The strike depicted in Newsies is one of ten newsies’ strikes that took place in New York City between 1886 and 1948. However, the strike that occurred during the summer of 1899 was the most significant in terms of duration and outcome.
The Spanish-American War in 1898 set the scene for the strike. In February of 1898, a battleship named the U.S.S. Maine was sunk off the coast of Cuba, killing 266 crewmen onboard. Although the cause of the explosion was still unclear, two New York newspapers claimed that the Spanish Empire sank the ship. Spain soon declared war on the U.S., and, although he wanted to avoid conflict, President William McKinley quickly followed suit by declaring war on Spain. Battles were fought in the Spanish colonies of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. Over 2,000 Americans died in the war, many from infectious diseases. A ceasefire began in August of 1898, but the war was not officially over until a treaty was signed and ratified in February of 1899. Called the Treaty of Paris, this document gave control of almost all Spanish colonies to the U.S.
The Spanish-American War had sparked a boom in the newspaper business. Circulations exploded as customers snatched up papers as fast as they could, eager for news from the front. Newspapers did everything they could to outdo one another and spent exorbitant amounts of money on eye-catching front pages and eyewitness accounts. To make up some of the money, they raised the wholesale price for the newsies from 50 to 60 cents per hundred. The newsies didn’t feel the pinch as much because they were enjoying a rise in their profits from the additional demand. But by the summer of 1899, the war had long ended and circulation declined. Almost all of the papers rolled their wholesale price back to 50 cents, except Joseph Pulitzer’s World and William Randolph Hearst’s Journal; as the two largest publishers, Hearst and Pulitzer figured that they would be able to maintain their prices and that the newsies would continue to buy from them.
As the newsies sold fewer papers each week, the cost difference became harder to manage, and a strike commenced against these two papers beginning on July 20, 1899 and ending on August 2, 1899. During that time, the kids drew support from newsies all over the Northeast, as well as other young workers. Though the kids banded together, at times things became violent – scabs (people hired by the publishers to deliver papers despite the strike) were attacked on the streets, their papers ripped from their hands and destroyed to prevent their sale. The publishers did not take the strike seriously until advertisers started making requests to get their bills adjusted. The newsies eventually came to a compromise with the publishers: They would purchase their papers at the higher price, but the publishers would buy back any papers that the newsies couldn’t sell. This was more valuable to the newsies than a lower price would have been, as it allowed them to buy papers without the risk of losing money for any that went unsold.
After the successful resolution of the newsies’ strike nearly two weeks after it began, two other children’s strikes quickly followed in New York City: The shoe-shine boys wanted a wage increase, and messengers were opposed to the 50-cent “tax” they were being charged every week for their uniforms. An irreversible revolution of child laborers had begun.
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LANGUAGE SURROUNDING DISABILITIES
The discussion over disability’s definition arose out of disability activism in the U.S. and U.K. in the 1970s, which challenged how the medical concept of disability dominated perception and discourse about disabilities. Debates about proper terminology and their implied politics continue to this day.
Words like “invalid” and “cripple” were the most common terms to refer to disability at the turn of the 20th century. “Crippled” and “crip” are used throughout Newsies: Morris, one of the Delancey brothers, uses “crip” as a slur several times; Jack comes to Crutchie’s defense, but even he refers to his friend in this way out of anger and disappointment after the failed protest; and Pulitzer references Crutchie as “crippled” when trying to manipulate Jack into ending the strike. Though historically accurate and effective in Newsies, today these terms are considered outdated and offensive to most in the disabled community.
