Introduction
America has changed a lot in the last hundred years, reaching its maximum urban development. Interestingly, until 1870 such modern metropolitan areas as Chicago and New York were small towns with a population of no more than 60 thousand people (Betz et al., 2018). With the arrival of millions of migrants, city officials faced the problem of homelessness, overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, and other issues associated with poverty. This paper argues that the problem of urban slums laid the foundation for future social resistance to inhuman conditions of life and work.
The Influx of Immigrants
In the 1870s-1900s, the development of industry in the US led to a wave of migration to cities, where new industrial plants offered employment opportunities. Workers from Ireland, Italy, and other European countries flocked to the United States to start a new, better life. New York also attracted the middle class that organized small family businesses (Cohen, 1918). The third type of migrants were people seeking to buy land in the countryside. In any case, economic progress was the main driving force that attracted the newcomers.
Despite the country’s high potential, most people lived in extreme poverty, and the ability to rent out housing to newcomers was a bargain in the eyes of many Americans. Therefore, in large cities, the urban slums appeared: areas where migrants lived and worked in inhuman conditions and spent most of their money on paying rent. High prices were not the only problem: more importantly, the tenement housing did not meet the safety standards. This problem subsequently led to the passage of the New York State Tenement House Act of 1901 (Deiller, 1900). Notably, this law led to a revolutionary change in the life of the working class, greatly improving the housing conditions.
The Forming Impact of Immigrants
The influx of migrants had a decisive impact on the urbanization of America, including in cities of New York, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Milwaukee, and St. Louis. Smaller workshops were forced out of the market by large industrial complexes, which produced steel, food, textiles, and other elements of urban life. In many cities, immigrants comprised between 60% and 90% of the population (Betz et al., 2018). Therefore, the immigrants of the late 19th century became the formative mass of the social identity of the new Americans. Many kept their traditions, grouping in ethnic quarters, others preferred to assimilate into the cities. Immigrants had a significant impact on local communities, organizing workers’ clubs, mutual aid societies, and churches. They published newspapers in their languages to maintain their identity, and expanded national communities by inviting relatives and friends to immigrate.
American politicians positioned this influx of people as a symbol of the liberation of man from feudal restrictions and the possibility of free life and free labor. However, in practice, immigrants lived and worked in appalling conditions, which was unfair, especially given their contribution to the prosperity of the country. Subsequently, this problem was solved by the introduction of laws on the right to safe housing. Just as importantly, when the issue received significant publicity, the New York City’s Democratic Party, known as Tammany Hall, directed its efforts to improve the living conditions of the working class.
Urban Slums as the Social Phenomenon
The Gilded Age was an important stage in American history, not only because of the Industrial Revolution and its aftermath but also from the perspective of shaping the fabric of the new society. The living conditions of ‘the other half’ of Americans were a unique social phenomenon that, unfortunately, is still prevalent today. In his articles and photo essays, Jacob Riis, a journalist who immigrated to the United States from Denmark, revealed in many details the problems of migrants living in urban slums.
Riis saw a significant social component in the problem and refused to consider it from an economic perspective. As one of the first to draw attention to the phenomenon of urban slums, Riis was outraged by the overall indifference of the ‘upper half’ and openly admitted that only fear and anxiety due to discontent and possible protests were the reason for the eventual allocation of resources to solve the problem (Riis, 1890). Interestingly, the New York Legislative Committee had not previously encountered the problem of overcrowding, which neither the ethic of entrepreneurship and self-help nor the existing practices of municipal government could solve.
Therefore, the decision to provide workers with clean and comfortable homes was seen as a revolutionary social policy. Interestingly, even today, 120 years later, this decision is perceived by many politicians as a generous enough step not to reconsider its effectiveness in solving the problem of poverty. Riis assumed the legislative measures insufficient and appealed to the wider society in search of more comprehensive and ethical solutions. The author also revealed unjust practices of landlords who refused to carry out repairs, but demanded high fees from tenants, evicting them in case of non-payment. In his opinion, the phenomenon of poverty was a purely social problem, and the suffering of workers occurred only because of the greed of landlords and employers. The journalist believed that the owners of industries should provide workers with safe and comfortable housing, as they are the ultimate beneficiaries of their labor.
The Laws and the Justice as the Answer
Interestingly, politicians reacted rather quickly to the problem of urban slums. Probably the main reason was the need to maintain economic prosperity, which was impossible without the contribution of workers. The Tammany Hall, despite its corruption, allocated money for the construction of urban infrastructure, including the construction of water, sewer, and gas lines, police, fire departments, hospitals, schools, parks, museums, roads, bridges, including the Brooklyn Bridge ( Betz et al., 2018). When it became apparent that the municipal government had no solution to the urban slum crisis, it was proposed that new laws be enacted to ensure a decent quality of life.
The Tenements Committee, which was formed in 1898, issued an executive order creating a New York State Commission. This commission drafted and oversaw the passage of the New York Tenements Act of 1901 (Deiller, 1900). According to the law, construction could only be approved for building designs that had “outward-facing windows, internal bathrooms, proper ventilation, and fire protection” (Deiller, 1900, p. 15). Remarkably, before the passage of the law, enterprising builders were hastily constructing dark, poorly ventilated houses with tiny apartments (Lubove, 1963). This law was the first and most important document that laid the foundations for urban planning norms. Subsequently, the New York City Charities Society’s Tenements Committee also published an educational pamphlet to inform residents of their rights to safe, clean, and comfortable housing.
Implications for Poverty Alleviation
Interestingly, not only the rules of urban planning but also the ways of fighting poverty have not changed much over the past 120 years. Howard (2018) notes that at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, progressive reformers created an organization to help and raise awareness of urban poverty that addressed related issues in later years. During the Great Depression, the federal government passed the Social Security Act and New Deal policies, and in the post-war period and the 1960s, relief programs emerged to increase access to housing, health care, and food. In short, these are the main achievements in terms of the social policy of the 20th century. Today, politicians have generally returned to the ethics of entrepreneurship and self-help, adhering to the position of classical liberalism and declaring that the problem of poverty must be solved by creating jobs.
The Sweating Labor
Work in the sweatshops was the only way for most immigrants, who had no personal savings to start a business or gain skills for less demanding work. As a rule, work in the sweatshops involved a 12-hour working day with an increased load, so employees worked 14-16 hours. Scholars point out that sweatshops were not the only alternative, and in some cases, workers were paid piecework based on days worked or output (Aßländer, 2021). Nevertheless, sweatshops were a widespread social phenomenon, which, however, caused social disapproval.
Classical liberals defended the rights of entrepreneurs, justifying sweating labor with the possibility of employment and earnings. At the same time, social reformers raised the question of the unethical contracts that workers were forced to enter into with sweatshops. Unfortunately, work under similar conditions exists in the 21st century, and as a rule, the unfairness of labor relations is directly proportional to the helplessness of workers (Aßländer, 2021). Scholars, therefore, consider sweating labor to be a social rather than an economic phenomenon, and this position has been advocated by social reformers since the late 19th century.
Public Charity
Charitable organizations became a popular phenomenon in the early 20th century, driven in part by the suffragettes who sought to change the life of the city inhabitant. Public houses began to appear in New York, where everyone could receive legal, financial, or medical assistance, accommodation and meals. One example of such a building is the house on Henry Street on the Lower East Side, which has a history of 125 years of providing the listed services. According to Snyder-Grenier (2021), the house is an inspirational symbol of social struggle, as it has assisted migrants and other groups through all periods of history to the present day. Another example of philanthropy is civic movement “The City Beautiful Movement,” which addressed social issues through beautification, improved traffic and sanitation, and creation of community centers and parks (Fairfield, 2018). Remarkably, the end of the 19th century in New York can be considered the place and time of the first public initiatives to protect citizens.
Conclusion
Thus, it was argued how the problem of urban slums laid the foundation for future social resistance to inhuman living and working conditions. The solution to the problem required the active participation of politicians and civil activists, and resulted in the adoption of laws that established urban planning standards. Unfortunately, over the past 120 years, public and state initiatives made little progress in the fight against poverty, given that practices such as sweating labor still exist. Despite this, respect for migrants as the driving force of society can and should give a new impetus to social development.
References
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