ECONOMIC PHASES OF DOMESTIC SERVICE[185] The attempt has been made in the foregoing chapters to indicate the extent to which domestic employments and domestic service have been influenced by industrial and political events arising outside of the household, and apparently having little or no connection with it. That domestic service is amenable to some of the general economic laws and conditions which affect other occupations and that it is also governed by economic laws developed within itself will perhaps be evident from an examination of a few of these economic conditions and principles. These may be stated for the sake of brevity in the form of propositions. The first group of propositions to be suggested concerns the number and distribution of persons of foreign birth engaged in domestic service. (1) A large proportion of the domestic employees in the United States are of foreign birth. This is evident from the following table prepared from the schedules sent out:[186] TABLE I PLACE OF BIRTH OF EMPLOYEES =================+========================+======================== | NUMBER | PER CENT PERSON REPORTING +-------+--------+-------+-------+--------+------- | Native| Foreign| Not | Native| Foreign| Not | born | born | given | born | born | given -----------------+-------+--------+-------+-------+--------+-------- Employer | 922 | 1,212 | 411 | 36.23| 47.62 | 16.15 Employee | 324 | 395 | | 45.06| 54.94 | =================+=======+========+=======+=======+========+======== The statement may be more fully illustrated from the Eleventh Census, which shows that the number of foreign born in domestic service is 30.86 per cent of the entire number.[187] The geographical distribution of the different classes of domestic employees is seen from Table II on the following page. Another illustration of the same point is found by an examination of the relative number of native born and foreign born domestic employees in the individual states and territories. In nine states and territories the number of foreign born domestic employees exceeds the number of native born white employees,[188] in sixteen about one half of the white domestic employees are of foreign birth,[189] in twenty-four states and territories the number of native born white employees largely exceeds the foreign born,[190] while in fifteen states colored employees are in excess.[191] It will be seen that the states in which the number of native born white domestic employees exceeds the number of the foreign born are those states having relatively a small number of foreign born residents.[192] A still more specific illustration is found in the experience of one state. In Massachusetts in 1885, the foreign born domestic servants formed 60.24 per cent of the entire number.[193] TABLE II DOMESTIC EMPLOYEES IN THE UNITED STATES, 1890