Newsboy Strike of 1899

Newsies were poor, usually orphaned or homeless. They would buy papers in buddles and sold them on the street. If the selling was slow then the newsboys would not eat for the day. A bundle had 100 papers for about 50 cents. The publishers refused to buy back any unsold copies. One writer reported about Newsies, “You see them everywhere. They rend the air and deafen you with their shrill cries. They surround you on the sidewalk and almost force you to buy their papers. They are ragged and dirty. Some have no coats, no shoes, and no hat.”