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Oluwadunni Ayeni

Dr. Robert Chiles

History 201

July 17, 201

Jacob Riis, How the Other Half Lives.

The late 19th century saw a massive boom to the American economy, majorly marked by the

rise of the Gilded Age. This age saw an increase to industrial revolution and urbanization in the

States, many big businesses started to surface at this time, and there was a major upsurge

especially in the Railroad industry among others. This revolution caused a significant increase

to American wages, as it was much higher than what was obtainable in Europe. Because of this

rapid economic growth, many Europeans, Asians, and immigrants from other parts of the world

moved to the United States in hopes of benefitting from this attractive development. Population

rose in many cities, particularly in New York whose population rose to 1.8 million from 1.3

million previously recorded. But here comes the twist: Although the Gilded age on the surface

looked appealing to the world, beneath laid severe poverty and suffering mostly among these

lower-class immigrants who came in search of greener pastures. Jacob Riis, in How the Other

Half Lives sought to reveal the other side which people did not see, which was how

immigrants lived in abject poverty, and how wealthy businesses whom they worked for exploited

them. The Gilded age was therefore an era of selfishness and deceit emanating from corrupt

home owners because of how they structured and treated the tenements these immigrants

lived in, how businesses exploited them for cheap labor, and how these conditions were

derogative to their health and overall living.

The theoretical meaning of tenements in the 1970s were houses shared by multiple
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families who share things communally, but in reality, they were overpopulated houses

immigrants lived in the city. Originally, these houses were occupied by the wealthy people who

moved because of the increasing population in New York city at that time, but Riis described

that the houses fell into the hands of real estate agents and boarding house-keepers, and

because they wanted to make profit, divided the rooms in these houses into smaller section so

that they could fit in as many people as possible. Jacob Riis also described that it was soon

perceived by estate owners and agents of property owners that a greater percentage of profit

could be realized by the conversion of house and blocks into barracks, so they further divided

these tenements into smaller proportions to create more rooms. The conditions of the tenements

were even more terrible as Neatness, order, cleanliness was never dreamed of in connection

with the tenant-house system. These tenements were left filthy, and the owners blamed the

tenants for the poor conditions of what was meant to be their property. These home owners

were also cunning in that, these tenements were close to the factories the tenants worked, so the

workers found it easier to live in these small rooms because of its proximity to their

workplaces, and then the little wages paid to them will be taken away when they pay their rents.

The tenements served as a strong evidence to the harsh realities of this Golden age.

In addition, industrial revolution saw a need for labor, cheap labor to help build industries and

produce products, so there was an outpour of immigrants in the United States as there was

always, An Italian, a German, a French, African, Spanish, Bohemian, Russian, Scandinavian,

Jewish, and Chinese colony. Jacob Riis called this the characteristic of the cosmopolitan

character of lower New York. Although Riis did not explicitly mention how business owners

took advantage of these immigrants, his account of these other lives helped people link the

situation to exploitation by these big businesses. It was common for these companies to own
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most, if not all of the means of production, so it was natural that they hired these immigrants to

do arduous work at their industries, usually for long hours and for a very miserly pay. Riis stated

that, Men, women, and children work together seven days in the week in these cheerless

tenements to make a living for the family, from the break of the day till far into the night. His

account on the cash girls of New York city was that they received, $1.75 a week for work,

and these girls were expected to work up to sixteen hours per day. What was worse was that

these girls had to pay, out of the little wages they got, for the machine and materials they

needed to make clothes for people as most girls in New York at that time were working in

the shirt-making industries. The shirt-makers strike that occurred at that time revealed even

more of this terrible situation as a lady asserted that she worked eleven hours in the shop and

four at home, with her best sales not being over six dollars a week. Another stated that she

worked from 4 oclock in the morning to 11 at night without reasonable pay. Those that earned

a little bit more, usually $2 to $4, did not benefit from their pay because they were reduced by

excessive fines. Even alarming was the fact that these girls made large sales for these

companies, and these sales brought in much income up to $167 and this could go as high as

$195 per day! This may not seem like a lot in todays moneys worth, but it was considered a lot

of money in those days, especially because money had just started to gain real value due to the

revolution. Child labor was also common at this time because of its cheapness. As there was no

law regarding children of poor immigrants getting an education at this time, these children were

employed by these industries at an early age, and they too were subjected to long work hours,

and dangerous work environment. All these served as a great reveal to what the Gilded Age 1

1Riis, How the Other Half Lives,7

Riis, How the Other Half lives, 10
Riis, How the Other Half lives, 12
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actually looked like.

The working conditions of these poor immigrants, along sides the terrible houses they lived in,

had negative effects on their health, character and daily lives. Cholera was a common disease in

these tenements because of the unsanitary state of their food and water, and there was also an

outbreak of small-pox. The air was polluted and not safe for breathing as it was fouler than the

mud of the gutters., and regular inhalation of the tobacco fumes in the cigar making tenements

led to many people dying. Children were the most affected in this age. Only a few of them went

to school, while the others drank beer and, received running for beer for their elders. A lot of

these children became gangsters, they began robbery, assaulting, drinking, and these crimes

frequently got them arrested. These boys formed gang groups which were the Ripe fruit of the

tenement-house growth, and these boys brought in their resentment, anger, and frustration to set

up what became the genesis of New York gangs.

The Gilded age was a period of growth, and doom. It was a period that marked severe suffering

because of the housing and working conditions of the immigrants, which led to teenage

delinquencies, crime, and death among others. Even though business and the economy

was thriving, there laid the other side, the doom which the growth caused, which people did not

know. It is no wonder this era was named the Gilded age, an era of dire social problems, masked

by the prosperity of businesses and rapid economic development.

Riis, How the Other Half Lives, 48

Riis, How the Other Half Lives, 49
Riis, How the Other Half Lives, 60
Riis, How the Other Half Lives, 72
Riis, How the Other Half Lives, 77
Riis, How the Other Half Lives, 78

Jacob Riis, How the Other Half Lives, 1890 (The Hypertext Edition)
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