No matter the amount of income they received, ever cent helped the family. In The Jungle, Stanislovas received a certificate from a priest stating that he was actually three years older than he was in order to get a job. When asking for the job he was asked how old he was and he responded with "sixtin " (67) rather than thirteen and received the job. Working at such a young age put the children at risk of injury and death. Another instance in The Jungle, when Stanislovas goes missing and the family no longer receives his income, they send ten year old and eleven year old Nikalojus and Vilimas to sell newspapers (111). They would often times come home crying because of how much walking they had done. They also had their money stolen from an older man. After a few days they learned the way of "the jungle ". .
Some states had laws against child labor such as "all work is forbidden below a certain age, say thirteen: all work from thirteen to sixteen is forbidden unless proof of schooling, " were mentioned in The Child Labor Movement. On the other hand, some states had no laws or age restriction on workers. Those states included "Georgia, Delaware, Idaho, and Nevada ". Some states denied that child labor was even happening there. The New Jersey Bureau Defends Child Labor printed "the statement that this evil does not exist to an alarming extent in the State of New Jersey and . Children should [not] be put to work in factories at an early age ". Even in the states with laws against child labor, it was still hard to enforce those laws and be sure everyone is abiding by them. Much like in The Jungle some children would lie to the employer about their age and there was no way for them to accurately know how old they were. People were desperate during this time and would go to extreme lengths to obtain money. .
There were people for and against child labor during this time. Often "the large portion of the press which has devoted efforts to put a stop to child labor " was referred to as "gross exaggeration of fats " or "exaggerated sensationalism ".
