How were people in the past able to come to America with literally no money and survive and thrive and some even starting businesses and becoming wealthy? Is that even possible today?
In: Economics
My Irish great-grandmother grew up in an orphanage. Back then, if you were in the orphanage you had the choice of becoming a nun or becoming a maid. So she was shipped off to England to become a domestic servant, but the orphans kept in touch with each other as they moved out.
Some of the older girls saved their meager money, left for the States and managed to save enough to help their “little sisters” get to the States. An older girl put up half the money for a girl to come over, the younger girl put up half (which was harder for her to save; wages in England were worse). They often wrangled a job for the new girl coming in. Then when the new/younger girl got to the States, she saved up her initial money and paid back the person who’d helped her.
Then that newcomer kept saving so she could front half of another “little sister’s” ticket. Lather, rinse, repeat. I don’t know how common the strategy was; this is just what my grandmother told me. So great-grandma may have arrived with only a few dollars to her name, but she had a job already arranged. Back then you had to submit a formal photo with your job application so they could see you presented neat and clean and, to be blunt, weren’t a cripple.
TL:DNR: for many the vetting was already done before they left the Old Country.
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