Fresh from its humanizing influence, I corralled one of the species on the avenue and catechized him, investing at intervals in his stock to hold his attention. He was thirteen and had no badge. “My boss has one,” he said. The boss proved to be an older boy who “had the corner” and bought the papers at two for three; that is, for every two one-cent papers he paid for, he received one free. That was his profit. My boy was hired for the hours between half-past four and seven on all school-days at a wage of sixty cents a week. Here then was the capitalist at the beginning of things.
“Why don’t you get a corner yourself?” I asked.
“They’re all took.”
The boy was German, and it seemed safe to ask:
“He has no more right to the corner than you have; why don’t you fight him for it?”
“He’s my boss,” was the dogged reply.
“But suppose some stronger fellow drove him away?”
The answer was prompt:
“I’d get other boys and get it back for him.”
Does that help you to understand the following of Big Tim Sullivan and such leaders? Big Tim was a newsboy once, and he sticks up for them always. I tried once more.