The After-Math of the Strike
Instead of dragging the price down again, the newspaper companies and the newsies compromised. The price would stay at 60 cents, but any papers the newsies didn’t sell, the newspaper companies would buy back. This strike gave others the courage to strike. Too many jobs were dangerous. For instance, mining, factories, mills, and more weren’t meant for children to work. The Newsies Strike only lasted 2 weeks, but they were heard.
Newsboys selling paper, Bowery Boys History, 2014 .
Newsboy teasing a scab, City Hall Park, 2013
"Make way for the hurt kid.... And bring me their wallet."
-Kid Blink (one of the leaders)
“It is a terrific historical example of how kids can wield power and impact society, politics, culture etc. Kids are citizens too, and have an innate sense of what constitutes in justice.”
-Alice Stevenson (NY Historical Society worker)
"Children's Aid Society is a social services organization, and in the late 1800s/early 1900s they had a number of programs and facilities specifically to provide food, housing, and activities for newsies."
-Alice Stevenson (NY Historical Society Worker)
Newsies standing next to a tree, Zinned Project, 1924
The newsies won because they eased the economic strain on themselves. We do not know if newsies being obsolete caused older kids and adults to start selling papers and using newsstands, but it could be possible that newsboys could just be getting out of date. Newsstands and paper delivery were both new things in the 1900s, and because of this, they didn’t have that long of bloc power. In the end, Pulitzer and Hearst agreed to buy back any unsold papers at the end of each day. The newsies agreed, and the strike was over.