In this chapter, Jacob Riis discusses the conditions present in tenement factories. Riis begins by describing the sweaters, those who run the sweatshops, as being simply a necessary and logical part of the greater system in place, and mentions that he is no worse than the conditions that created that line of work. He continues on that there is very little separating them from the workers beyond a small knowledge of English, and sometimes even less than that. Unable to find work elsewhere, workers in these sweatshops have to work long hours without breaks in between to eat meals. Even when they are at home and away from the tenements, many of them still bring their work home with them in order to earn extra money. Without any spare time, very few of them ever learn to speak English.