CHART III.-Infant mortality rates, by earnings of chief breadwinner. Under $1,050. $1,050 and under $1,850. Infants to all mothers. $1,850 and over. Infants to native white mothers. NATIONALITY. The 1910 Census, made four years after Gary was founded, showed that 49 per cent of the city's population was native white, a like proportion foreign born, and 2 per cent colored. Austria-Hungary Russia, Italy, and Germany had contributed the largest quotas to the foreign-born population, though practically every European country was represented in the cosmopolitan body making up Gary's citizenship.56 In 1916, 987 babies were born in Gary to foreign-born mothers of 28 distinct nationalities. The leading nationality groups in point of numbers were from the countries most largely represented in the city's population in 1910-Poles, Serbians and Croatians, Slovaks, Magyars, Italians, Lithuanians, and Germans. TABLE XXXIII.—Infant mortality and stillbirth rates, by color and nationality of mother; births in Gary in 1916. 2 Including 64 Magyar, 60 Italian, 54 Lithuanian and Lettish, 41 German, 36 Rumanian, 24 Greek, 22 Great Russian, 20 Bohemian, 20 Danish, Swedish or Norwegian, 19 Ukrainian or Ruthenian, 14 Irish, > Slovenian, 7 Canadian (not French), 6 English, Scotch, Welsh, 6 Jewish, 5 Bulgarian, 3 Spanish, 2 Assyrian, 1 Dutch, í French, 1 Albanian, 1 foreign-born white, nationality unknown. INFANT MORTALITY RATES BY NATIONALITY. The contrast between the infant mortality rate for babies of native white mothers (96.6) and that for infants of foreign-born mothers (133.5) has already been noted. Only three nationality groupsPolish, Serbian and Croatian, and Slovak-were large enough to warrant the computation of infant mortality rates. The rate among the babies of Polish mothers (148.3) was greatly in excess of that for either of the other nationalities and notably higher than that for the babies of all foreign-born mothers. The stillbirth rate (4.4) was also high for the Polish group. Since births to these mothers constituted 28 per cent of the entire number of babies born to foreign women, the high infant death rate among babies of Polish mothers was undoubtedly strongly instrumental in raising the general infant mortality rate for babies of foreign-born mothers. 56 Thirteenth Census of the United States, 1910, Vol. II, Population, p. 568. NON-ENGLISH-SPEAKING NATIONALITIES. With the exception of 20 births to mothers from the British Isles and seven infants whose mothers were of Canadian origin other than French, the foreign-born mothers belonged to non-English-speaking nationalities. Of the mothers of non-English-speaking nationalities 67 per cent were of the different Slavic races, and therefore possessed the racial customs, culture, and ideals characteristic of these races. Moreover, although Lithuanians, Rumanians, and Magyars-16 per cent of the non-English-speaking nationalities, as represented among the births in Gary in 1916-are not Slavic peoples and do not speak Slavic languages, nevertheless in customs and habits they have many points of resemblance to the Slavs. In Gary there was but little segregation of different nationalities into distinct colonies; a few blocks predominantly Polish had been dubbed "Little Poland," but Poles were living in other parts of the city as well. Certain subdivisions of Gary were chiefly foreign, as the South Side, or Tolleston, for example, but a single block, or even a single tenement in these subdivisions, might contain families of various nationalities living side by side. In religious life, perhaps more than in social and economic custom, the different national groups held themselves distinct. There were Polish, Slovak, Croatian, Lithuanian, Magyar, Ruthenian, Rumanian orthodox, Russian orthodox, Italian, German, and Jewish congregations. Practically every nationality had, in addition, its societies, clubs, or associations for social, protective, fraternal, or educational purposes, and a person of almost any nationality could find without much search a store or bank wherein he could make his wants known in his native tongue. On the other hand the very youthfulness of Gary, the general feeling there that change and growth were normal, could scarcely have failed to permeate even the most foreign sections and tend there also, to break down connections with the past and foster the adoption of new customs and ideas. To this was added the very real influence which the public schools of the city exerted, not only over the children. > attending them, but over the adults, the foreign-speaking men and women who enrolled in the manual training shops and night classes of the schools, who used the schools' swimming pools and baths as well as the instruction offered in English, cooking, sewing, foundry work, and other subjects. MOTHERS' ABILITY TO SPEAK ENGLISH. Of the 1,393 babies, 44 per cent were born to mothers unable to speak English. Inability to speak English was of significance so far as it might constitute a social and economic handicap, curtail a mother's opportunity to use the community's medical, social, and educational resources to the fullest degree, or close to her ways of obtaining valuable information on the care of her home and children. The babies of Polish women had the highest proportion of mothers (83 per cent) who could not speak English; among the Serbians and Croatians the proportion was slightly less than three-fourths (74 per cent), while among the Slovaks only half the infants had mothers incapable of conversing in English. It is to be noted that the infant mortality rate was highest among babies of Polish mothers-the women least proficient in the English tongue-and that while the infant mortality rate for babies of mothers of non-English speaking nationalities was 134.8, when this group was subdivided further according to mother's ability to speak English, the mortality rate for infants whose mothers had not acquired the language was 145.2, whereas the rate for infants whose mothers had learned to use English was but 116.1. Apparently the mother's inability to speak English was found aligned with other forces inimical to infant life. TABLE XXXIV.-Infant mortality rates, by mother's ability to speak English, and color and nationality of mother; births in Gary in 1916 to foreign-born white mothers. Foreign-born mothers of slightly more than one-tenth of the babies had been in the United States less than five years. Since the nationalities found were chiefly from the countries of southeastern Europe, they were almost wholly of the "newer immigration" and displayed, but little individual differences in length of residence within the United States. TABLE XXXV.-Infant mortality rates, by years of residence of mother in the United States, and color and nationality of mother; births in Gary in 1916 to foreign-born white mothers. One in 6 of the babies whose mothers had been in the United States less than 5 years and 1 in 8 of those whose mothers had been in this country for a longer period, died within 12 months after birth. Each of the 3 most numerous foreign nationality groups showed a lower infant mortality rate among the babies whose mothers had had a more extended residence within the United States. Besides making possible the acquisition of English and the methods of child care which are best suited to this country, lengthened residence also had a tendency to better the economic status of the family and thus to enhance the infants' likelihood of living beyond infancy. Length of residence was apparently a factor in reducing the mortality rate among infants of foreign-born mothers toward the level of the rate among infants of native mothers. LITERACY OF MOTHER. Only 2 native white mothers said they were unable to read and write. There were, however, 361 babies (37 per cent) whose foreignborn mothers could not read and write in any language. The percentage of illiteracy, gauged simply by the mother's statement as to her ability to read and write in any language, was greatest among the Serbian and Croatian women. Approximately two-fifths of the Polish mothers could not meet this crude test as to literacy. Among the Slovaks somewhat over one-fourth of the babies (27 per 106137°-23-5 |