Sentiment and Symbolism as Ecological Variables (1945) PDF

Sentiment and Symbolism as Ecological Variables* Walter Firey Systematization of ecological...

Sentiment and Symbolism as Ecological Variables* Walter Firey Systematization of ecological theory has thus far able locations devolve to correspondingly less ~ceeded on two main premises. regarding the economizing land uses. The result is a pattern of character of space and the nature-of locational land use that is presumed to be most efficient for activities. The ~rst premise postulates that the both the individual locational activity and for the sole relation of space to locational activities is community. an impeditive and cost-imposing one. The sec­ Given the contractualistic milieu within which ond premise assumes that locational activitieS the modem city has arisen and acquires its are primarily economizing, "fiscal';' agents. l On functions, such an "economic ecology" has had a I the basis of these tw~ premises the only possible certain explanatory-adequacyindescribing urbari! relationship tliat loeational activitiesimay bear to /' spatial structure and dynamics. However, as any space is an economic one. In such a relationship theory matures and approaches a logical closure of each activity will seek to so locate as to minim- / its generalizations it inevitably encounters facts ize the obstruction put upon its functions by which remain unassimilable to the theoretical spatial distance. Since the supply of the desired scheme. In this paper it will be our purpose to 1\ locations is limited it follows that not all activi-/ describe certain ecological processes which appar-.' ties can be favored with choice sites. Conse­ entry cannot be embraced in a strictly economic. quently a c~ive process ensues in which analysis. Our hypothesis is that the data to be t\Ie scarceaesirablelOCa"'fii:mS'are pre-empted by presented, while in no way startling or unfamiliar those locational activities which can so exploit to the research ecologist, do suwst an alteratiJm advantageous location as to produce the greatest of the basic remise ecol his alteration surplus~.o! income over expenditure. Less desir­ would consist, firs \ f ascribing to space not only an impeditive quality but also an additional pro- ' 'Reprinted from the American Sociological Review, perty, viz., that of being at times a_s)'!!!bol (qr\ 10 (April 1945), 140-48, by permission of the author and certain cultural values that have become as~aTed The American Sociological Association. 'See Everett C. Hughes, "The Ecological Aspect of with ,a certain spatial area, Second, k.b*ould Institutions," American Sociological Review, 1 (April involve a recognition that locational activities are 1936), 180-9. not only economizing agents but may also bear  WALTER FlREY 130 Development of Ecological Framework sentiments which can significantly influence the Behind such expressions of sentiment are a num­ , Table 1. locational process. 2 -.­ ber of historical associations connected with the A test case for this twofold hypothesis is area. Literary traditions are among the strongest afforded by certain features of land use in central of these; indeed, the whole literary legend of Boston. In common with many of the ~olcjer Boston has its focus at Beacon Hill. Many of American cities Boston has inherited from the past America's most distinguished literati have occu­ Within Boston certain spatial patterns and landmarks which have pied homes on the Hill. Present day occupants of Beacon Hill Back Bay had a remarkable persistence and even recupera­ these houses derive a genuine satisfaction from the Jamaica Plain tive power despite challenges from other more individual histories of their dwellings. One lady Other 1'l1"I:TI.CI:. economic land uses. The persistence of these whose home had had a distinguished pedigree Suburban Towns spatial patterns can only be understood in terms of remarked: Brookline the group values that they have come to symbolize. ,/ Newton Cambridge We shall describe three types of such patterns:' I like living here for I like to think that a great Milton first, an in-town upper class residential neighfiof­ deal of historic interest has happened here in this Dedham hood known as Beacon HilI; second, certain room. Other towns "sacred sites," notably the Boston Common and Total in Boston the colonial burying grounds; and third, a lower Not a few families are able to trace a continuity Total in Suburbs..., class Italian neighborhood known as the North of residence on the Hill for several generations, Totals End. In each of these land uses we shall find some as far back as 1800 when the Hill was first Tabulated from~ 1certain locational processes which seem to defy a developed as an upper class neighborhood. It is a !\ strictly economic analysis. point of pride to a Beacon Hill resident if he can The first of the areas, Beacon Hill, is located say that he was born on the Hill or was at least some five minutes' walking distance from the retail raised there; a second best boast is to point out center of Boston. This neighborhood has for fully a that his forebears once lived on the Hill. establishments which are century and a half maintained its character as a II preferred upper class residential district, despite its Thus a wide range of sentiments-aesthetic~ historical, and familial-have acquired a spatia /1 value. The trend of Beacon Today it has a larger II "1 :. contiguity to a low rent tenement area, the West articulation in Beacon Hill. The bearing of thes families than it had in 1 second among fashionable; \ - I End. During its long history B~ILHiJl..has sentiments upon locational processes is a tangibl 0.. it ranks third today, being' , bC}come t~mbol for a number of sentimental one and a.ssumes three forms: r~, ~~ive, as~ociations w1fIch consti'tute a genuine at!lac!!ye and r~e. Let us considet each of these in numbers by the suburban c force to certain old famdtes Of Boston. Some idea order. To measure the retentive influence that the Back Bay. Beacon lj of the nature of these sentiments may be had from spatially referred sentiments may exert upon loea­ district that has consisten~ statements in the innumerable pamphlets and tional activities we have tabulated by place of ~haracter and has held.t articles written by residents of the Hill. References residence all the families listed in the Boston Social proportion of Boston's ol~ to "this sacred eminence," "stately old-time ap­ Register for the years 1894, 1905, 1914, 1929, and There is, however, anot! pearance," and "age-old quaintness and charm," 1943. This should afford a reasonably accurate mwics..ef Beacon Hill, 1 give an insight into the attitudes attaching to the picture of the distribution of upper class families "attractive" locational r!!l area. One resident reveals rather clearly the spatial by neighborhoods within Boston and in suburban sentinleiits. From 1894 to' referability of these sentiments when she writes of towns. In Table 1 we have presented the tabula­ Went a slight drop, subS4! the Hill: tions for the three in-town concentrations of upper steady rise for 24 years, at class families (Beacon Hill, Back Bay, and Jamaica ~ ~ing another slight declQ vi. ~ It has a tradition all its own, that begins in the Plain) and for the five main suburban concentra­ ignificant, and they, bri~ hospitality of a book-lover, and has never lost that flavor. Yes, our streets are inconvenient, tions (Brookline, Newton, Cambridge, Milton,.I dynamic ecological role of Ulitia! drop attributable steep, and slippery. The corners are abrupt, the and Dedham).... The most apparent feature of these data is, of course, the consistent increase of I the then new Back Bay. J contours perverse.... It may well be that the upper class families in the suburban towns and the iI had been reclaimed from gibes of our envious neighbors have a foundation built up with palatial 4 and that these dear crooked lanes of ours were indeed traced in ancestral mud by absent-minded kine. 3 marked decrease (since 1905) in two of the in-town upper class areas, Back Bay and Jamaica Plain. Although both of these neighborhoods remain I !...J pointed to this as the setej response to its dictates i fashionable residential districts their prestige is abanponed, Beacon Hill 2Georg Simmel, "Der Raum und die raumlichen tiODS Back Bay quarters,1 waning rapidly. Back Bay in particular, though still Ordnungen der Gesellschaft," Soziologie (Munich: surpassing in numbers any other single neighbor­ HiD began to depreciat~ 1923), pp. 518-22; cf. Hughes, ibid. rooming houses, and bull 3Abbie Farwell Brown, The Lights of Beacon Hill hood, has undergone a steady invasion of apart­ (Boston, 1922), p.4. ment buildings, rooming houses, and business some of the streets. But1 1  W ALTER FIREY 131 Table 1. Number of Upper Class Families in Boston, by Districts of Concentration, and in Main Suburban Towns, for Certain Years 1894 1905 1914 1929 1943 Within Boston Beacon Hill 280 242 279 362 335 Back Bay 867 1166 1102 880 556 Jamaica Plain 56 66 64 36 30 Other districts 316 161 114 86 41 Suburban Towns Brookline 137 - 300 348 355 372 Newton 38 89 90 164 247 Cambridge 77 142 147 223 257 Milton 37 71 106 131 202 Dedham 8 29 48 69 99 Other towns 106 176 310 403 816 Total in Boston 1519 1635 1559 1364 962 Total in Suburbs 403 807 1049 1345 1993 Totals 1922 2442 2608 2709 2955 Tabulated from: Social Register, Boston establishments which are destroying its prestige remained on the Hill and a few of them made value. The trend of Beacon Hill has been different. efforts to halt the gradual deterioration of the Today it has a larger number of upper class district. Under the aegis of a realtor, an architect, families than it had in 1894. Where it ranked and a few close friends there was launched a second among fashionable neighborhoods in 1894 p{o~ram of purchasing old houses, modernizing it ranks third today, being but slightly outranked in the interiors and leaving the colonial exteriors numbers by the suburban city of Brookline and by intact, and then selling the dwellings to indivi'aU'al the Back Bay. Beacon Hill is the only in-town families for occupancy. Frequently adjoining district that has consistently retained its preferred neighbors would -'collaborate in planning their character and has held to itself a considerable improvements so as to achieve an architectural proportion of Boston's old families. consonance. The results of this program may be )\ There is, however, another aspect to the spatial seen in the drift of upper class families back to the ~f Beacon Hill, one that pertains iOthe" Hill. From190S--to'T919tneniiiTIbe'f of 'S'octal "attractive" l,9cational role of spat~t referred Re';ister families in the district increased by 120. sentiments. From 1894 to 1905 the district under­ Assessed valuations showed a corresponding in­ went a slight drop, subsequently experiencing a crease: from 1919 to 1924 there was a rise of 24 steady rise for 24 years, and most recently under­ percent; from 1924 to 1929 the rise was 25 !:oing another slight decline. These variations are percent. 4 The nature of the Hill's appeal, and the I I~ignificant, and they bring out rather clearly the kind of persons attracted, may be gathered from / /dynamic ecological role of spatial symbolism. The the following popular write-up: initial drop is attributable to the development of the then new Back Bay. Hundreds of acres there To salvage the quaint charm of Colonial Architec­ had been reclaimed from marshland and had been ture on Beacon Hill, Boston, is the object of a built up with palatial dwellings. Fashion now well-defined movement among writers and profes­ pointed to this as the select area of the city and in sional folk that promises the most delightful oppor­ tunities for the home seeker of moderate means and response to its dictates a number of families conservative tastes. Because men of discernment abandoned Beacon Hill to take up more preten­ were able to visualize the possibilities presented by tious Back Bay quarters. Property values on the these architectural landmarks, and have undertaken Hill began to depreciate, old dwellings became the gracious task of restoring them to their former rooming houses, and businesses began to invade some of the streets. But many of the old families 4The Boston Transcript, April 12, 1930,  132 Development of Ecological Framework WALTER FIREY glory, this historic quarter of Old Boston, once the tion successfully pressed for the rezoning of a occupied by the centre of literary culture, is coming into its own. 5 business street back to purely residential purposes, portrays a strip of for the lowering of height limits on the remainder sides of the CClmlnOlli;t The independent variable in this "attractive" streets, taking the of Beacon Street, and for several lesser matters of locational process seems to have been the symbolic local interest. Since 1929, owing partly to excess " Before considering {J quality of the Hill, by which it constituted a referent for certain strong sentiments of upper assessed valuations of Boston real estate and partly to the effects ofthe depression upon families living of this configuration kill '-come to be associated.", class Bostonians. ­ an extensive local liter; on securities, Beacon Hill has lost some of its older While this revival was progressing there re­ and in it we find interesi families, though its decline is nowhere near so mained a constant menace to the character of Bea­ One citizen speaks of: precipitous as that of the Back Bay. con Hill, in the form of business encroachments and apartment-hotel developments. Recurrent Thus for a span of one and a half centuries there I~ have existed on Beacon Hill certain locational... the great principl threats from this source finally prompted residents tion of the Common. ~rocesses tha: largely escape economIC analYJis. It of the Hill to organize themselves into the Beacon money making must Hill Association. Formed in 1922, the declared ob­ ject of this organization was "to keep undesirable I ~;tg~lmpn:~:~~:;~~;~~~~~~ Elsewhere we read: correlates with the retentive, attractive, and resis­ {) b~sin~ss. an~6 living c~nditions ~rom affecting the tivetrends that we have obspveg, And it isthe hIli dIstnct. At the time the CIty was engaged in Here, in short, are a dynamic force of spatially referred sentiments, preparing a comprehensive zoning program and intimate, public, priva r~er than considerations of rent, which eXElains the occasion was propitious to secure for Beacon why certain families have chosen to live on Beacon Boston Common Wl Hill suitable protective measures. A systematic set Hill III preference to other m-town districts having of tradition and insp of recommendations was drawn up by the Associ:1.­ equally accessible location and even superior Englanders may re~ tion regarding a uniform 65-foot height limit for housing conditions. There is thus a non-economic moral force, and stren the entire Hill, the exclusion of business from all aspect to land use on Beacon Hill, one which is in achieveY but two streets, and the restriction of apartment some respects actually dis-economic in its conse­ house bulk. 7 It succeeded in gaining only a partial quences. Certainly the large apartment-hotels and The Common has thus recognition of this program in the 1924 zoning or­ dinance. But the Association continued its fight specialty shops that have sought in vain to locate ~ on the Hill would have represented a fuller sentiments of a certain against inimical land uses year after year. In 1927 it successfully fought a petition brought before the capitalization on potential property values than do l;...~ke all s~ch ?b~ects! residences. In all likelihood the attending increase hom any mtnnslC spa Board of Zoning Adjustment to alter the height limits in one area so as to permit the construction in real estate prices would not only have benefited from_.i,ts. !J~sentatio~ individual property holders but woo,ld have so , sym~ol for co ective s~ of a four million doIlar apartment-hotel 155 feet enhanced the value of adjoining properties as to Such has been the fOJ high. Residents of the HilI went to the hearing en compensate for whatever depreciation other por­ 'the Common has bee masse. In spite of the prospect of an additional tions of the Hill might have experienced. number of legal gu~ If twenty million doIlars worth of exclusive apart­ ment-hotels that were promised if the zoning re­ If we turn to another type of land use pattern in forbids Boston in ~~ Boston, that comprised by the Boston Common' Common or any portiq strictions were withheld the petition was rejected, and the old burying grounds, we encounter prohibited by state le~ having been opposed by 214 of the 220 persons another instance of spatial symbolism which has the Common, except' present at the heaiii:it8 In 1930 the Association gained an actual reduction in height limits on most exerted a marked influence upon the ecological '..;"P laying out roads or t11l organization of the rest of the city. The Boston the bequest of one at of Beacon Street and certain adjoining streets, Common is a survival from colonial days when amounting to over five! though its leader was denounced by opponents as every New England town allotted a portion of its further bound to m~ "a rank sentimentalist who desired to keep Boston a vi11age.,,9 One year later the Association de­ land to common use as a cow pasture and militia certain other parks, 1 field. Over the course of ~centunes Boston ment of its citizens." ~ feated a petition to rezone Beacon Street for busi­ h~own enti~ely around the Common so that What all this has m4 ness purposes.1O In other campaigns the Associa­ today we' find a 48-acre tract of land wedged ment of Boston's re'" 5Harriet Sisson Gillespie, "Reclaiming Colonial Land­ directly into the heart of the business district. On present character of~ marks," The House BeautifuL, 58 (September 1925), 239-41. three of its five sides are women's apparel shops, , ?he Bost011; Transcript, December 6, 1922. department stores, theaters, and other high-rent IlSpeech of William.~ The Boston Transcript, March 18, 1933. locatiopal activities. On the fourth side is Beacon Transcript, March 7, 1911 sThe Boston Transcript, January 29. 1927. I~. R. Sullivan, Bosi4 9The Boston Transcript, April 12, 1930. Street; extending alongside Beacon Hill. Only the pp.45-46. lOThe Boston Transcript. January 10 and January 29 activities of the Hill residents have prevented 13Joshua H. Jones,.·.. 1931. ' business from invading this side. The fifth side is Common," Our Boston..:  WALTER FIRE¥ 133 occupied by the Public Garden. A land value map comparable size have so small a retail district in portrays a strip of highest values pressing upon two point of area. Unlike the spacious department sides of the Common, on Tremont and Boylston stores of most cities, those in Boston are fre­ streets, taking the form of a long, narrow band. quently compressed within narrow confines and Before considering the ecological consequences have had to extend in devious patterns through of this configuration let us see what attitudes have rear and adjoining buildings. Traffic in downtown "come to be associated with the Common. There is Boston has literally reached the saturation point, an extensive local literature about the Common owing partly to the narrow one-way streets but and in it we find interesting sentiments expressed. mainly to the lack of adequate arterials leading One citizen speaks of: into and out of the Hub. The American Road, I Builders Association has estimated that there is a '... the great principle exemplified in the preserva­ loss of $81,000 per day in Boston as a result of, tion of the Common. Thank Heaven, the tide of traffic delay. Trucking in Boston is extremely" money making must break and go around that. II expensive. These losses ramify out to merchants, manufacturers, commuters, and many other inter­ Elsewhere we read: ests. Many proposals have been made to extend a through arterial across the Common, thus relieving Here, in short, are all our accumulated memories, the extreme congestion on Tremont and Beacon intimate, public, private. 12 streets, the two arterials bordering the park. Earlier suggestions, prior to the construction of the Boston Common was, is, and ever will be a source of tradition and inspiration from which the New subway, called for street car tracks across the Englanders may renew their faith, recover their Common. But "the controlling sentiment of the moral foree, and strengthen their ability to grow and citizens of Boston, and of large numbers through­ achieve. 13 out the State, is distinctly opposed to allowing any such use of t~ Common. ,,14 Boston has long ~mon has thus become a "sacred" obie,g, suffered from land shortage and unusually high articulatmg and syml50hztng getrnine hIstoncal real estate values as a result both of the narrow sentiments of a certain portion of the community. confines of the peninsula comprising the city Like all such objects its sacredness derives, not center and of the exclusion from income-yielding kom any intrinsic spatial attributes, but rather uses of so large a tract as the Common. A further from its representation in people's minds as a difficulty has arisen from the rapid southwesterly symbol for collective sentiments.... extension of the business district in the past two , Such has been the force of these sentiments that decades. With the Common lying directly in the the Common has become buttressed' up by a path of this extension the business district has had number of legal guarantees. The city charter to. stretch around it in an elongated fashion, with II forbids Boston in perpetuity to dispose of the Common or any portion of it. The city is further obvious inconvenience to shoppers and conse­ quent loss to business. prohibited by state legislation from building upon The Common is not the only obstacle to the the Common, except within rigid limits, or from city's business expansion. No less than three ,t- laying out roads or tracks across it. By accepting colonial burying grounds, two of them adjoined by the bequest of one George F. Parkman, in 1908, ancient church buildings, occupy downtown Bos­ amounting to over five million dollars, the city is ton. The contrast that is presented by 9-story office further bound to maintain the Common, and buildings reared up beside quiet cemeteries affords certain other parks, "for the benefit and enjoy­ visible evidence of the conflict between "sacred" ment of its citizens." and "profane" that operates in Boston's ecological What all this has meant for the spatial develop­ patterns. The dis-economic consequences of com­ ment of Boston's retail center is clear from the mercially valuable land being thus devoted to present character of that district. Few cities of non-utilitarian purposes goes even further than the removal from business uses of a given amount of IlSpeech of William Everett, quoted in The Boston space. For it is a standard principle of real estate Transcript, March 7, 1903. that business property derives added value if 12T. R. Sullivan, Boston New and Old (Boston, 1912), pp.45-46. adjoining properties are occupied by other busi­ 13Joshua H. Jones, Jf., "Happenings on Boston 14First Annual Report of the Boston Transit Commis­ Common," Our Boston, 2 (January 1927),9-15. sion (Boston, 1895), p. 9.  134 'J l Development of Ecological Framework WALTER FIREY nesses. Just as a single vacancy will depreciate the immigrant ghettoes, along with other slum dis­ extent of p01Pulati< value of a whole block of business frontage, so a tricts~ have become areas of declining population to emigration break in the continuity of stores by a cemetery in most American cities. A point not so well thus made for damages the commercial value of surrounding established is that this decline tends to be selective are shown in Pfoperties. But, even more than the Common, the.in its incidence upon residents and that this ~ comprising but j colonial burying grounds of Boston have become invested with a moral significance which renders them almost inviolable. Not only is there the usual sanctity which attaches to all cemeteries, but in I( selectivity may manifest varying degrees of identi­ : cation with immigrant values. For res{dence 'thin a ghetto is more than a matter of spatial lacement; it generally signifies acceptance of tion, contributed emigration from generation aCC:OWlted share of the those of Boston there is an added sacredness mmigrant values and participation in immigrant shows that where growing out of the age of the grounds and the fact nstitutions. Some light on this proceS's is~afforded second generation that the forebears of many of New England's most by data from the North End of Boston. This cent of their number distinguished families as well as a number of neighborhood, almost wholly Italian in popula­ generation represents colonial and Revolutionary leaders lie buried in tion, has long been known as "Boston's classic ) number in 1930. these cemeteries. There is thus a manifold symbol­ land of poverty." Eighteen percent of the \ Equally clear diffe " ism to these old burying grounds, pertaining to dwellings are eighty or more years old and sixty emigration by age gn! '/ family lineage, early nationhood, civic origins, and percent are forty or more years old. 16 Indicative of difference between the 1 the like, all of which have strong sentimental the dilapidated character of many buildings is the group all of 1930 coli associations. What has been said ofthe old burying recent sale of a 20-room apartment building for emi$ration, and the PI grounds applies with equal force to a number of only $500. It is not surprising then to learn that the group comprised of thd other venerable landmarks in central Boston. Such area has declined in population from 21,111 in that the age groups 15-1 buildings as the Old South Meeting-House, the 1930 to 17,598 in 1940,11 To look for spatially than their share of efft Park Street Church, King's Chapel, and the Old referable sentiments here would seem futile. And groups 35-64 account, State House-all foci of historical associations­ yet, examination of certain emigration differentials share. In Table 3 the 1 occupy commercially valuable land and interrupt in the North End reveals a congruence between sign indicate "excess" the continuity of business frontage on their streets. Italian social structure and locational processes. by a minus sign indicatl Nearly all of these landmarks have been chal­ To get at these differentials recourse was had to lenged at various times by real estate and commer­ the estimation of emigration, by age groups and by ;. ~ In brief, the North En! cial interests which sought to have them ::replaced nativity, through the use of life tables. The to a much greater ext by more profitable uses. In every case community procedure consists of comparing the actual 1940 These differentials ai I sentiments have resisted such threats. population with the residue of the 1930 population is interesting, howeveJ! In all these examples we find a symbol-senti- which probably survived to 1940 according to ba§i4: Italian values, w~ 1 ' ment relationship which has exerted a significant. influence upon land use. Nor should it be , thought that such phenomena are mere ecologi­ cal "sports." Many other older American cities survival rates for Massachusetts. Whatever deficit the actual 1940 population may show from the estimated 1940 population is a measure of "effec­ tive emIgration." It is not a measure of the actual ~~~d expression iI State Data (Washington..!l technique is outlined in l.; nal Migration in the Un~ present similar locational characteristics. De­ volume of emigration, since no calculation is made pp.19-21. ' lancey Street in Philadelphia represents a striking of immigration into the district between 1930 and parallel to Beacon Hill, and certain in-town dis­ 1940. 18 Effective emigration simply indicates the tricts of Chicago, New York, and Detroit, re­ '6Finance Commission of the City of Boston, A Study cently revived as fashionable apartment areas, of Certain of the Effects of Decentralization on Boston Table 2. Eff! and Some Neighboring Cities and Towns (Boston, 1941), by 1 bear resemblances to the Beacon Hill revival. p.11. The role of traditionalism in rigidifying the eco­ 17 Aggregate population of census tracts F1, n, F4, F5: logical patterns of New Orleans has been demon- Census Tract Data, 1930 Census, unpublished material strated in a recent study. 15 Further studies of this from 15th Census of the United States, 1930, compiled I sort should clarify even further the true scope of by Boston Health Department, table 1; Population and Housing-Statistics for Census Tracts, Boston, 16th Nativity I / / sentiment and symbolism in urban spatial struc­ Census of the United States, 1940, table 2, American-bo",,* I. ture and dynamics. IBBy use of Police Lists for two different years a count (second : As a third line of evidence for our hypothesis we was made of immigration into a sample precinct of the generati~ have chosen a rather different type of area from North End. The figure (61) reveals so small a volume of. Italian-born 1 immigration that any use of it to compute actual (first those so far considered. It is a well known fact that generatiel emigration by age groups would have introduced statisti­ ISH. W. Gilmore, "The Old New Orleans and the cal unreliabilitv into the estimates. Survival rates for Totals New: A Case for Ecology," American Sociological Massachusetts \vere computed from state life tables in: Review, 9 (August 1944),385-94. National Resources Committee, Population Statistics, 2. Calculated fl  W ALTBR FIRBY 135 extent of population decline which is attributable tion to emigration rather than to death. Computations thus made for emigration differentials by nativity vtl t e core 0 the Italian va ue system are are shown in Table 2. The second generation, thOsesentiments which pertain to the family and comprising but 59.46 percent of the 1930 popula­ the paesani. Both of these put a high premium tion, contributed 76.42 percent of the effective upon maintenance of residence in the North End. emigration from the North End, whereas the first.Paesani, or people from the..§aDJe ~rj!]age of generation accounted for much less than its "due" origin, show considerable tendency to live near share of the emigration. Another calculation oneanother, sometimes occupying much of a shows that where the effective emigration of single street or court. 19 Such proximity, or at least second generation Italians represents 27.08 per­ common residence in the North End, greatly cent of their number in 1930, that of the first facilitates participation in the paesani functions generation represents only 12.26 percent of their which are so important to the first generation number in 1930. Italian. Moreover, it is in the North End that the Equally clear differentials appear in effective festas, anniversaries, and other old world occasions emigration by age groups. If we compare the are held, and such is their frequency that residence difference between the percentage which each age in the district is almost indispensable to regular group as of 1930 contributes to the effective participation. The social relationships comprised emi3ration, and the percentage which eadi? age by these groupings, as well as the benefit orders, group comprised of the 1930 population, we find secret societies, and religious organizations, are that the age groups 15-24 account for much more thus strongly localistic in character. One second than their share of effective emigration; the age generation Italian, when asked if his immigrant groups 35-64 account for much less than their parents ever contemplated leaving their North End share. In Table 3 the figures preceded by a plus tenement, replied: "No, because all their friends sign indicate "excess" emigration, those preceded are there, their relatives. They know everyone by a minus sign indicate "deficit" emigration. aroun