Newsies on the Brooklyn Bridge clutch copies of the "Morning Telegraph."

These ragamuffins selling newspapers look cute in their caps and coats, sure, but they were largely homeless children who eked out a meager existence by screaming “Extra, Extra!” and hoping to acquire some change. The newsboys were independent contractors who purchased papers from the publishers, and then worked long hours to make a small profit. Their treatment, especially by Hearst and Pulitzer, was Dickensian, and they went on strike many times. But it was their strike in 1899 that finally showed that child labor had clout and got them a small measure of justice. The great photo above, taken by Lewis Hine, shows the boys poised to peddle their papers. Another Hine photo below, which features a female newsie, was taken outside a Bowery saloon in 1910.