Narrator: Listen to part of a talk in a United States history class.

Professor: The end of the 19th century was known as the “Gilded Age” in the U.S. Every person had the chance to earn a fortune, and those who did celebrated it extravagantly. For example, in New York, the wealthy spent a great deal of time throwing grand parties and visiting the theater and opera house. The elites spent money in a way that had never been seen before. While they did this, others—the working class—struggled in rags. At the turn of the century, the average national income was a meager $380 a month, and most of the nation’s families earned less than $1200 per year, far below the poverty line. Newly arrived immigrants and Americans who once lived in rural areas rushed to find jobs in urban areas of overcrowded squalor. Cheaply made and poorly run tenements filled the city with crime and filth. While Americans had phonographs, sewing machines, electric lights, and even skyscrapers, most worked and lived in extreme poverty and could not take advantage of these things. In response to the disparity, many laborers in mills, factories, and sweatshops began to express unrest. Violent strikes became commonplace, and many people turned to political machines. During the early 20th century, many politicians helped the poor in exchange for their votes. Corruption began to reach up through high levels of the U.S. government. Some reports even implicated Ulysses S. Grant’s administration in political schemes like the Gold Conspiracy and the Salary Grab. In response to this, many Europeans expressed shock and felt that despite America’s money and factories, the country remained without a sophisticated culture.

Narrator: Now get ready to answer the question.

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Poverty played a big role in development of U.S. culture. The majority of people were poor, but there were some people who were incredibly rich. It seems the rich were getting richer but the poor stayed poor. In New York, the rich had great parties, but the poor had nothing. Many poor people started to move from rural areas, and immigrants from other countries moved to the cities too. This made the cities very dirty and unsafe. Poor people were very numerous and were not treated very well at their factories and other types of manual labor jobs. Many people looked to big political organizations for help, but these political groups would only help the poor if the poor said they would vote a certain way. This type of corruption was very common.