1900. The turn of the century. The newsboys of New York were still thoroughly enjoying the effects from winning their strike in the summer of 1899. They were selling their papers back to the Distribution Office, so they weren't penalized for not selling all of them. They, along with all the working class people in the city, were treated better in places owned by the middle class. More people bought their papers, even if the headlines were bad, to show their support. In general, things weren't as dangerous for these "street rats".
The newsboys also enjoyed a few, more personal victories. The Delanceys and Mr. Wiesel were fired; an eye was kept on Synder at all times so that, even when a kid was sent to the Refuge (which was becoming increasingly less frequent), they were taken care of fairly; and the newspaper owners began to allow girls to sell their papers, even ordered that a Newsgirls Lodging House be built for them to live in. Needless to say, everything was good in New York for the newsies. Unfortunately, things weren't going as well in other cities, especially Chicago.
There, the mayor, after hearing about the strike, changed everything because of his new "good intentions". All he wanted to do was help, but in doing so, he made everything worse. He rose the taxes by a dollar for everyone who had a job so he could repair old, rundown buildings and turn them into new tenemants. He ordered the owners of already-existing tenemants to lower their prices so more people could afford to live there. He made trips to the poorest parts of the city and personally gave food and clothing to the people he found there. He made it so that children under the age of ten couldn't work. He forced employment on anyone he came across without a job so they could make money and take care of themselves and their families.
All of these changes might sound like they're for the better. However, the rise in taxes angered the wealthy families of Chicago, caused a small hardship for some of the families in the second class, and caused very big problems formost families in the third class because they depended on that extra dollar. These people, especially the rich, blamed their new problems on the tenemants they were now involuntarily paying to maintain.
The lowered prices in the already-exisiting tenemants made living in them much worse- the owners had less money for themselves and they couldn't repair any of the problems that arose, like cracked walls, broken doors, and broken locks. Electricity was almost impossible to pay for. It did nothing to help bring peace in the tenemants, either.The tenants blamed the owners for all these small inconveniences, and the owners blamed the tenants for not paying enough to have them fixed.
The trips the mayor made stripped all the pride away from the poor people he supplied things to because they indirectly said they couldn't take care of themselves. Unfortunetly, they were also publicized (the mayor went no where without a photographer). This put the poor on display, made them feel as though they were only being helped to make the mayor look good. They came to hate these monthly trips and the person who paid them the visit.
The children under ten who formerly worked in the factories lost their jobs and the income, however meager, they had brought to their families. Those who the mayor forced into jobs soon took over the children's places inthe factories that paid almost nothing for a long, hard, dangerous day of work. They hated the mayor for making them work there, and the children hated them for stealing their jobs.
The changes bred hatred and anger between the people in Chicago. They couldn't stand each other. Eventually, everyone began to blame the mayor for their problems, before finally realizing who's fault it "really was." The hatred, anger, and blameof every Chicagoan was soon directed at a group of innocent, undeserving people: the newsboys and newsgirls of Chicago. "Nothing would have changed if the newsboys hadn't won their strike," was the argument of most Chicago citizens. And even though the Chicago newsies had no part in the strike, they were the unlucky few who were close at hand, and so were forced to shoulder a whole city's blame.
Hardly anyone bought papers from them, instead preferring to hear the news by word of mouth. They made barely enough money to live by. Some left to find other jobs, but most who did came back a week or two later; no one wanted to hire a newsie. They weren't welcomed in any restaurant. The only way they recieved food was from the nuns, who thankfully still came with bread and water every morning. They were spit at in the streets by men and boys from every social class, laughed at by teenaged girls, and avoided at all costs by mothers with their children. They were the social outcasts, and were left feeling lonely, unwanted, and very, very angry.
Since they could do nothing to change how they were treated, they soon cast a hatred that surpassed the one aimed at them on the newsies of New York. They were the cause for all their pain and suffering. They were the ones who had made things change.
And then the Chicago mayor made one more mistake. Upon seeing how little the newsboys and girls sold, and how despondent and unenthusiastic they were, he telegraphed the mayor of New York. Wanting only that Chicago thrive, he requested that twenty or so newsies from New York come and show his how to sell. "At my expense, of course," he told the other mayor. After much consideration, the mayor from New York agreed, and replied, "They'll be on the train in two days time."