As I read this chapter I was surprised how children would get worked so easily, while a grown man would have to stand out in the cold for hours to get a position to work.  I learned about young  women trying to get a job, like Ona and Marija, and how they worked in such places.  This family had so little money that their children, had to work- basically everyone had to work.

    What happened to me as I read Chapter 7, was how American at that point in time could lie to people about having real, safe, pure food when in fact they bought milk that was watered, and their tea and coffee had been doctored- yet, they pull these innocent success driven people, like Jurgis who truly believe that America is the place to be, and work them to the bone.  It was a real shame what happened to Jurgis' father, how he was so willing to work to help the family financially, and the "great corporation" gave him a job that literally worked him to the bone, infecting his body with chemicals that they put in the unsafe meat to be sold to the public, and he later dies.  What a shame.