NEWSPAPER SELLERS
By far the majority of the children in street occupations are engaged
in the sale or delivery of newspapers. The newsboy predominates to
such an extent that he is taken as a matter of course. As Mrs.
Florence Kelley says, "For more than one generation, it has been
almost invariably assumed that there must be little newsboys." Ever
since he became an institution of our city life, the public has been
pleased to regard him admiringly as an energetic salesman of
penetrating mind and keen sense of humor. There seems to be a tacit
indorsement of the newsboy as such.
Ordinarily there are five classes of newsboys to be found in all large
cities--(1) the corner boys, (2) those who sell for corner boys on
salary, (3) others who sell for them on commission, (4) those who sell
for themselves, and (5) those with delivery routes. The bulk of the
business is handled by the first three of these classes, which are
always associated together and found on the busy corners of the
downtown sections of all our cities. The choice localities for the
sale of newspapers, namely, the corners in the downtown sections where
thousands of pedestrians are daily passing, come under the control of
individuals by virtue of long tenure or by purchase, and their title
to these corners is not disputed largely on account of the support
they receive from the circulation managers of the newspapers. In
former years the proprietorship of the corner was settled by a fight,
but now it undergoes change of ownership by the formal transfer of
location, fixtures and goodwill in accordance with the most approved
legal practice.
In Chicago a system of routes has been established by the newspapers
which send wagons out with the different editions published each day
to supply the men who control the delivery and sale of newspapers in
the various districts. These route men employ boys to deliver for them
to regular customers and also to sell on street corners on a
commission basis. In Boston, ex-newsboys known as "Canada Points" are
employed by the publishers at a fixed salary to distribute the
editions by wholesale among the twenty odd places in the city from
which the street sellers are supplied.
_Ages, Earnings and Character of the Work_
The following individual cases will serve to illustrate the various
forms this business takes. One nineteen-year-old boy paid $65 for his
corner in Cincinnati about five years ago; he now earns from $4 to $5
a day clear and would not sell the location for many times its cost.
He works there from 11 A.M. to 6.30 P.M. on week days, starting an
hour earlier on Saturdays, while on Sundays he delivers the morning
newspapers over a route to regular customers. Two boys of about twelve
years of age work for him, to one of whom he pays 25 cents a day and
to the other 30 cents a day; their duties are to hawk the different
editions and to dispose of as many copies as possible by hopping the
street cars and offering the papers to pedestrians from 3.45 to 6.30
P.M. daily on week days. If they do not hustle and make a large number
of sales, they lose their job.
A corner in another part of the city is "owned" by a thirteen-year-old
boy who earns about 80 cents a day clear for himself in eight hours,
and on Saturdays in nine hours. He has two boys working for him on
commission, to whom he pays one cent for every four papers sold; they
average about 15 cents a day apiece for three hours' work. When
questioned, these commission boys admitted that they could make more
money if working for themselves, but in that case would have to work
until all the copies they had bought were sold, while on the
commission plan they did not have to shoulder so much responsibility.
Regulations made by the circulation managers of newspapers concerning
the return of unsold copies greatly affect the newsboys' business.
Naturally these regulations are made with an eye to extending the
circulation. Corner boys are allowed to return only one copy out of
every ten bought, being reimbursed by the office for its cost.
Consequently they urge their newsboy employees and commission workers
to put forth every effort to dispose of the supply purchased. The
independent sellers are never permitted to return any unsold copies,
except in the case of certain energetic boys who can be relied upon to
work hard in any event. These are known as "hustlers," and owing to
their having won the confidence of the circulation manager they are
granted the special privilege of returning at cost all copies they
have been unable to sell.
In Boston, beginners are often on a commission basis; "in this way
they secure the advice and protection of the more experienced while
serving their apprenticeship. These _strikers_, as they are called,
keep one cent for every four collected; few of them earn more than 25
cents a day, while many of them earn less than 10."[43]
An eleven-year-old Jewish boy who has been a newsboy for several years
now controls a comparatively quiet corner in Cincinnati, where he nets
from 40 to 50 cents a day, working about three hours. This boy's
father and mother are both living.
Submission to older persons is natural among children, and an
interesting instance of tyranny over small boys by adults was found in
the case of a newspaper employee who works inside the plant and
employs several young boys to sell newspapers on the streets for him.
These boys together earn about $1.30 when working about seven hours,
but only half of this amount goes into their pockets, the other half
being paid to their "employer." In New York City certain busy sections
having points of strategic value are under the control of men who
employ small boys to do the real work for a mere pittance, usually the
price of admission to a moving-picture show. However, under certain
circumstances, these little fellows often display a sturdy spirit of
independence. An amusing instance is innocently recorded by an old
wartime report of a newsboys' home: "It had been decided to give the
boys a free dinner on Sundays, on condition that they attend the
Sunday School; but last Sunday they desired the Matron to say that
they were able and willing to pay for the dinner."[44]
Independent newsboys must not stand in the territory controlled by
another; they must select some uncontrolled spot, or else run about
hither and yon, selling where they can. Under the unwritten law of
this business a boy who chances to sell in another's territory must
give the corner boy the money and receive a newspaper in exchange;
this results the same as if the corner boy himself had made the sale.
The earnings of these independent boys range from 15 to 65 cents daily
out of school hours, while on Saturdays they make from $1 to $1.50
working from 11 A.M. to 6.30 P.M.
An eleven-year-old lad who has been a newsboy for three years, selling
on his own account, disposes of most of his copies in saloons located
in the middle of a busy square, earning from 50 cents to $1.25 a day
even when attending school. His mother and father are both living.
Another example of this class is a sixteen-year-old boy who devotes
all his time to the trade, his net income averaging about $7.50 per
week. His attitude toward regular work is both interesting and
significant; he hopes to get a better job, but says that although he
has hunted for one, so little is offered for what he can do ($2 to $3
per week) that it would hardly suffice for spending money. Discussing
this difference between factory wages and street-trading profits, an
English report says: "Working from 11 A.M. to 7 or 8 P.M., with
intervals for gambling, newsboys over 14 years old can make from
10_s._ to 14_s._ a week if they have an ordinary share of alertness.
In a factory or foundry, working from 6 A.M. to 6 P.M., a boy earns
about 13_s._ a week. The comparison needs no comment. The excitement
of their career tends to make them more and more reluctant to work
steadily.... Many newsboys protest that they want more permanent work,
but they rarely keep it when it is found for them."[45] The life of
the streets lacks the discipline involved in steady work and fixed
earnings.
As an example of the route boy there is a fourteen-year-old lad in
Cincinnati who has a list of fifty customers to whom he delivers
newspapers regularly, earning in this way 25 cents daily, delivering
after school hours. He declares that he finds it much easier to work
on a route than to sell on the corners or at random.
The morning papers employ a man as circulation manager for the
residence districts who controls all the corners in those sections.
When a corner becomes vacant, he assigns a youth to it. These older
boys are not to sell their corners nor to dispose of them in any way,
nor are they allowed to have any one working for them; they must "hop"
all the street cars passing their corners and are expected to put
forth every effort to accomplish a great number of sales. They get
their supply of copies at the branch office at 5 A.M., hurrying then
to their corners, where they remain until nearly noon, averaging in
this time from $2 to $3 per day clear. Nearly all of the afternoon
papers sold in the residence districts are delivered by route boys;
after having gone over their routes, some of these boys go to the
busier localities and sell the sporting extra during the baseball
season until about seven o'clock.
_Environment_
Strong emphasis was laid upon the evils of street trading by the New
York Child Welfare Exhibit of 1911, the Committee on Work and Wages
declaring that "The ordinary newsboy is surrounded by influences that
are extremely bad, because (1) of the desultory nature of his work;
(2) of the character of street life; and (3) of the lack of
discipline or restraint in this work. The occupation is characterized
by 'rush hours,' during which the boy will work himself into
exhaustion trying to keep pace with his trade, and long hours in which
there is little or nothing to do, during which the boy has unlimited
opportunities to make such use of the street freedom as he sees fit.
During these light hours newsboys congregate in the streets and commit
many acts of vandalism. They learn all forms of petty theft and
usually are accomplished in most of the vices of the street. In
building up their routes, the boys often include places of the most
degrading and detrimental character. On the economic side, the loss is
due to failure of the occupation to furnish any training for
industrial careers."[46]
The irregularity of newsboys' meals and the questionable character of
their food form one of the worst features of street work and are a
real menace to health. Many newsboys are in the habit of eating
hurriedly at lunch counters at intervals during the day and night,
while some snatch free lunches in saloons. In New York City their
diet has been found to consist chiefly of "such hostile ingredients as
frankfürters, mince pies, doughnuts, ham sandwiches, cakes and
'sinkers'."[47] The use of stimulants is common, and the demand for
them is to be expected because of the nervous strain of the work.
Liquor is not consumed to any appreciable extent by street-trading
children, but coffee is a favorite beverage. In the largest cities,
where "night gangs" are found, from four to six bowls of coffee are
usually taken every evening. Tobacco is used in great quantities and
in all its forms; many boys even appease their hunger for the time by
smoking cigarettes, and the smallest "newsies" are addicted to the
habit. Evidence that this is not a recent development among street
workers is found in a report made nearly a quarter of a century ago,
which, with reference to newsboys, says "many of them soon spend their
gains in pool rooms, low places of amusement and for the poisonous
cigarette."[48]
An English report on the street traders of Manchester says:
"Drunkenness is rare among these boys ... they are in many ways
attractive; but the closer our acquaintance grows with them the more
overwhelming does this propensity to gambling appear. Indeed, it may
reasonably be said that the whole career of the street trader is one
long game of chance.... They tend to become more and more unwilling to
work hard; they are the creatures of accident and lose the power of
foresight; they never form habits of thrift; and their word can be
taken only by those who have learnt how to interpret it."[49]
There are tricks in newspaper selling as well as in other trades, and
children are not slow to learn them. A careful observer cannot fail to
note that certain newsboys seem always to be without change. Their
patrons are generally in a hurry and willingly sacrifice the change
from a nickel, even priding themselves on their unselfishness in thus
helping to relieve the supposed poverty of the newsboys. As a matter
of fact, such an act does real harm, for it arouses the cupidity of
boys and leads them to believe that honesty is not the best policy.
The temptation for newsboys to develop into "short change artists" is
an ever present one, for the bustle of the street creates a most
favorable condition for the practice of such frauds. Yet in spite of
the many temptations which assail them, numbers of newsboys are
scrupulously exact in the matter of making change, even under the most
trying circumstances. Another common form of deceit, used to play upon
the sympathy of passers-by, is practiced after nightfall by boys of
all ages in offering a solitary newspaper for sale and crying in
plaintive tone, "Please, mister, buy my last paper?" A kind-hearted
person readily falls a victim to this ruse, and as soon as he has
passed by, the newsboy draws another copy from his hidden supply and
repeats his importuning. Commenting on these features of street
trading, Dr. Charles P. Neill, United States Commissioner of Labor,
has said: "Unless the child is cast in the mold of heroic virtue, the
newsboy trade is a training in either knavery or mendicancy. Nowhere
else are the wits so sharpened to look for the unfair advantage,
nowhere else is the unfortunate lesson so early learned that
dishonesty and trickery are more profitable than honesty, and that
sympathy coins more pennies than does industry."[50]
_Hours_
Work at unseasonable hours is most disastrous in its effects upon
growing children, and the newspaper trade is one that engages the
labor of boys in our larger cities at all hours of the night. This
fact is not generally known. A prominent social worker recently said:
"I was astounded to find the other day that my newspaper comes to me
in Chicago every morning because two little boys, one twelve and the
other thirteen, get it at half-past two at night. These little boys,
who go to school, carry papers around so that we get them in the
morning at four o'clock all the year around. They are working for a
man with whom we contract for our newspapers. I was quite shocked in
St. Louis twice this fall (1908) to find a girl five or six years of
age selling newspapers near the railroad station in the worst part of
town after dark. We hear a great deal of sentimental talk about
newsboys' societies doing so much for newsboys, but they do not seem
to care anything for work of this kind."[51] In passing it may be
remarked that in the city of Toledo there is an active association
organized for the benefit of newsboys, which openly encourages street
work by boys of from eight to seventeen years. The manager insists
that such work affords the means of alleviating the poverty in the
families of these boys, but upon inquiry it was found that he had
never heard of the provision for the financial relief of such cases of
child labor, which is made by the Ohio law, and which had been, at the
time, most successfully administered for three years by the Board of
Education of his own city.
The Chicago newspapers have their Sunday editions distributed on
Saturday night, consequently the newsboys are up all night so as to
assure prompt service to patrons. In the absence of public opinion in
the matter, this abuse flourishes unrestricted, and the children's
health is sacrificed to meet the demand for news. Agents of the
Chicago Vice Commission reported having seen boys from ten to fifteen
years of age selling morning papers at midnight Saturday in the evil
districts of the city.[52]
The early rising of newsboys to deliver the morning week-day editions
also contributes to the breaking down of their health. The old adage
is a mockery in their case. There is abundant testimony relative to
the evil effects of such untimely work. "Children who go to school and
sell papers get up so early in the morning that they are so stupid
during the day they cannot do anything. That was clearly demonstrated
to me during my experience in teaching school."[53]
Another teacher said: "I have had instances in school where children
have gone to sleep over their tasks because they got up at two or
three o'clock in the morning to put out city lights and to sell
papers. In those instances we wanted the parents to take the children
away from their work. Where they would not do it, we prosecuted them
for contributing to the delinquency of their children."[54]
The delivery of newspapers by young boys in the strictly residence
sections of cities appears to be unobjectionable, yet even this simple
work should be under restriction as to hours, because otherwise the
boys would continue to rise at unseemly hours of the night in order to
reach the branch offices in time to get the newspapers fresh from the
press. In fact, every phase of street work should be under control.
Dr. Harold E. Jones, medical inspector of schools to the Essex County
Council, has testified that among the most injurious forms of labor
performed by boys is the early morning delivery of newspapers and
milk.[55] In his Report on Child Labor Legislation in Europe, Mr. C.
W. A. Veditz states, "Delivering milk before school in the morning
must be condemned, because it fatigues the children so that they
become, to say the least, intellectually less receptive."[56]
In his article on "The Newsboy at Night in Philadelphia,"[57] Mr.
Scott Nearing gives a graphic account of conditions in the City of
Brotherly Love. Although this description was written some years ago,
local social workers find that the same conditions still obtain, as
there is neither law nor ordinance to bring about a change. In this
city the closing of the theaters at eleven o'clock marks the beginning
of Saturday night's work. The last editions of the evening newspapers
are offered at this time, often as a cloak for begging. After the
theater, the restaurant patrons are available as customers until
midnight. Then the morning papers begin to come from the press, and
the newsboys abandon their begging and gambling and rush to the
offices for their supplies. A load of forty pounds is often carried by
the smallest newsboys, hurrying along the streets in the early morning
hours. The cream of the business is done at this time, for most of the
purchasers are more or less intoxicated and therefore inclined to be
generous with tips and indifferent as to change; sometimes a newsboy
takes in as much money on Saturday night and Sunday morning as during
the entire remainder of the week. In relating his experiences, Mr.
Nearing says, "On one night we saw fifteen boys in a group just as the
policeman was chasing them out of Chinatown at half-past three Sunday
morning; the youngest boy was clearly not over ten and the oldest was
barely sixteen." At this hour the officers of the law interfere and
quell the revels of the district. The open gratings in sidewalks
through which warm air comes from basements, are then sought, and here
the boys pass the time dozing until dawn, when they go abroad again to
cry the Sunday papers.
_Home Conditions--Poverty_
One of the reasons why the public is so indulgent toward the street
worker is that it takes for granted that the child is making a manly
effort to support a widowed mother and several starving little
brothers and sisters. Mrs. Florence Kelley calls this "perverted
reasoning" and scores the public which "unhesitatingly places the
burden of the decrepit adult's maintenance upon the slender shoulders
of the child."[58] Poverty has been made an excuse for child labor
from time immemorial by those who profit by the system. Newspapers are
not an exception to the rule; the newsboys extend their circulation
and incidentally give them free advertising in the streets--hence they
see nothing but good in the newsboys' work and fight lustily to defend
what they claim to be the mainstay of the widows. That this popular
impression and appealing argument are false and without justification
has been shown by students of the problem everywhere. The following
table gives the family condition of Cincinnati newsboys:--
Both parents dead 12
Father dead 239
Mother dead 69
Both parents living 1432
----
Total 1752
Through a special inquiry it was found that in only 363 cases out of
this total were the earnings of the children really needed. These 1752
children, ten to thirteen years of age, were licensed from July to
December, 1909; their distribution as to age was as follows:--
10 years 303
11 years 348
12 years 564
13 years 537
----
Total 1752
Upon investigation of the home conditions of several hundred newsboys
in New York City it was declared that "in the majority of cases
parents are not dependent on the boys' earnings. The poverty
plea--that boys must sell papers to help widowed mothers or disabled
fathers--is, for the most part, gross exaggeration."[59]
Concerning a study of Chicago newsboys, Myron E. Adams says, "A
careful investigation of the records of the Charity Organization
Society shows that of the 1000 newsboys investigated, the names of but
sixteen families are found, and of these ... only four received direct
help, such as coal, clothing or food."[60]
Mr. Scott Nearing says: "In many cases the boys want to go on the
streets in order to have the pocket money which this life affords, and
the ignorant or indifferent parents make no objections, but take the
street life as a matter of course. Sometimes, though not nearly as
often as is generally supposed, there is real need for the
selling."[61]
The British interdepartmental committee appointed in 1901 to inquire
into the employment of school children, denounced the tolerance of
street trading on the ground of necessity: "We think that in framing
regulations with regard to child labour and school attendance ... the
poverty of the child or its parents ought not to be made a test of the
right to labour.... We do not think it is needed; we think that all
children should have liberty to work as much and in such ways as is
good for them and no more."[62]
Another argument in favor of street trading advanced by those who are
interested in maintaining present conditions, is that it affords a
splendid training for a business career because of the competition
that rages among the boys. This is doubtless true, as far as it goes,
but the great difficulty is that street trading leads nowhere. It is a
blind alley that sooner or later leaves its followers helpless against
the solid wall of skilled labor's competition. An occupation that fits
a boy for _nothing_ and is devoid of _prospects_, is a curse rather
than a blessing in this day of specialization. In spite of the
division of labor so elaborately realized to-day, a boy or girl who
enters any of the regular industries has at least a fighting chance
for acquiring a trade. If the child is honest, capable and diligent he
will be promoted to a better position in time if misfortune does not
overtake him. The trapper boy in a coal mine is in a fair way to
become a miner. The lad who works in a machine shop has the
opportunity to make a machinist of himself. The girl who begins as a
wrapper in a dry goods shop may become a saleswoman, and then possibly
a buyer for her department. Yet in most states children may not enter
upon such work until they have reached the age of fourteen years,
while some states prohibit boys under sixteen years from being
employed in mines or in connection with dangerous machinery either in
machine shops or elsewhere. Bitter experience has taught us that these
restrictions are right and just, and we now have no hesitancy in
barring young children from such employment, regardless of the
training it affords. Why, then, do we exempt many forms of street work
from the operation of the law? Why do we allow little children to
work at any age, both night and day, as newsboys, bootblacks and
peddlers in the essentially dangerous environment of the street? Such
employment offers but a gloomy future--the useless life of the casual
worker. There is no better position to which it leads, no chance for
the discovery and development of ability, no reward for good service.
It seems incredible that we have been so engrossed with throwing
safeguards about the children in regular industries that we have
altogether neglected the street worker, for the arguments against
child labor in factories, mills, mines and retail shops apply with
even greater force to the work of children in our city streets.
_Better Substitutes_
There is no reason why newsboys should not be replaced as the medium
for the sale and delivery of newspapers by old men, cripples, the
tuberculous and those otherwise incapacitated for regular work. In
London, the _Westminster Gazette_, the _Pall Mall Gazette_, the
_Evening Standard_ and the _Globe_ (all penny papers) are sold in the
streets by old men; the _Westminster Gazette_ pays them a wage of
1_s._ for selling eighteen copies and after having disposed of this
number they are given a commission of 8_d._ a quire of twenty-six
copies, a few men selling from six to eight quires a day. This
newspaper has followed this method for many years, and its general
manager declares that it is the most satisfactory system that they
have been able to evolve. Boys have no sense of responsibility, while
old men cling to their posts very faithfully. He admitted that the
_Westminster Gazette_ employed some boys as carriers and that the
whole subject lay somewhat heavily on his conscience because,
"practically speaking, these boys have no future ... a few of them may
become cyclists carrying the newspapers ... in a few years their
usefulness as cyclists has gone ... then they simply drift away, we
don't know where, but we do know that they drift to places like
Salvation Army Shelters, etc. How they earn their living is always one
of the mysteries of London.... But they have learned nothing from us,
nothing that gives them any usefulness for any other occupation....
The great majority become casual labourers dependent entirely on
casual work.... It is a life in which very little is gained, although
one would suppose that the open air would be of great benefit. But
one must remember the insufficient food that these street traders
have, and the bad conditions of living and the irregular hours. Many
of these boys, of course, are up all hours of the night.... It is
quite as bad for a boy in the long run to be engaged as a carrier
distributor as for him to sell newspapers in the street. There is no
possible argument for the system except that one's competitors do it,
and that so long as they do it we must do the same.... We get
practically all our men from Salvation Army and Church Army Shelters.
There is an abundant supply.... The ordinary man whom we employ is
over fifty years of age and runs up to about seventy years.... I think
if the police would give us every facility for introducing kiosks it
would be a great improvement upon the present system. If boys were
prohibited from selling newspapers altogether on the streets, it would
automatically send the public to the kiosk; ... the public get into
the habit of getting the newspapers from the boys."[63]
It should be remembered in connection with the above statements that
the _Westminster Gazette_ is a penny paper, and its manager was of
opinion that the half-penny papers could not afford to employ men
because they depended largely for their circulation upon the
persistence of newsboys in thrusting copies upon the attention of
people in the streets; he believed that the use of old men would
curtail their circulation because men are not so active as boys. On
the other hand, news agents protested against the competition of
street traders and maintained that they alone were fully able to meet
the demands of the public. The departmental committee of 1910
reported: "There can, we think, be little doubt that an active child
is an effective agent in promoting the circulation of half-penny
papers, and that if the employment of children were forbidden,
newspapers would have to rely upon facilities of a more staid and less
mobile character. But we see no reason to think that purchasers of
newspapers need be put to any inconvenience, since the news agents
would be in a position considerably to extend their business, and it
might reasonably be expected that the system of employing old men as
salesmen would also be developed. It appears to us economically
unjustifiable to use children to their own detriment for work which
can be done by other means."[64]
Referring to the great possibilities for good involved in confining
the sale and delivery of newspapers to adults who need outdoor work
and are unable to provide for themselves in other ways, the Secretary
of the New York Child Labor Committee says: "Where such cities as
Paris and Berlin do entirely without newsboys--corner stands taking
their places--it would seem that the least that can be done in
American cities is to adopt some adequate system of regulation. In
this connection, the opportunity presented in newspaper selling to
give work to the aged and handicapped--who otherwise would have to be
supported by private charity--should not be overlooked."[65]
_The Newsboys' Court_
In an effort to control to some extent the tendency of newsboys to
become delinquent and to imbue them with a sense of personal
responsibility, an interesting experiment in juvenile suffrage and
jurisprudence has been undertaken in Boston.
During the year 1909, about three hundred newsboys were taken before
the juvenile court of that city charged with violation of the local
license rules. As the docket of this court was crowded, these newsboy
cases were necessarily delayed, and as a result of this situation the
boys conceived the idea of establishing a newsboys' court which should
have jurisdiction in all cases of failure to observe the rules
governing their trade. The following year a petition was presented to
the Boston School Committee which was favorably acted upon by that
body, and accordingly on the regular election day of that year the
newsboys cast their ballots to select three juvenile judges of the
court. These three boys, together with two adults appointed by the
School Committee, compose the court. Election of these boy judges is
held annually, and all licensed newsboys who attend the public schools
are qualified electors. The court is empowered to investigate and
report its findings with recommendations to the School Committee in
all cases of infraction of the newsboy rules. Under the Massachusetts
law the School Committee is authorized to regulate street trading by
children under fourteen years of age, hence the newsboys are subject
to purely local supervision. The supervisor of licensed minors, also
an appointee of the School Committee, can, in his discretion, take
complaints in his department before the newsboys' court instead of the
juvenile court. The newsboy judges are paid fifty cents for their
attendance at each official session of the court. The charges made
before the Trial Board, as the Boston newsboys' court is called, range
from selling without a badge or after eight o'clock in the evening or
on street cars, to bad conduct, irregular school attendance, gambling
or smoking. The disposition of these cases varies from reprimands and
warnings to probation or suspension of license for a definite period,
or complete revocation of license.[66]
_Summary_
Although the work of selling newspapers has been, to some extent,
subdivided and systematized by circulation managers, it has so many
features highly objectionable for children that a radical departure
from present methods of handling this business should be taken. We
know that the work of the newsboy lacks the oversight and discipline
of adults, that it exposes the children to the varied physical dangers
lurking in the streets, that the early and late hours cause fatigue,
that the opportunities for bad companionship are frequent, that
irregularity of meals and use of stimulants tend to weaken their
constitutions, that it offers no chance for promotion and leads
nowhere. We know further that the presence of the newsboy in our
streets cannot be justified on the ground of poverty. It has been
demonstrated in other countries that children are not essential to the
sale and delivery of newspapers; in fact, it has been shown that
selling at stands and the use of men instead of children in the
streets are both feasible and satisfactory. Why cannot such practices
be introduced into the United States? There can be but little doubt as
to the advisability of this step, but the innovation will certainly
not be made voluntarily by the newspapers. The law must force the
issue by prohibiting street work by children.