Immigrants came to the US expecting a higher standard of living but quickly understood the reality of the situation. The vast majority of im

migrants, who lived in cities, lived in tenements. These were apartment buildings that were shabbily constructed and contained extremely small apartments. Twenty four to thirty two families were packed inside these six to eight storey structures, often referred to as dumbbell buildings due to the air shaft between the buildings that made them look like dumbbells from

above. The residents were highly susceptible to disease, and life expectancy was significantly lower, by about 10 years, in these areas. Up to 4,000 people lived on some city blocks. Families had one, maybe two, small rooms. They had no privacy as the walls were thin as well.

The East European Jews primarily worked in the garment industry in Chicago. The working conditions were quite unfavorable to the employees. They worked in excess of 60 hours per week for just a few dollars. The sanitary condition of the streets, homes, and shops in the tile Jewish settlement were rather bad, and did not compare favorably with that of other nationalities, except the Italian and the Polish, which in some respects were worse. This is the scene described at a Ludlow Street Sweater’s Shop in 1890, “Men and women bending over their machines, or ironing clothes at the window, half-naked…The Road is like a big gangway through an endless work-room where vast multitudes are forever laboring. Morning, noon, or night, it makes no difference; the scene is always the same.” (Comment, “How The Other Half Lives”, New York City/East European Jews/At Work). A citizens committee was organized in Chicago to make an investigation of the true conditions and they eventually published a report based on the testimony of the employees of seventeen firms and thirty-one shops. It’s prognosis of the situation basically said that the natural method of removing the causes of irritation in the shops and of making a more healthful and social life, is some form of shop organization among the workers in the shops. However, the industry is very complicated; the labor highly subdivided the dependence, of the operatives on the foreman so great, that i

Some topics in this essay:
European United, European Jews/At, Jews Chicago, Little Italy’s, City/Italians/At Italian, Erie Canal, Sweater’s Shop, European Jews, , Italian Polish, living conditions, vast majority, native countries, employment children, european jews/at,