generally did two kinds of work. The first were the jobs Americans wouldn’t do and the second were the unskilled jobs that almost any person, American or immigrant, could do. Immigrants were also willing to be paid less money for the same work. Immigrants were often used as strike breakers because many of them didn’t understand the concept of strikes since it wasn’t part of their culture. The immigrants saw these jobs as ones that had been abandoned and so they took them, provoking anger in Americans for “job stealing”. As Guillaume Fouchon said,“We do not strike because it challenges our honor. As well, in the old country, there were so few jobs and so many workers.” Also, immigrants misunderstood the process of striking because it was hard to organize people who spoke different languages. Immigrants also had very little in the way of political power. This was not much of a problem, however, for as one immigrant said, “I just want to succeed, and then I'll worry about how much political power I have.” With the exception of some groups like the Irish, the immigrants had no political power at first. However, near the turn of the century, immigrant votes became a factor as they represented 15% of the voting public in New York alone. This caused the immigrants to gain increased political power through the vote. The Chinese were often called the devils of the immigrants. They were different than all the other immigrant groups because they had a different complexion. As a result, they were subject to more prejudice. The Chinese, who mainly lived and worked in California, took many railroad jobs away from the preexisting Americans. This resulted in their being stoned and having their houses burned to the ground. Such actions were supported by both major parties. As a Democratic National Committee spokesman said, “We must fight to rid the earth of the evil Chinese....
