Kids on Strike! Quotes

“Some of the younger boys looked forward to the chance to sell papers in a good spot, but most were simply afraid to refuse the bigger boys. "I made a deal with a guy," said Philip Marcus. "I said I'd buy him out. But when I looked at all the papers he had left, there was more than I thought I could sell. But there wasn't two ways about it. I had to buy them and I did. I started to bawl. And while I was standing there bawling, I sold all them sheets.”
― Susan Campbell Bartoletti, Kids on Strike!: The True Story of Young Activists and Child Labor in 20th Century America for Children

“After the paper rush subsided, the older boys sometimes struck deals with the younger newsies to buy their leftover papers. 'One of the big guys would say to one of the little guys, 'Hey, punk, want to buy me out tonight?' said Philip Marcus. 'An' the little guy said yes. It was his ass if he didn't.”
― Susan Campbell Bartoletti, Kids on Strike!: The True Story of Young Activists and Child Labor in 20th Century America for Children