Throughout history people of all countries have had to deal with change on an economical, social, and political level. During the late nineteenth century, and into the end of the First World War the American people had to deal with huge economical change, and many new conditions. For some, many of these changes came with tortuous times of hardship and loss, whereas for others, came times of wealth and glory.
One of the main changes that Americans had to deal with was the modernization that the United States was experiencing, because of the industrial growth. Every day new machines were being invented that would replace the jobs of many men, and only need one man to operate. Because of these new machines, many of these factory oriented businesses would have large scale layoffs with no sort of social security, or way for the workers to save money for times of no work. These menial operational jobs required no skill, and therefore big businesses could pay less money to a less skilled worker. The businesses could lower the pay of workers even more, because so many men were out of work and trying to get any job that they could. .
This modernization also affected workers on the railroads, workers in the steel mills, and just about any person with a skilled labor. The machines were causing productivity to go up for the businesses, with fewer workers, and with less money spent. The big businesses were making a lot of money, but the people working for the businessmen were losing jobs, homes, and even their lives in the long run. .
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Another one of the main conditions that Americans had to deal with was the mass amounts of immigrants, reaching twelve million people from 1870-1900, and another fifteen million during the first decade and a half of the twentieth century, coming into the United States to better themselves and their families back in their homelands. Immigrants were coming from Greece, China, Italy, Austria-Hungary, Russia, Poland, the Balkans, Germany, Ireland, Britain, and Scandinavia.
