Newsboy Labor

Nobody knows how many newsboys there are in the U. S. The International Association of Circulation Managers claims 570,000 under 18 years. The 1930 census showed 21,700 under 16 years. The National Child Labor Committee reckons 100,000 under 16, 50,000 under 14. The totals include not only the tattered urchin hawking his wares at street corners in sun or rain but also the well-fed youngster who puts in an hour or two after school serving a delivery route in the residential district. But whatever their number and their methods of work, U. S. newsboys were this week's issue in the long drawn-out warfare of the American Newspaper Publishers Association against NRA. When the Press Code was drawn up last winter the publishers haggled over three points: 1) They wanted no possible licensing of newspapers.* 2) They wanted editorial workers getting $35 per week or more classified as "professional men," and hence outside the minimum work week requirements. 3) They wanted no Child Labor nonsense to interfere with their use of newsboys. Typical of their resistance to any Child Labor restriction were the tactics of the Louisville Courier-Journal, whose Publisher Robert Worth Bingham is Ambassador to the Court of St. James's, and a good Roosevelt friend. The Courier-Journal had its carriers deliver letters to all subscribers', asking them to write to General Johnson "in my behalf" because "reformers are attempting to prohibit through NRA . . . boys under 18 years of age from being gainfully employed." Each newsboy provided the writing paper, picked up the letters next day, carried them by the Courier Journal's office where they were posted to Washington at that company's expense. Grudgingly President Roosevelt yielded to all three demands by the publishers. The Child Labor clause in the signed Code permitted publishers to hire children of any age if they "are able, without impairment of health, to deliver or sell newspapers" outside of day school hours. However, in a sharp announcement which stung the Press to fury, the President declared himself "not satisfied" with the Child Labor clause, ordered a further report. Last month the Government members of the Code Authority submitted a proposed amendment. Prime provisions: 1) Boys over 14 may sell papers; boys under 14 may not. 2) Boys between 12 and 14 now engaged in delivering papers may continue to do so, but no new boys under 14 may be hired. Object: to "graduate" small boy carriers without cutting off their income. 3) All boys under 16 are limited to three hours work per day on school days, four hours on other days. 4) Delivery boys may start at 6 a. m. selling boys at 7 a. m. All must quit by 7 p. m. in winter, 8 p. m. in summer. 5) Every boy must carry a permit or badge authorized by the Secretary of Labor.

Hearing on these proposed amendments was set for this week in Washington. Bursting with indignation the American Newspaper Publishers Association girded for another fray, in which their field general would be, as always, Lawyer Elisha Hanson. Chubby, suave, immensely clever, with a facility for catching witnesses off guard with abrupt questions, Lawyer Hanson has long been the Press's No. i lobbyist in Washington.

Last week the A. N. P. A. code committee adopted a resolution against the proposed amendments on the grounds that: 1) newsboys "are not in any sense of the word engaged in Child Labor"; 2 ) the proposals would upset delivery systems and throw needy boys out of work; 3) the badge license idea would cost taxpayers a great sum, might develop into "a legal machine devoid of human kindness, causing hundreds of unnecessary arrests." Backing up A. N. P. A. was the International Circulation Managers Association which met in Manhattan this week just before the hearing. Boldest opponent of the proposed changes was Publisher Jerome D. Barnum of the Syracuse (N. Y. ) Post-Standard who, like many another publisher, performs extensive social welfare work among his delivery boys. Snapped he: "I shall certainly oppose the modifications at the hearing and refuse to assent to them if NRA seeks to enforce them on publishers. Of course by the specific terms of our code no modification thereof can be made effective against the publisher who refused to accept it." Ready to meet all comers at the hearing was the National Child Labor Committee which argued that any shortage of newsboys caused by the amendment can be easily filled by boys over 16 or by handicapped adults. "Newspaper selling and delivery." declared the committee, "is an unsuitable occupation for young children, involving night work, unwhole some influences on the street, traffic dangers and health hazards."

*Last week the President's licensing power under NRA automatically lapsed (see p. 14).

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