Alek

Jacob Riis, How the Other Half Lives, Knee-Pants at Forty-Five Cents a Dozen—A Ludlow Street Sweater’s Shop

The image above reveals the life style migrants had when coming to New York. The notion of coming to this land and 'make something of yourself' is not living up to its full potential as seen. This is not the case for the majority of migrants who have travelled to New York seeking freedom or coming to make something better for themselves. As we can see, they are all doing hard labour in making clothing garments, this is taking the idea of having a better life and throwing it away. We can also see form the title that they're making very little money for what they are making and what they're doing. 

Many of the immigrants would also use these facilities in order to sleep and reside in at certain points. Due to not being able to make enough or even a better income to which they previously had, there was no way for them to be able to afford their own accommodation. In a way, this is an element of cheap labour. The owners of these factories and Warehouses know that these people are looking for a better lifestyle but knowing that they're not from America essentially gave them the idea to exploit them.