82-659: Louis "Kid Blink" Baletti (strike leader) David Simmons (union president) Joseph Pulitzer (publisher of the NY World ) William Randolph Hearst (publisher of the NY Journal ) The newsboys' strike of 1899 was a U.S. youth-led campaign to facilitate change in the way that Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst 's newspapers compensated their force of newsboys or newspaper hawkers . The strikers demonstrated across New York City for several days, effectively stopping circulation of
164-600: A private-sector company. A businessperson undertakes activities (commercial or industrial) to generate cash flow , sales, and revenue by using a combination of human , financial , intellectual , and physical capital to fuel economic development and growth. Since a "businessman" can mean anyone in industry or commerce , businesspeople have existed as long as industry and commerce have existed. "Commerce" can simply mean "trade", and trade has existed through all of recorded history . The first businesspeople in human history were traders or merchants . Merchants emerged as
246-511: A social class in medieval Italy (compare, for example, the Vaishya , the traditional merchant caste in Indian society). Between 1300 and 1500, modern accounting, the bill of exchange , and limited liability were invented, and thus, the world saw "the first true bankers", who were certainly businesspeople. Around the same time, Europe saw the " emergence of rich merchants. " This "rise of
328-549: A "coward." Slayback entered the Post-Dispatch offices on October 13, armed with a gun, and threatened Cockerill; Cockerill shot him dead. The story became a national sensation and turned many conservative Democrats vehemently against Pulitzer and the Post-Dispatch . After a grand jury inquest, Cockerill was never put on trial. Pulitzer replaced him with John Dillon, former owner of the Post and unlike Pulitzer and Cockerill,
410-429: A band and fireworks , but this parade never happened due to issues with obtaining a permit. On July 26, 1899, rumors spread among the newsboys that strike leaders, Kid Blink and David Simmons had betrayed the strike and agreed to sell the boycotted papers in exchange for a bribe from the newspaper executives. Both boys denied the charges, but some sources note that Kid Blink wore clothes a bit nicer than usual, indicating
492-488: A crusade to reform the corrupt St. Louis County Court. His fight against the court angered Captain Edward Augustine, Superintendent of Registration for St. Louis County. Their rivalry became so heated that on the night of January 27, Augustine confronted Pulitzer at Schmidt's Hotel and called him a "damned liar." Pulitzer left the building, returned to his room, and retrieved a four-barreled pistol. He returned to
574-462: A delegate to the 1874 Missouri Constitutional Convention representing St. Louis, arguing successfully for true home rule for the city. In 1876, Pulitzer, by now completely disillusioned with the corruption of the Republicans and their nomination of Rutherford B. Hayes , gave nearly 70 speeches in favor of Democratic candidate Samuel J. Tilden throughout the country; Schurz, who saw Hayes as
656-492: A lifelong friend there in the librarian Udo Brachvogel. He often played in the library's chess room, where Carl Schurz noticed his aggressive style. Pulitzer greatly admired the German-born Schurz, an emblem of the success attainable by a foreign-born citizen through his own energies and skills. In 1868, Pulitzer was admitted to the bar , but his broken English and odd appearance kept clients away. He struggled with
738-736: A line. When he was done, the lawyers gave him desk space and allowed him to study law in their library to prepare for the bar. Pulitzer displayed a flair for reporting. He would work 16 hours a day – from 10 am to 2 am. He was nicknamed "Joey the German" or "Joey the Jew". He joined the Philosophical Society and frequented a German bookstore where many intellectuals hung out. Among his new group of friends were Joseph Keppler and Thomas Davidson . Pulitzer joined Schurz's Republican Party . On December 14, 1869, Pulitzer attended
820-421: A loss for the day. The newsboys accepted this compromise, ended the strike and disbanded the union on August 2, 1899. The leadership of the newsboy strike was less centralized than most unions, with boys in each neighborhood feeling more loyalty to the other boys in their area than to the centralized leadership. That said, some boys were more influential than others, organizing rallies, acting as spokespeople for
902-701: A million copies a day and opened the way to mass-circulation newspapers that depended on advertising revenue (rather than cover price or political party subsidies) and appealed to readers with multiple forms of news, gossip, entertainment and advertising. Pulitzer's name is best known for the Pulitzer Prizes established in 1917 as a result of the specified endowment in his will to Columbia University . The prizes are given annually to recognize and reward excellence in American journalism, photography, literature, history, poetry, music, and drama. Pulitzer also funded
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#1732772107520984-493: A new kind of businessperson, the capitalist . These people owned or financed businesses as investors, but they were not merchants of goods. These capitalists were a major force in the Industrial Revolution . The Oxford English Dictionary reports the earliest known use of the word "business-men" in 1798, and of "business-man" in 1803. By 1860, the spelling "businessmen" had emerged. Merriam Webster reports
1066-622: A price increase that at the time was offset by the increased sales. After the war, many papers reduced the cost back to previous levels, with the notable exceptions of The Evening World and the New York Evening Journal . On July 18, 1899, a group of newsboys in Long Island City turned over a distribution wagon for the New York Journal . In City Hall Park a day later, they declared a strike against
1148-640: A profit of half a cent per paper. There were newsboy strikes several years before the events of 1899, including those in 1886 , 1887 , and 1889 . The last notable strike that the newsboys held against the World and the Journal was in August 1889 . In 1898, with the Spanish–American War increasing newspaper sales, several publishers raised the cost of a newsboy's bundle of 100 newspapers from 50¢ to 60¢,
1230-656: A reformer with integrity, returned to the Republican fold. In his speeches, Pulitzer denounced Schurz and urged reconciliation between North and South. While on his speaking tour, Pulitzer also wrote dispatches to the New York Sun on behalf of the Samuel Tilden 1876 presidential campaign . After Tilden's narrow defeat under dubious circumstances , Pulitzer became disillusioned with his candidate's indecision and timid response; he would oppose Tilden's 1880 run for
1312-459: A well-respected, conservative native of the city. However, the incident permanently damaged Pulitzer's reputation in the city, and he began to seek opportunities elsewhere. In April 1883, the Pulitzer family traveled to New York, ostensibly to start a European vacation, but actually so that Joseph could make an offer to Jay Gould for ownership of the morning New York World . Gould had acquired
1394-447: A year in office. In 1895, William Randolph Hearst purchased the rival New York Journal , which at one time had been owned by Pulitzer's brother, Albert . Hearst had once been a great admirer of Pulitzer's World . The two embarked on a circulation war. This competition with Hearst, particularly the coverage before and during the Spanish–American War , linked Pulitzer's name with yellow journalism . Pulitzer and Hearst were also
1476-404: Is a person who sets up a business or multiple businesses ( serial entrepreneur ). Entrepreneurship may be defined as the creation or extraction of economic value . It is generally thought to embrace risks beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business. Its motivation can include other values than simply economic ones. In general usage, because the distinction is not clear-cut,
1558-459: The St. Louis Post and Dispatch (soon renamed the Post-Dispatch ) on December 12. With his own paper, Pulitzer developed his role as a champion of the common man, featuring exposés and a hard-hitting populist approach. The paper was considered a leader in the field of sensational journalism . The circulation of the Post-Dispatch steadily rose during Pulitzer's early tenure (aided by the collapse of
1640-529: The 1880 Democratic National Convention , over Hyde's objection. Though Pulitzer could not convince Horatio Seymour , his preferred candidate, to run, the Democrats did not renominate Tilden. In March 1882, the two men even came to physical blows on Olive Street but were separated by a crowd before either was injured. In 1880, Pulitzer made a second run for public office, this time for United States Representative from Missouri's second district . However, he
1722-617: The Butte, Montana newsboys' strike of 1914, and a 1920s strike in Louisville, Kentucky . Some decades later, the introduction of urban child-welfare practices led to improvements in the newsboys' quality of life. The newsboys were fictionalized in 1942 by DC Comics as the Newsboy Legion , first appearing in issue number 7 of Star Spangled Comics and continuing therein, through issue 64, as well as in various forms, including
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#17327721075201804-533: The Columbia School of Journalism with his philanthropic bequest; it opened in 1912. He was born as Pulitzer József (name order by Hungarian custom) in Makó , about 200 km south-east of Budapest , the son of Elize (Berger) and Fülöp Pulitzer (born Politzer). The Pulitzers were among several Jewish families living in the area and had established a reputation as merchants and shopkeepers. Joseph's father
1886-745: The Lincoln Cavalry on September 30, 1864. He was a part of Sheridan's troopers , in the 1st New York Cavalry Regiment in Company L, joining the regiment in Virginia in November 1864, and fighting in the Appomattox Campaign , before being mustered out on June 5, 1865. Although he spoke German, Hungarian, and French, Pulitzer learned little English until after the war, as his regiment was composed mostly of German immigrants. After
1968-513: The New York World, through 1915. When Pulitzer purchased the World , New York City, though overwhelmingly Democratic, did not have a major Democratic newspaper. The Tribune (under Whitelaw Reid) and Times were ardently Republican and the Sun (under Charles Dana ) and Herald were independent. In the first issue under his ownership, Pulitzer announced the paper would be "dedicated to
2050-735: The World the largest newspaper in the country. Pulitzer emphasized broad appeal through short, provocative headlines and sentences; the World's self-described style was "brief, breezy and briggity." His World featured illustrations, advertising, and a culture of consumption for working men. Crusades for reform and entertainment news were two main staples for the World . Pulitzer explained that: The American people want something terse, forcible, picturesque, striking, something that will arrest their attention, enlist their sympathy, arouse their indignation, stimulate their imagination, convince their reason, [and] awaken their conscience. In 1887, he recruited
2132-528: The 1992 movie musical, Newsies , which was adapted for Broadway on March 29, 2012. At the turn of the century, newsboys were essential to newspaper distribution. While morning editions of the paper were often delivered directly to subscribers, the afternoon editions relied almost exclusively on newsboys to sell. Most of the newsboys came from poor immigrant families and sold papers in the afternoons and evenings, after their school activities. They bought papers at 50¢ per hundred, and sold them at 1 cent each, for
2214-468: The Democratic nomination. Pulitzer returned to St. Louis to practice law and search for future opportunities in news. On his thirtieth birthday, Pulitzer's home at the old Southern Hotel burned to the ground, likely destroying most of his personal belongings and papers. On December 9, 1878, Pulitzer bought the moribund St. Louis Dispatch and merged it with John Dillon's St. Louis Post , forming
2296-476: The Democratic ticket. Pulitzer's own views were in line with Democratic orthodoxy on low tariffs, and limited federal powers; his prior opposition to the Democrats was out of disgust for slavery and the Confederate rebellion. Pulitzer campaigned for the Democratic ticket throughout the state and published a damaging rumor (leaked by future Senator George Vest ) that Gentry had sold a slave. He also served as
2378-571: The German Henry C. Brockmeyer ; and William Torrey Harris . Pulitzer studied Brockmeyer, who was famous for translating Hegel , and he "would hang on Brockmeyer's thunderous words, even as he served them pretzels and beer." He was fired after a tray slipped from his hand and a patron was soaked in beer. Pulitzer spent his free time at the St. Louis Mercantile Library on the corner of Fifth and Locust, studying English and reading voraciously. He made
2460-460: The Irving Hall rally won him a floral horseshoe for the best speech of the evening. Kid Blink was accused of betraying the strike and accepting a bribe to sell the boycotted papers, and though some sources claim he was acquitted of these charges, he still stepped down from his leadership position after being accused. When he was arrested during the strike, Kid Blink told the police his name
2542-530: The Republican meeting at the St. Louis Turnhalle on Tenth Street, where party leaders needed a candidate to fill a vacancy in the state legislature. After their first choice refused, they settled on Pulitzer, nominating him unanimously, forgetting he was only 22, three years under the required age. However, his chief Democratic opponent was possibly ineligible because he had served in the Confederate army. Pulitzer had energy. He organized street meetings, called personally on
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2624-709: The Union in the American Civil War in August 1864. Pulitzer could not speak English when he arrived in Boston Harbor in 1864 at the age of 17, his passage having been paid by Massachusetts military recruiters. Learning that the recruiters were pocketing the lion's share of his enlistment bounty, Pulitzer left the Deer Island recruiting station and made his way to New York . He was paid $ 200 to enlist in
2706-462: The acquaintance of attorneys William Patrick and Charles Phillip Johnson and surgeon Joseph Nash McDowell. Patrick and Johnson referred to Pulitzer as " Shakespeare " because of his extraordinary profile. They helped him secure a job with the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad . His work was to record the railroad land deeds in the twelve counties in southwest Missouri where the railroad planned to build
2788-576: The administration at the Westliche Post . He eventually became its managing editor, and obtained a proprietary interest. On August 31, 1870, Schurz (now a U.S. Senator), Pulitzer, and other reformist anti-Grant Republicans bolted from the state convention at the Capitol and nominated a competing Liberal Republican ticket for Missouri, led by the former Senator Benjamin Gratz Brown . Brown
2870-498: The boat churned away, the men concluded the promised plantation jobs had been a ruse. They walked back to the city, where Pulitzer wrote an account of the fraud and was pleased when it was accepted by the Westliche Post , edited by Emil Preetorius and Carl Schurz , evidently his first published news story. On March 6, 1867, Pulitzer became a naturalized American citizen . In the Westliche Post building, Pulitzer made
2952-423: The cause of the newsboys' strike of 1899 , a youth-led campaign to force change in the way that Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst's newspapers compensated their child newspaper hawkers. Businessperson A businessperson , also referred to as a businessman or businesswoman depending on the gender, is an individual who has founded , owns , or holds shares in (including as an angel investor )
3034-469: The cause of the people rather than that of purse-potentates." In 1884, he joined the Manhattan Club, a group of wealthy Democrats including Tilden, Abram Hewitt , and William C. Whitney . Through the World , he supported the campaign of New York Governor Grover Cleveland for president. Pulitzer's campaign for Cleveland and against Republican James G. Blaine may have been pivotal in securing
3116-552: The city's other daily English-language paper, the Star ). At the time of merger, the Post and Dispatch had a combined circulation of under 4,000. By the end of 1879, circulation was up to 4,984 and Pulitzer doubled the size of the paper to eight pages. By the end of 1880, circulation was up to 8,740. Circulation rose dramatically to 12,000 by March 1881 and to 22,300 by September 1882. Pulitzer bought two new presses and increased staff pay to
3198-481: The city, he recalled, "The lights of St. Louis looked like a promised land to me." In the city, his German was as useful as it was in Munich because of the large ethnic German population, due to strong immigration since the revolutions of 1848 . In the Westliche Post , he saw an ad for a mule hostler at Benton Barracks . The next day he walked four miles and got the job, but held it for only two days. He quit due to
3280-405: The days following the rally, the newsboys' tactics changed to be largely non-violent. Even though they were no longer beating people who sold the World and Journal , the strike was still effective because the public was on their side and chose not to buy the papers, even if they were for sale. On July 26, 1899, the newsboys planned a parade, where as many as 6,000 boys would march, accompanied by
3362-474: The earliest known use of the word "businesswoman" in 1827. The newest kind of corporate executive working under a business magnate is the manager. One of the first true founders of the management profession was Robert Owen (1771–1858). He was also a business magnate in Scotland. He studied the "problems of productivity and motivation ", and was followed by Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856–1915), who
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3444-420: The execution of minor papers and the collecting of debts. That year, when the Westliche Post needed a reporter, he was offered the job. Soon after, he and several dozen men each paid a fast-talking promoter five dollars, after being promised good-paying jobs on a Louisiana sugar plantation . They boarded a steamboat , which took them downriver 30 miles south of the city, where the crew forced them off. When
3526-788: The family became impoverished. Joseph attempted to enlist in various European armies for work before emigrating to the United States. Pulitzer tried to join the military but was rejected by the Austrian Army . He then tried to join the French Foreign Legion to fight in Mexico but was similarly rejected, and then the British Army and was again rejected. He was finally recruited in Hamburg, Germany, to fight for
3608-520: The famous investigative journalist Nellie Bly . Pulitzer also constructed the New York World Building , designed by George B. Post and completed in 1890. Pulitzer dictated several aspects of the design, including the building's triple-height main entrance arch, dome, and rounded corner at Park Row and Frankfort Street. In 1895, the World introduced the immensely popular The Yellow Kid comic by Richard F. Outcault , one of
3690-637: The first strips to be featured in the newly launched Sunday color supplement shortly after. After the World exposed an illegal payment of $ 40,000,000 by the United States to the French Panama Canal Company in 1909, Pulitzer was indicted for libeling Theodore Roosevelt and J. P. Morgan . The courts dismissed the indictments. Newspaper writer and editor of The San Francisco Call, John McNaught went to New York to work under Pulitzer as his personal secretary from 1907 to 1912. When McNaught left The Evening World, he became editor of
3772-448: The goal to increase productivity of the private establishments business magnates own. Salaries for businesspeople vary. The salaries of businesspeople can be as high as billions of dollars per year. For example, the owner of Microsoft , Bill Gates makes $ 4 billion per year. The high salaries which businesspeople earn have often been a source of criticism from many who believe they are paid excessively. An entrepreneur
3854-433: The group of running boys, assumed that Kid Blink was the leader and arrested him for disorderly conduct. Kid Blink was given a fine and let go, while a group of newsboys outside the court jeered at him. After the rumors about Kid Blink and David Simmons' desertion of the strike, combined with their failure to obtain a parade permit, the newsboys' faith in centralized leadership was diminished. Other newsboys stepped up to lead
3936-550: The highest in the city, though he also crushed an attempt to unionize. Pulitzer's primary political rival at this time was Bourbon Democrat William Hyde , publisher of the (misleadingly named) Missouri Republican . Pulitzer's much smaller paper won a series of early political skirmishes over Hyde. First, George Vest was elected to the Senate in 1879 with Pulitzer's backing over Bourbon Samuel Glover. Next, Pulitzer secured election for an anti-Tilden delegation (including himself) to
4018-585: The merchant class" came as Europe "needed a middleman" for the first time, and these "burghers" or " bourgeois " were the people who played this role. Europe became the dominant global commercial power in the 16th century, and as Europeans developed new tools for business, new types of "business people" began to use those tools. In this period, Europe developed and used paper money , cheques , and joint-stock companies (and their shares of capital stock ). Developments in actuarial science and underwriting led to insurance. Together, these new tools were used by
4100-435: The modern-day comics . The events of the 1899 strike later inspired the 1992 Disney film Newsies , including a character named Kid Blink (who wears an eye patch), but in this version of the story, the leader of the strike was named Jack Kelly. A musical theatre adaptation of the film, also called Newsies , debuted in 2011 and played on Broadway from 2012 to 2014, and on tour from 2014 to 2016. A live filmed version of
4182-406: The newsboys to adopt non-violent methods of resistance. Other speeches were made by "Warhorse" Brennan, Jack Tietjen, "Bob the Indian", union leader "Kid Blink", "Crazy" Arborn, Annie Kelly, and Brooklyn union leader, "Racetrack" Higgins. The night ended with a song sung by "Hungry Joe" Kernan. A floral horseshoe was offered to Kid Blink as a reward for giving the best speech of the evening. In
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#17327721075204264-416: The newspaper as a throw-in in one of his railroad deals, and it had been losing about $ 40,000 a year, possibly because of the stigma the unpopular Gould's ownership brought. In return for the paper, Gould asked Pulitzer for a sum well over a half-million dollars, as well as the retention of the World's staff and building. After some frustration at this demand and disagreement with his brother Albert , Pulitzer
4346-404: The nicknames “Red Blink,” "Muggsy McGee" and "Blind Diamond." Kid Blink was a charismatic leader . Several newspapers recorded speeches, which he gave at rallies, one of which reads in part "Friens and feller workers. This is a time, which tries de hearts of men. Dis is de time when we've got to stick together like glue... We know what we want and we'll get it even if we are blind." His speech at
4428-538: The papers of Joseph Pulitzer, publisher of the World , and William Randolph Hearst, publisher of the Journal , until prices were rolled back to 50¢ per hundred. The newsboys of Manhattan and Brooklyn were quick to follow on July 20. The newsboys' methods were violent in the early days of the strike. Any man or boy found to be selling the two boycotted papers would be mobbed by a group of strikers, beaten, and his papers destroyed. The newspaper owners paid grown men to sell their papers, offering them police protection, but
4510-558: The parlor and approached Augustine, renewing the argument. When Augustine advanced on Pulitzer, the young Representative aimed his pistol at the Captain's midriff. Augustine tackled Pulitzer, and the gun fired two shots, tearing through Augustine's knee and the hotel floor. Pulitzer suffered a head wound. Contemporary accounts conflict on whether Augustine was also armed. While in Jefferson City, Pulitzer also moved up one notch in
4592-442: The poor food and the whims of the mules, stating "The man who has not cared for sixteen mules does not know what work and troubles are." Pulitzer had difficulty holding jobs; he was too scrawny for heavy labor and likely too proud and temperamental to take orders. He worked as a waiter at Tony Faust, a famous restaurant on Fifth Street. It was frequented by members of the St. Louis Philosophical Society, including Thomas Davidson ,
4674-404: The possibility that he may have accepted a bribe. In response to these suspicions, Kid Blink and David Simmons resigned from their leadership positions, Simmons changing from union president to treasurer, and Kid Blink becoming a walking delegate. That night, Kid Blink was chased through the streets by a group of boys angry about the rumors that he had abandoned the strike. A police officer, seeing
4756-437: The presidency for Cleveland, who won New York's decisive votes by just 0.1%. The campaign also boosted the World 's circulation dramatically; by Election Day, it averaged about 110,000 copies per day and its Election Day special ran 223,680 copies. Pulitzer also attacked young Republican Assemblyman Theodore Roosevelt as a "reform fraud," beginning a long and heated rivalry with the future President. In 1884, Pulitzer
4838-858: The presidency with Gratz Brown as his running mate. Pulitzer and Schurz were expected to boost Governor Brown for the presidential nomination, but Schurz preferred the more idealistic Charles Francis Adams Sr. A loyal Brown man alerted the Governor of this betrayal, and Governor Brown and his cousin Francis Preston Blair sped to Cincinnati to rally their supporters to Greeley. While in Cincinnati, he met fellow reformist newspapermen Samuel Bowles , Murat Halstead , Horace White , and Alexander McClure . He also met Greeley's assistant and campaign manager Whitelaw Reid , who would become Pulitzer's journalistic adversary. However, Greeley's campaign
4920-468: The rally went off so well that the New York Times said that "If the newsboys present could have had a vote last night, 'Race Track Higgins' could have had any office in their gift." Morris Cohen was union president after Kid Blink and David Simmons stepped down. Very little is known about him, but a July 20 memo from Joseph Pulitzer's business manager, Don Seitz, named Cohen as the boy who started
5002-451: The rally, along with two thousand boys from Brooklyn and several hundreds from other areas of the city. Many local businessmen and politicians addressed the crowd, including lawyer Leonard A. Suitkin, Frank B. Wood, and ex-Assemblyman Phil Wissig. When the adults had finished speaking, the union president, David Simmons, read a list of resolutions saying that the strike was to stand until the papers reduced their prices, and also calling on
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#17327721075205084-677: The stage production with cast members from both the Broadway and Tour productions was digitally released on May 23, 2017, on Netflix and later switched to Disney+ . In November 2022, a production of Newsies opened Off West End in London for a limited run. The newsboy strike is described in detail in the 2003 non-fiction book Kids on Strike! Joseph Pulitzer Joseph Pulitzer ( / ˈ p ʊ l ɪ t s ər / PUUL -it-sər ; born Pulitzer József , Hungarian: [ˈpulit͡sɛr ˈjoːʒɛf] ; April 10, 1847 – October 29, 1911)
5166-530: The strike in New York City. Henry "Major Butts" Butler was leader of the Upper Manhattan union after Kid Blink stepped down. He was arrested on July 31, 1899, on a charge of blackmail after telling executives at the New York World that he would not break the strike for less than $ 600 ($ 600 in 1900 is roughly equivalent to $ 22,000 in 2023). Annie Kelly was one of the few newswomen loyal to
5248-438: The strike, a fact that made her very popular with the striking newsboys, who saw her as "almost a patron saint." She was the only woman to speak at the rally at Irving Hall, after being pulled on stage by a crowd of cheering newsboys, where she told them "All I can say, boys, is to stick together and we'll win. That's all I've got to say to you." The newsboys' strike of 1899 has been credited with inspiring later strikes, including
5330-551: The strike, and being interviewed by papers such as the New York Tribune , New York Sun or New York Herald . The papers often quoted the strikers with their New York accents, depicted as an eye dialect , using such sayings as "Me nobul men is all loyal." The face of the strike was Louis "Kid Blink" Baletti. Kid Blink was 18 during the strike, and was described by papers at the time as an "undersized boy" with red hair and an eye patch over his left eye. He also went by
5412-458: The strike, and treasurer in the second half, after he was accused of betraying the strike and was forced to step back from his leadership role. He was twenty-one at the time of the strike and had been selling newspapers since the age of eight. He was also a well-known amateur prizefighter at the local athletic clubs. Simmons read a list of resolutions at the rally at Irving Hall, which the crowd reportedly found quite boring. Ed "Racetrack" Higgins
5494-540: The strikers often found ways to distract the officers so they could get at the "scabs." Women and girls fared a little better because, as union leader Kid Blink put it, "A feller can't soak a lady." The newsboys also distributed flyers and hung signs around the city, encouraging people to help them in their cause by not buying the World and Journal . On July 24, 1899, the newsboys held a city-wide rally at Irving Hall sponsored by state senator, Timothy D. Sullivan . An estimated five thousand boys from Manhattan attended
5576-406: The strikers, but none of them had the same level of power and influence that Kid Blink once had. On August 1, 1899, the World and Journal offered the newsboys a compromise : the price of a hundred papers would remain at 60¢, but they would buy back any unsold papers. This meant that the boys, who had trouble selling all their papers would not be forced to sell late into the night to avoid taking
5658-468: The two papers, along with the news distribution for many New England cities. The strike lasted two weeks, causing Pulitzer's New York World to decrease its circulation from 360,000 papers sold per day to 125,000. Although the price of papers was not lowered, the strike was successful in forcing the World and Journal to offer full buybacks to their sellers, thus increasing the amount of money that newsboys received for their work. This event inspired
5740-488: The voters, and exhibited such sincerity along with his oddities that he had pumped a half-amused excitement into a campaign that was normally lethargic. He won 209–147. His age was not made an issue and he was seated as a state representative in Jefferson City at the session beginning January 5, 1870. During his time in Jefferson City, Pulitzer voted in favor of the adoption of the Fifteenth Amendment and led
5822-459: The war, Pulitzer returned to New York City, where he stayed briefly. He moved to New Bedford , Massachusetts, for the whaling industry, but found it was too boring for him. He returned to New York with little money. Flat broke, he slept in wagons on cobblestone side streets. He decided to travel by "side-door Pullman" (a freight boxcar) to St. Louis, Missouri . He sold his one possession, a white handkerchief, for 75 cents. When Pulitzer arrived at
5904-463: Was Louis Ballat, but he was likely lying or they misheard because his real name appears to have been Louis Baletti. After the strike, Kid Blink got a job as a cart driver and later as a saloon keeper. He may have also worked as the right-hand man to New York mobster Chuck Connors. He died in July 1913 at the age of 32 of tuberculosis . David Simmons was president of the newsboy union at the beginning of
5986-630: Was a Hungarian-American politician and newspaper publisher of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the New York World . He became a leading national figure in the Democratic Party and was elected congressman from New York. In the 1890s the fierce competition between his World and William Randolph Hearst 's New York Journal caused both to develop the techniques of yellow journalism , which won over readers with sensationalism , sex, crime and graphic horrors. The wide appeal reached
6068-495: Was a respected businessman, regarded as the second of the "foremost merchants" of Makó. Their ancestors emigrated from Police ( German : Pullitz ) in Moravia to Hungary at the end of the 18th century. In 1853, Fülöp Pulitzer was rich enough to retire. He moved his family to Pest , where he had the children educated by private tutors, and taught French and German. In 1858, after Fülöp's death, his business went bankrupt, and
6150-672: Was appointed. During his term in office, Pulitzer led a crusade to place the newly gifted Statue of Liberty in New York City. He was a member of the Committee on Commerce . During his time in Washington, Pulitzer lived at the luxurious hotel run by John Chamberlin at the corner of 15th and I streets, N.W. However, Pulitzer soon determined that his position at the World was both more powerful and more enjoyable than Congress. He began to spend less and less time in Washington, and ultimately resigned on April 10, 1886, after little over
6232-495: Was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's ninth district as a Democrat and entered office on March 4, 1885. Though inundated with office-seekers hoping for appointment by President-elect Cleveland, Pulitzer recommended only the appointments of Charles Gibson for Minister to Berlin and Pallen as consul general in London. But Pulitzer did not secure a meeting with the President-elect, and neither man
6314-693: Was prepared to give up. At the urging of his wife Kate, however, he returned to negotiations with Gould. They agreed to a sale for $ 346,000 with Pulitzer retaining full freedom in the selection of staff. The Pulitzers moved to New York full time, leasing a home in Gramercy Park . The World immediately gained 6,000 readers in its first two weeks under Pulitzer and had more than doubled its circulation to 39,000 within three months. As he had in St. Louis, Pulitzer emphasized sensational stories: human-interest, crime, disasters, and scandal. Under Pulitzer's leadership, circulation grew from 15,000 to 600,000, making
6396-552: Was resoundingly defeated for the Democratic nomination (tantamount to victory in heavily Democratic St. Louis) by Bourbon Thomas Allen , 4,254 to 709. When Thomas Allen died during his first term, Pulitzer's Post-Dispatch strongly opposed the Republican 's endorsed candidate, James Broadhead , an attorney working for the railroad magnate Jay Gould . The election became heated, and Post-Dispatch managing editor John Cockerill called Broadhead's law partner Alonzo Slayback
6478-484: Was successful in the November election over the mainline Republican ticket, presenting a serious threat to President Grant's re-election chances. On January 19, 1872, Brown appointed Pulitzer to the St. Louis Board of Police Commissioners. In May 1872, Pulitzer was a delegate to the Cincinnati convention of the Liberal Republican Party , which nominated New York Tribune editor Horace Greeley for
6560-521: Was the first person who studied work with the motive to train his staff in the field of management to make them efficient managers capable of managing his business. After World War I , management became popular due to the example of Herbert Hoover and the Harvard Business School , which offered degrees in business administration (management) with the motive to develop efficient managers so that business magnates could hire them with
6642-630: Was the leader of the Brooklyn union, and was elected vice-president of the general union after Kid Blink and David Simmons were accused of selling out. Higgins was a fixture at the Sheepshead Bay Race Track , and referenced horses in many quotes at the time of the strike. Higgins was a charismatic speaker, several papers mentioning his use of humor in his speeches to the striking newsboys. Brooklyn Life referred to him as "a born leader of boys, and he may yet be of men." His speech at
6724-523: Was ultimately a disaster, and the new party collapsed, leaving Schurz and Pulitzer politically homeless. In 1874, Pulitzer promoted a reform movement christened the People's Party, which united the Grange with dissident Republicans. However, Pulitzer was disappointed with the party's tepid stances on the issues and mediocre ticket, led by gentleman farmer William Gentry. He returned to St. Louis and endorsed
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