The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1874-09-11
GheGtttelIiaetrrer:
ChiIdren's Home.

Address Of Tie Hon. j. T. B0ham, Of Pitts
bHgh, De!iUercd at tic 4h AnniuerSdry
Celebration, at Hamilt0n's Opera House,
Tuesday EeeniHg, June 30M, 1874.
LADIES & GENTLEMEN, OF WIIEgLING: q
have been informed that yours Is the
first effort In tho young State Of West
Virginia, TO organize Children's Home
or Juvenile Relormatory. My own ex-
pcrienco has been derived from many
years connection with our House Of Re-
hugo, now known as the Pennsylvania
Reform School, and my having attended
tho RGiOrmatory Congresses, as they are
called, which met In Cincinnati in 1871
in Baltimore In 1873 and in 81. Louis In
1874, and being Chief Of the Bureau o.
Statistics Of our State, In all which capS.
cities juvenile reformation has been an
important part Of the objects TO be at
tanned. Until recently such Institutions
have. been classified az prisons and gener.
ally found surrounded with high walls,
bolts and bars, similar TO the surround
ings of our iails and penitentiaries Al
present all these surroundings are aban-
dOned and the effort is 10 retain the in
mates by moral restraint and attach them
by christian love. / see In looking over
the organization Of your board a goodIV
portion oil Its management consists OF la
dies, who probably very largely attend to
the details OF its administration. ! re-
gard this as eminen;ly wise and that II
will do more to relieve 1t OF the associa-
tons Of prison lie than any thing else.
The most ignorant and graceless inmate
has still within him an instinct which
lOngs for a mothers love.
"And years and elm aud sorrow nse.
And leave him at bis mothers knee"
can perhaps best enable you to COM
prehend my views in regard to juvenile
RetOrmatories by briefly SketchiDg what
has been done in Pennsylvania. do
this moro readily because my conviction
is that the next few years will demon
stTate the interests Of your State and ours
are to be closely identified. We are geo.
graphically neighbors; and in addition
your soil and mineral deposits are identi-
cal with ours. You require our heavier
capital, our dcnser population and our
skilled workmen to develop E.
WEST vIRGINIAs IMMENSE AGRICULTURAL
AND MINERAL RESOURCES.
Your rivers are our rivers. The lu
ture extension OF our railroad system muSi
penetrate your valleys and carry to mar
ket their eXhaustless producte. No two
States Of this Union are more identical In
their interests, and ought 10 act in closer
sympathy, than West Virginia and Penn.
sylVania; and therefore our experience
should furnish useful lessons 10 you. Our
own State has been unusually blessed 10
her orphan homes, and largely, believe
owing TO her Quaker origin. Whatever
estimate you put upon Quakerism as g
question OF theology, none can doubt II:
merits as humanitarian system for The
care and training Of tho young and risinG
generation. The benevolent institutions
OF Philadelphia largely owe their higt
merit 10 the infusion Of QuAkers among
her early settlers. Several OF the vOlun'
tary Relormatories, similar 10 your own
had shape given to them before TIT
Revolution, when Quaker influence pre-
dominated more largely than 1t has since
for within the last so years scarcely ths
number OF thee and thou oad.brimmed.
Bhad,bellied Quakers have been member!
Of the Legislature-oi which they once
constituted an almost constant majority
The Eastern House Of Refuge was pc
measure with prominent Quskers halt I
century since. Our Western one wa
copied from it's Eastern sister, though vi
have recently remOdeled it upon TIT
family plan and claim that We will within
two or three years be able 10 exhibit Il
you within forty miles Of Wheeling TIL
Model Juvenile Relormatory Of the world
Our now buildings, upon the CharIier
Valley Railroad, in Washington county
are far advanced; but the removal OF tn
inmates and the ornamenting oil th
ground will require about the time state
to exhibit the whole to advantage, Gu
design discards all walls, bolts and bar
and seeks TO retain FIVE hundred boys an
girls upon large farm by moral suasio
alone. This class Of Retormatories ar
quite 10 expensive TO DO undertaken by
YOUNG STATE LIKE WEST VIRGINIA.
You, therefore, are more interested !
another class OF our Relormatories- Rbor
forty In number in our State. These al
chiefly sustained by voluntary contribu
tions from individuals and churches. TIL
aggregate capacity Of all these Is fully tiv
times that Of both Of our State Reforma
tories The largest oil these, GiTard Col
lege, contains nearly six hundred inmate
soOn 10 be doubled in number and hs
pledged for It's support an estate worth
least five millions. But many Of theE
are humble institutions, not exceedin
your own. About one half Of them 81
situated in and around Philadelphia, ont
fourth in and around Pittsburgh and th
other fourth, generally, one in each Of tn
smaller citiea Of our State. The inmate
OF this latter class arc not necessaril
criminals. The inmates Of the Houses
Refuge have been all charged before som
magistrate or court with GRIN inality 10
greater or less extent-much the large
number with incorrigibllity and being u
controlled BY their parents and guardian
Since writing the foregoing, the last vi
oil the late John Edgar Thompson, OF
greatest Railroad President has BET
made public, wherein he dedicates b
large estate 10 the founding Of an institl
ton Tor the support and education Of Il
daughters OF those whose lives have be-
spent In the service oil railroads. This
all l deem necessary TO say of our Peni
sylvAnia Reformatories. 'EsN
WHO ARE PROPER supJRcrsG
III rightly understand the principl
underlying all industrial and relormaio