"Slumming Among the Unemployed" 1893 (Document: C7)

"Slumming Among the Unemployed" is an excerpt from the journal of William Wycoff, a Princeton educated journalist, who choose to spend two years working as a common laborer. William felt that by experiencing first hand the devastating lives of the jobless individuals, he would be able to better understand how to create a solution to better help poor Americans. While in Chicago, Wycoff and his partner, Clark, experience what it is like to walk around town all day and be turned down job after job by bitter contractors. With no job and no money, the two wonder the cold streets until midnight, where they can find shelter in the train station. While walking around the city, William notices the lavish and grand houses that most belong to business owners or families of old money. However, the further he walks, the more run...