Economic exploit caused the tenement apartments to be downsized, thus worsening the living conditions.
In chapter III, "The Mixed Crowd", Riis discusses the effects that immigration has had on New York and attempts to assess the manner in which each ethnic group has found their place in the city. He describes the city as being primarily dominated by the Irish in the West and the Germans on the East side, mixing with a many of other ethnic groups within the city line.
In his chapters "The Bend" and "Downtown Back Alleys" Riis portrays certain neighborhoods of these tenement areas as one notarized for their high crime and low living conditions. He also allocates specific chapters for the analysis of each major ethnic group individually, and the manner in which they confront tenement living. .
In his book Jacob A. Riis also briefly describe his feelings towards the new wave of immigrants coming to America in the late 1890's. His stereotypes of Jews, Italians and Chinamen are downright insulting, yet his assessment of African Americans is quite interesting, but that will be approached later in this paper. First up are the Jews. Riis portrayed the Jews as cheap, with money being their god. (Riis, 37) It is necessary to take a much closer look at the Jews in order to understand what Riis based this opinion upon.
One of the main issues with the Jews, as is similar for all immigrants at this time, is disease. But these diseases they encountered were generally not due to being in a New World, it was due to the conditions they lived in, and their refusal to try and get help when ill. "The diseases these people suffer from are not due to intemperance or immorality, but due to ignorance, want of suitable food, and the foul air in which they live and work" (Riis, 131). The main diseases affecting them at this time were small-pox and Typhus fever. These are contagious diseases that are spread through germs and filthy living conditions, therefore these diseases were everywhere the Jews went.
