Newspapers & Newsboys

Familiar in the U. S. saga, glorified by literature of the Horatio Alger school, is the newsboy. The soul of independence, he buys his papers with his own money, sells them by his own energy and wits, pockets the profits for himself or hands them over to his needy family. He often grows into a tycoon who in later years can point with pride to his youthful enterprise.* For the Curtis-Martin newspapers of Philadelphia the tradition of newsboy self-reliance was a saving fact last week. It prompted a State Supreme Court decision permitting the newspapers to deal with newsboys as "independent vendors," to supply them with papers or not, as Curtis-Martin saw fit.

The court decision grew out of a long, bitter circulation fight between the Curtis-Martin Ledgers and Inquirer and Publisher J. David Stern's Record (TIME, May 5, 1930; Aug. 24). The Evening Ledger accused the Record (morning) of bringing its bulldog edition out before 7:30 a. m., cutting into late sales of the Ledger. Curtis-Martin Company refused to supply Ledgers and Inquirers to any newsboy who handled the Record. Backed by the Record, the newsboys formed a Newsboys Protective Association, got a court injunction compelling Curtis-Martin to cease its "discrimination."

In a Detroit hayloft one morning last week, "Floyd's Club" met in special, solemn session. The members, all newsboys, heard one of their younger brothers, Longin Jendzyenski, 11, tell how he had been beaten up by Joe Przystas, 15, another newsboy but not a Floyd's Clubber. With Longin as their guide, a delegation of three members--Stanley Orlenski, 14, Joe Sawicki, 14, and Anthony Mazur, 14--set out for vengeance. They found Joe Przystas at home carrying a scuttle of coal upstairs. Stanley drew a rifle from his trouser leg, fired at the coal scuttle to frighten Joe. The bullet drilled Joe's heart, killed him.

* Some onetime newsboys: Cyrus Hermann Kotzschmar Curtis, Roy Wilson Howard, Henry Latham Doherty, John Haydock Carroll, Thomas Alva Edison, William Wrigley Jr., Adolph Simon Ochs, Edward William Bok.

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