Social Issues from The Newsies | Class & Power

The Newsies strike of 1899 was able to bring many social inequities to a point of discussion. There were three main issues that the Newsies strike of 1899 were able to pinpoint: child labor, class and power, and the power of the press. I have always been passionate to learn about class and power, so I will be summarizing that topic for this article

Class and power were represented in various ways during the strike of 1899. Firstly, class difference is shown just by the difference of their habitats. Poorer citizens or early immigrants in New York at the time, were residing in places called Tenement Houses. These types of houses were unsafe and crowded. They consisted of many families which were all cramped together. Living in New York back then would’ve been an awful experience to be a part of. It was the most densely populated city, with almost 800 citizens per acre. Being crammed together with multiple people ensures a risky, and precarious environment.

The citizens that lived in these slums were forced to vote for the Tammany politicians which were a part of the Tammany Hall, a political organization. These politicians received votes based on the promises they made to those citizens experiencing poverty. They promised food, jobs, services, and proper housing. They were later found to be a corrupt organization; the politicians made profit from the projects they inaugurated and the services they provided. The Newsies strike of 1899 ensured to represent this topic because they demonstrated how the wealthier people were in charge and had a chance to vote, while the poorer Newsies were given no right to display their vote and what they wanted just because their classes and status were much lower since they did not have much money to live off.

At the same time as those new immigrants that arrived at New York, cramping into those small tenement houses, New York was also famous for being home to some of the wealthiest men in the world. There were so many differences between these people that class difference had a huge impact on lifestyle and the way people viewed you as. The Newsies strike of 1899 helped highlight this issue by addressing the fact that these poor citizens should have just of a right to be respected just as these wealthy men who take of most of the nation’s wealth and amenities. This strike was able to identify class and power as a major social issue, and it brought change to the way people thought. The politicians back then were not democratic enough to give the poor residents of the tenement houses a chance to vote. Thus, this strike made a huge impact on humanity, forcing others to bring to the recognition, that just because someone's status or class isn’t high enough, it does not mean that they can’t engage in basic human rights; being able to vote for who they choose and want to be in charge.

HISTORY:

The musical NEWSIES could be a dramatized, but overall accurate description of what life was like for kids within the U.S. back within the mid-19th to early 20th centuries. The newspaper boys (aka the “newsies”) were the first way that Americans got their papers, however, the newspaper boys were the foremost destitute group in society, and that they weren't well liked by the overall populace. The newsboys were employees of publishers (not the papers) and that they would buy the papers from the publishers and surround people on the sidewalk trying to sell them. However, they may not sell back any unsold papers. Therefore, they could make little to no money during a day (thirty cents was typical pay per day), especially if the headline wasn't captivating enough.

The war increased newspaper sales, so in 1898 publishers raised the value of papers to newsboys from fifty cents to sixty cents per 100 papers. At first, the value increase failed to affect the newsboys, but after the war, paper sales decreased. Most papers lowered their costs back off to fifty cents aside from Joseph Pulitzer’s paper, The World, and William Randolph Hearst’s paper, The Journal.

In July 1899, the newboys’ strike began when a majority of them refused to deliver these two papers. The newsboys protested on the suspension bridge, stopping traffic and threatening paper cart drivers. They threw rocks at or beat up those that did sell the banned newspapers. Other newspapers covered the newsboys’ strike which attracted public support. After two years, the strike ended when, after the papers had lost an excellent amount of cash, Hearst and Pulitzer made a cater to the newsboys. The deal was that they might keep the value of a bundle at sixty cents, but the publishers would buy any unsold papers.