On the afternoon, of Tuesday, August 16, 1904, in the magnificent
Festival Hall, at the World’s Fair, where were present hundreds of
newsboys, representing nearly every State in the Union; and newspaper
representatives from the leading papers of the country, there was
organized The National Newsboys’ Association; officers were elected and
instructions were given them to perfect the organization and adopt the
plan so successfully carried on by the Boyville Newsboys’ Association,
and having for its object the extension of the work in every town and
city in the land that there may be established fraternal relations
among newsboys everywhere in making them an important part in the
business world, honored and treated with respect by all good citizens.
While the details of the organization were being worked out, the
officers were instructed, by the trustees, to issue membership cards
and badges and to organize auxiliaries in cities and towns wherever
desired.
A year has passed since the organization of the National Newsboys’
Association, and the officers have established auxiliaries in many
cities and towns in the United States with inquiries from foreign
cities.
In the discussion regarding the formation of the constitution etc., it
was agreed that an organized association of newsboys with an enrollment
of twenty-five boys would be received into the National Association
as an auxiliary, and, in towns where there were a less number than
twenty-five newsboys, each boy could become members under the trustees
of the National Association.
No recognition of the work accomplished by the National and Boyville
Associations was so important and no greater good can be accomplished
than the official approval and endorsement by the officers of the
greatest railroads in America.
It is an undisputed fact, railroad detectives as authority, that a
majority of the young men arrested for stealing merchandise from
freight cars were once boys who sold or waited for newspapers at the
stations of our railroads.
The officers of the Boyville Association have on file congratulatory
letters from prominent railroad detectives heartily approving of the
work accomplished in trying to teach the boys who sell or wait for
papers at the stations, honesty. One detective wrote: “You are saving
the railroads thousands of dollars worth of property and a million
dollars worth of trouble.”
The railroads who have approved of the work have permitted the officers
of the National Association to issue circular letters to their agents
instructing them to allow no newsboy to sell or wait for newspapers at
the stations unless he is a member of the association and wears, while
on duty, the official badge. This simply means that newsboys to sell
or wait for papers at railroad stations must not swear, steal, lie,
smoke cigarettes or gamble. The trustees, feeling that the good work
accomplished among the newsboys would be still further advanced by
bringing the National Association to public notice, decided that the
expense of sending the newsboys’ band and cadets to Washington, to take
part in the inaugural parade of President Theodore Roosevelt on March
4, 1905, would be justified.
Correspondence with the inaugural committee proved one of the pleasant
experiences, for the recognition by the chief marshall and other
officials of the civic grand division was quickly and heartily
given. The work of completing the detail arrangements, necessarily
irksome, was so cordially conducted that the trustees felt more than
ever justified in sending the newsboys’ band and cadets, and the
vice-presidents of the various auxiliaries, in order that Boyville
could be officially represented.
“Sixty-five newsboys let loose in the city of Washington during the
inaugural ceremonies would cause the men in charge more trouble and
unhappiness, and disgrace to the city represented than the honor
gained,” was the public declaration of men who were not familiar with
what could be done by newsboys.
Satisfactory arrangements were made in all details.
To show the activity and self-responsibility of a newsboy, while the
boys were en route they stopped at Cleveland. Two hours were given them
to go where they pleased. In less than an hour the sellers said:
“We have done the town, been all through the public buildings and we’re
ready to go. We were treated like reporters.”
In Washington thirty minutes after their arrival at headquarters, the
president called a dozen boys to him and tried to tell them how to find
their hotel(?) from a given point.
[Illustration: NEWSBOYS’ BAND AND CADETS—READY TO START FOR
WASHINGTON, D. C., TO PARTICIPATE IN THE INAUGURAL PARADE OF PRESIDENT
ROOSEVELT, MARCH 4, 1905.
_See Page 55_
]
“Aw, what you trying to give us. We ain’t asleep. We’ve been round the
square, and say, president, we found a first-class eating place. It’s
out o’ sight.”
Two hours after the boys were settled, a majority of them had been
through and around nearly all of the public buildings, and were ready
“to do the White House.” When requested to report at a stated hour and
place, every boy was there on time and to the minute.
One of the greatest lessons the president learned from the trip, from
these newsboys, was the perfect control they have of themselves.
They were always happy. Always contented and satisfied with conditions.
Never complaining or borrowing trouble showing that worry is a thing
unknown to newsboys. The loss of a hat, of a piece of baggage, an
order changing contemplated plans, all were received with the same
wonderful patience and good cheer, which seem part of the nature of a
newsboy. The boy without a cent in his pocket was happier than the boy
whose parents supplied him with more money than he needed. Wherever
these boys appeared on the streets of Washington they were little
gentlemen, an honor to the city who sent them, an honor to themselves
and, an honor to the great country they represent. On the train en
route Governor Myron T. Herrick, in his address to the boys said: “I
consider it a very great honor to the state of Ohio to send from its
commonwealth such a bright lot of boys, and boys who represent our
little street merchants, boys who are destined to be the good men of
the future.”