"You look at that picture, and the pants don't go with the shirt. You wore whatever shirt you got. You did what you had to do to survive. Everything was hand-me-downs. My children have seen the picture, and it's hard for them to believe that people back then were that poor." -Tom Valenti, son of Tony Valenti

CIVIC cleanliness does not consist solely in clearing streets of refuse; it consists, too, in clearing streets of people who will either harm the streets or be harmed by them. Detroit is a good example of a city that is putting this theory into practice. She has now under consideration an ordinance forbidding street trading by boys under 12 and girls under 16, requiring boys between 12 and 16 to secure badges signifying their fitness to work, and prohibiting street trading after eight at night or before five in the morning by boys under 16-an ordinance which is the result of a long series of events that have taught Detroit that civic welfare demands the regulation of work on the streets by children.

As long ago as 1877, Detroit made an attempt to control the moral hazards of street trading by requiring all newsboys to secure badges from the license collector with the approval of the mayor, who was empowered to revoke a badge for the use of profane language or the committing of "any act of a disorderly or dishonest nature." As the city grew, this ordinance became less and less effective until, with the usual number of badges issued in a year between 2,000 and 2,800, it was obviously impossible for the mayor to supervise the morals of the boys in any way. It was impossible, too, to be sure that every newsboy had a badge. Once or twice a year the police were ordered to round up the boys without badges and send them to the Juvenile Detention Home to get their permits. Otherwise there was no systematic attempt to give out the badges, and an investigator stated not long ago that in a group of 75 newsboys he found only one with a badge.

Little by little the newsboys began to fall into disrepute. Judge Hulbert, of the Juvenile Court, stated this year that 50 per cent of the boys brought to court were newsboys. The Police Commissioner thought it wise to rule that no boy under 10 might receive a badge, but this regulation could not be enforced under the existing system of granting badges.

Finally conditions among newsboys became so bad that the boys themselves went on a strike, appealed to the Detroit Federation of Labor for help and formed a union. Their first grievance was that they could not return unsold papers; but when this was adjusted by an agreement with the newspapers, they turned their attention to other conditions of street trading. It was known that many of the smaller boys made street work a means of begging, picking pockets and getting money by any means they could, and that many of them stayed out so late at night that they fell asleep in school or were dull in their lessons in consequence. So, by way of bettering conditions, the Newsboys' Union resolved that boys under 16 should be kept off the streets after 9 PM. They asked the police and the newspapers to help enforce this ruling, but received no encouragement whatever and finally organized a "free-lance squad" to enforce it themselves. The National Child Labor Committee, who was investigating street trading in Detroit, began to work with the Newsboys' Union for a new ordinance. The ordinance, now before the City Council, was endorsed by the Newsboys' Union, has the support of many citizens, the Y. M. C. A., the Federation of Labor and the Juvenile Court, and should do a great deal to better conditions.

The agent of the National Child Labor Committee has reported that "so great is the problem that it is difficult to know how to go about measuring it." He has found begging, gambling, panhandling, delinquency and lack of education enough among the street traders of Detroit to disprove once for all the idea that the boy who sells papers today is on the straight road to the White House, and he states that the conditions he has found "ought to stir every person with a determination to wipe out the whole business of child exploitation in street occupations."

But Detroit is no worse than most other cities, and her problems no more serious than theirs. The National Child Labor Committee finds juvenile court officials, social workers and school authorities everywhere ready to testify that street trading, unregulated as it is in most cities, is a positive menace to civic improvement. It is not enough to form Newsboys' Clubs and Homes in the hope of lessening the moral contamination of the boys. The evil cannot be mitigated; it must be stopped. If the streets are breeding delinquency and ignorance in our children, why not keep the children from too early and too intimate acquaintance with them? Why not clear the streets of small children? That is the question the National Child Labor Committee is asking the cities.

This is one of Hine's most popular photographs, rivaling that of the boy he called "Little Fattie," a newsboy in St. Louis (see story of George Okertich on this site). At first glance, I wondered how a boy this age could be expected to make change and count his money, much less know to how to interact effectively with adults and deal with the volatile environment of urban streets. I also noticed what appeared to be a large sore on his leg, and the fact that he was barefoot. Ultimately, all I could think about was the fact that Hine didn't give him a name, and how was I going find out who he was. I wound up using a tactic I had tried before. It was successful, and l was astonished to learn that the little newsboy eventually became the president of a huge produce company.