The Newsboys Strike of 1899

The two newspaper giants at the turn of the 19th century were Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst. The German - born Pulitzer and his contemporary help to establish in the world of journalism the sensation of crime and scandal - mongering (also known as yellow journalism). There were many unethical and unprofessional practices during the end of the 19th century, but what would happen when sales from these daily papers began to dwindle down due to the lack of newsboys (also known as newsies or paperboys) out on the corner selling them? If the young boys stopped selling daily papers, would this lead the newspaper industry into pieces or would regular adults do the jobs of selling news papers?

In 1898, the war between America and Spain help increase sales in the newspaper industry. Publishers noticed the rise in sales and raised prices to make more profit from the sensationalism of the war. The newsboys were not actually employees but independent contractors for the newspapers. They would buy bundles and were not happy with the increases in the cost. After the war, prices slipped down to what they previously were. The two famous newspapers the New York World and New York Morning Journal did not drop their costs. This would later lead to the refusal of newspaper boys from selling Joseph Pulitzer's the New York World and William Randolph Hearst's the New York Morning Journal because of the newspaper bundles which costs twice as much as the other ones in other cities. In New York City during the summer month of July 1899, the newsies took to the Brooklyn Bridge, a strike which lasted several days. The New York City traffic stood still in the heat of that moment. Other cities were also affected by the newsies strike comforted by the words of its leader known as Kid Blink. This led Pulitzer and Hearst to hire men to break up the striking newspaper boys by all means. Despite acts of violence against the demonstrations, they still continued.