Men's Lodging Room in the West 47th Street Station

1. What does the photo reveal about the economic and social problems created by urbanization in the late 19^th Century? What, if any, technological innovations and political solutions were necessary to address these problems?

This photo reveals an awful side of immigrant life that often goes undiscussed. The first thing I notice in the photo is that in that little, crumbling, room, there are 6 sleeping men. This strikes me because I feel like it would be small for 2 people, so having 6 people in there is crazy. This introduces a strange economic dynamic, the immigrants sleeping in there do not have enough money to pay for a home for themselves so, with 5 other people, for very little money they are able to afford to live in the tenement. The other thing i notice is that none of them are sleeping in beds, which makes me think that urbanization created this economic trouble, which caused people to be poor, and therefore, have to room with many people. The technological innovations necessary to deal with this problem would not come until much later, when technology became a hugely important part of society, the jobs they had at the time would eventually become higher paying and more rewarding.