Please help me or else I will get in trouble big big trouble Seeing the Statue of Liberty, immigrants felt welcomed by their new country. It seemed they had found a place to belong. Surely one seeker of liberty would have much in common with another. New arrivals were filled with hope. The pioneers and seekers who had come before them had made it. So could they. Americans, on the other hand, had mixed feelings. The streams of people pouring into their country brought both blessings and problems. It was true that those coming in had much in common with those who'd come before. The great patriots who'd built the nation had been aliens not so long ago. They'd left their homes and come looking for freedom. Wasn't that what the country was all about? Kind-hearted people within the U. S. formed groups to help the newcomers. They met the travelers at ports. They helped them find lodging and jobs. They also helped with language and other problems. Immigrants found some people even more warm and friendly than Liberty's torch. New arrivals often passed through U. S. gates to find hordes of new "friends" waiting. These people were friendly for all the wrong reasons. They offered train tickets, homes, jobs, anything a traveler might want, for a price. Many were swindlers. Their aim was to part the newly-arrived from their money. Some dazed travelers lost all they had to con men. Big business loved the new arrivals, too. Since the Civil War, U. S. industry had been surging forward. Production was booming. Keeping it moving required a ready supply of labor. Industry saw immigrants as lots of new workers flowing into the nation. Others weren't so happy about the workers coming in. The newcomers were hungry for jobs to support their families. Many were willing to work for much less than U. S. laborers. Chinese workers, for example, had played a big part in building railroads in the 1860s. They were known for their hard work, yet they were paid less per month than other workers. Business firms began sending to China and other countries for workers. Americans feared they would lose their jo