News and Media: True Story of Newsies

By Lorelie Brown

Oh, Christian Bale. He's come a long way, hasn't he, from fresh-faced Jack Kelly in Newsies to the grownup version of himself? Let's take a moment to make a scientific comparison. Yes, that's a good idea. We're all about academic inquiry here at Unusual Historicals.


But did you know that the story of a youth-led strike was based on a true story? The original wasn't nearly cheery enough to have song and dance though, I can promise you that.

In the late 1800s, the newsboys were the lifeblood of the newspaper publishing industry. They were the primary distribution system for almost every newspaper and stood on street corners hawking their wares. Never well received because of their loud screams, they were endured. And they endured as well--crappy as hell living conditions. They were poor. Dirt poor. They usually slept on the streets and often slept right in front of the newspaper offices so they could be the first ones to buy their bundles of papers and get to selling. Thousands upon thousands of them. No coats, no shoes for many of them, and no education.

They weren't allowed to return the bundles of papers they bought. If they didn’t sell them all, they were screwed. Even if they sold every paper they got, their max income was around 30 cents a day.

During the Spanish-American War in 1898, most papers raised the cost for a newsies to buy a bundle to 60 cents. No big deal, because they were moving almost all of them. But then the war ended, and circulation rates returned to normal. But the New York World, owned by Joseph Pulitzer--yeah, that Pulitzer, and New York Morning Journal, owned by William Randolph Hearst, kept their rates the same. Why should they lower the cost? They were making more money and the only ones who paid for it were the newsboys.

In 1899, they’d had enough. The newsies went on strike and refused to sell either the World or the Journal. Rallies were held and gathered more than 5,000 striking newsboys. The most charismatic speaker was Kid Blink, so named because he was blind in one eye, but he was often humiliated in the very papers he was striking against by having his speeches transcribed as a faithful report of his accent and dialect. He was arrested on disorderly conduct charges at least once while leading the strike, but bailed out and continued on.

Though Pulitzer and Hearst never did lower the price of a newspaper bundle back down to 50 cents, they finally did agree to buy back unsold papers. The newsie union disbanded, and as far as I can tell Kid Blink was never heard from again.

News and Media: William Randolph Hearst

By Isabel Roman

You shouldn't believe everything your read. Predatory pricing, outrageous propaganda, and questionable advertising--no, I don't refer to Walmart, Target, or Amazon, but to the practices of William Randolph Hearst. He was one of the original national snake oil salesmen.

In 1896, Hearst and his New York Morning Journal later New York Journal--American went head to head with the more popular New York World newspaper. He under-priced them by selling his paper at a mere 1¢ and began a systematic alternation of the paper's news practices designed to trounce the New York World.

Upton Sinclair, in his 1919 The Brass Check, accused Hearst's "Universal News Bureau" of re-writing the news of the London morning papers in the Hearst office in New York and then fraudulently sending it out to American afternoon newspapers under the by-lines of imaginary names of non-existent "Hearst correspondents" in London, Paris, Venice, Rome, Berlin, and so on.

He made up stories from nothing and often exaggerated the story around simple incidences. He could sensationalize a young boy scraping his knee into a horrific accident where all four limbs were lost. Remember the Maine? Hearst made sure every American did, hence the Spanish-American War.

His were not the first predatory business practices in the U.S. but they were the most defining in American media.

Today, I could name the tabloids of The Star, The Worldwide News, The National Enquire, and The Sun, but these days the more established media such as The New York Times seem to be following suit. Yellow Journalism, unfortunately, seems to be with us still today.

The Forgotten American War

"A SPLENDID LITTLE WAR." JOHN MILTON HAY, U. S. Secretary Of State

"In 1814 we took a little trip, along with Col. Jackson down the mighty Mississip. . ." Oops, wrong war.

In most U. S. History classes, the Spanish American War is a blip in the curriculum. However, without this war the United States would not be the world power it is today.

The tensions began in 1823 when President James Monroe issued "The Monroe Doctrine." In it President Monroe asserted that the United States would prevent further European influence in the Western Hemisphere, in other words, no more European colonies in the Americas.

By the time the Battleship Maine exploded on February 15, 1898, the Cuban Insurrection had been going on for two years. War was not declared until April 22, 1898. The U. S. Blockaded the Spanish Fleet in Santiago Harbor. The first ground troops did not land until June 6, 1898.

Patriotic fever swept the country. Americans were outraged at the barbarous act of sinking one of our ships. Teddy Roosevelt was not immune to the call to duty. He resigned his post as Under Secretary of the Navy, and joined Col. Leonard Woods First Volunteer Cavalry "The Rough Riders." Bet you thought Teddy was the commander? Wrong, he was just a lieutenant.

There had been minor skirmishes outside the city of Santiago de Cuba, but July 1st is the date that will be remembered.

San Juan Heights had two attack points the village of El Caney and San Juan Hill. Both were hilltop fortifications. At both places, the Spanish soldiers were well placed to withstand an attack.

The order was given to charge both locations. The Spanish were out numbered at El Caney twelve to one, on San Juan Hill sixteen to one. But before the day was over it was clear that the American Army had underestimated the military skill of the Spanish soldiers.

American losses totaled 1,385; 205 dead and 1, 180 wounded. Spanish losses were 215 killed, 376 wounded, and 2 taken prisoner for a total of 593.

Although this was much less than the American total, the casualties amounted to approximately half of the Spanish defenders. They made a heroic stand.

In addition to the usual dangers involved in war, soldiers in Cuba faced yellow fever. Maj. Walter Reed and his associates in the Army Medical Corps conducted experiments with mosquitos. This led to the discovery that the bite of the Stegomyia mosquito caused yellow fever. "Before the war ended, 5,200 Americans would perish from disease." This breakthrough was responsible for the Americans being able to complete a project started and abandoned by others: the Panama Canal.

Most people generally think of the Spanish American War involved only Cuba, but this is not so. The other area of conflict was half a world away on Philippine Islands in the South Pacific.

In 1898 the Filipinos were engaged in a revolt against Spain. Rear Admiral George Dewey was the commander of the fleet that sailed into and took Manila.

Dewey did not loose a single man in the battle, and his fleet sustained little damage. After gaining victory, George Dewey showed his true generosity of spirit. He wired the President, "I am assisting in protecting the Spanish sick and wounded. Two hundred and fifty sick, and wounded are in the hospital within our lines." There was more to do in the Islands, but the stage had been set for final victory.

The results of the war were felt far into the twentieth century. The U.S. gained Guam, the Philippine Islands, Puerto Rico and the Panama Canal. It was decided that the U. S. had won, not because of superiority, but because of opponent's weakness. This led to reorganizing the Military into the branches and services that we know today, the exception being the Air Force which came into being in the early twentieth century.

The last surviving veteran of this war was Nathan Edward Cook "October 10, 1885 - September 10, 1992" was a sailor in the United States Navy during the Spanish-American War. He was recognized as the longest surviving U.S. veteran of that war "although there is a claim that Jones Morgan was a Spanish-American war veteran and survived longer." He died at age 106 and is buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of Arizona in Phoenix.

The war also changed how the U. S. viewed Europe and how Europe viewed the U.S.. Great Britain supported the U. S. in the Spanish American War. This led to pro-British sentiment. There had been a great deal of anti-British sentiment up until that time. The German leaders were most dismayed that America was gaining an Empire. According to one newspaper, the Germans were in the Philippines, not to protect the existing German interest, but to find a new interest to protect.

A new sense of national unity developed that had not been present since the start of the Civil War. President McKinley contributed greatly to this new union. He selected generals from both Civil War Armies to lead units in Cuba.

In the aftermath of the war the Monroe Doctrine became the guiding principle of the U.S. foreign policy. This policy was backed up by a military that was prepared and ready to fight. This "splendid little war" set the stage for America and her role in the twentieth century.

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