The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1886-10-15
NUMBER IL
HOMELESS CHILDREN.
SHOULD THEY BE PERMANENTLY
SHELTERED IN ASYLUMS?
Or Should They at Once be Placed In
Families?-One of the Evils of Charit-
able Enterprises GeneraIly-JuveniIe
Delinquents.

| aDie enterprises Generally-Juveniie
DeIinquents.
An address lately delivered before the
national conference of charities and cor
reetion at st. Paul, Mimi, by Mr. William
l.. Ictchworth Of New York, contains
some very interesting statistics Mr.
l.etchworth Is the president of the New
York state board of charities, and the sub
Ject upon which he spoke, the "Children
OF the State" Is one with which he has
made himself thoroughly familiar.
| The whole number of children under 16
years of age in the United States IS given
as "2O,Oi3,G59. OF these, according to the
census of 1880, there were 81 1856 in the
rounding asyIums, orphan asylums,
other establishments for homeless and
destitute children, and the juvenile re-
formatories of the different states, nearly
| One-half Of whom. or q, 1888, were i'm New
| York institutions. The census also gave
| the total number of idiots in the United
States us 1886; blind, 4s,92s; deaf mutes,
| ,S1S OF these detectives, 159, 7O1 in all,
only l0,06i were in educational institu-
tons other than day schools. The New
| England states had a population of 4,34l
| blind persons, and only one public insti-
tuition for their instruction, containing 90
| inmates There were no schools for deaf
| mutes in New Hampshire and Vermont,
| and none for the blind nor the deaf in
New Jersey, Delaware, Florida or Ne
vada.
| HOMELESS AND DESTITUTE
With respect to homeless and destitute
children, the question arises whether
they should be permanently sheltered in
| asylums or at once placed in families by
| adoption, indenture or verbal agreement
Mr. LetchwOrth would follow the sensible
plan of sending out those fit to go into
decent homes and keep the rest in the
asylum until they are licked into shape.
AS it is, the tendency is to retain the
children too long in asylums whose man.
ayers take pride in mere numbers, for
the more they have the more important
their function appears. This is one of the
great evils of charitable enterprises
generally. The larger the show they can
make the greater the amount of atten-
ton they can attract and of money they
can obtain: for even in the conduct of
charities there is sometimes, if not often,
good deal of humbug Protracted
asylum life, too, is bad for the young, and
may utterly unfit them for the struggle
they must eventually 60 through in the
outside world
OF recent years the English and Scotch
system of boarding out as it is called,
has been tried to some extent in Massa-
chusetts, Pennsylvania and in the vicinity
of this city; but the trouble with it is that
the boys and girls boarded out are distin-
guished as paupers among those with
whom they associate, for their mainten-
ance is paid for by public or private char
ity, and they are badly handicapped in the
race of life. Children who are sent into
families 10 be adopted or under indenture
do not suffer from such disadvantages,
and their chances of advancement are con-
sequently greater. Besides, If the state
adopts the plan of paying board, people
will refuse to take pauper children with
out recommends. 1t is not a good system
for this country
THE BLIND AND THE DEAF.
Mr.. LetchwOrth argues in behalf of
further provision for the instruction Of
the blind and the deaf, though he is of
the opinion that our existing institutions
for them oamrapo fe-oroLly WITH those
of Europe. But he does not fa vor the pro-
ject, which has been several times before
our state legislature, of state asylum for
the adult blind. Give them instruction
that will help them to self-support, he
wisely argues. and then let them take
their part in the work of the community.
In asylums they will remain throughout
their lives dependent and incapable of
self-reliance
The instruction of the idiotic, or feeble
minded, has produced results which have
been surprisingly successful, and there
fore he would foster and extend it, and in
needful cases would continue the pro-
lection of the state after the school age
was passed. AS to Juvenile delinquents,
so called, he would have more care taken
in separating the bad cases from those
which are less depraved, so that gradua-
ton from house of refuge should not
put brand upon boy. To that end he
would put hardened criminal youth in
distinct institutions, while children sim
ply unfortunate should be placed under
different influences and amid better as
sociations. The reform schools, too, he
thinks are too large for the proper care
of their inmates, and he calls for more
careful supervision to prevent the COM
mitment of children to houses of refuge
on frivolous charges. New York Sun.