1 the Ghetto and the Slum

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The Ghetto and the SlumAuthor(s): Andrew W. LindSource: Social Forces, Vol. 9, No. 2 (Dec., 1930), pp. 206-215Published by: Oxford University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2570309.

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PUBLIC WELFARE AND SOCIAL WORKContributions to this Departmentwill include materialof three kinds: (i) original discussion, suggestion, plans, programs, C;and theories; (2.) repots of secial projects,working programs,conferencesand meetings, and progressin aay distinctive aspectof the ficld; (3) special results of study and research. g

THE GHETTOAND THE SLUMANDREW W. LIND

University of Hawaii

DEFINITIONSWO words rom therealmof popularparlance which have found theirway into the accepted terminologyof the science of sociology within recentyears are the ghetto and the slum.Within the past year two separatevolumeshave appeared in the sociological press

bearing the above titles.' The literaryefforts notably of Jacob Riis and IsraelZangwill a generation ago served to focuspopular attention in America upon thesetwo colorful areas of modern urban life.A host of writers, semi-scientific and fic-tion, have since exploited the field, but itwas not until very recently that bona fidesociologists discovered the rich researchpossibilities of the slum and the ghetto.There has been, in fact, a general disposi-tion among social workers and students todiscredit the two terms as possessing in-vidious connotations which disqualifiedthem for scientific or practical use. JaneAddams, for instance, in her TwentyYearsat Hull Housereligiously avoids the twowords, slum and ghetto, although a con-siderable portion of the book is devotedto a consideration of these areas of thecity.

That terms expressing appreciation maybe purged of their moral implications isabundantly demonstratedin the evolutionof use of the words under consideration.Sociologists now place afairly uniformandprecise content into the once highly de-scriptive and indefinite expressions.

In our American cities the ghetto refers partic-larly to the areaof first settlment, i.e., those sectionsof the cities where the immigrant finds his homeshortly after his arrival in America.''2

Specificallythe ghetto is a region where a racialor cultural group lives in an enforced or acceptedisolation from the rest of the community and inwhich the group is able to live its life according toits own standards, and maintain its own culturaltradition untouched and unspotted from the world.The foreign settlements in China, in which Europeannationals maintain their rights of extraterritoriality,and particularly the foreign residential areas in suchsettlements, are properly ghettos. They are ghettosinsofar as they intentionally or unintentionallyisolate the personswho live in them from full partici-pation in the cultural life of the country and main-tain an exotic and alien culture. 3The ghetto, as we use the term, refers tothe stable immigrant and racial colonies,within which there is a high concentra-tion and homogeneity of the specifiedracial group, permitting of well integrated

1 Wirth, The Ghetto, Chicago, i92z8. Zorbaugh,TheGoldCoastandthe Slum, Chicago, i9a8.2 Wirth, ibid, p. 4.3 Unpublishedmanuscript by Robert E. Park.

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PUBLIC WELFARE AND SOCIAL WORK Z07and compelling family and neighborhoodorganization.The slum is likewise accurately de-scribed as follows:

The slum is an area of physical deterioration inwhich people live because they are forced to do sofrom economic compulsion, or because they want toescapethe discipline and control of standards mposedin more stable and self respecting neighborhoods, orbecause, as in the case of immigrants of the firstgeneration they are not for the time concerned abouttheir status and reputationin the largercommunity.4It is noted for its social instability andflux, a highly mobile and racially diversepopulation, and low moral standards.

The masses of beings who inhabit it (moderncity), robbed of every tie which fixes them to apoint of ground,with no material and often no moralhome, becomeveritable nomads who pass from roomto room and from house to house. A certain socialanarchyfollows inevitably from the ever-rising tideof these unattached beings. ,

The mere fact of contiguity within thezone of transition between residence andbusinessand industry, of high land valuesand low residential rents, and of congestedhousing and poor sanitation, has oftenresultedin confusion in the use of the twoterms. In popular parlancethey are oftenused interchangeably but even the minimaldefinitionsof this paper suggest importantdifferencesof which researchworkers haveprobably not yet taken sufficient account.Primary among the characteristics ofthese two cultural areas are the antith-eses, organization and disorganization.While these processes may logically beconceived as phases of a more inclusive andcontinuing life process,6 they also mark

decided contrasts. American sociology,because of its rise through the avenue ofsocial problemsand reform,has rathercon-centrated its emphasis upon the descrip-tion of the processes of disorganization,with only incidental attention to the cor-relative processes of organization. Withthe exception of Cooley, Americansociolo-gists have developed the concept of socialorganization principally in terms of disor-ganization. Thus the decreasing influ-ence of existing rules of behavior uponindividual membersof the group 7 imme-diately suggests the correlative phase ofstabilization or reorganization. Thelack of effective and unified collectiveaction,' 'the lack of morale'' within thegroup and the concomitant failure tocommunicatebetween the members, theindividualization of behavior, incoher-ent and meaningless behavior followingno set patterns, -these are inferentiallythe negative aspectsof social organization.Stated positively, social organization,according to Thomas, involves the devel-opment and maintenance of acceptable''schemes of behavior-rules of personalconduct and institutions -which willpermit of collective action. Social or-ganization, in the positive sense,.is not equivalent to thoroughgoing homo-geneity, of culture or of individual be-havior; society is made of unlike but coop-erating individualities, and it is preciselythe fact of communication that makespos-sible cooperation of the most distinctlyhuman sort. '8

I Unpublisheddocument by Robert E. Park.5J. Brunhes,HumanGeography,. 543.6 F. H. Giddings, Studies in the Theory f Human

Society,p. 2-3I. Quoted in House, The Rangeof SocialTheory,p. 32.9. Society, as an aggregate that issimultaneously losing and absorbing motion, experi-ences an incessant rearrangement of parts. This

means . . . . first, there can be no social gain thatdoes not entail somewhere, on the whole communityor on a class, the breakup of established relations,interests, and occupations, and the necessity of a moreor less difficult readjustment.

7Thomas & Znaniecki, The Polish Peasant, II,I1I:28.

8 House, The Rangeof Social Theory, . 337.



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zo8 SOCIAL FORCESCULTURE AREAS CONTRASTED

The following pages will be devoted toa description of the slum and the ghettosof Honolulu, with particular reference tothe processes of organization and dis-organization.9The casual observer along the streets ofHonolulu would be led to believe thatHawaii's diverse population elementsmanifest none of the segregative and dis-criminative tendencies of differing racialgroups elsewhere. He observes Chinese,.Japanese, Koreans, Hawaiians, Portu-guese, Spanish, and North Europeansliv-ing side by side in the same block or lanein apparent amity and accord. It is onlyas he pushes back from the main thorough-fares into the obscure and torturous by-ways and lanes with which Honoluluabounds, that the strength of the segrega-tive process is revealed. Herehe discoversthe little Tokyos, the new Cantons, andAzores of the Pacific. The small coloniesof Japanese, Chinese, and Portuguese aremost noticeable due to the size of therespective groups, but areas of concentra-tion of Porto Ricans, Spanish, and Fili-pinos are likewise to be found.Within these ghettos, there is much toremind one of life in the countries fromwhich the migrants departed. Exter-nally at least the resemblancesaremarked.The Shinto shrine and the Buddhist templeduplicating in minute detail the con-ventional sanctuaries of Japan, are sym-bolic of a devotion to the culture of theland of the Rising Sun. The small house-hold shrines and the good-luck signsover the doors of the Chinese villagerspeak of a transplanted but virile culture.

These and a thousand minor evidences callattention to the life of the old world.Implicit perhaps in what has alreadybeen suggested with regard to socialorganization are certain contrasts betweenthe ghetto and the slum of particularsociological significance. Even the casualobserver must sense in Honolulu's transi-tional zone the sharp difference betweenthe social atmosphere of the two culturalareas. Onebreathesof warmth, intimacy,color; the other of anonymity, chillingdistances, drabness. In the one life is onthe plane of close, compelling, family andneighborhood disciplines and in the otherof impersonal relationships and privateconvenience.Mere spatial proximity in the ghettoprovides for the effective operation of theold world traditions, habits, mores andinstitutional controls through the mediaof the face to face contacts, gossip, andneighborhood discussion and definitions.As compared with adjoining sectionswithin the zone of transition, ghetto lifeis provincial, circumscribed and, to theyoung participant, dull and monotonous.One of the inost important functions ofthe racial colony in any city is that ofproviding, during the trying period of read-justmentto a new culture and civilization,a haven10where the habitual and custom-ary patterns of life are unquestioned andabsolute. Within the nondescript and dis-organizedslum area of the city, where eco-

9Early in i9z8 the writer was asked to participatein a survey of the fire hazardsin certain portions ofHonolulu and it was largely in connection with theobservations made during these field trips that theoutlines of this study were suggested.

1Zorbaugh, The Gold Coastaemdhe Slzwrn, . I4I.The immigrant finds in it a social world. Inthe colony he meets with sympathy, understanding,and encouragement. There he finds his fellow-countrymenwho understandhis habits and standardsand share his life-experience and viewpoint. In thecolony he has status, plays a role in a group. In thelife of the colony's streets and cafe's, in its church andbenevolent societies, he finds response and security.In the colony he finds that he can live, be somebody,satisfy his wishes-all of which is impossible in thestrange world outside.



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PUBLIC WELFARE AND SOCIAL WORK 209nomic necessity usually compels the immi-grant to settle, the racial colony or ghettoserves to conserve and foster the only cul-tural standards which the immigrant canunderstand. So, too, for the secondgeneration midway in the assimilativeprocess, the little Tokyo, Chinatown, orlittle Portugal provides a milieu of sta-bility and accepted values and codes.Unlike the amorphous slum, where alltypes andvarieties of people with as manydiverse traditions and moral codes, arethrown together in a hopeless welter, thesegregatedracial colony does preserveonestandard of behavior relatively unchal-lenged. At least, the pains of readjust-ment to the new cultural standardsarenotso acute as in areas, where great diversityof tradition is encountered.Hell's Half Acre and Tin CanAlley 11 are characterizednot so much bythe absenceof moral codes and restraints,as by the conflict of a numberof distinctlydifferent cultures and values, none ofwhich is taken very seriously by the sec-ond generation. Americanization, in thesenseof the break-downof the traditional,primarygroup controls and the individual-ization of behavior, proceeds at an unusu-ally rapid pace in such areas. One sees inthe flesh-colored silk stockings hangingout to dry in front of the Chinese familyshrine evidence of a rapid assimilation ofcertain aspects of American civilization,but one seldom finds in such sections anyevidence of a vital substitute for the typeof social control which is thus flaunted.Abundant confirmation of this generaltheory appearedas a result of field workconducted in the areas of communitydeterioration n Honolulu in 1927 andi92.8. It was discovered that in the areaof disorganization just back of the city

proper, the cases of Japanese juveniledelinquency came from neighborhoodswhere the Japanese population was nothighly concentrated, where in fact theJapanese were mixed rather indiscrimi-nately with the rest of the population.To be more specific, in the area, A,bounded by School Street, the KauluwelaSchool grounds, and ChunHoon Lane, ourmap showed a very high and almost exclu-sive concentration of Japanese populationand likewise a complete absence of juve-nile delinquency. Just across VineyardStreet, our maps indicated a rather non-descript neighborhood, B, where a fewJapaneseyoungsters and a few children ofevery other racial and cultural group rep-resented in the Islands, Hawaiian, Part-Hawaiian, Portuguese, Porto-Rican, Ko-rean, Chinese, Filipino and others, werethrown together. Of fifteen Japaneseschool children, three were broughtbeforethe Juvenile Courtduring that year.A recent house to house canvass of thesetwo sections revealed in neighborhood Aa concentratedJapanesepopulation of 342.or 89 per cent, as against 46 of other races.In neighborhood B, our canvass indicated140 Japanese, or 3o per cent of the total,mixed indiscriminately among 58Koreans,I87 Chinese, 3o Filipinos, z8 Hawaiians,and zo Porto Ricans.In brief, we have two neighborhoodslocated side by side within an area of dis-organization, with much the same eco-nomic status, housing, and recreationalfacilities, but differing most markedly inthe segregation and concentration of theirpopulation. Neighborhood A shows acomplete absenceof cases of juvenile delin-quency, while neighborhood B representsa high rate of delinquency not only of theJapanese but of other groups as well.A similar state of affairswas uncoveredas the result of a house to house canvasscovering I890 persons in a limited area

11 The colorful and not inappropriate ermsappliedto two local areas of the slumnwhere vice and crimeare particularlyrampant.



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2IO SOCIAL FORCESsomewhat closer to the city proper butstill within the zone of deterioration.The isolated camps of a single nationality,ranging in size from 75 to izo persons,present a picture of much greater stabilityand wholesomeness of life than the areaat large where all nationalities are mixedwithout apparent rhyme or reason. Themost striking cases of demoralization-prostitution, bootlegging, opium-werefound in the tenements housing the largestvariety of racial types. The area as awhole was predominantly Japanese andChinese, but these disorganized houseshad attracted most of the few Portuguese,Porto Rican, Hawaiians and part-Hawai-ians, Koreans, and Filipinos found withinthe area, as well as a few isolated Japaneseand Chinese. The dominant racial groupscould offerbut slight resistanceto the geo-graphical invasions of disorganized ele-ments of other racial groups, but they haddeveloped a relatively high degree ofimmunity to the spread of these non-sanctioned behavior patterns within theirown cultural group.An illuminating sidelight on the pat-terns just indicated was discovered in apreliminary study of prostitution in Hono-lulu. This form of vice is highly concen-trated in the area of transition immediatelysurrounding the central business district.The fact of peculiar significance in thisconnection is the invasion of certain sub-central Oriental residential areas alongthe Nuuanu gradient by houses of prostitu-tion. Almost without exception the pro-prietors of these housesare haoles'2 andthedisapprobationof the rather solid Orientalpopulation of the area is not a sufficientbarrierto this white invasion. It wouldseem probable that such incursions intothe ghetto by strangerswould provide theopening wedge for other types of disorgan-

ization. A similarly situated region alongthe gradient towards Manoa, but in-habited by a high percentage of whites, isstill capable of offering effective resistanceto commercialized vice and no arrestwhat-soever occurredduring i9z8. As might beexpected, the lower forms of prostitutionsuch as street-walking and brothels con-ducted by a cosmopolitan profession arehighly concentrated in the Palama andCentral slum areas.RACIAL SEGREGATION AND COMMUNITY

DISORGANIZATIONThe studies just described are of value

primarily in suggesting a hypothesis ofcommunity organization which might betested in the entire city. What, if any, isthe relationship between racial segrega-tion or dispersion and social disorganiza-tion? Do juvenile delinquency, familymaladjustment and vice occur less fre-quently in the racial colony than in thepolyglot community? Investigation tendsto give an affirmative answer to this ques-tion. For the city as a whole we find arough inverse correlation between socialdisorganization, measured n termsof juve-nile delinquency and dependency, and thedegree of segregation and concentration ofthe immigrant colony.'3 This correlationis particularly noticeable in the case of theJapanese community, which becauseof itssize has permitted the establishment ofwell definedand integrated neighborhoodgroups, but the same principle is illus-trated in the Hawaiian, Portuguese, Chi-nese and Other Caucasian communities.Using the public school population byschool districts as a base, rates of juveniledelinquency covering the two year periodof i9z6-z7 were computed.

12 A Hawaiian term used to designate the whitepopulation of North-Europeanancestry.

13 Lacking accurate and up-to-date census data forthe various neighborhoods and natural areas of thecity, it is useless to attempt precise mathematicalcorrelations.



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PUBLIC WELFARE AND SOCIAL WORKFor the Moilili, upper Manoa, andKalihi-uka Japanese colonies,1 wheresegregation is most marked, the rates ofdeliquency, based upon population for

192.7 are 3.., 0.0, and o.o per thousandrespectively, all of which are markedlybelow the generalJapaneserate of 5.I forthe city as a whole. The highest ratesfor the Japanese are found in the Kalihi-waena, Palama, Kakaako and Central dis-tricts which have no highly segregatedJapanesecolonies. The rates are I3.0,ii.5, 9.0 and6.4respectively. Anexami-nation of spot maps showing the distribu-tion of cases of juvenile delinquency ini92.6, i92.7 and i92.8 reveals a paucity ofcases within the various Japanesecamps15of the city.

Occasionallye findcaseswhereJapaneseivinginso-calledJapaneseamnps'oveoutand nake heirhomes n sections n which peopleof various aceslive together,their reasonbeing that residents n'Japaneseamps'ndulge n too muchgossipingandmakelife intolerable. There is no denying thatgossipingsgo on constantlyin 'Japaneseamps'.The residents f suchcamps, t is commonlysaid,whisper o one anotherabouteveryactivityaboutothers n thecamp-abouteverysteptakenby them.This,however, roves n thelong run o be a restrain-ing handthat prevents he residentsof the campsfromdoinganything hat bringsunsavory emarksfrom others. '16

Isolated camps are less frequent amongthe other nationalities and the smaller

numbers of the total population precludethe possibility of such large areas of solidsettlement. A varying degree of residen-tial segregation and concentration hasoccurred among all racial and culturalgroups in the territory and these areas ofhigh concentration generally reflect ahigher degreeof social stability andhealthof the group thus segregated than wouldbe true of the same population elementswhen wisely diffusedamong other groups.The rather few cases of juvenile delin-quency among Other Caucasians aredrawn almost exclusively fromareaswherethe haolepopulation is a minority groupand there is an almost complete absenceofOther Caucasian court cases in suchwhite strongholds as Manoa, Upper Nu-uanu, Kaimuki, Waikiki, and Makiki.The Chinese population illustrates thesame principle and even the Hawaiians,who provide for the city and territory oneof the highest rates of delinquency, appearto much better advantage in areas wherethey are most highly concentrated. TheHawaiian rates for Ig96-i927 of 6.22. and7.o6 in Kalihi-waena and Kalihi-kai,respectively, both noticeably below thecity-wide Hawaiian rate of 8.I3, are indic-ative of the meliorating influence ofnumbersof one's own cultural group uponjuvenile delinquency.It is extremely significant in this con-nection that the Hawaiians show the leasttendency of any of the cultural groups tomnaintainsegregated areas of residence.They, more than any others, areindifferentto the racial complexion of their neigh-bors, and one is likely to find Hawaiiansmixed indiscriminately amnong he otherpopulation groups of the city. In everytenement or small neighborhood groupconsisting of people of more than one raceor nationality, one is almost certain tofind one or morehouseholds of Hawaiians.The Hawaiians constitute a potent reagent

14 Honolulu presents the somewhat unusual phe-nomenaof a numberof racial colonies of first settle-.ment situated in the outlying sections of the city.Not infrequently these ghettos have been developedon land which previously was uninhabitable. TheJapanesein particularhave exploited barrenregionsfor theirraisingof vegetables, flowers, andhogs.15Areas of close and solid settlement by theJapanesein Honolulu with housing and social con-ditions similar to those found in the plantationcamps. Housing and sanitary conditions are oftenpoor. Contactsare limited and primary in characterand gossip is rife. They represent the ghetto inminiature.16 Nippu Jiji, Honolulu, May ii, i928.SOCIAL FORCES, voL. Ix, No. 2



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SOCIAL FORCESin the assimilative process, assisting in theinteraction of various immiscible popula-tion elements.'7While fulfilling this exceedingly valu-able function of contacting the diverse cul-tural and racial groups, the Hawaiiansthemselves have undoubtedly suffered aloss of their own cultural heritage andcontrols, which is reflected in their highrates of delinquency, crime, and depend-ency. Valued for their kindly and savinginfluence upon others, they have too fre-quently failed in the maintenance of theirown morale.Without attempting to presentany com-prehensive discussion of all the bases ofthis phenomenal absence of group prefer-ence and the high incidence of disorganiza.tion, it may be advantageous to indicate atleast one significantfactor. The impact ofthe early white population and westerncivilization upon a primitive economic andsocial system in Hawaii as elsewhere haddisastrous effects upon the latter. Theadventof the white missionaries in Hawaiia century ago found the indigenous popu-lation in open revolt against the overlyrepressive measures of their ancient cul-tural sytem. The active mnissionarypropaganda served further to discreditmanyof the practicesof the old regime andto glorify cultural standards alien to thenatives. Subsequent experience has onlyserved to amplify the natives' disregardfor things Hawaiian andby the same tokenfor things sacred according to establishedwestern standards.18

When released from the restraints im-posed by the permanent primary group,the individual tends to behave in wildand incalculable way, to act on anyvagrant impulse that invades his mind. 19The close relationship between the toler-ance for the out-group and personal andsocial disorganization is well illustratedin the following excerpt from a social caserecord of a Hawaiian woman.

Many years ago Mary had married a Hawaiianwho is now living on another island. She had twochildren by him. Ten years ago she left him andwent to Kona to live with a Korean, and she had twochildren by him. He died four years ago and Marycame to Honolulu to live with her formerhusband.She did not remain long with him but married apart-Chinese. Two years ago Mary went to livewith a haole, who later got into trouble and was sentto jail. One of the daughters is now in the detentionhome . Japanese neighbors asked that some-thing be done for the children. The nlother is oftenunder the influence of liquor. She is leading animmoral life with Filipinos. Mary makes the littlegirls dance the hula for the Filipinos. The workerwas requestedby the Japanese neighbors that Marybe moved.

Cases of personal disorganization due tothe absenceof the sustaining and restrain-ing influence of the racial colony are notdifficult to find in Honolulu. The personwho is released from contacts with hiscultural group, whether because of a con-flict with the group or because of someother circumstance, runs a serious risk offailure to organize his whole life for theefficient, progressive and continuous reali-zation of his fundamentalinterests.' 20

17 Studies by Dr. Adams have revealed a similarlow resistance with regard to intermarriage on thepart of the Hawaiians. They surpassall other racialgroups in the Territory in the frequency of out-marriage, and they manifest only slight preferencefor one groupover another.18 The rather high rate of committals (to prisonand industrial schools) for the native Hawaiians may

be attributed largely to the fact that they are under-going a profoundcultural change. The shift from a

primitive feudalism to modern political and commer-cial life in a comparativelyshort time has underminedtheir ancient ethical system and brought them undera system of relationships to which some of them havenot become adjusted. -Romanzo Adams, ThePeoplesof Hoawaii,p. 35.

19Park and Miller, 0ld WorldTraits Transplanted,P. 72.

20 Thomas & Znaniecki, Polish Peasant, II, izr8.



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PUBLIC WELFARE AND SOCIAL WORK Z13A visiting teacher in Honolulu relatesthe case of a Japanese girl whose vagrant

behavior dates from the time when hermother moved away from the Japanesecommunity and undertook the proprietor-ship of a lodging house patronized princi-pally by non-Japanese.The girl had been in every sense of the word a

model daughter and student previous to her mother'staking over this lodging house. At that time, how-ever, the girl began breaking away from the standardsimposed by the Japanese community and developedher models of behavior by what she saw in the lodg-ing house. She began going out with a gang and onone occasion remained out all night with a group ofboys who had stolen an auto. It seemsprobablethatthis girl would have been a pride and joy to hermother and the community had she remained underthe influenceof the Japanesecommunity.' 21

Social workers not infrequently test thedegree of demoralization of a problem caseby the extent to which contacts betweenthe individual and the cultural group havebeen severed. Particularly is it true thatthe individual who for any reasonwhatso-ever loses the respect for and of his groupbegins to lose respect for himself. Acouple of case records taken from the filesof social agencies of the city illustrate theprocess referred to.The K family, although keenly sensitiveto the judgments of the Japanese com-munity, had lost the esteem of the groupdue to an indiscretion on the part of oneof the membersof the family, and for thatreason they moved away from the area ofhigh Japanese concentration. This socialisolation from the group, of which thephysical distance was a symbol, initiateda process of family demoralization anddependencyof a serious nature. An acci-dent to the bread winner left the familywithout the neighborly assistance of the

Japanese community and the family wasforced to sacrificeits pride and self-respectby accepting public aid.An illustration of this process carriedfurther is found in the case of Yoshie, aseventeenyear old Japanesegirl, a memberof a family which had already lost statusin the ruralJapanese community due to aserious sex offense on the part of one of itsmembers. The depth of demoralization ofthe girl was reflectedby the fact that

She used to hang around the soda fountain orpost office and talk to every man who came near theplace. She showed no preference or any nationality.. . . The girl is often found living with PortoRicans, especially after the death of the father. .There was one Porto Rican group with whom sheassociateda great deal. . . . She has had a checkeredemployment record, having been discharged manytimes for running out with men.' 22

One of the significantfacts in connectionwith the much discussed Fukunaga casewas the degree of isolation of the youthfulmurderer from any cultural group. Asone of the examining physicians stated,He had been educated in Americanschools and had learned to dislike every-thingJapanese. 23 Ashamedof and alien-ated from his own cultural group, hesought valiantly to acquire status withinthe so-called American community, onlyto be discouraged on every hand-school,

occupation and community-to be as-signed a position of permanentinferiority.His subsequentmore or less wild and irra-tional behavior is undoubtedly partiallyconditioned by the fact that he lackedfriendly and stabilizing contacts with anygroup. I have few friends in Honolulu.I am a lonesome boy. 24

21 Interview with Visiting Teacher.

22 Case Record from social agency.23 Court testimony.24 Fukunaga Confession, Honolulu Star Bulletin,Oct. 3, 1928.



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2I4 SOCIAL FORCESECONOMIC MALADJUSTMENT IN THE GHETTO

AND THE SLUM

Not only do the isolated individuals ofthe diverse racial groups tend to deviatefrom the acceptednorms of their own andand of the conventional American com-munity, but they are also likely to breakunder the economnicpressure of moderncompetitive life. A totally dispropor-tionate ratio of the cases of dependencycomes from areas of the greatest hetero-geneity of population, while the racialghettos scattered throughout the citysucceedfairly well in providing for theirown needy members. Individuals andfamilies requiringoutside materialor otheraid are by no means absent in these areas,but the greater part of such assistance isprovided through the informal devices ofmutual aid and neighborliness. Never-theless, the numberof caseswhich demandthe attention of the public systems ofcharity are decidedlyfewer in number hanwould be found in the slums and othermixed racial areas.Although they representthe lower eco-nomic strata of Oriental society, the Japa-nese camps furnish a low ratio of indi-viduals andfamilies dependentupon publicaid. Almost without exception, suchcases as do appear in these insular campsrepresentprolonged illness or widowhoodfor which the limited economic resourcesof the smnall eighborhood are inadequate.Casesinvolving moral turpitudeor seriousdeviation fromacceptedJapanese tandardsrarely appearin the Social Service Bureaufiles from the racially homogeneous areas.The demoralizedindividual findsa morecongenial atmosphere within the non-descript slums. Indices of dependencyfori92-8 based upon the population by censusenumeration tracts reveal with but oneexception a lowerJapaneserate in the areasof concentrated Japanese population thanfor the city at large.

The incidence and distribution of Chi-nese dependency are largely conditionedby the historical circumstancesattendingChinese immigration into the Islands. Atthe time of the earliest Chinese movementto Hawaii the principal concern of thosecontrolling the process was in procuringcheap and efficient labor for the planta-tions. As a result few Chinese womenwere attracted to the Territory, andexceptfor the few who were willing to disregarddeeply ingraineddistastes for outmarriage,they were left without wives and families.These men are now too old to provide fortheir own meagre wants, and having nochildren or relatives to care for them theyconstitute the major poor relief burdenupon both the Chinese and the largercommunities.The Chinese indigents manifest more ofa tendency to concentrateat the centers ofChinese population in the city. Overfiftyper cent of all the Chinese cases for i9z8appearingin the files of the Social ServiceBureau were old men without family con-nections in Honolulu, who are usuallysupportedin part by the numerousChinesemutual benefit societies and the sponta-neous neighborliness within the Chinesecommunity, a much larger burdenof poorrelief for superannuated agriculturalworkers would fall upon the shoulders ofthe public. As in the case of theJapanese,relief cases involving serious violation ofChinese mores are rarely found within ahighly concentrated Chinese community.The Portuguese population, whichshowed the greatest tendency towardconcentration according to the censusenumerationtracts of i9Wo, illustratesmost effectively the principles of the con-servation of personal and social stabilitywithin the ghetto. The rate of publicdependency for the city as a whole wasI.07, while the rates within the threehighly concentrated census areas were0.54, 0.36, and o.6o respectively.



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PUBLIC WELFARE AND SOCIAL WORKAn interesting example of the role of

Portuguese neighborliness in meeting itsown dependency probleins is found in thefollowing excerpt from the record of asocial agency case in K-a-u:

May had lived for yearsin the K-a-u Portuguesesection with her husband and family of six childrenwhen the former grew tired of domestic life anddeserted to the mainland. Worker called to seeMrs.J aboutherfamily situation. Mrs. J stated thatshe had talked over her planswith hervarious friendswho live in K-a-u and had come to the followingdecision. Mrs. C. will take Frank and keep himuntil Mrs. J. is again able to establish her home.Mrs. C. owns her own property and receives a niceincomefrom her vineyard. She stated she would beglad to take Frank and keep him indefinitely. Mrs.H. has signified her willingness to take Albert, thetwo year old, and keep him indefinitely. She doesnot wish 'care and custody papers'nor to adopt theboy. She is taking him solely because she is sorryfor Mrs. J. Mrs. O., an elderly Portuguese widow,who owns her own home on Y street, is most anxiousto have Elizabeth (8) come and stay with her indefi-nitely. She regardsElizabeth more or less as a granddaughter as she has known the J. family for manyyears. She stated that 'in a time like this she iswilling to lend a hand.' Mrs. 0. J., the paternalgrandmother of the J. family stated she would bewilling to take David and George to live with her.The childrenwhen they lived near used to run in andout of her home conltinually. Public opinion inK-a-u s set against this last move due to the fact thatold Mrs.J. talked about Mrs. J. and aided and abettedher son in the recent difficulties. Mrs. J. does notwish to go against the wishes of her friendsand willtalk the matter over with her sisters. The variousneighbors and friends decided on this arrangementbecause hey knew Mr.J. would hear from his friendsin K-a-uand they feel he will be very much ashamedto hear that his children were scattered all overK-a-u.

It is noteworthy that the Porto Rican,Korean, and Spanish groups, numericallythe weakest of all the racial elements inthe city and therefore least competent tobuild up areas of close settlement or tomeet the demandsof their needy, have thehighest rates of public dependency. The

Porto Rican and Korean likewise rateamong the highest in juveniledelinquency.SUMMARY

Judged by the incidence of juveniledelinquency the racial colony or ghettoapparently provides a more wholesomeatmosphere for the rearing of the secondgenerationthan the neighboring culturallynon-descript residential area. Our dataseem to show that the children of theghetto, to use Zangwill's phrase, arelesslikely to run afoul of the American lawthan their cousins who have escaped fromthe colony. Even after anextended periodof accommodation to American urban lifethe sustaining influenceof the mutual aidgroup constitutes an important insurancefactor against the many pitfalls of themodernindividualized and impersonalizedexistence, especially within the slum.The first generation to an even greaterdegree is dependent upon the understand-ing and sympathy which the colony alonecan afford. In times of crises-accident,death, and disaster, its function is par-ticularly evident but its sustaining andrestraining influence is apparently neverabsent from those within the pale.The explanation of the relatively highdegree of stability and social solidarity ofthe first generation immigrant is to befound in the compelling nature of thestandards enforced within the racialghetto. The exodus from the ghettomeasures the emancipation of the immi-grant from old world morals, with a con-comitant enlargementof vision and oppor-tunity for individual advancement, but itinitiates as well the process of individual-ization with its attendant personal andsocial disorganization. Those racio-cul-tural groups in Hawaii which have pro-gressed the furthest in the deculturizingprocess as measured by their geographicaldispersion are likewise most disorganized.

1 the Ghetto and the Slum

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