The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1894-05-17
THE NEW YORK NEwsBoYs
They nIust Hereafter Refrnin From Selling
on Street Cars.
Especial Correspondenoe,l


New YORK, May lO.-Tho poor little
newsboys Of New York feel that they
are greatly abused these days The fol
lowing notice has been issued by the
metropolitan Traction company and
posted i'll cars of I'LL the lines controlled
by It:
In consequence of tho number OF serious no
cidcnts to newsboys, they will not hereafter TX
allowed on tho cars Of this nnu Passencc,.,
arc respectfully requested to cooperate with
tho company by buying papers before boarding.
cars
Since being issued the order has been
generally enforced Oh car lines through
ont tho city. Newsboys in philadelphia
Trenton, Newark, jersey City and in
several other cities were prohibited some
time ago from boarding street cars, and
it is claimed by the managers Of these
lines that their passengers have thus
been spared considerable annoyance
from the youthful, shrill voiced hawkors
and that dangers of accident to tho lat
ter have likewise been avoided
The little fellows themselves take I'M
kindly TO the order in New York. Thcy
have held several indignation meetings
LII tho public squares and denounced the
action OF the street railway companies
as unwarranted and, as ono enthused
orator expressed 1t, ''unconshe utional "
Many of the older newsboyY complain
that this prnhibasion is an outrage and
q deliberate atsompt to rob them of
thair bread and butter why should
we DO boyootted," said ono excited
young news wonder when questioned.
when we hain't done nuthin but work
hard TO serve the public2 It's blamed
shame to give us the go by this way. l
have been jumpin on and OFF cars four
years, and never had slip. Why, It's
part of the art O. bcin newsboy to be
snre O his footin. S'poso onct in
awhile ono o us do mako u miss. Hahn
1t tho same way in other things? Just
causo 1nEinoer or a brakeman loses
his life they don't stop railroadin, not
much It's 'cnuso wo'se little and hahn t
got hackers dat we has to suffer-"
An old gentleman, a prominent law
yer. who goes up town every afternoon
at certain hour on tho Broadway cable
cars, was very enthusiastic respecting
the stand taken by tho street car mag
mates Said he to the writer: II have
seen many sor1y sights resulting from
this loose system of allowing the news
boys to invade our street cars By usage
they had became rather privileged char
actera Conductors seemed to have a
sort Of patorual regard for them which
was all well enough in It's way, and the
average passenger had come to believe
it his duty not to look sour or concerned
when his pet corn was brought to his
mind by some clumsy, assertivo little
brigand with bundle of papers under
his arm But this could all be passed
by perhaps Were it not that these enter
prising urchins take large risks in ex.
posing themselves to the cruel dangers
of our later modes of transit l myself
have seen two newsboys killed outright
and several SO injured and manned that
their usefulness in life was destroyed
Every sensible man should buy his read
ing matter before entering street car "
1t seems yet too early to predict what
some Of the New York evening dailies
will have to say concerning this inno-
walton. 1t is within the bounds of ia.
tional Judgment of human nature to
suspect that if they find their sales di-
mlnlshed because the neTsboys are not
allowed on street cars they will criti-
else the order in no moderate terms
that is, two or three of them will. Thus
far, however, the metropolitan press has
treated the decision of the street rail
road companies with lukewarm and
casual interest. After all, the ncwspa-
pers do not seriously depend on street
car passengers for their maintenance
and, as for the newshcys, they can do
quite rs we'll of the street ears in the
long run LEON MEAD.