Reading – A New Wave of Immigration

New Immigrants

During the late 1800s large numbers of immigrants continued to come to the United States.
Immigration patterns, however, began to change. Immigrants who had come to the United States
before the 1880s were often called old immigrants. They were mostly from Great Britain, Germany,
Ireland, and Scandinavia. Most of them were Protestants, except for the Irish and some Germans.
During the 1880s, as many immigrants came to the United States as had arrived in all the years
from 1820 to 1860. These new immigrants were often from different countries than previous
immigrants. In 1914, for example, more than 70 percent of immigrants to America were from
southern and eastern Europe. Thousands of Czechs, Greeks, Hungarians, Italians, Poles, Russians,
and Slovaks came to the United States looking for a better life. Immigrant Miriam Zunser hoped
"for all manner of miracles [in] a strange, wonderful land!"
Many of these new immigrants were looking for economic opportunities. Others, such as
Armenians and Jews, were escaping political and religious persecution. Many of the immigrants
who arrived in the late 1800s brought new cultural practices with them. They also practiced a
variety of religions, including Eastern Orthodox Christianity, Roman Catholicism, and Judaism.

Coming To America

The Second Industrial Revolution created thousands of jobs that attracted many immigrants who
sought work and new lives in America. Immigrants typically faced a difficult journey. Most of them
bought the cheapest tickets that were offered. They traveled in steerage, the area on a ship's lower
level near the location of the steering mechanisms for the ship. In this cramped area, passengers
often experienced overcrowding and seasickness. Some passengers even died from disease.
Despite the hardships, immigrants held on to their hopes. One passenger described a group of
fellow immigrants peering "through the portholes . . . in anticipation of the wonders we were to
behold."
Upon reaching the United States, new arrivals had to go to immigration processing centers. For
many years, these centers were poorly run by state and local governments. In 1890 the federal
government began taking control of the immigration centers. Two years later, a new receiving
office was opened on Ellis Island in New York harbor. Over the next 40 years, millions of immigrants
came through the Ellis Island center. Most Asian immigrants entered the country through the West
Coast station known as Angel Island in San Francisco Bay.
In the processing centers, officials interviewed immigrants to decide whether to let them enter
the country. Officials also conducted physical examinations. They did not allow people carrying
infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis, into the country. Most immigrants passed and were
admitted.

Immigration Life

Most new immigrants settled in large cities. There they hoped to find work and other people from
their homelands. Life in America was often very different from life in the old country. Therefore,
many immigrants moved into neighborhoods with other people of the same nationality. In these
neighborhoods they could hear their own language, eat familiar foods, and keep their customs.
Many immigrant groups published newspapers in their own languages and founded schools,
clubs, and places of worship. These organizations helped preserve their beliefs and customs. In
New York City, for example, Jewish immigrants founded a theater that presented performances in
the Yiddish language.
Immigrants often opened local shops and small neighborhood banks. Business owners helped
new arrivals by offering credit and giving small loans. Such aid was important for newcomers
because there were few commercial banks in most immigrant neighborhoods. In 1904 Italian
immigrant Amadeo Peter Giannini started the Bank of Italy in San Francisco. This bank later became
the Bank of America.
Even with neighborhood support, immigrants often found city life difficult. Many immigrants
lived in tenements—poorly built, overcrowded apartments. They often had to work under
exhausting conditions. One young woman described the difference between her hopes and reality
in the new land.

Immigrant Workers

Many immigrants had been farmers in their homelands. However, few of these immigrants could
afford to buy land at home or in the United States. Instead, they found jobs in America's cities,
where most of the country's manufacturing took place by 1900.
Those immigrants who came from rural areas were unskilled in manufacturing or industrial
work. Most of these immigrants had little money and knew little English. These factors forced most
of them to take low-paying unskilled industrial jobs. Many of these jobs were in the construction,
garment, or steel industries. One Hungarian immigrant wrote that his people could be found
"wherever the heat is most . . . scorching, the smoke and soot most choking." The typical
workweek for industrial laborers in the late 1800s consisted of six 10-hour days. Longer hours,
however, were also common. Although wages were relatively low, they were often higher than
those that most immigrants could earn in their home countries. Women and children earned even
less than men. Many families depended on everyone's wages for survival.
Not all industrial labor took place in large factories. Some immigrants worked long hours for
little pay in small shops or factories located in or near working-class neighborhoods. Often
associated with the clothing industry, these workplaces were called sweatshops because of the
long hours and often unhealthy working conditions. Many garment workers earned wages based
on the number of clothing pieces they finished. To earn their living, these so-called pieceworkers
had to work quickly.
Immigrant women often worked as maids and cooks for middle- or upper-class families. Other
women ran boardinghouses in their homes. Women in these occupations worked from dawn until
dusk.
Immigrants with appropriate skills could find work in a wide range of occupations. They worked
as bakers, carpenters, masons, metal-workers, or skilled machinists. Some immigrants saved,
shared, or borrowed money to open small businesses. Their businesses included barbershops,
laundries, restaurants, and vending carts. Newly arrived immigrants often opened the same types
of businesses in which other immigrants from the same country were already successful.
 Many immigrants traveled back and forth between Europe and the United States, before
returning to live permanently in Europe. Immigrants who remained in the United States often
paved the way for the success of future generations.

Opposition to Immigration

Anti-immigrant feelings grew along with the rise in immigration in the late 1800s. Americans known
as nativists feared that too many new immigrants were being allowed into the country. Many
nativists also held racial and religious prejudices against Asian and southern and eastern European
immigrants in particular. Nativists felt that the differences in these immigrants' languages and
cultures would keep them from becoming good citizens. Nativists also argued that the new
immigrants' poverty and lack of education would harm American society.
Some labor leaders feared that immigrants willing to work for low wages would take jobs away
from union members. Some politicians agreed. Senator Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts
shared this view. "If we have any regard for the welfare, the wages, or the standard of life of
American workingmen, we should take immediate steps to restrict foreign immigration." Some
business leaders, however, favored immigration as a way of keeping labor costs low.
In some places, nativists took part in violence against immigrants. Other nativists worked for the
passage of laws to stop or limit immigration to the United States. In 1882 Congress passed the
Chinese Exclusion Act, banning Chinese people from immigrating to the United States for 10 years.
This law marked the first time a specific nationality was banned from entering the country. As a
result, the Chinese American population dropped steadily in the late 1800s. Congress later extended
the ban into the 1900s.
To work toward further lowering the number of immigrants, nativists founded the Immigration
Restriction League in 1894. The league demanded that all immigrants prove that they could read
and write before they could enter the country. Supporters hoped that this would lower immigration
from eastern and southern Europe. Immigration from western and northern Europe would be
preserved. Congress passed a law requiring a literacy test for immigrants in 1897. But President
Cleveland vetoed it, saying that the bill was "narrow, and un-American." Despite opposition from
nativists, immigrants continued to arrive in large numbers. These immigrants played a key role in
the industrial and economic growth of the late 1800s.