One of the biggest problems that immigrants faced was finding work. According to a graph found in America's History Volume 2: Since 1865 the number of immigrants from southeastern Europe increased from fifty thousand in 1880 to nearly seven hundred thousand by 1905 (Henretta 557). With amount of sheer numbers, the industries could pick and chose whom they wanted to hire. Since many of the immigrants coming over already had family here, they used this to their advantage. For example, when Kracha needs a job in Thomas Bell's Out of This Furnace he had his brother-in-law line him up a job working on the railroad (3). Later, when Kracha moved to Homestead, he again used his brother in law to

a job" (Henretta 557). Boarders helped the immigrants in many ways. It let new immigrants stay in a house relatively cheaply, and it helped those keeping the boarders by earning some extra money. This was beneficial to everyone, except for the poor mistress that had to take care of everyone. The hardships on the mistresses were shown by the story of Mary, when she took boarders. "With six boarders, three children and a husband to look after, meals to cook, clothes to wash, her hours were from four-thirty in the morning to nine at night, seven days a week" (Bell 173). All of the immigrants worked hard, and worked together, to try and make everything for the best.

The hardships faced by new immigrants to the United States were numerous. The most important ones were finding employment, a place to live, and avoiding poverty. The immigrants faced these problems and more, and dealt with them well. They relied on their family and community to get through the hard times that affected everyone. American industry benefited greatly from the use of immigrant labor, and without the immigrants, America would not be where it is today.

The largest problem that the immigrants faced was poverty. They were always close to, or in destitution. The immigrants wages were low, sometimes as low as thirteen and a half cents an hour (Bell 145). Also in hard times, the mills would cut the number of shifts that each worker received. The workers could try and change their poor wages and hours by trying to form labor unions and striking. Unfortunately employers often handled strikes very harshly. The text talks about the Homestead strike

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