the butcher enters every day the cost of the food bought for each individual. This means, in fact, a separate account with the grocer or the butcher for each boarder, and this he settles. in person as often as necessary. The boarding mistress prepares NUMBER AND SIZE OF GROUP IN SPECIFIED NUMBER OF ROOMS and serves separately the food for each man, who receives exactly what he has paid for. There are, however, some groups in which the men pay a fixed sum each week. There are five co-operative groups, some with and some without a boss, but no one-night lodging-houses were discovered in these particular localities. III. ITALIANS Another extremely interesting colony from the point of view of this study is constituted by the Italians, and it was possible to collect data with reference to more representatives of that nationality than of the others studied at this time. Although it is difficult to give exact boundaries to the Italian colonies in Chicago, they have definite centers and their general location may be easily indicated. The largest is probably that to be found within the boundaries formed by Canal Street on the east (it should be noted that many Italians may be found as far east as State Street), Harrison Street on the north, Center Avenue on the west, and Twelfth Street on the south. This section is of course by no means exclusively Italian, although it is predominantly so, for families of almost every other nation ality may be found within it, and there are, in particular, large numbers of Greeks, Russian Jews, and Lithuanians. A large colony of Sicilians is found in the area between Chicago Avenue and Division Street, with the river as the western and Sedgwick Street as the eastern boundary. Still another colony of Italians is near Grand Avenue, between Center and Halsted streets, but they are intermingled with large numbers. of Greeks as well as with representatives of other nationalities located within this area. The fourth large colony is located near Twenty-second Street between Wentworth and Stewart avenues. Each of these colonies is complete in itself, with Italian newspapers, banks, churches, stores, saloons, and labor agencies. These Italian colonies are made up almost entirely of normal families and one has difficulty in finding groups of the nonfamily type. The investigation of these groups was necessarily postponed until the month of May, when the labor agencies had shipped out thousands of men for work in the western construction camps. At this time, therefore, many entire groups had taken their mattresses and blankets and gone into the country. The Italian laborer is much shorter in stature than the Slav, yet he is capable of doing a good day's work with the pick and shovel or carrying hods of brick and mortar. With a natural dislike for the cold, he is constitutionally idle during the winter months, but as soon as spring comes he is ready to be shipped out and to earn enough to make up for lost time with the hope of being able to send something home to Italy, and to save enough to tide him over another winter. And, as almost every group reported that some of the men had gone to the country, there is no doubt that if the visits had been during the winter months, larger groups would have been found. The groups visited were chosen from two colonies, that near Hull House and the one near Grand Avenue. In all, 38 visits were made and 237 men were interviewed. The number of men within the groups, including families. where they were found, with the number of rooms occupied, is given in the following table: I room NUMBER AND SIZE OF GROUP IN SPECIFIED NUMBER OF ROOMS SIZE OF APARTMENT 2 rooms. 3 rooms. 4 rooms. 5 rooms. 6 rooms. 8 rooms. 9 rooms. 3 16 25 36 42 24 18 20 33 12 13 14 262* The organization of the Italian non-family group is unlike that of either the Bulgarian or Croatian. There are lodginghouses where ten cents provides a cot and some blankets for the night, but each man provides his own food. There are the co-operative clubs, organized in two different ways: according to one plan the men pay the rent and the necessary group expenditures co-operatively, but each man buys and cooks his own food; in the other they pay collectively for all expenses, including food, and each man in turn cooks for the group, or the one who arrives home first prepares the simple meal. In cases where the men board in the family group they pay the usual three dollars a month for rent and cooking and washing, and they either pay collectively for the food at the end of the month, counting as their own the food consumed by the woman, or each man buys his own food and brings it to the woman to be cooked. Of the 236 men interviewed, 151 lived in co-operative groups, while 85 were boarders in a family. IV. GREEKS With a rich heritage of custom and tradition, and a reputation as traders and colonists, the Greeks come to America with their commercial ability well developed, and serve in the ranks of laborers only long enough to learn the English language I 6 and to start in business for themselves in a small way. Then the commercial instinct asserts itself and they become peddlers or owners of bootblack stands, restaurants, fruit-stores, or other small places of business. In the bootblack shelter, the restaurant, or the fruit stand the Greek is found waiting upon his American customers. Large numbers of them are serving as peddlers of fruit and vegetables on our streets, and small groups are located in many different parts of the city near their places of business. But the largest central Greek colony is in the neighborhood of Hull House, east and west of Halsted Street, between Harrison and Taylor streets. Greek newspapers, a Greek church, Greek bakeries, Greek coffee-houses, all varieties of stores, are found in the immediate neighborhood. A smaller colony is near Grand Avenue, where it is crossed by Peoria and Sangamon streets. The attempt to investigate the non-family groups among the Greeks was confined to the colony in the neighborhood of Hull House. Four visits were made and 39 men interviewed. These were all men engaged in the fruit and vegetable business. The practice in all these instances was to rent a whole house, use the first floor as a stable for their horses, and sleep in an apartment above. The size and number of the groups is indicated in the following table: NUMBER AND SIZE OF GROUPS IN SPECIFIED NUMBER OF ROOMS Three of these groups were organized on a co-operative basis, all expenses being equally divided at regular intervals; in the fourth group, one man owned the entire building and |