Conditions in factories in large industrial cities in the United States were beyond poor. Many immigrants who stayed in stayed in cities (Germans, for example) were exploited by industrial corporations. They were overworked and given very little pay, women and children were given even less pay, little safety equipment was used, which resulted in frequent injuries and death on the job. Additionally, the apartments that were inside these factories had extremely high rent and were in very poor condition. Although there were many strikes to improve their conditions, workers were often surrounded by strikebreakers and police officers that would resort to violence to dissolve the strikes. It was a terrible condition overall to be a manual labor worker at that time.