among the Portuguese. If we were to deduct infant deaths
from the total deaths of both groups we should have a rate
for the non- Portuguese of 10.5 and for the Portuguese of
10.7 or practically the same.

An examination of our table showing the age distribution
of the Portuguese population of Fall River shows that it is
abnormal. Table 74 shows for Portuguese and non-Por¬
tuguese the number and proportion in each age group.

Table 74

Age Distribution of Portuguese and non-Portuguese Population 1
of Fall River — Both Sexes Combined — 1920

Aqe Groups Non-Portuguese Portuguese

Number Per cent Number Per cent

Under 5 . 9,888 10.1 3,752 16.7

5-9 . 10,166 10.4 3,123 13.8

10-14 . 9,739 9-9 2,385 10.6

i5-!9 . 8,903 9.1 2,132 9.5

20-44 . 36,647 374 8,480 37.8

45 and over . 22,684 23.1 2,559 11.4

Totals . 98,027 100.0 22,431 99.8

While the Portuguese are seen to have a larger proportion
of young children than the non-Portuguese they also have a
very much smaller proportion of aged. By using the same
method employed in the first part of this chapter 2 we may

Computed from the original schedules of the 14th Census.

*The Newsholme method was used in correcting the crude death-
rates for the Portuguese and non-Portuguese populations of Fall River,
but instead of the age classes, under 5, 5-14, 15-24, 25-44, 45-64, 65
and over, it was necessary because of the nature of the published
data to use the following age classes : under 5, 5-14, 15-19, 20-
44. 45 and over. The grouping of all persons 45 and over probably
involves a slight error in computing the factors of correction, but it
is believed that this error does not impair the general validity of the
comparison made in the text.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

3 02

[302

obtain factors of correction which will eliminate the dif¬
ference in age and sex distributions between these two
groups.

We find these factors of correction to be 1.065 f°r the
Portuguese and 1.000 for the non-Portuguese. Multiply¬
ing the crude death-rates by these factors of correction eli¬
minates influences due to abnormal age and sex distributions,
and gives us a “ corrected ” death-rate per 1000 for the Por¬
tuguese of 22.3 and for the non-Portuguese of 13.3. De¬
ducting the infant deaths in both groups we have a corrected
death-rate for the Portuguese of 11.4 and for the non-
Portuguese of 10.5. In other words, if the Portuguese had
a “ standard ” age and sex distribution, their general death-
rate would be 22.3 instead of 20.9, and their death-rate with
infant deaths excluded would be 11.4 instead of 10.7. We
find, then, the corrected general death-rate of the Portuguese
to be 67.7 per cent higher than that of the non-Portuguese?
and the corrected death-rate, with infant deaths excluded,
to be 8.5 per cent higher. It must be remembered that in
this case we are comparing the mortality of the Portuguese
with that of a group made up not only of “ the old stock ”
but also of foreign-born and native-born of French-
Canadian, Irish, Italian, Syrian and other stocks.

It is interesting to compare the above apparent evidence
of morbidity among the Portuguese with Hoffman’s opinion
expressed in 1899 as to the effect upon health of the coming
of the Portuguese to America. He says : “ But this strain
(of negro blood) must be considered as unimportant from
a physiological point of view, and does not to my mind re¬
present a factor detrimental to the health or longevity of
these people at the present time.” 1 In the same article
Hoffman quotes death-rates by nationality in Fall River for
the years 1891-7 as follows: All nationalities 23.0, Portu-

1 Hoffman, op. cit ., p. 330.

303] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 303

guese n. 7, Canadians 10.5, Irish 29.2. He admits that
the age distribution at that time favored the Portuguese but
says that that is not a sufficient explanation of these marked
differences in mortality. He concludes : 1 “ The conclusion
is warranted that on the basis of the local mortality statis¬
tics of the Western Islands; on the basis of the mortality
statistics for the Hawaiian Islands; ... on the basis of
the returns for the city of Fall River, and on the scanty
material in the possession of insurance companies, the mor¬
tality of the Portuguese, especially Western Islanders, is
below the general mortality of the Portuguese in Portugal,
and considerably below the mortality of the Irish and Ger¬
mans in the United States.” It will be remembered that
Hoffman calls attention to the fact that at the time of writ¬
ing the Portuguese in the United States came chiefly from
the islands of Fayal, San Jorge and Flores, and that he dis¬
cusses a possible racial factor differentiating the inhabitants
of these islands from other Portuguese, but is inclined to
disregard it. Shall we attribute the contrast between our
present results and those found by Hoffman to a change in
age distribution, to a change in economic conditions, or to
a change in racial type as the St. Michael Portuguese have
come in? If this were the only evidence found for dif¬
ferences in type between the immigrants from the different
islands, the present writer would be inclined to shun the
racial hypothesis ; but added to the other evidence we have
presented there is at least a strong presumption in its favor.

All our evidence points to the conclusion that the Portu¬
guese add not only to the problem of infant mortality in
New England but to that of mortality in the upper age
groups. It must be admitted, however, that our evidence
would be more convincing if we had a parallel study of
some other nationality comparable with the Portuguese and
living under similar conditions.

1 Ibid., p. 334.

3°4

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[304

It is frequently said, that the Portuguese being low-grade
immigrants are improvident and marry at an extremely
young age. Statistics for Portsmouth and Fall River do
not altogether bear out such a statement. Table 75 shows
the average age at first marriage of 941 individuals whose
marriages were recorded in the town records of Portsmouth
as occurring between 1885 and 1919 inclusive. In addition
there were some dozen individuals married for the first
time whose age was not recorded.

Table 75 1

Average Age at First Marriage — Portsmouth, R. I., 1885-1919

Type

Number

Average age

Age not given

Native-born non-Portuguese men. ..

342

26.3

Portuguese men (native or foreign).

25.0

Other foreign men .

29.1

Native-born non-Portuguese women.

35°

23.6

Portuguese women .

100

21.3

Other foreign women .

27.4

This table shows that Portuguese women are married on
the average 3.7 years younger than Portuguese men; and
that the corresponding difference between the sexes among
the native-born non- Portuguese is a year less. Also that
Portuguese men are married 1.3 years younger than native-
born non-Portuguese; and Portuguese women 2.3 years
younger than native-born non-Portuguese. Other foreign-
born of both sexes marry later than either Portuguese or
native-born, but their number is small.

It is quite possible, of course, that Portuguese in the
Azores marry younger than in this country. Portuguese
having a lower standard of living naturally marry younger
than do natives. In view of common report of extremely
young marriages, however, the writer is surprised to find as
little difference as is shown. The writer has seen one Por¬
tuguese woman who was married at 15, but the town records
show at least one marriage of a native woman at the same
age.

1 Computed from the Register of Marriages, Portsmouth, R. I.

305] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 305

Table 76 for Fall River separates the Portuguese into
native and foreign-born.

Table 76

Average Age at First Marriage, Fall River, Mass.,1
October i, 1918 — October i, 1919

Type

Number

Average a%e

Native non-Portuguese men .

635

25.50

Native Portuguese descent, men .

3°

21.26

Portuguese foreign born .

210

29.87

Non-Portuguese foreign-born men .

218

29.99

Native non-Portuguese women .

671

23-44

Native Portuguese women .

19-53

Portuguese foreign-born women .

209

21.75

Non -Portuguese foreign-born women. • . .

223

27.4S

In this table the fact that second and third marriages are
omitted accounts for the fact that the totals for men and
women do not correspond. Differences between men and
women of the same nativity group are, of course, also ac-
counted for by mixed marriages. The table shows that the
thirty Portuguese men born here were married on the aver¬
age more than four years younger than were the bulk of
the native-born men. The difference between the age at
marriage of native non-Portuguese women and that of
the native-born of Portuguese descent is nearly as great as
that in the case of the corresponding groups of men. On
the other hand, we find scarcely any difference in the age at
marriage of foreign-born Portuguese men and that of other
foreign-born men; and a difference of more than four years
in favor of later marriage by Portuguese men as compared
with native-born non- Portuguese men. Foreign-born Por¬
tuguese women, however, marry younger than either native-
born or foreign-born non-Portuguese. The contrast be¬
tween them and other foreign-born women is one of more
than five years and is the most striking of the table. The
late marriage of the whole group of foreign-born is also

1 Computed from the Marriage Register of Fall River, Mass.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

3°6

[306

notable. The easiest explanation of these data seems to be
that the controlling factor is economic, but that granted suf¬
ficient means with which to start a family, the Portuguese
marry younger than other nationalities. There is no sug¬
gestion of child marriage, however.

Our study has discovered no very significant data on
mixed marriages among the Portuguese. In Portsmouth in
thirty-five years’ time 13 cases of mixed marriage where
one of the parties was of Portuguese descent were recorded.
Eleven of these thirteen cases were personally known to
the present town clerk and his opinion was that they had,
with one or two exceptions, resulted in happiness and at¬
tractive children. One case where the results were ap¬
parently the opposite is known to the present writer. In
Fall River during the year studied, 36 apparent mixed mar¬
riages occurred. It was impossible to tell the nationality
of the non-Portuguese party to these marriages in every
case but Irish, Italian, English, French Canadian, Polish,
Syrian and native American parties were found. The Por¬
tuguese party was the man only slightly more frequently
than it was the woman. On the whole we do not find
evidence for much intermarriage with the Portuguese. It
is unfortunate that Drachsler s (important study of intermar¬
riage in New York City 1 did not include sufficient numbers
of Portuguese to be of significance. He found a very high
percentage of intermarriage with the Portuguese but their
number was very small.

Educational A chievement

We have already given evidence that the Portuguese are
an illiterate people. We have seen that in the District of
Ponta Delgada more than half the women and nearly two-
thirds of the men who married in 1917 were unable to sign
the marriage papers.

1 Cf. supra, chap, ii, pp. 31-32.

307] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 307

We have seen that this high degree of illiteracy is char¬
acteristic both of emigrants in general from Portugal and
of immigrants to the United States from Portugal.1 While
there can be little doubt that emigration to the United States
tends to reduce this illiteracy it can have but small effect
upon the adult population. We have made special investi¬
gations of this matter only in Portsmouth. The Census
schedules for Portsmouth for 1920 show the literacy of
169 male Portuguese heads of families and of 161 of their
wives to be as follows: 56 men and 74 women able either
to read or to write or both; m3 men and 87 women able
neither to read nor to write. Defining illiteracy to mean
ability neither to read nor to write we find that 66.9 per cent
of male heads of families and 54.0 per cent of their wives
were illiterate.2

The Immigration Commission found that except for the
Turks the Portuguese had a larger proportion of illiteracy
(inability to read) than any other nationality.3 Only Bul¬
garians, Spaniards, Turks and Cubans ranked lower than
the Portuguese in their ability to speak English.

The advance sheets of the Census of 1920 show that in Fall
River 1 1 .9 per cent of all persons ten years of age and over,
25.5 per cent of foreign-born persons of that age, 3.2 per
cent of all persons 16 to 20 years of age inclusive, and 15.2
per cent of males and 16.3 per cent of females 21 years of
age and over were illiterate. By every one of these meas¬
ures Fall River is seen to be the most illiterate of all the 66
Massachusetts cities with 10,000 or more population except
one. This one city with greater illiteracy was in each case
Easthampton except that New Bedford showed a large pro¬
portion of persons 16 to 20 years of age who were illiterate.

1 Cf. supra, chap, iv, pp. 114-116.

* Computed from the original Census schedules in Washington, D. C.

sUnited States Immigration Commission Report. 61st Congress, 3rd
Session. Washington 1911, Vol. I, p. 446.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

308

[3oS

The three large Portuguese centers of Fall River, New Bed¬
ford and Taunton always showed a high ratio of illiteracy.
There is no question that the presence of the Portuguese is
a very large factor in this unfortunate situation.

We should hardly expect children coining from families
where neither parent could read or write, where the attain¬
ment of even the merest rudiments of an education has been
the exception rather than the rule, to show either marked
interest in or marked success in their school work. In such
families the daily conversation is not concerned with topics
of the day because there is no newspaper, and school is too
often looked upon as a convenient place to send the youngest
children to get them out from under foot, and as a handicap
to the older children delaying their entry into remunerative
occupations on the farm or in the mill. It will be all the
more interesting, therefore, to inquire into the actual educa¬
tional attainment of Portuguese children in the schools of
Portsmouth and Fall River.

Table 77 below shows the number of Portuguese, and non-

Table 77

Portuguese and Non-Portuguese Children in Portsmouth 1
Schools, by Grades — 1919-20

Portuguese

Descent

Non-Portuguese

Totals

Grade 1 .

. 93

118

Grade 2 .

. 44

Grade 3 .

. 66

Grade 4 .

. 38

Grade 5 .

. 23

Grade 6 .

. 14

Grade 7 .

. 9

Grade 8 .

. 4

Grade 9 .

. 2

—

293

163

456

1 Completed from the original school record books.

309] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 309

Portuguese children in each grade of the elementary and
grammar grades in Portsmouth. Portsmouth has no high
school and we have no data as to how many Portuguese
children from Portsmouth were attending high school in
Fall River or Newport. They were certainly few in
number.

The Portuguese of Portsmouth make up 41.6 per cent
of the total population but as the above table shows they
send nearly two-thirds (64.3 per cent) of the total children
who go to school. This accounts for the waning interest
of the “ old stock ” in good schools. The table also shows
that while, as is usual, the number of pupils declines as the
higher grades are reached, this decline is more noticeable
among the Portuguese than among other children. In the
first grade they outnumbered the non-Portuguese nearly
four to one, while by the fifth grade they are themselves
outnumbered and in the higher grades the excess of non-
Portuguese .is considerable.

Table 78 below shows the number of each nationality (by
language of parents’ native land), of children enrolled in
the Fall River elementary schools in December 1914. While
a table constructed in 1920 would no doubt show some
changes in the relative importance of the different nation¬
alities, this table gives a rough idea of the types of child¬
ren with whom the Portuguese are associated, and of the
distribution of the Portuguese among different classes. The
table does not include pupils in the parochial schools and
thus omits large numbers of French-Canadians and some of
other groups. Disregarding this fact, we note that in public
schools the Portuguese are numerically second only to child¬
ren of American-torn parents, with the English third and
the French-Canadians fourth, while Hebrews, Italians, Poles
and Irish follow in the order named. Few Portuguese at¬
tend parochial schools.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND [3x0

Table 78

Pupils in Elementary Schools — Dec., 1914, 1 by Nationality
and Grades, Fall River, Mass.

Nationality

Grades

Spec.

Totals

Armenian .

Bulgarian .

Danish .

. 1

Dutch .

English (U. S.) .

. 676

590

359

739

587

526

262

2S0

4554

English (other) .

• 253

314

365

395

404

273

234

141

2403

Flemish . . .

French .

• 436

291

323

329

245

122

i34

1948

German .

1 1

Greek .

Hebrew .

119

124

122

806

Irish .

223

Italian .

• 97

413

Norwegian . . . .

Polish .

378

Portuguese .

• 725

624

726

377

201

128

2849

Russians .

. 24

1 1

Scotch. . . .

Swedish .

Syrian .

. 19

Chinese .

Finnish .

Rumanian .

Rutheman ....

2506

2147

2609

2177

1736

1164

692

542

364

13937

A glance at the table also shows great differences among
nationalities in the proportion of children found in the
higher grades. We have figured for the more important
nationalities the percentages of total children in school who
are found in the sixth, seventh and eighth grades taken to¬
gether. In descending order they are Hebrew 27.5 per cent,
children of English-speaking foreign-born parents 27.0 per
cent, children of English-speaking native-born parents 23.7
per cent, French 9.7 per cent, Italian 7.0 per cent, Polish 4.5
per cent and Portuguese 2.4 per cent. The Portuguese thus
make distinctly the worst showing in this respect. That
three times as large a proportion of Italians as of Portu-

1 From Fall River School Survey.

31 1 ] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 3n

guese, and more than eleven times as large a proportion of
Jews as of Portuguese, remain for the work of the upper
grades is surely significant. How far this difference is due
to a difference in natural ability, and how far to the effects
of the mores of illiteracy, economic status et cetera, this
table does not indicate. We have already shown that this
exodus from the schools is not peculiar to the Portuguese,
but it is much more noticeable among them.

The same contrast is brought out more clearly still by
table 79 which shows the nationality of pupils in Fall River
High Schools in December 1914. If we may assume that
Portuguese children of high school age in Fall River made
up at the end of 1914 approximately the same proportion
of all children od that age, which they did in 1920, then they
were nearly one in five ( 19.3 per cent). As the Portuguese
population has probably increased somewhat since then, we
probably do the Portuguese some injustice in making this
assumption. Still the influx since that date has not been
very great. Our table, however, finds but four Portuguese
enrolled in the high schools or but .3 per cent of the total
number of children in the high schools. According to our
assumption this is but one sixty-second of their normal
proportion. In 1920 there were 20 Portuguese children at¬
tending the now centralized High School of Fall River.
Of these eleven were in; the first year, five in the second
year, three in the third year and one was a senior. Thus
the Portuguese have multiplied their number of high school
pupils by five in less than six years time. The Portuguese
are still a very small proportion of all high school pupils but
they have increased their percentage from .3 per cent to
1.2 per cent, or four-fold.

The conclusion which one will draw from such figures will
depend largely upon the temperament and prejudices of the
observer. If he is inclined to fix his attention upon the

312

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[312

Table 79

“ Nationality ” of Pupils in High Schools,1 Fall River,

Mass., Dec., 1914

(by

LANGUAGE

OF PARENTS’

NATIVE LAND)

Nationality

Grades

P. Grad. Spec.

Totals

Armenian .

Chinese .

Danish .

English (U. S.) ...

• ... 343

260

131

134

876

English (other) . . .

. . . . 109

216

French .

. . . . 18

German .

.... 3

Hebrew .

.... 30

103 2

Italian .

Polish .

Portuguese .

.... 3

Russian .

.... 3

Scotch .

.... 7

Swedish .

Syrian .

.... 1

Welsh .

Totals .

.... 526

395

193

167

1296 2

shockingly small number of Portuguese children who reach
the secondary school he tends to accept the explanation of
inherent racial inferiority. If, on the other hand, he notes
the increase in the enrollment of Portuguese children he be¬
comes more hopeful. The situation is similar to that we
shall soon show with reference to the use of the Public
Library. A people with low mentality or lacking in ambi¬
tion do not attend high school. On the other hand a people
with normal mentality but coming from homes where the
traditional thing to do is to begin work at the age of four-

'From the Fall River School Survey, Chap, i, p. 4.

7 There appears to be a discrepancy here between the figures given in
the columns for the Hebrews and the total Hebrews recorded in
the grand total. The figures in the columns have been accepted and
the totals corrected accordingly.

313] PORTSMOUTH, R. 1. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 313

teen and where the parents are more often than not illiterate
— such a people also do not attend high school. We have
figured below the ratio between the number of pupils of a
given nationality in high school in 1914, and the number of
foreign-born of that nationality according to the Census
of 1920. As a measure of interest in higher education such
a procedure is open to two obvious sources of error. In
the first place the number and proportion of each nationality
in the total population may have changed in six years. In
the second place the proportion of the different nationalities
which is made up of children of high school age may vary.
Nationalities also differ in the proportion between the native-
born and foreign-born among those of a given descent.
These difficulties are of considerable importance and would
lead us to dispense with our table were it not that the con¬
trasts it discloses are so marked that they must be of sig¬
nificance despite these sources of possible error. Our table
includes all nationalities with 800 or more representatives
among the foreign-born except the Irish for whom no figures

Table 80

Ratio between the Foreign-born of a given Language 1 Group
(Census of 1920), and the Number of Pupils of that
Group Enrolled in the Fall River High
Schools, Dec., 1914

Language group For every pupil in the high school there were

foreign-born individuals in Fall River

English . 41

French (Canadian only) . 231

Italian . 314

Polish . 1262

Portuguese . 2995

were available, and the Hebrews and Russians for whom
the figures in the two sources were not comparable. Our

1 Computed from the Fall River School Survey, chap, i, p. 4, and
advance sheets of the United States Census for 1920, pp. 23-4.

314

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[3H

table probably does some injustice to groups of recent im¬
migration including Italians, Polish and Portuguese, and
correspondingly favors the English and French. As it
stands, however, the table implies that the Portuguese to
equal the record of the English should have 292 pupils in
the high schools instead of 4. Similarly, to equal the re¬
cord of the French-Canadians they should have 52; of the
Italians 38 ; and 9 or 10 to come up to the Poles. We know,
however, that in 1920 the Portuguese had passed the 1914
ratio of the Poles, but we do not know how many Poles
there were in Fall River high schools in 1920.

Turning from the school statistics for Fall Fiver as a
whole, to schools in Portsmouth and to five elementary and
grammar schools in or near our special district in Fall River,
we first note the nationality of school children in these latter
schools in January 1915, shown in table 81.

Table 81

“Nationality” of School Children Near District Studied,1
Fall River, Mass., Jan., 1915

(by language of parents’ native land)

Schools

Lan°tiage

McDonough

Robeson

Broadway

Longfellow

Columbia

Totals

English (U. S.) ..

158

English (other)..

French .

148

Hebrew .

168

195

378

Irish .

Italian .

Portuguese .

I25

180

233

166

793

Scotch .

Polish .

Russian .

Syrian .

German .

Greek .

Bulgarian .

Danish • • • • • • • • •

Norwegian .

Totals .

430

217

345

204

1707

1 From Fall River School Survey, p. 4.

315] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 315

The distribution of nationalities may have changed slightly
since 1915 but probably not greatly. This table was the
basis for the choice of Robeson and McDonough schools for
a study of scholarship. Since the object of our study is to
compare the scholarship of the Portuguese with that of
other nationalities, it seemed best to select schools where the
heterogeneity was considerable. The Broadway school has
the largest proportion of Portuguese pupils (82.9 per cent)
but that leaves too few of other nationalities with which to
compare them. In the Robeson school on the other hand
the Portuguese make up 'but 24.5 per cent of the school
population. They are indeed outnumbered by the Hebrews
but have twice as many representatives as do the next largest
group — the English-speaking of American parentage. The
choice of the McDonough school was dictated by the fact
that that is the only school in the district where pupils in the
upper grades may be found. The distribution of nationali¬
ties there is not greatly different from that in the Robeson
school, however. It was impossible to determine the number
of each nationality other than Portuguese in these two
schools in 1919 partly because of the inability of the writer
to distinguish the names of some nationalities, but chiefly
because of the frequent changes of names especially by the
Hebrews.

It may be interesting in passing to note the contrast be¬
tween the situation of a Portuguese child who attends the
Columbia or Broadway school with that of one in the Robe¬
son school. The former finds himself surrounded by class
and playmates nearly all of his own kind, whereas the
latter has a choice of eight nationalities besides his own — •
four of them being found in considerable numbers. The
former situation may make for harmony, but the latter pre¬
sumably promotes more rapid adaptation to the life of the
city.

3i6 PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND [316.

Table 82 compares the average scholarship of Portuguese
and non-Portuguese children in the four lower grades of the
Robeson school and in the four upper grades of the Mc¬
Donough school.

Table 82

Comparative Scholarship of Portuguese and Non- Portuguese 1
Children, Fall IRiver, Mass., 1919-20

(for selected classes)

School Grade Portuguese Children Non- Portuguese Children

Number

Av. standing

N umber

Av. standing

Robeson .

So.o

S0.4

79-2

80.3

75.0

78.5

75-°

76.6

McDonough . .

70.2

74-4

68.8

70.1

02.6

70.8

72.2

79-5

Totals .

all

271

72.3

425

P 1
1

As in similar tables in this study the Portuguese were de¬
termined by their names. In the case of this particular
table this was the only check upon “ nationality ” as the
parents’ names were not given on the records. Doubtful
cases were very few, but there is, of course, the possibility
that a very few names of Portuguese were included with the
non-Portuguese. In contrast with similar tables for Ports¬
mouth the Portuguese are here compared with other im¬
migrant nationalities including Hebrews, English, Polish
and French, the relative importance of which was presum¬
ably in the order named. Nevertheless in every grade the
Portuguese are rated lower than their fellows. The differ¬
ences against the Portuguese children range from .4 points
in the first grade to 8.2 points in the seventh. The con¬
siderable difference in the two highest grades is in spite of

1 Computed from the class record books.

317] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 317

the probability that the Portuguese are a somewhat selected
group in those grades. The numbers are small, however.

It is particularly worthy of note that in this table we are
comparing the Portuguese with a group in which the number
of Hebrews is large. We have already seen that the
Hebrews send their children to school longer than do other
nationalities, and they are well-known for their love of educa¬
tion. It is quite possible, therefore, that our comparison is
here quite as severe upon the Portuguese as is that in Ports¬
mouth, where the non-Portuguese are largely native-bom
of “ the old stock ”. This latter comparison is shown in the
following table.

Table 83 1

Comparative Scholarship of Portuguese and Non-Portuguese
Children, Portsmouth, R. I., 1919-1920

School

G rade

Portuguese Children

Non-Portupuese Children

Number

Av. Standing

Number

Av. Standing

Mine .

82.3

82.0

B. Perry .

70.8

80.5

Newtown .

77.8

81.7

McCorrie .

73-7

85,0

Vaucluse .

80.0

88.5

Gibbs .

75-3

96.5

Chase .

83-3

Total .

76.9

83-9

Newtown .

67.2 2

80.2

Quaker II .

unknown

79.0

75-7

68.8

75.8

80.0

76.7

Grand total .

73-9

79.0

Table 83 was computed from the class records of all the
schools of the town except that for grade 6, supplemented
by conversations with nearly all the teachers. The scholar¬
ship ratings were usually secured from records direct, but in a

1 Computed from class record and teachers’ estimates.

2 Two or three obvious defectives with extremely low standing reduce
this average considerably.

318 PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND [3x8.

few cases were supplied by the teachers from memory.
While the former method is preferable the number of child¬
ren in the cases was so small as to make, in the writer’s
judgment, the teacher’s word almost as reliable as the written
record which is merely the expression of her opinion at best.

In grades 1-3 where the Portuguese far outnumber the
non-Portuguese, no scholarship rating is recorded for the
pupils. It is important to remember that in Portsmouth a
child recorded as non-Portuguese is with very few excep¬
tions a native-born child of native Anglo-Saxon parentage.
The grade four comparisons are probably (the fairest we
have; for in the higher grades the Portuguese drop out, and
those few remaining are probably a more highly selected
group than are their non-Portuguese classmates. On the
other hand the Portuguese children have had time to become
adjusted to the school and to their classmates, by the time
they reach the higher grades.

In every grade except the seventh the Portuguese are out¬
ranked by the non- Portuguese. The differences range from
one of 3.3 points in the ninth grade where the numbers are
small, to one of 13 points in the fifth grade where defective
Portuguese who should be removed to special classes pull
down the average of their fellows. For the entire group
we find a difference of 5.1 points as against a difference of
3.9 points in Fall River. The fact that these differences
are, with a single exception of one grade in Portsmouth, uni¬
versal, is a strong argument in favor of their reality.
Whether they are due to the handicaps under which the
Portuguese children live, or to real differences in native
ability is more difficult to determine. That it is a handicap
to be born into a home where parents and perhaps older
brothers and sisters are illiterate meeds no emphasis. To the
present writer the above differences in scholarship hardly
seem greater than one would expect under such circum-

319] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 3^

stances. It hardly seems necessary to resort to that easy
but dangerous explanation by race differences, to explain the
backwardness of the Portuguese. It is quite open to en¬
thusiasts for this explanation, however, to reply that the
backwardness and illiteracy of the whole Portuguese nation¬
ality may be due to racial inferiority. It is no part of the
purpose of this Study to answer that difficult question.

Another measure of backwardness is to compare the aver¬
age age of Portuguese and non- Portuguese children in the
schools. We have done this for the higher grades in Fall
River, as shown in table 84.

Table 84

Average Age of Children in Upper Grades,1 McDonough School,

Fall iRiver, Mass., 1919-1920

Grades Portuguese Non-Portuguese Years

Number Av.Age Number Av.Age Difference-

5 . 89 11.5 97 11 -3 .2

6 . 80 12.2 75 1 1.5 .7

7 . 31 12.5 4i 12.1 .4

8 . 12 12.9 27 12.9 .0

Here we find slight differences only, but again in every
case they are against the Portuguese ; except that there is no
difference in the eighth grade. Table 85 shows similar facts
for Portsmouth except that there we have data for all grades.
The retardation is seen to be greater ,in the rural district
than in the city in every grade except the seventh where there
is a very slight difference in favor of the Portuguese in
Portsmouth. Some of this retardation of Portuguese child¬
ren may be due to the fact that a few of them come to this
country during childhood without having had much if any
schooling. How important a factor this is it is impossible
to say. In the city such children would probably be put

Computed from original school records.

32°

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[320

Table 85

Average Age of Children in School,1 Portsmouth, R. I., 1919-20

Grades

Portuguese

N on-Portuguese

Difference

1 .

Number

. 93

Av. Age

6.8

Number

Av. Age

6.1

■7

. 44

8.2

7-35

•85

3 .

. 66

9-5

8.9

4 .

. 38

10.8

9.4

5 .

. 23

11.3

10.2

1. 1

6 .

. 14

12.7

11.7

1.0

7 .

. 9

12.8

12.9

— .1

8 .

. 4

14-5

13-6

•9

9 .

14-5

13-8

•7

Total ....

. 293

163

•7

into special classes but Portsmouth does not have such
classes. It may also be that in Portsmouth children are re¬
quired to be absent from school more than in the city where
truancy laws are better enforced. Or finally it may be that
the fact that in the city we are comparing Portuguese with
other immigrant groups rather than with native-born may
account for the difference.

While the Immigration Commission found a large pro¬
portion (45.9 per cent) of Portuguese retarded in school,
they also found eight other nationalities with a higher per¬
centage of retardation.*

To get an idea of the relative time lost from school by
Portuguese and non-Portuguese children in each of our
communities, we have computed tables 86 and 87, covering
the grades where the children are of ages when their help
on the farm or in the home might be of use to the family,
but when most of them are still under the legal age for fac-

1 Computed from the original school records.

’United States Immigration Commission Report. 61st Congress, 3rd
Session. Washington 1911. Vol. II, p. 36.

32 1 ] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 321

Table 86

Absences from School — Grades Five, Six and Seven,1 McDonough
School, Fall River, 1919-20

Non- Portuguese Portuguese

Grades Pupils Days Absent Av. Days Pupils Days Absent Av. Days

B G B G B G B G B G B G

Five . 35 40 603 562 17.2 14.0 36 41 402 525 1 1.2 12.8

Six . 16 27 140 288 8.7 10.7 26 31 221 471 8.5 15.2

Seven . 18 13 217 130 12.1 10.0 10 8 102 153 10.2 19.1

Totals . 69 80 960 980 13.9 12.2 72 80 725 1149 io.i 14.4

Table 87

Absences from School — Grades Five, Six and Seven,1 Portsmouth,

R. I., 1919-20

Non- Portuguese Portuguese

Grades Pupils Days Absent Av. Days Pupils Days Absent Av. Days

B G B G B G B G B G B G

Five . 13 13 138 108 10.6 8.3 12 10 283 211 23.6 21.1

Six . 19 g 152 78 8.0 8.7 6 7 no 127 18.3 18.1

Seven . 4 12 79 72 19.7 6.0 4 5 91 33 22.7 6.6

Totals . 36 34 369 258 10.2 7.6 22 22 484 371 22.0 16.9

tory employment. Table 86 shows that in Fall River Por¬
tuguese boys lost, during the school year, slightly less time
than the non-Portuguese, while the girls lost practically the
same amount of time as the non-Portuguese. This com¬
parison is, as previously noted, between Portuguese child¬
ren and those of many other nationalities or descents.
Since the numbers involved are not large the differences seen
are without significance. In Portsmouth, however, we find
a greater contrast between the two groups, both girls and
boys among the Portuguese losing over twice as many days
from their studies as their non- Portuguese schoolmates did.
The time lost by non-Portuguese was less than in Fall River
while that lost by Portuguese was considerably greater than
in the city. There are several possible explanations for
these differences. In the first place it is to be expected that

Computed from original school records.

322

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[322

the rural Portuguese should keep their children out of school
more 'than do their city 'brethren because children can be
more useful on the farms than in the city. Secondly, the
fact that rural non-Portuguese children lost less time than
those in the city is probably due to the fact that the former
are chiefly children of native-born parents of Anglo-Saxon
stock. In the third place school-attendance law's are prob¬
ably somewhat better in f orced in urban than in r ural com¬
munities. Finally it is possible that other causes for ab¬
sence besides employment may have been more numerous in
Portsmouth than in Fall River. These other causes would
include sickness and the difficulty in getting to school be¬
cause of weather conditions. Whatever the causes an
average loss of 22 days out of the school year by Portu¬
guese boys of the fifth, sixth and seventh grades in Ports¬
mouth is a real handicap. Portuguese children are not
regular attendants at Portsmouth schools, and the teachers
say that the cause is very often the desire of the fathers to
make use of the children’s labor on the farm.

Still another measure of the use which the Portuguese
make of their educational opportunities is the number of
cards which they take out, and of books which they borrow
at the public libraries. Table 88 attempts to estimate the
extent to which the Portuguese make use of the Fall River
Public Library, by considering the proportion of the total
number of card holders which are Portuguese. To secure
this information the writer classified the card-holders into
Portuguese and non- Portuguese using the names as the basis
for classification. Our table considers only card-holders 12
years of age and over. Children under 12 use the Juvenile
Department of the Library. The list of names now in use
dates from 1911 when all card-holders were re-registered
as fast as they came to the library. The number given in
the table under 1911 includes, therefore, both re-registra-

323] PORTSMOUTH, R. 1. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 323

Table 88

Fall River Public Library,1 Number and Proportion of Portuguese and
Non -Portuguese Adult Card-holders and of Names Added
from 1912 to August 3, 1920

Names

Portuguese

Per cent

Non- Portuguese

Per cent

Total

On books 191 1 .

■9

6651

99.I

6710

Added 1912 .

2262

99.4

2276

“ I9'3 .

. 16

•9

172 7

99.I

1743

“ '9J4 .

5°

2-5

1 953

97-5

2003

“ 1915 .

3-1

1695

96.9

175°

“ 1916 .

2.4:

1477

97.6

I5I3

“ 1917 .

3-7

x372

96.3

1425

“ 1918 .

4-3

1031

95-7

1077

“ 1919 .

5-4

1 335

94.6

1411

“ to Aug. 3, 1920.

• 48

7-i

624

92.9

672

Totals .

• 453

2.2

20127

97.8

20580

tions and new registrations for that year. The numbers
for succeeding years are presumably chiefly of those apply¬
ing for the use of the library for the first time, although
doubtless old borrowers continued to come for re-registra¬
tion after 1911. Our data is, of course, subject to the pos¬
sible error caused by misdassiftcation of Portuguese, due to
the fact that they had anglicized their names. The library
attendant who registers most of the applicants expressed the
opinion, however, that very few of the Portuguese who use
the library had adopted English names. Even where the
family name is changed the Portuguese given name is
usually retained. The true number of Portuguese card¬
holders may, therefore, be slightly larger than the recorded
number, but only slightly. It is possible also that very oc¬
casionally an Italian name may have been taken for a Por¬
tuguese name or vice versa. This too can have occurred
only very rarely and the possibility of error was equally
great in the direction of over-stating as of understating the
number of Portuguese names.

Even making allowance for these possible errors our

'Computed from the list of card-holders.

324

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[324

table shows that the Portuguese do not make use of the
public library to the same extent that natives and other
aliens do. In 1920 453 Portuguese names, constituting but
2.2 per cent of the total number of names, were on the rec¬
ords. In the same year the Portuguese population 15 years
of age and over in Fall River made up 16.2 per cent of the
total population of that age group.1 Thus the Portuguese
who actually applied for the use of the library made up
but about one-seventh of their normal proportion. The
optimist may note, however, that even this small proportion
was more than double that of 1911, and that there was a
fairly regular increase in the proportion of Portuguese
names added as time went on. Up to August in 1920, in¬
deed, 48 new Portuguese names had been added which
number was 7.1 per cent of the total number of names
added during the first seven months of that year.

This situation is partly explained by the inability of many
adult Portuguese to speak English. The library possesses
some books in the Portuguese language and library attend¬
ants say that borrowings by adult Portuguese are largely
confined to these books. In 1920 99 books written in Por¬
tuguese were given out. A second explanation is the high
degree of illiteracy among the Portuguese already noted.
Other possible factors are the meager education which even
the Portuguese educated in American schools received; the
fact that the Portuguese very often live in sections of the
city at some distance from the library; that they are poor
and feel out of place in the library; and, some would add,
that they are less intelligent than the majority of the
population of the city.

The list of children taking books from the Juvenile De¬
partment of the Fall River Library does not give the data

1 Computed from table 43, supra , p. 199.

325] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 325,

on which the names were listed; consequently no table com¬
parable with the table for adults can be constructed. Of
a total of 1264 names listed July 31, 1920, 77 were clearly
Portuguese. In other words about 7 per cent of all children
who use the library are Portuguese, whereas the Portuguese
children 5 to 14 years of age make up 21.7 per cent of all
children of that age group. Portuguese children, then, the
majority of whom are able to speak English, make about a
third the use of the library which they normally should
make. We do not know whether the use of the library by
the Portuguese children is increasing or not.

Portsmouth has a very small library open two days in the
week. In the summer of 1920 there were at this library a
total of 425 active cards. Of these 347 were taken out
under non- Portuguese names and 78 under Portuguese
names. The Portuguese using the library were, however,
almost all children. Only 31 of these 78 Portuguese child¬
ren had actually borrowed books during the first half of the
year 1920, but these 3;i had averaged to take 15.6 books each
during the period. As there were in Portsmouth, accord¬
ing to our study, 482 Portuguese children between the ages
of five and nineteen, it does not appear that the use of the
library had become habitual with them. The Portuguese
population five years of age and over made up in 1920 42.0
per cent of the total population of that age group. Portu¬
guese card-holders made up but 18.4 per cent of total card¬
holders, or less than half their normal proportion. This
showing 'is, however, considerably better than that in the
city.

The Portuguese seem to be making about as much use of
the opportunities afforded for evening school instruction in
the city schools as do others of foreign descent. The Re¬
port of the Public Schools of Fall River for 1920 shows the
following numbers of voluntary pupils in the evening schools

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

326

[326

according to language groups: Portuguese 128, French 135,
Italian 6, Syrians 5, Hebrews 2, and one each of Polish,
Welsh and Belgians ; 1 while among “ illiterate minors ” in
the evening schools the Portuguese made up no less than
268 out of a total of 346 pupils. An examination of about
half the enrollment cards for the evening classes of the
Bradford Duirfee Textile School showed 34 Portuguese out
of approximately 600, or only one in eighteen. The day
classes of this school which require usually two years of
high school preparation attract very few if any Portuguese
students. A number of the clubs in which the Fall River
Americanization Committee have established classes in Eng¬
lish and Citizenship, have been Portuguese organizations and
they were considered remarkably successful.

Summarizing our data on the educational status and at¬
tainment of the Portuguese in our two communities we may
say : ( 1 ) that the Portuguese adults have a very high de¬
gree of illiteiacy which is by no means eliminated by night
schools; (2) that Portuguese children rarely remain in
school after the legal age for employment has been reached ;
(3) that Portuguese children attain an academic standing
several points below that of non- Portuguese with but few
exceptions; (4) that they are somewhat retarded in school
as compared with other children; (5) that they lose more
time from school especially in Portsmouth than do non-Por¬
tuguese children; (6) that minors are conspicuous in vol¬
untary evening classes and classes for illiterates; but (7)
that relatively few Portuguese take advantage of the op¬
portunity offered by the State Textile School for more
specialized training, and extremely few enter High School.
(8) There is some evidence, however, that as time goes on
the Portuguese are slowly improving their educational status

1 Op. cit., p. 59-60.

327] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 327

in the schools, and (9) their use of the advantages of the
public library. These conditions, however, are to be con¬
sidered as characteristic of Fall River and Portsmouth and
not necessarily of all Portuguese communities. Indeed it
is only fair to add that a superficial investigation of some
of these conditions in New Bedford disclosed at least one
important contrast. The Principal of the High School esti¬
mated that between ten and fifteen per cent of all pupils in
his school were Portuguese, and added “ some of the best
are Portuguese.” Such apparent contrasts as this and that
noted elsewhere 1 with reference to the low infant mortality
of Portuguese in Provincetown, emphasize the necessity of
confining our own conclusions to the particular types of
Portuguese and the particular localities which we have
studied.

The Criminal Record of the Portuguese

There are few aspects of the life of immigrants in America
more difficult to appraise than their criminality and morality.
Among the more important difficulties which one meets in
such an attempt are the following:

1. Standards of morality and of criminality differ from
place to place.

2. Standards of morality differ greatly among native
American communities and those made up of one or more
foreign nationalities. This difficulty does not preclude com¬
parisons of criminal acts committed by different nationali¬
ties so long as the same standard is used for all groups;
but it does prevent the student from measuring the criminal
intent of a nationality by its criminal record.

3. Immigrants are frequently ignorant of the law. Such
ignorance while no defense at law, should be taken into
consideration by the sociologist.

1 Cf. supra, p. 156.

328 PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND [328

4. Comparisons between the criminality of different
nationalities must often be made without considering the
varying age distribution of the groups compared.

5. Particular conditions difficult to ascertain may increase
the arrests of a particular nationality in a given period.

6. Prejudice against a nationality or against the foreign-
born in general may result in an abnormal number of arrests
or convictions of a particular group.

7. On the other hand policemen and judges sometimes
make allowances for differing standards of morality among
immigrant groups, and fail to arrest or convict for minor
offenses so long as those offenses are confined to immigrant
localities.

The present writer does not pretend to have avoided all
these difficulties. The first has 'been met by considering only
our two communities and by treating them separately. The
second remains an inevitable difficulty and prevents us from
doing more than compare criminal records. We cannot
evaluate the criminal intent of the Portuguese. The third
difficulty also remains but is more important in vitiating the
record of arrests for violation of minor city ordinances
than that of arrests for major crimes. The fourth we can
fortunately overcome by using our special data on the age
distribution of the Portuguese as compared with that of the
general population. The fifth difficulty did not exist at the
time of our study in the opinion, at least, of the Chief of
Police of Fall River, except that the year 1919 witnessed a
strike of doffers who are largely Portuguese. Fortunately
arrests growing out of this strike are easily identified. As
to the sixth difficulty we can only say that no such prejudice
against the Portuguese was evident at the time the study
was made. The Chief of Police informed the writer that
the Portuguese were neither more nor less criminally inclined
than other citizens. The opinions of other citizens so far

329] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 329

as gathered seemed so varied as to leave one with the im¬
pression that perhaps the Chief was right. The seventh
difficulty is perhaps the most serious of all, especially in
the measurement of sex morality. Social workers among
the Portuguese of New Bedford, for example, informed the
writer that the standards of sex morality among many of
the Portuguese were very low. When it was replied that
criminal records in Fall River did not bear out this claim,
they answered that most offenses of this nature were un¬
known to the general community and that arrests for them
were infrequent. For example it was reported that illegi¬
timate births were often reported as legitimate et cetera.
Serious as is this difficulty it does not appear that it affects
the validity of the record of arrests as a measure of crim¬
inality when other than minor sex offenses are considered.
Neither should too great weight be attached to the opinions
of the social workers quoted above. Others expressed op¬
posite opinions.

The following data, then, are to be considered with due
caution. Especially is it to be noted that they are not pre¬
sented as a measure of the criminal intent of the Portuguese.
They merely measure the extent to which Portuguese as
compared with non- Portuguese are arrested in our communi¬
ties. Very many of those arrested were discharged or re¬
ceived suspended sentence, but on the whole a comparison
between arrests rather than between convictions seems pre¬
ferable. Table 89 gives for each offense the total number
of arrests, the number and per cent of Portuguese arrests,
and the average age of Portuguese so arrested. The data
are for Fall River in the year 1919.

330

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[330

Table 89

Portuguese Arrests in Fall River, 1919, by Nature of Accusation

Accused of

Total

Arrests

Port.

Arrests

Port.

Drunkenness .

827

5-2

Assault and Battery .

169

26.6

Neglect of family .

• 179

19-5

Larceny .

• 155

18.1

Breaking Lord’s Day Law .

24-3

Auto Law .

• 137

11.7

Receiving Stolen Property .

37-8

Disturbing Peace .

20.0

Bastardy .

35-7

Intimidation (Labor Law) .

33-3

Breaking and Entering and Larceny _

6.4

Malicious Mischief .

41.2

Adultery .

35-3

Stubbornness .

27.7

Fornication .

2 3

21.7

Assault with weapon .

3i-3

Contempt of court .

15.2

Liquor Law .

47.1

City Ordinance .

12.1

Lewd and Lacivious Cohabitation .

26.7

Gaming .

174

Violation Weights and Measures Law ..

36.3

Food Law .

U-3

Milk Bottle Law .

50.0

Practicing Medicine Unlawfully .

60.0

Robbery .

100.0

Lewdness .

18.2

Dangerous weapon .

154

Unlicensed dog .

66.7

Insane .

25.0

Board of Health .

100.0

Statutory Rape .

13.3

Sodomy .

100.0

Taking auto .

28.6

Bondsman .

33-3

Breaking and entering intent to rob . . . .

14-3

Federal Law .

1-7

Polygamy .

100.0

Assault intent to rob .

33-3

33 1] PORTSMOUTH, R. I.

AND FALL RIVER,

MASS.

331

Violating probation .

. 4

25.0

Perjury .

50.0

Admitting minor to dance hall ..

50.0

Idle and disorderly .

. 8

12.5

Surety to keep peace .

100.0

Cruelty to animals .

. 1

100.0

Escaped .

20.0

Desertion .

. 1

100.0

Incest .

. 1

100.0

Sub totals .

347

Other offenses .

. 203

Totals .

347

14.1

Computed from Police Records of the City of Fall 'River — 1919.
The classifications in this table were made on the basis of names, and
there is therefore the same possibility as in the other tables that the
number of Portuguese may be slightly understated. The writer be¬
lieves, however, that the actual error involved is very small.

A glance at table 43 2 will show that Portuguese men
aged 20-44 made up in 1920 20.2 per cent of all men in Fall
River between those ages. As men rather than women and
young men rather than children or 1 those past middle age con-

Table 90

Arrests in Fall River, 1919, Classified According to Type of
Offenses — Portuguese and Total Arrests

Offenses Total Portuguese % Portuguese oj Total

Against Property

Serious .

13-3

Minor .

Against persons (n.o.c.)

339

*5-3

Serious .

00.0

Minor .

203

25.1

Sex Crimes . . * .

Violations of City and

157

21.0

Federal Ordinances . .

662

113

17.1

Drunkenness .

827

5-2

Against family .

180

19.4

Miscellaneous minor . . .

22.5

2468

347

14.1

1 Cf. supra, p. 199.

332

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[332

stitute the most criminally inclined element in any community,
this figure is the significant one for our purposes. In other
words, when we find Portuguese making up more than a
fifth of those arrested for any crime or group of crimes, we
know that that crime was in 1919 at least somewhat char¬
acteristic of the Portuguese. Turning to table 90 we note
that when all types of offenses are considered the Portuguese
contribute but 14. 1 per cent of the arrests, or considerably
less than their normal proportion. If, however, arrests for
drunkenness are omitted the Portuguese are found in nearly
their normal numbers' — 18.5 per cent. They are underrepre¬
sented in the commission of the most serious crimes both
against property and against persons, and in that of minor
offenses against property. They committed practically their
proportion of sex crimes and offenses against the family,
and somewhat more than their share of minor offenses
against persons, and miscellaneous crimes ; and were slightly
under-represented in the commission of offenses which
violated city or Federal ordinances. In arrests for drunken¬
ness, like many other south Europeans, they are conspicu¬
ous by their absence. Since there were but 20 arrests for
serious offenses either against persons or against property in
1919, it is perhaps a fair conclusion to say that the Portu¬
guese are, judging from statistics of arrests, slightly less
criminal than their numbers would lead us to expect when
arrests for drunkenness are disregarded. Their normal rec¬
ord in the commission of sex crimes is due chiefly to the
fact that but two were arrested for rape, and their showing
is bad with reference to all the other sex offenses.

Some data on arrests in the town of Portsmouth were
obtained from the County records in Newport, the Ports¬
mouth arrests being identified by the name of the constables
making them. Only 120 arrests were recorded as made in
Portsmouth between January 1st, 1916 and September 21st,

333] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 333

1919. Of these only 16 or 13.3 per cent were of persons
bearing Portuguese names. Reference to table 41 1 will
show that 158 out of 41 1 men aged 15-44 in Portsmouth in
1920 were Portuguese. That is to say, the Portuguese had
38.4 per cent of the younger men of the community. So
measured the Portuguese record is very good indeed, but in
the writer’s opinion this comparison is of little value be¬
cause a very large proportion of the arrests were for speed¬
ing in automobiles, and were very often arrests of non-resid¬
ents passing through Portsmouth en route for Newport or
Fall River. The truth is that both Portuguese and non-
Portuguese of Portsmouth seldom get into trouble with the
authorities. No doubt many crimes for which arrests would
be made in the city go unpunished in Portsmouth, but the
community is essentially law-abiding. As to the extent of
sex immorality among the residents of Portsmouth the
writer knows nothing.

Table 91 shows the juvenile arrests recorded in Fall River
for the year ending Nov. 30, 1919 with the Portuguese dis¬
tinguished, and also by sex. We note that children of Por¬
tuguese descent contributed 96 out of a total of 493 arrests,
or 19.5 per cent. Portuguese boys and girls aged 10-14
made up 19.8 per cent of all boys and 19.5 per cent of all
girls of that age group in 1920. Their proportion among
children 15-19 was practically the same.’ We may there¬
fore say that Portuguese children contributed practically
their normal proportion of juvenile arrests in 1919. The
detailed figures for kinds of offenses are in most cases too
few to be of significance.

Whether we consider adult or juvenile arrests, therefore,
we get no striking contrasts between the Portuguese and
other inhabitants with reference to their criminal record.

1 Cf. supra, p. 197.

2 Cf. table 43, supra, p. 199.

334

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[334

Table 91

Juvenile Arrests, Fall River, Mass, for the Year Ending, Nov. 30, 1919 1

Offenses

Total

Portuguese

Male

Female

Total

Male Fetnale

Total

Dangerous weapon .

Assault and Battery .

2 1

Assault — indecent .

Assault (weapon) .

Auto law .

Breaking and attempted entry ....

Breaking, ent. and larceny .

164

1 7

Breaking, ent., int. larceny .

Bd. Health .

4 2

Concealed weapon .

Carrying revolver .

City ordinance .

Night walker .

Contempt Court .

Defacing building .

Deserter .

Dist. Peace .

Escaped .

Fornication .

Rifle to minor .

1 3

Revolver to minor .

Gaming .

Idle and disorderly .

Indecent exposure .

Larceny (attempted) . .

Larceny .

114

18 7

Lewd cohabitation .

Lewdness .

Lord’s Day .

Malicious mischief .

Parole violation .

Probation violation .

1 1

Rec. stolen prop .

False alarm .

Runaway .

Airgun to minor .

Stoning train .

Stubbornness .

5 3

Trans, reg. bets .

Trespass .

Taking horse .

Unnatural act .

Vehicle law .

Wayward child .

T'otals .

450

493

00 I
1

>H I
C-K) |

1 Computed from Police Records, Fall River, Mass.

2 Recorded as “ 3 ” in report but presumably error.

3 As these are offenses against minors rather than by minors they
have been deducted in figuring percentages.

335] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 335,

Such contrasts as we note are rather due to the inconspicu¬
ousness of the Portuguese in the commission of one or two
offenses, notably drunkenness among adults. Many infor¬
mants have commented, however, upon the amount of
“ moonshine ” which is manufactured and sold by the Por¬
tuguese especially in the rural districts. No facts need be
presented, however, to prove that they are not monopolizing
that industry. In certain sections of Faill River, Portuguese
homes may almost be identified by the grape vines covering
often the entire available space in the yard. Mill owners
also complain that the Portuguese -habitually steal cloth from
the mills, frequently winding it around their bodies to-
escape detection. Some of these mill men maintain that
such thefts need not necessarily appear in the police re¬
cords for, except for occasional clean-ups, it has been
found impossible to prevent this petty theft. On the other
hand other informants have especially stressed honesty and
reliability as traits of the Portuguese especially in Ports¬
mouth. It would, of course, be very desirable if our data
on arrests covered a longer period of time. The Secretary
of the Society for -the Prevention of Cruelty to Children in
Fall River, stated to the writer -that Portuguese cases make
up more than their proportionate share of those which come
to his attention, but added, that he felt that the explanation
was usually ignorance rather than deliberate neglect upon
the part of parents. Sexual immorality he felt sure was
prevalent among these people, but almost invariably the
parties were married before the birth of a child. This and
similar evidence from other informants leads one to suspect
that while police records may give a somewhat too favorable
picture of Portuguese morality, their misdeeds are those of
an ignorant people with relatively low standards rather than
the serious offenses characteristic of some other nationali¬
ties.

336

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[336

Achievement in Miscellaneous Fields

Many other important social characteristics and activities
should be treated to make up anything like a complete pic¬
ture of Portuguese achievement or failure to achieve. Most
of them do not lend themselves, however, to the use of the
statistical method we have employed thus far in this study.
Moreover, to know the Portuguese character and the more
intimate aspects of his life which are not a matter of record,
one should speak his language, should live in his home, and
attend his church services, club meetings and social and re¬
creational gatherings. No attempt has been made to mingle
thus intimately with the Portuguese and we must frankly
admit the lack of such acquaintance. Such insight as has
been gathered into these aspects of Portuguese life in Fall
River and Portsmouth, has come through interviews with
Portuguese leaders — -lawyers, farmers, physicians, priests
et cetera.

The Portuguese are reported as not taking great interest
in politics. In Fall River there are probably less than a
thousand registered voters of Portuguese descent and the
Portuguese do not hasten to secure citizenship. When
naturalized they are said to divide their allegiance between
the different political parties somewhat impartially. A study
of this matter made in Rhode Island in 1907, showed among
2508 foreign-born Portuguese men over 21 years of age in
the state, 473 who were legal voters, 85 non-voters and 1950
aliens. The corresponding figures for Portsmouth were 33
voters, 3 non-voters and 239 aliens.1 Such figures without
information as to the length of time that the aliens have
been in this country are not of great significance, however.

The Immigration Commission studying 564 foreign-born
male Portuguese employees, found only 5.5 per cent who had

1 Rhode Island Bureau of Industrial Statistics, op. cit., pp. 419 and

425.

337] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 33 7

either been naturalized or taken out their first papers. This
was the smallest proportion found among any of the “ new
immigration.” 1 j

Neither have the Portuguese organized co-operative soc¬
ieties as have some other immigrant groups. They have
innumerable benefit societies, social clubs and athletic or¬
ganizations, however. The benefit societies have members
in the rural districts as well as in the city and usually pay a
$500 death and burial benefit and perhaps seven dollars a
week during illness. These benefit societies go far to re¬
lieve the community of the care of Portuguese poor. Some
of these organizations are large and like the St. Michael’s
Portuguese Benefit Society and the Azoreana, own build¬
ings of their own. The latter organization has more than
two thousand members. Other well-known organizations
are St. Joseph’s Portuguese Benefit Society, the Portuguese
Fraternity of the United States of America, the Portuguese
Catholic Society of Our Lady of Lourdes, the St. Pedro
Portuguese Society, the St. Isabel Society, and the St.
Catherine Ladies Society. A large number of social clubs
with or without benefit features also exist, whose chief in¬
terests are said to be card playing, boxing and wrestling.
These societies, together with the social activities centering
in the churches, are the distinctively Portuguese recreational
centers.

In addition to these recreational activities of their own
the Portuguese belong to a few organizations where they
come into contact with other nationalities and with native-
born. Among these should be mentioned the labor unions
where the Portuguese are especially strong in the doffers
union, and have developed a leader of their own Who has
gained a reputation for leadership even outside of Fall River.

1 United States Immigration Commission Report. 61st Congress, 3rd
Session. Washington 1911. Vol. I, p. 484.

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

338

[338

Approximately a fifth of the membership of the Fall River
Boys 'Club, which includes adults as well as boys under 14,
are Portuguese. Adults pay a fee of $6 a year for the use
of the varied facilities of this club and boys 10 cents a
month. A large proportion of the adult Portuguese mem¬
bers of the Boys Club are given memberships free of charge,
however, by the American Printing Company. Outside of
these non-paying members, the Secretary of the Club reports
that the Portuguese come chiefly for boxing and wrestling
with the object of becoming professionals in these sports.
Indeed this tendency toward professionalism is said to be
one of the regrettable features of much of the recreational
activities in the city. Of the 600 members of the Boy
Scouts very few are Portuguese, although those who have
joined are reported to be good scouts. The fact that many
of the Troops have their headquarters in Protestant churches
has hindered the use of this organization by the Portuguese.

The Church also plays a large part in the lives of this
people. In Portsmouth one Catholic Church with a Por¬
tuguese priest serves all the Catholics of the town. In Fall
River there was but one Portuguese parish nineteen years
ago. To-day there are six with f ourteen priests and 21,000
communicants. Practically all church-going Portuguese in
these communities are Roman Catholics but there are a very
few Protestants. Priests report that it is sometimes hard
to hold the Portuguese who come to this country, especially
those who came while the church in Portugal was still state-
supported. It has taken time to educate them to make their
churches here self-supporting. It is also said that the Por¬
tuguese from the mainland who have come in considerable
numbers recently, and who have been through the revolution
with its anti-church emphasis, are frequently irreligious and
do not support the church in this country. Most of the
Portuguese from the Azores, however, are deeply devoted

339] PORTSMOUTH , R. 1. AND FALL RIVER , MASS. 339

to their church which as we have seen is so large a factor
in their social as well as their religious life in the islands.
Processions are still held through the streets of Fall River
but their importance to the people has waned somewhat and
at least one priest uses his influence to minimize the super¬
stitious ritual amounting almost to image worship which is
attached to such occasions. His own parish, however, oc¬
casionally celebrates Saints’ days with such processions which
some of the people demand. While some of the priests have
recently come to this country and do not even speak Eng¬
lish others are educated men of real culture who seem hon¬
estly to seek to aid their people in adapting themselves to
their new environment.

It can hardly be unfair to the Portuguese of these com¬
munities to close our account of their achievements and their
failures with a few examples of their superstitions. It is
not unfair because these superstitions, though admittedy
not characteristic of the entire group, are nevertheless evid¬
ence of that fundamental characteristic of the large majority
— ignorance — which perhaps more than any other cause ex¬
plains their characteristic problems and shortcomings. Ad¬
mitting many other factors which play upon their lives we
may say that Portuguese children die because of ignorance;
Portuguese adults are exploited because of ignorance; their
women continue their lives of toil and endless child-bearing
because of ignorance; their children are backward in school
through ignorance; and very many of the other tragedies of
their lives are the product of ignorance. Superstitions are
evidences of ignorance, causes of disaster and hindrances
preventing an escape from ignorance.

The following examples will show that the Portuguese of
Fall River believe in magic and the evil eye and employ
Witch Doctors to effect cures quite after the fashion of
many primitive peoples. Many of these superstitions are

340

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[340

by no means confined to the Portuguese but are shared by
Italians and other immigrant peoples of the city. The ex¬
amples are given just as they were collected for the writer
through the help of a group of women who come into in¬
timate contact with the Portuguese in their homes.

Witch Doctors may be employed either in case of illness,
distress, poverty, bad luck or love affairs. The child born
after the death of the father comes to have the greatest power.
To gain the greatest benefit from the treatment absolute
obedience to directions must be given. Lack of faith may in¬
terfere with the result.

The witch is able either personally or through pigs or don¬
keys to cast a bad influence over the child in the cradle. To
prevent this it is well to place over the covers an old coat
turned inside-out — sleeves and all — especially when the child
is sleeping. Allowing the baby to be placed on the back of a
donkey is especially harmful, this or the kissing of a mirror
may prevent him from ever learning to talk.

The pregnant woman must never step on or over a rope or
the unborn child may be strangled with the cord about its neck.

Anyone, man or woman, may possess the “ evil eye ”, but
the one born on the fifteenth of the month is to be most care¬
fully avoided. The person may not always know that she is
* so gifted ’ and may exert the bad influence unconsciously. If
she knows it and ‘ if sorry ’ she may lessen the power of ‘ elec¬
tricity which flies from the eye’, by wearing colored glasses.
The evil influence may be prompted by love, hate, envy or the
pure love of mischief. The careful mother will protect the
child in every way possible. There again the old coat inside-
out over the crib while the baby is sleeping is a great help. A
small coral or ivory hand with index finger extended will dir¬
ect the evil eye away. This may be tied to a ribbon about the
child’s neck or anywhere on the body, over or under the cloth¬
ing or even on the cap. With this may be worn * the horn of
plenty ’ and a gold key to bring wealth and prosperity.

Patients may treat their own wounds if where they may be

341 ] PORTSMOUTH, R. I. AND FALL RIVER, MASS. 341

seen, but not if anywhere on the body that necessitates the
use of a mirror, as the reflection from the mirror poisons the
wound.

In case of illness the parents may care for the child, but the
child may not care for the parents. This is equally true of
hair-cutting or shaving. Even if the child is an expert barber
he may not cut the hair of or shave his father.

Parents must not play games with their own children which
allow the child to strike the parents — such as games of tag.
This will bring bad luck to both parents and children.

Instead of seeking the advice of a physician for a baby with
malnutrition or other ailments not understood, many of the
mothers will resort to ‘ the pumpkin treatment ’. A female
pumpkin must be secured which is to be boiled with a pound
of sugar. With this concoction the baby is to be bathed on
three successive days, always rubbing from down up. After
the third application the remains of the pumpkin must be
turned into a napkin and taken by the mother to the salt water.
With her back to the water the napkin must be thrown into
the water and she must walk away without once turning to
look back. Nor is the child ever to be taken past the spot
where she stood.

One mother consulted a ‘ Witch Doctor ’ in order to cure
the attachment between her son and a young woman in the
neighborhood. She was told to go to a certain place and
get a certain amount of earth and in the middle of the night,
when the lady was asleep, to throw this earth at the door of
the house. With each handful so thrown she was to say * You
shall not marry my son; you shall not marry my son; you
shall not marry my son.’ In this particular case the charm
did not work — the marriage took place — but the faith in the
* Witch Doctor ’ was in no way diminished.

With these examples of Portuguese superstitions we shall
close our discussion of the Portuguese of Fall River and
Portsmouth, conscious that many aspects of their lives have
been inadequately treated. We have already made the point

342

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[342

that the Portuguese problem varies among each of the var¬
ious types of Portuguese. We must also stress the obvious
fact that within each of these types there are great individual
differences. The Portuguese are dirty but 'hundreds of
homes are spotlessly clean. They are ignorant but Angela
Mello is at the head of her class. They are industrious but
the second generation is often lazy. They are superstitious
but it was a Portuguese physician who most despised their
superstitions. They have too large families but not uni¬
versally. The St. Michael Portuguese seem to be the lowest
grade, but our most attractive farm photograph is the home
of an illiterate farmer from that island. Whatever con¬
clusions we shall draw in the concluding chapter, therefore,
must be understood as applying only to the majority of one
type of Portuguese immigrants living under specified condi¬
tions in two specified communities in New England.

CHAPTER VII

Limitations and Conclusons

i. Perhaps the most important outcome of our study of
the Portuguese is at once a conclusion in itself, and a limi¬
tation upon most of the other conclusions which we shall
draw. For we have seen that the Portuguese are not a
homogeneous group. By this we do not mean simply that
the Bravas are a distinct type, nor merely that the Portu¬
guese from the mainland are to be distinguished from those
from the Azores and Madeira. In addition we have found
that among the islanders themselves at least two types are
to be found — the Fayalese and the Portuguese from St.
Michael’s. We have also found that this difference in type
is associated with social differences of some importance.
We have admitted that the evidence of the existence of these
types is in single instances insufficient to be convincing; but
the cumulative effect of evidence from many sources con¬
stitutes a very strong presumption that the differences are
real. Thus we have noted that Flemings settled in Fayal in
considerable numbers but not, so far as we know, in St.
Michael’s; that Negroes possibly were brought in larger
numbers to St. Michael’s than to Fayal; that travellers in
the islands have contrasted the relative prosperity of parts of
Fayal with the backwardness of some of the other islands
including St. Michael’s; that some of these travellers noted
the presence of the Teutonic type in Fayal though some
maintained that it has disappeared; that Portuguese vital
statistics show a higher birth and a higher death rate for
343] 343

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

344

[344

the Ponta Delgada District (St. Michael’s and St. Mary’s)
than for the Horta District (including Fayal) ; that the
Horta District is also notable for its relatively small per¬
centage of illiterates; that ships’ manifests show much larger
percentages of blue eyes and light hair among emigrants
from Horta than among those from the other island dis¬
tricts; that the early immigrants to parts of New England
were chiefly from Fayal and that these Fayalese are said to
have been peculiarly healthy with a low death rate, while
the St. Michaelese of to-day are characterized by an abnor¬
mally high rate. And finally we have seen that the Fayalese,
though few in numbers in our communities, have a higher
standard of living than their brethren from St. Michael’s.
This latter statement is, however, subject to the qualifica¬
tion that the Fayalese have been in this country longer than
the St. Michaelese.

The discovery of the heterogeneity of the Portuguese
limits somewhat the value of our study. It means that our
data on the Portuguese in general and on the Azoreans re¬
late to a somewhat varied group. It also limits somewhat
the value of our community studies, though not seriously,
for we have evidence that Fall River has attracted predo¬
minantly the Portuguese from St. Michael’s, and we know
just how large a proportion of the Portuguese of Ports¬
mouth came from that island. For all practical purposes
we may call our community studies, studies of the St.
Michael Portuguese. It must be borne in mind, then, that
the following conclusions refer to the St. Michael Portu¬
guese only.

The fact that the Portuguese are made up of a number of
types also makes the more necessary, studies to supplement
this one. Before we can characterize the Portuguese im¬
migrants as a whole we need at least the following studies :
(1) of communities of mainland Portuguese; (2) of com-

LIMITATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS

345

345]

munities of Bravas; (3) of communities where the Fayalese
predominate; (4) of communities of Portuguese fishermen
like Provincetown, Massachusetts; (5) of communities of
Portuguese in California; (6) of communities in the Azores
and on the mainland with special attention to homes where
members of the families are in America; (7) a study of
the anthropology of the Portuguese of the Islands. When
such studies are made we may be able to draw somewhat
more general conclusions as to the effect of the immigration
of the Portuguese upon America.

Our study of the St. Michael Portuguese of Fall River
and Portsmouth is also confessedly incomplete. Particul¬
arly it lacks an intimate picture of the personal and social
life of the Portuguese such as can only be secured by living
with them, speaking their language, visiting their churches
and clubs, and so entering into their real life. In addition
it is unfortunate that we do not have a psychological study
of the Portuguese in our communities based upon the in¬
telligence tests. Such a study would be of value despite
the grave doubt whether the army intelligence tests really
measured the innate intelligence of the immigrants or indeed
of the soldiers in general.1

2. Returning to our tentative conclusions we note secondly
that the Azorean Portuguese have received considerable in¬
fusion of negroid blood at four different periods in their his¬
tory. We cannot demonstrate the social importance of this

1 Cf. especially Memoirs of the Natiofial Academy of Science (Wash¬
ington, 1921), pp. 701-4, where the scores made by foreign-born soldiers
are correlated with their length of residence in the United States. A
difference of the equivalent of something over two years mental age
was found between men who had been in this country five years or less
and those who had been here over twenty years. Until evidence is
presented showing other causes for this contrast, it is legitimate to ask
whether it is not due to the fact that the tests were measuring an ac¬
quired adaptation to the conditions of the tests rather than simply
innate intelligence.

346 PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND [346

infusion. We have seen that there is some reason to doubt
that it accounts for the excessive infant mortality of the
Portuguese of Fall River and elsewhere.

3. Our study has emphasized the ignorance and illiteracy
of the Portuguese. Whether their misfortunes are trace¬
able to low innate intelligence or not, many of them are
traceable in large part to ignorance. High infant mortality,
lack of interest and meager attainment in education, low'
wages and economic exploitation, superstition and fatalism,
cheap amusements, and unrestrained fecundity — these are
some of the Portugues characteristics attributable largely to
the fundamental factor of ignorance.

4. The Portuguese have a shockingly high birth rate.
Their families increase too rapidly and the improper spacing
of pregnancies spells early death for children and narrow
lives for mothers. Indeed the normal state of young mar¬
ried Portuguese women is well-nigh constant child-bearing.
This seems to be both an index and a cause of ignorance
and poverty. It is associated with the high infant mor¬
tality and low standard of living of these people. The
birth rate declines, however, in the second generation.

5. The Portuguese also have an abnormally high death
rate especially but not solely in the years of infancy and
early childhood. While economic factors undoubtedly tend
to increase this evil we have reason to conclude that ignor¬
ance, superstition and improper spacing of pregnancies are
the fundamental causes.

6. The Portuguese are typically unskilled laborers who
begin life on American farms on a very low plane and re¬
ceive low wages in the mills. At the cost of the health and
happiness of the entire family, however, they save money
and make considerable economic progress as measured by
ownership of property. Eventually their material standard
of living rises as they remain longer under American in-

LIMITATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS

347

347]

fluence. Its rise is seen to be correlated with type of oc¬
cupation, and with a relatively small size of the family, as
well as with length of residence here. As yet the Portu¬
guese have not often attained the professions, and their oc¬
cupations are still, despite some progress, those of unskilled
or semi-skilled laborers.

7. Portuguese children leave school almost invariably at
the earliest possible moment and almost never attend high
school. They make lower grades than their associates both
in Portsmouth and Fall River, are somewhat retarded, and
lose considerable time from school especially in Portsmouth.
In all these respects they compare unfavorably with the non-
Portuguese. They also make relatively little use of the
public library though this use is increasing. Nevertheless,
in the writer’s opinion, these evidences of educational back¬
wardness are hardly greater than would be expected of
children coming from homes more often illiterate than not,
where education is no part of the family mores, and where
more income now is desired and sometimes greatly needed.
Our data therefore leave unanswered the fundamental ques¬
tion whether the Portuguese are naturally inferior or
whether their poor showing is chiefly due to tradition and
lack of incentive and opportunity.

8. The Portuguese are also found to marry somewhat
earlier than do non-Portuguese, but child marriage is rare.
Employment of mothers in the mills is not unusual and is
almost universal on the farms.

9. In all the above respects the contrasts between the
urban and the rural Portuguese are not great. The typical
home in the country is on a lower plane than that in the city,
but exceptionally attractive homes are more numerous in
the country, where also are found the most wretched hovels.
On the whole life in Portsmouth is perhaps more beneficial
to the Portuguese than life in Fall River. They find there

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

348

[348

a simple rural environment to which it is relatively easy for
them to adapt themselves. In that environment they largely
control their own destinies, and they have met with reason¬
able material success. But the same high infant mortality,
the same reckless fecundity, the same backwardness in cul¬
tural advancement, characterizes them in Portsmouth as in
Fall River. In the city they have the handicap of a more
complex environment, and the cotton mill probably utilizes
less of their untrained capacities than does the more varied
work on the farm. On the other hand they have in the city
the advantage of greater cultural opportunity, and of the
assistance of a good many fairly well organized social agen¬
cies. Their greatest ills, being largely attributable to ignor¬
ance, follow them to either community.

10. There seems no doubt that for the great majority of
Portuguese, immigration to New England has meant an
improved status. Granting that they are poverty-stricken
here, that they live far below our standards of comfort and
decency, that women often work outside the home and that
children leave school as soon as the law allows, that homes
are unattractive and wages low; nevertheless their lot is far
better than in the homeland, except perhaps in its pictures¬
queness. America gives the Portuguese a small wage but
a higher one, a poor house but a better one, a meager sixth
grade education but more than they know enough to want,
and it is universal and compulsory.

11. What does the coming of the Portuguese mean to
Fall River and Portsmouth? Immediately it means indus¬
trious labor on the farms, and perhaps less industrious labor
in the mills. But it also means all the evils of an ignorant
population. The presence of these people undoubtedly
handicaps the public schools, complicates the work of public
health organizations, increases the births where they should
be fewest, and the death rates at all ages but especially of

LIMITATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS

349

349]

little children. It also makes possible economic and political
exploitation whether by unscrupulous natives or by their
own leaders. Indeed the presence of the Portuguese goes
far to account for the poor record of our two communities
in official statistics and for the not altogether enviable repu¬
tation which they may have among sociologists. If Fall
River could dispense with the Portuguese to-morrow she
would probably benefit.

1 2. But the Portuguese are a permanent element in our
two communities. Moreover if they should leave, a sub¬
stitute labor supply would have to be found. Whether the
securing of this labor supply would compel the payment of
higher wages than are now offered in the mills the writer
does not know. There are, of course, plenty of cotton-mill
communities without Portuguese. Portsmouth would pro¬
bably miss the Portuguese more than Fall River, for there
are few enough men to-day willing to struggle with New
England farmland at its best. As a people willing to work
abandoned farms and able to make a living from them the
Portuguese seem to be a real asset. If they could be in¬
duced to leave the city for the farms in large numbers, and
if greater efforts could be made to aid them — to promote
their assimilation and educational progress — they would
constitute productive and useful rural citizens. There seems
to be evidence that they have proven their worth on Cape
Cod. But the movement from city to farm is not marked.
They are to-day a permanent and a backward element in our
city (Fall River) population.

13. The above paragraphs do not rate the Portuguese
high. But it must be noted that they speak of the Portu¬
guese as they are to-day. If the backwardness of the Por¬
tuguese proves to be the result, not of inborn racial infer¬
iority, but of social handicaps, the future may value them
more highly even in Fall River. We have found a little

350

PORTUGUESE IN NEW ENGLAND

[350

reason to hope that there will be improvement, for we have
already witnessed some improvement. The Portuguese have
demonstrated their ability to save out of their meager in¬
comes; their standard of living has been seen to rise with
longer residence in the communities; the birth and infant
mortality rates fall in the second generation; a somewhat
larger proportion of children attend high school to-day than
did six years ago, and a somewhat greater use is made of the
Public Library. Moreover the Portuguese of our two com¬
munities are recent immigrants and have perhaps scarcely
had time to show what the long-time effects of their new en¬
vironment and their new opportunities will be. We have
had hints also that they have done somewhat better in other
communities. They have advanced further in New Bed¬
ford schools than in those of Fall River, and we know that
for a number of years the Portuguese infant mortality rates
in Provincetown were not high. Such facts suggest that
we must allow more time to elapse before drawing final con¬
clusions, for New Bedford and Provincetown are older set¬
tlements than Portsmouth and Fall River. On the other
hand contrasts between Fall River and New Bedford or
Provincetown may be due to the presence of different types
of Portuguese. We need more light.

We have tried to present some facts as to the effect of the
coming of the St. Michael Portuguese upon Portsmouth and
Fall River; and as to the effect of these communities upon
them. The facts are admittedly inconclusive. They will
therefore leave the pessimist discouraged as to the future of
these communities and these people. They will similarly
give the optimist hope that much may be done for and by
the Portuguese when their handicaps shall have been re¬
moved and when they shall be truly of America as well as
in America.

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CtftumMa WLuivzx&lty
in llxs Citxj of IJjcxtr %}oxU

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VOLUME I, 1891-92. 2nd Ed., 1837. 396 pp. Price, cloth, $3 50.

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2. The History of Tariff Administration in the United States, from Colonial

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VOLUME II, 1892-93. (See note on last page.)

1. [5] The Economics of the Russian Village.

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VOLUME III, 1893. 465 pp. (See note on last page.)

1. [8] ^History of Elections in American Colonies.

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2. L14] The Separation of Governmental Powers.

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[16] History of Proprietary Government in Pennsylvania.

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, [30] History and Functions of Central Labor Unions.

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SJ, [31.] Colonial Immigration Laws.

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i i. [371 Loyalism In New York during the American Revolution.

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VOLUME XX, 1904. 514 pp. Price, cloth. $3.50.

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1. [54] ""Treaties, their Making and Enforcement.

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2. [55] The Sociology of a New York City Block.

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VOLUME XXIII, 1905. 594 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00.

1. [58] Tlie Economics of Land Tenure in Georgia.

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2. [59] Mistake in Contract. A Study in Comparative Jurisprudence.

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3. [60] Combination in tbe Mining Industry.

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2. [63] Tbe Ecclesiastical Edicts of tbe Tbeodosian Code.

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VOLUME XXVI , 1907. 559 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00.

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2. [69] Luther’s Table Talk. By Preserved Smith, Ph.D. Price, Ji.oo.

3. [70] Tbe Tobacco Industry in tbe United States.

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4. [71] Social Democracy and Population.

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VOLUME XXVII, 1907. 578 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00.

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2. [73] Tbe United States Steel Corporation.

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3. [74] Tbe Taxation of Corporations In Massachusetts.

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2. [76] Tbe Development of tbe Legislature of Colonial Virginia.

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VOLUME XXIX, 1908. 703 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50.

1. [78] Early New England Towns. By Anne Bush MacLear, Ph.D. Price, Jr. 50.

2. [79J New Hampshire as a Royal Province.

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[80] The Province of New Jersey, 1664—1738. By Edwin P. Tanner, Ph.D.

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3. [83] Consanguineous Marriages In tbe American Population.

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2. [87J *Psychological Interpretations of Society.

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By James P. Lichtenbbrger, Ph.D. Price, $1.50,

VOLUME XXXVI, 1910. 542 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00.

1. [95] * Reconstruction In Texas. By Charles William Ramsdell, Ph.D. Price, $2.50.
8. 1961 * The Transition in Virginia from Colony to Commonwealth.

By Charles Ramsdell Li-ngley, Ph.D. Price, $ 1.50.

VOLUME XXXVII, 1910. 606 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50.

1. [97] Standards of Reasonableness In Local Freight Discriminations.

By John Maurice Clark, Ph.D. Price, $1.25.
8. [98] Legal Development In Colonial Massachusetts.

By Charles J. Hilkey, Ph.D. Price, gi.25.
8. [99] * Social and Mental Traits of the Negro.

By Howard W. Odum, Ph.D. Price, Ji.oe.

VOLUME XXXVIII, 1910. 463 pp. Price, cloth, $3.50.

1. [lOO] The Public Domain and Democracy.

By Robert Tudor Hill, Ph.D. Price, g*.oo.
8. [101] Organlsmic Theories of the State.

By Francis W. Coker, Ph.D. Price, fi-So.

VOLUME XXXIX, 1910-1911. 651 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50.

1. [108] The Making of the Balkan States.

By William Smith Murray, Ph.D. Price, $1.50.
8. [103] Political History of New York State during the Period of the Civil
War. By Sidney David Brummer, Ph. D. Price, 3.00.

VOLUME XL, 1911. 633 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50.

1. [104] A Survey of Constitutional Development In China.

By Hawkling L. Yen, Ph D. Price, Ji.oo.
8. [105] Ohio Politics during the Civil War Period.

By George H. Porter, Ph.D. Price, $1.75.
3. [106] The Territorial Basis of Government under the State Constitutions.

By Alfred Zantzinger Reed, Ph.D. Price, $1.75,

VOLUME XLI, 1911. 514 pp. Price, cloth, $3.50; paper covers, $3.00.

[107] New Jersey as a Royal Province. By Edgar Jacob Fisher, Ph. D„

VOLUME XLII, 1911. 400 pp. Price, cloth, $3.00; paper covers, $2.50.

[108] Attitude of American Courts in Labor Cases.

By George Gorham Groat, Ph.D,

VOLUME XLIII, 1911. 633 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50.

It [109] industrial Causes of Congestion of Population in New York City.

By Edward Ewing Pratt, Ph.D. Price, $2.00.
8. [HO] Education and the Mores. By F. Stuart Chapin, Ph.D. Price, 75 cents.

8. [ill] The British Consuls In the Confederacy.

By Milledgb L. Bonham, Jr., Ph.D. Price, $2.0*.

VOLUMES XLIV and XLV, 1911. 745 pp.

Price for the two volumes, cloth, $6.00 ; paper covers, $5.00.

(118 and 113] The Economic Principles of Confucius and his School.

By Chen Huan-Chang, Ph.D.

* VOLUME XL VI, 1911-1912. 623 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50.

1. [114] The Ricardian Socialists. By Esther Lowenthal, Ph.D. Price.$:.o«

8. [ll5] Ibrahim Pasha, Grand Vizier of Suleiman, the Magnificent.

By Hbster Donaldson Jenkins, Ph.D. Price, (i.oo

<J. [116] ‘Syndicalism In France.

By Louis Levine, Ph.D. Second edition, 1914. Price, £1.50,
4. [117] A Hoosler Village. By Newell Leroy Sims, Ph.D. Price. $1,500

VOLUME XLVII, 1912. 544 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00.

1. 1118] The Politics of Michigan, 1865-1878,

By Harrietts M. Dilla, Ph.D. Price, $2.00.

2. [119] *The United States Beet Sugar Industry and the Tariff.

Bt Roy G. Blakey, Ph.D. Price, £2. 00.

VOLUME XL VIII, 1912. 493 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00.

1. [120] Isidor of Seville. By Ernest Brbhaut, Ph. D. Price, £3 .00.

S. [121] Progress and Uniformity in Child-Labor Legislation.

By William Fielding Ogburn, Ph.D. Price, $1.75.

VOLUME XLIX, 1912. 592 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50.

1. [122] British Radicalism 1791-1797. By Walter Phelps Hall. Price,£2.oo.

S. [123] A Comparative Study of the Law of Corporations.

By Arthur K. Kuhn, Ph.D. Price, $1,50.
S. [124] *The Negro at Work in New York City.

By George E. Haynes, Ph.D. Price, $1.25.

VOLUME L, 1911. 481 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00.

1. [125] The Spirit of Chinese Philanthropy. By Yai Yue Tsu, Ph.D. Price,£i.ooA

2. [ 126] The Alien in China. By Vi. Kyuin Wellington Koo, Ph.D. Price, $2.50.

VOLUME LI, 1912. 4to. Atlas. Price: cloth, $1.50; paper covers, $1.00.

1. [127] The Sale of Liquor in the South.

By Leonard S. Blakey, Ph.D.

VOLUME LII, 1912. 489 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00.

1. [128] “Provincial and Local Taxation in Canada.

By Solomon Vinbbbrg, Ph.D. Price, $1.50.

8. [129] *The Distribution of Income.

By Frank Hatch Strbightoff, Ph.D. Price, jji.50.
8. [130] *The Finances of Vermont. By Frederick A. Wood, Ph.D. Price, £1.00.

VOLUME LIII, 1913. 789 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50; paper, $4.00.

[131] The Civil War and Reconstruction in Florida. By W. W. Davis, Ph.D.

VOLUME LIV, 1913. 604 pp. Price, cloth. $4.50.

1. [132] * Privileges and Immunities of Citizens of the United States.

By Arnold Johnson Lien, Ph.D. Price, 75 cents.
8. [133] The Supreme Court and Unconstitutional Legislation.

By Blaine Free Moore, Ph.D. Price, £1.00.
8. [134] “Indian Slavery in Colonial Times within the Present Limits of the
United States. By Almon Wheeler Lauber, Ph.D. Price, $3.00.

VOLUME LV, 1913, 665 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50.

1. [135] “A Political History of the State of New York.

By Homer A. Stbbbins, Ph.D. Price, £4.00.

2. [136] *The Early Persecutions of the Christians.

By Leon H. Canfield, Ph.D. Price, £1.50.

VOLUME LVI, 1913. 406 pp. Price, cloth, $3.50.

1. [137] Speculation on the New York Stock Exchange, 1904-1907.

By Algernon Ashburner Osborne. Price, $1.50.

2. [138] The Policy of the United States towards Industrial Monopoly.

By Oswald Whitman Knauth, Ph.D. Price, jfs.oo.

VOLUME LVII, 1914. 670 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50.

1. [139] “The Civil Service of Great Britain.

By Robert Moses, Ph.D. Price, £2.00.

2. [140] The Financial History of New York State.

By Don C. Sowers. Price, £2.50.

VOLUME L VIII, 1914. 684 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50; paper, $4.00.

[141] Reconstruction in North Carolina.

By J. G. de Roulhac Hamilton, Ph.D.

VOLUME LIX, 1914. 625 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50.

1. [142] The Development of Modern Turkey by means of its Press.

By Ahmed Emin, Ph.D. Price, £1.00.

2. [143] The System ol Taxation in China, 1614-1911.

By Shao-Kwan Chen, Ph. D. Price, £1.00.
8. [144] The Currency Problem in China. By Wen Pin Wei, Ph.D. Price, £1.25.

4. [145] “Jewish Immigration to the United States.

By Samuel Joseph, Ph.D. Price, £1.50.

VOLUME LX. 1914. 516 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00.

1. [146] ‘Constantine the Great and Christianity.

By Christopher Bush Coleman, Ph.D. Price, £2.00.

2. [147] The Establishment of Christianity and the Proscription of Pa¬

ganism. By Maud Aline Huttman, Ph.D. Price, $2.00.

VOLUME LXI. 1914. 496 pp. Price, cloth, $4 00.

1. [148] ‘The Railway Conductors: A Study In Organized Labor.

By Edwin Clyde Robbins. Price, $1.50.

2. [149] ‘The Finances of the City of New York.

By Yin-Ch’u Ma, Ph.D. Price, $2. 50.

VOLUME LXII. 1914. 414 pp. Price, cloth, $3.50.

[ISO] The Journal of the Joint Committee of Fifteen on Reconstruction.
39th Congress, 1866 — 1867. By Benjamin B. Kendrick, Ph.D. Price, $3.00.

VOLUME LXIII. 1914. 561 pp. Price, cloth, $4. 00.

1. [151] Emile Durkhelm’s Contributions to Sociological Theory.

By Charles Elmer Gbhlke, Ph.D. Price, >1.50.

2. [162] The Nationalization of Railways In Japan.

By Toshiharu Watarai, Ph.D. Price, 51-25.

3. [163] Population: A Study in Malthusianism.

By Warren S. Thompson, Ph.D. Price, 51.75.

VOLUME LXIV. 1915. 646 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50.

1. [154] ‘Reconstruction in Georgia. By C. Mildred Thompson, Ph.D. Price, 3.00.

2. [155] ‘The Review of American Colonial Legislation by the King in

Council. By Elmer Beecher Russell, Ph.D. Price, $1.75.

VOLUME LXV. 1915. 524 pp. Price, cloth, $4-00.

1. [156] ‘The Sovereign Council of New France

By Raymond Du Bois Cahall, Ph.D. Price, $2.25.

2. [167] ‘Scientific Management (3rd. ed. 1922).

By Horace B. Drury, Ph.D. Price, 52.00.

VOLUME LXVI. 1915. 655 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50.

1. [158] ‘The Recognition Policy of the United States.

By Julius Goebel, Jr., Ph.D. Price, 52.00.

2. [159] Railway Problems in China. By Chih Hsu, Ph.D. Price, $1.50.

3. [160] ‘The Boxer Rebellion. By Paul H. Clements, Ph.D. Price, 52.0*.

VOLUME LXVII. 1916. 538 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00.

1. [161] ‘Russian Sociology. By Julius F. Hbcker, Ph.D. Price,52.5o.

2. [162] State Regulation of Railroads in the South.

By Maxwell Ferguson, A. M., LL.B. Price, 5I-75*

VOLUME LXVIII. 1916. 518 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50.

[ 168] The Origins of the Islamic State. By Philip K. Hitti, Ph.D. Price, 54.00.

VOLUME LXIX. 1916. 489 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00.

1. [164] Railway Monopoly and Rate Regulation.

By Robert J. McFall, Ph.D. Price, 52 00.

2. [165] The Butter Industry in the United States.

By Edward Wibst, Ph.D. Price, 52.00.

VOLUME LXX. 1916. 540 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50.

[166] Mohammedan Theories of Finance

By Nicolas P. Aghnidbs, Ph.D. Price, 54.00.

VOLUME LXXI. 1916. 476 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00.

1. [167] The Commerce of Louisiana during the French Regime, 1699—1763.

By N. M. Miller Surrey, Ph.D. Price, 53.50.

VOLUME LXXII. 1916. 542 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50.

1. r168] American Men of Letters: Their Nature and Nurture.

By Edwin Leavitt Clarke, Ph.D. Price, £1.50.

2. [169] The Tariff Problem In China. By Chin Chu, Ph.D. Price, 51.30.

3. 1 1 70] The Marketing of Perishable Food Products.

By A. B. Adams, Ph.D. Price, $1.50.

VOLUME LXXIII. 1917. 616 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50.

1. [171] *The Social and Economic Aspects of the Chartist Movement.

By Frank F. Rosenblatt, Ph.D. Price, $2 00.
3. [173] *The Decline of the Chartist Movement.

By Preston William Slosson, Ph.D. Price, $2.00.
3. [173] Chartism and the Churches. By H. U. Faulkner, Ph.D. Price, $1.25.

VOLUME LXXIV. 1917. 546 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50.

1. [174] The Rise of Ecclesiastical Control in Quebec.

By Walter A. Riddell, Ph.D. Price, $1.75.
3. [175] Political Opinion In Massachusetts during the Civil War and Re¬
construction. By Edith Ellen Ware, Ph.D. Price, $1. 75.

3. [176] Collective Bargai lng ’ *he . ^hographic Industry.

’ H. E. Hoagland, Ph.D. Price, $1.00

f . v 7 , ' :c : cloth, $4.00.

A 1 l {rated a1 •• tvu o', • <. ;? it 4 shed at 95.00.

1. [11 V j Sew York as an Eighteenth Century Municipality. Prior to 1731.

By Arthur Everett Peterson, Ph.D. Price, $2.00
3. [178] New York as an Eighteenth Century Municipality. 1731-1776.

By George William Edwards, Ph.D. Price, $2.00.

VOLUME LXXVI. 1917. 489 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00.

1. [179] ‘Economic and Social History of Chowan County, North Carolina.

By W. Scott Boyce, Ph.D. Price, (2.50.

3. [180] Separation of State and Local Revenues in the United States.

By Mabei Newcomer, Ph.D. Price, $1.75.

VOLUME LXXVII. 1917. 473 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00.

[181] American Civil Church Law. By Carl Zollmann, LL.B. Price, $3.50.

VOLUME LXXVIII. 1917. 647 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50.

[183] The Colonial Merchants and the American Revolution.

By Arthur Meier Schlesinger, Ph.D. Price, I4.00.

VOLUME LXXIX. 1917-1918. 535 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50.

1. [183] Contemporary Theories of Unemployment and Unemployment
Relief. By Frederick C. Mills, Ph.D. Price, $1.50.

3. [184] The French Assembly of 1848 and American Constitutional Doc¬
trine. By Eugene Newton Curtis, Ph.D. Price, $3.00.

VOLUME LXXX. 1918. 448 pp. Price, cloth, $4-00.

1. [185] ^Valuation and Rate Making. By Robert L. Hale, Ph.D. Price, $1.50.

3. [186] The Enclosure of Open Fields in England.

By Harriet Bradley, Ph.D. Price, $1.25.
3. [187] The Land Tax In China. By H. L. Huang, Ph.D. Price, $1. 50.

VOLUME LXXXI. 1918. 601pp. Price, cloth $4.50.

1. [188] Social Life in Rome In the Time of Platitus and Terence.

By Georgia W. Leffingwell, Ph.D. Price, $1.25.
3. [189] 'Australian Social Development.

By Clarence H. Northcott, Ph.D. Price, $2.50.
3. [190] 'Factory Statistics and Industrial Fatigue.

By Philip S. Florence, Ph.D. Price, fi.25.

VOLUME LXXXII. 1918-1919. 576 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50.

1. [191] New England and the Bavarian Illuminati.

By Vernon Stauffer, Ph.D. Price, $3.00.
3. [193] Resale Price Maintenance. By Claudius T. Murchison, Ph D. Price, $1.50.

VOLUME LXXXIII. 1919. 432 pp. Price, cloth, $4 00.

[193] The I. W. W. Second Edition, 1920. By Paul F. Brissenden, Ph.D. Price, $3.50.

VOLUME LXXXI V. 1919. 534 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50

1. [194] The Royal Government In Virginia, 1634-1775.

By Percy Scott Flippin, Ph.D. Price, $3.00.
3. [195] Hellenic Conceptions of Peace. By Wallace E. Caldwell, Ph.D. Price, Jr. 25.

-> VOLUME LXXXV. 1919. 450 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00.

1. [196] The Religious Policy of the Bavarian Government during the
Napoleonic Period. By Chester P. Higby, Ph.D. Price, $3.00.

3. [197] Public Debts of China. By F. H. Huang, Ph.D. Price, >1.00.

VOLUME LXXXVI. 1919. 460 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00.

1198] The Decline o f Aristocracy In the Politics of New York.

By Dixon Ryan Fox, Ph.D. Price, $3.50.

VOLUME LXXXVII. 1919. 451pp. Price, cloth, $4.00.

[199] Foreign Trade of China. By Chong Su Sbe, Ph.D. Price. $3 50

VOLUME LXXXVI1I. 1919. 444 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00-

1. [200] The Street Surface Railway Franchises of New York City.

By Haery J. Carman, Ph D. Price, $2.00.

2. [201] Electric Light Franchises In New York City.

By Leonora Arent, Ph.D. Price, f 1.50

VOLUME LXXXIX. 1919. 558 pp. Price, cloth, $5.00.

1. [2021 Women’s Wages. By F.milib J. Hutchinson Ph.D. Price, fi 50.

2. [203 The Return of the Democratic Party to Power In 1884.

By Harrison Cook Thomas, Ph.D. Price, £2.25.
8. [2041 The Paris Bourse and French Finance.

By William Parker, Ph.D. Price, Ji.oo.

VOLUME XC. 1920. 547 pp. Price, cloth, $5.00.

1. [205] Prison Methods In New York State. By Philip Klein, Ph.D. Price, $ 3 50

2. i206 India’s Demand for Transportation.

By William E. Weld, Ph.D. Price, £1.25.

VOLUME XCI. 1920. 626 pp. Price, cloth, $6.00.

1. [207 ‘The Influence of Oversea Expansion on England to 1700.

By James E Gillespie, Ph.D. Price, #3 00.

2. [208] International Labor Legislation. By I. F. Ayusawa, Ph.D. Price, fa. ‘,5

VOLUME XCII. 1920. 433 pp. Price, cloth, $5.00.

[209] The Public Life of William Shirley. By George A. Wood, Ph.D. Price.fvso

VOLUME XCIII. 1920. 460 pp. Price, cloth, $5.50.

1. [2 IO] "The English Reform Bill of 1 867. By Joseph H. Park, Ph.D. Price. $3.00

2. [21lj The Policy of the United States as regards Intervention.

By Charles E. Martin, Ph.D. Price, $2.00

VOLUME XCIV. 1920-1921. 492 pp. Price, cloth, $5.50.

1. [212] ‘Catastrophe and Social Change. By S. H. Prince, Ph D. Price, fi. 50

2. [213] Intermarriage in New York City. By Julius Drachsler, Ph.D. Price, $2 25

3. [2 14] The Ratification of the Federal Constitution by the State of New

York. By C. E. Miner, Ph.D. Price, *1.50.

VOLUME XCV. 1920-1921. 554 pp. Price, cloth, $6.00.

1. [215] ‘Railroad Capitalization. By James C. Bonbright, Ph.D. Price, $2.00

2. [216] ‘American Apprenticeship and Industrial Education.

By Paul H. Douglas, Ph.D. Price, #3.50.

VOLUME XCVI. 1921. 539 pp. Price, cloth, $6.50.

1. [217] ‘Opening a Highway to the Pacific. 1838-184 6.

By James Christy Bell, Jr., Ph.D. Price, $2.25.

2. [218] Parliamentary Franchise Reform In England from 1885 to 1918.

By Homer L. Morris, Ph.D. Price, 1,2.25.
8. [219] The Peaceable Americans. 1860-61.

By Mary Scrugham, Ph.D. Price, #1.50

VOLUME XCVII. 1921. 752 pp. Price, cloth, $8.50.

1. [220] The Working Forces In Japanese Politics.

By Uichi Iwasaki, Ph.D. Price, $1.50.

2. [221] Social Aspects of the Treatment of the Insane.

By J. A. Goldberg, Ph.D. Price, #2.50.

3. [2221 The Free Negro In Maryland. By Jambs M. Wright, Ph.D. Price, $ 4. 00.

VOLUME XCVI1I. 1921. 338 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00.

1. [223] Origins of Modern German Colonialism, 1871-1885.

By Mary E. Townsend, Ph.D. Price, $2.25.

2. [224] Japan’s Financial Relations with the United States.

By G. G. Odate, Ph.D. Price, 1.25.

VOLUME XCIX. 1921-22. 649 pp. Price, cloth, $7.00.

1. [225] ‘The Economic History of China : A Study of Soli Exhaustion.

By Mabel Peng-hua Lee, Ph.D. Price, $4.50.

2. [226] Central and Local Finance in China. By Chuan Shih Li, Ph.D. Price, $2.00.

VOLUME C. 1921. 553 pp. Price, cloth, $6.00.

1. (337] ‘Contemporary British Opinion daring the Franco- Prussian War.

By Dora Neill Raymond, Ph.D. Price, #4.50.
3. r338] French Contemporary Opinion of the Russian Revolution of 1906.

By Encarnacion Alzona. Ph.D. Price, $1.25.

VOLUME CL 1921-22. 517 pp. Price, cloth, $5.50.

1. [339] State Taxation of Personal Incomes.

By Alzada Comstock. Ph.D. Price, $ 2.50 .
3. |330j The Whig Party In Pennsylvania. By Henry R. Mueller, Ph.D. Price, $2.75.

VOLUME CII. 1922-23. 593 pp. Price, cloth, $6.00.

1. (331] The Evolution of People’s Banks. By Donald S. Tucker, Ph.D. Price, $2.75.
3. I *331 The Bank of the State of Missouri. By J. R. Cable, Ph.D. Price, $3.50.

VOLUME CIII. 1922. 606 pp. Price, cloth, $6.50.

1. 18331 The Relation of British Policy to the Declaration of the Monroe
Doctrine. By Leonard Axel “Lawson, Ph.D. Price, $i 50.'

3. [334] Ledru-Rollin and the Second French Republic.

By Alvin R. Calman, Ph.D. Price, >4 50.

VOLUME CIV. 1922. 492 pp. Price, cloth, $5.50.

1. (835] ‘The Populist Movement In Georgia.

By Alex Mathews Arnett, Ph.D. Price, $2.50.
8. [836] History of the James River and Kanawha Company.

By W. F. Dunaway, Ph.D. Price, I2.75.

VOLUME CV. 1923.

1. [337 1 The Regime of the International Rivers: Danube and Rhine.

By J. P. Chamberlain, Ph.D. Price, $3 50.
3. [8381 Imperial Control of the Administration of Justice in the Thirteen
American Colonies. 1684-1776. By George Adrian Washburne. ( Ingres* ).

VOLUME CVI. 1923. 425 pp. Price, cloth, $5.00.

1. [3391 Labor and Empire. By T. F. Tsiang, Ph.D. Price, $2.25.

3.* 134 0 Legislative History of America’s Economic Policy toward the
Philippines. By Jose S. Reyes, Ph.D. Price, $2.25

VOLUME CVII. 1923.

1. [34 11 Two Portuguese Communities In New England.

By Donald R. Taft. {In press).
3. 1343] The Penetentlals. By Thomas P. Oakley. (Inpress).

VOLUME CVIII. 1923.

1. T343] The Pre-War Business Cycle.

By William C. Schluter. (In press).
3 (344) Foreign Credit Facilities in the United Kingdom.

By Leland Rex Robinson (In press)

VOLUME CIX. 1923.

[345] Reconstruction In Arkansas. . By Thomas S. Staples. (In press).

VOLUME CX. 1923.

1. [346] ‘The United Mine Workers of America and the Non-Union Coal
Fields. By A Ford Hinrichs. (In press).

VOLUME CXI. 1923.

1. [348] “The Democratic Machine, 1850-1854.

- By Roy Franklin Nichols, Ph.D. Price, I25.0.

VOLUME CXII. 1923.

1. 1350] ‘Catholicism In the Second French Republic. 1848-1853.

By R. W. Collins. (In press).

The price for each separate monograph Is for paper-covered copies; separate monoaraphs marked with
an asterisk, (•), can be supplied bound In cloth, for 75c. additional. All prices are net.

The set of 104 volumes, covering monographs 1-236, is offered, bound, for $400; except that
Volumes II, HI, IV, and VII can be supplied only in part, Volume II, No. 1, Volume HI, No. 2, Volume
IV , No. 3, and Volume VII, No. 2, being outof print. Volumes H, III, and IV, as described in the
last sentence, and Volume XXVcan now be supplied only in connection with complete sets, butthe
separate monographs of each of these volumes are available unless marked ' ‘ not sold separately” .

For further information, apply to

LONGMANS, GREEN & CO., 55 Fifth Avenue, New York.

P. S. KING & SON, Ltd., Orchard House, Westminster, London.

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