gh to interior points or locate in a manufacturing town
within comfortable reach of the great city; but they find a place in
the midst of conditions that are not far different. Unskilled Italians
commonly join construction gangs, and for weeks at a time make their
home in a temporary shack which quickly becomes unsanitary. Wherever
the immigrant goes he tends to form foreign colonies and to reproduce
the low standards of living to which he has been accustomed. If he
could be introduced to better habits and surrounded with improved
conditions from the moment of his arrival he would gain much for
himself, and far more speedily would become assimilated into an
American; as it is, he is introducing foreign elements on a large
scale into a city life that is overburdened with problems already.

Changes in the manner of living are often for the worse. Instead of
their village houses set in the midst of the open fields here, they
herd like rabbits in overpopulated, unhealthy warrens, frequently
sleeping in rooms continually dark and ill-ventilated. They still work
for long hours, but here under conditions that breed discouragement
and disease, in the sweat-shop or the dingy factory, and often in an
occupation dangerous to life or limb. Though they are free from the
temptations of the military quarters, they find them as numerous at
the corner saloon and the brothel, and even in the overcrowded
tenement itself. If they bring over their families or marry here, they
can expect no better home than the tenement, unless they have the
courage to get out into the country, away from all that which is
familiar. Rather than do that or knowing no better way, they swarm
with others of their kind in the immigrant hive.

240. =Tenement House Conditions.=--In New York large tenements from
five to seven stories high, with three or four families on each floor,
shelter many thousands of the city's workers. These are often built
on lots too small to permit of air and light space between buildings.
Some of them contain over a hundred individuals. Three-fourths of the
population of Manhattan is in dwellings that house not less than
twenty persons each. The density of population is one hundred and
fifty to the acre. Twelve to eighteen dollars a month are charged for
a suite of four rooms, some of them no better than dark closets.
Instances can be multiplied where adults of both sexes and children
are crowded into one or two rooms, where they cook, e