Here They Come Most of the immigrants came because they were hungry—hungry for more bread and for better bread. America offered that. Europe was old America was young. European soil had been farmed for many years American soil was practically untouched. In Europe the land was in the hands of a few people, the upper classes in America the land was available to all. In Europe it was difficult to get work in America it was easy to get work. In Europe there were too many laborers looking for the few available jobs, so wages were low in America there weren't enough laborers to fill the available jobs, so wages were high. A bigger and better loaf of bread, then, attracted most of the inpouring hordes of people to America. But many came for other reasons. One was religious persecution. If you were a Catholic in a Protestant country, or a Protestant in another kind of Protestant country, or a Jew in almost any country, you were oftentimes made very uncomfortable. You might have difficulty in getting a job, or you might be laughed at, or have stones thrown at you, or you might even be murdered—just for having the wrong ( that is, different) religion. You learned about America where your religion didn't make so much difference, where you could be what you pleased, where there was room for Catholic, Protestant, Jew. To America, then! Or perhaps you had the right religion but the wrong politics. Perhaps you thought a few people in your country had too much power, or that there should be no kings, or that the poor people paid too much taxes, or that the masses of people should have more to say about governing the country. Then, often times, your government thought you 'were too radical and tried to get hold of you to put you into prison, where your ideas might not upset the people. You didn't want to go to prison, so you had to leave the country to avoid being caught. Where to go under the circumstances? Some place where you could be a free man, where you weren't clapped into jail for talking. Probably you turned to the place Joseph de scribed in his letter to his brother. 'Michael, this is a glorious country you have liberty to do as you will. You can read what you wish, and write what you like, and talk as you have a mind to, and no one arrests you.' Off to America! For several hundred years America was advertised just as Lucky Strike cigarettes and Buick cars are advertised today. The wonders of America were told in books, pamphlets, newspapers, pictures, posters—and always this advice was given,' Come to America.' But why should anyone be interested in whether or not Patrick McCarthy or Hans Knobloch moved from his European home to America? There were two groups interested at different times, but for the same reason—business profits. In the very beginning, over three hundred years ago, trading companies were organized which got huge tracts of land in America for nothing or almost nothing. That land, however, was valueless until people lived on it, until crops were produced, or animals killed for their furs. Then the trading company would step in, buy things from the settlers and sell things to company would step in, buy things from the settlers and sell things to them at a profits. The Dutch West India Company, the London Company, and several others were trading companies that gave away land in America with the idea of eventually making money on cargoes from the colonists. They wanted profitsneeded immigrants to get them advertised and people came. In later years, from 1870 on, other groups interested in business profits tried to get people to come to America. The Cunard line, the White Star line, the North German Lloyed, and several others earned money only when people used their ships. They therefore sent advertisements to all parts of the world to get people to travel to America—in their ships. They sent not only advertisements, but also