The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1885-09-10
,oUKFEw .oRDDIANCE.

MOI. a little comment has been made
on Ogden's new curfew ordinance. The
introduction. of the bill to the City
Council was treated by some asa joke
on the part.of the genial author.Of the
measure, but it was soon made plain
that the gentleman was in earnest. The
Council agreed With him. and as re.
suit the Junction City has an ordinance
for Furnishing by fine any persen I'M
der sixteen years of age, who isfound
on the-streets after O'Clock p. NJ, IN
less he or she can exhibit the written
consent of parents. The question of a
City Councils right to pass the erdin-
ance VIII undoubtedly be raised in the
courts as it has already been raised
outside of them. Young America does
not take kindly to restraint or sur
VeiHanoe; the widest liberty is not too
wide for him in his opinion; as boy of
fifteen he feels quite eqeal to the task
of taking care of himself. and thinks be
can manage the business much easier
on the streets at night than at home
and in bed. When he gets older he
realizes how foolish he was
in , his younger days, or he
has become SO. depraved and lost
to moral instincts, and laudable ambi-
ton, that be is incapable of under
standing how great mistake he made
in assuming to be man when he was
mere child.
as remarked, Ogden's curfew ordin-
ance will be tested as to its validity in |
the courts, as are all ordinances assum-
ing to Geal with the rights and priv
ileges of individuals. THE HERALD
heartily hopes the law viii sustain il,
andsalso that it viii be vigilantly en-
forced. We go further, and wish that
the Salt Lake Council would pass a sim
liar ordinance for this city. The police
and others whose business calls them
on the streets after dark, know how
GREATS the need for doing something
to rescue the many boys and girls who |
are beginning a career. of vice and dis
sipation by loafng about the streets |
from shutdown until late at night, the |
boys contracting the vile habits OF the
BLACKBOARD, and the girls forming
chance acouaintances and by their con-
duet inviting what would be gross in
suits te. the modest and virtuous of their
sex. Too many of the fallen creatures
can trace their downfall to the practice
of strolling along the streets in their
girlhood. In many OF these cases the
parents ane actually responsible for
the ruin of their daughters;
they are lenient and unsuspectlng |
and do not exercise the control and
watChfulness that they should do. The
father and mother who permit their
boys and girls to walk the streets until
II or II o'clock at night, knowing the
dangers and temptations that beset.the
young, have themselves to blame that
their children turn out badly. We do
not believe the,eyii is of larger proper
tons here than elsewhere, but it is en-
tirely too large. and any legitimate
means that can lessen it should be ap-
Piled. a curfew law will give the police
power and authority to do some good at
least; it will decrease the opportunities
Of the wicked and designing and help
those parents who are now unable to
exercise control over their children.
The subject is worthy the serious
thought of the City Council. If the
ordinance works well in Ogden, it would
operate equally beneficial here, where
thereis great need for something of the
cind.