The Athena press. [volume] (Athena, Umatilla County, Or.) 18??-1942, 1895-12-06
THE CURFEW CRAZE.
It Is Seizing Upon the People Of
the Northwest.
In Minnesota and the Dakotas Children
Must Keep on the Streets at Night
Revival of an Inquisitor-
iaI Custom.

dered by law, but even private morality
is often made the subject of legislation.
This is done, says the New York Sun,
as hopefully as if all the laws of the
past had done what was expected of
them. The latest of these experiments
is the Minnesota process for making
children good. 1t is revival of the
curfew custom, which does not seem
original until one considers that its ap-
plication to'aife on the edge Of the
twentieth century is in reality making
new thing OF it. This revival affects
all persons under sixteen years Of age,
and is the device ofa Minnesota editor,
who hit upon the discovery that chill
dren of evil inclination will change
their natures il they can be kept off the
streets. The plan was first put in oper-
alton in Saltwater last winter, and has
swept like a fire over the state until to-
day nearly twenty cities have passed
ordinances reviving the old cover-fire
law which was borrowed from or else
gave rise to the military institution OF
the reveille. Only the largest towns,
like st. Paul, Minneapolis and Duluth,
have held back and given reason for
the belief that parents are still entitled
to the exercise of their judgeaentin the
ordering OF their home governmo
Without considering the prds6gatlye
of parents the mass of the common
councilmen, preachers and editors of
the state declare the system an excel
lent one, as itundoubtedly is If the
rights of the parents and of the indi-
vidual generally are not worth con-
sideration. The new practice has
spread into South Dakota, where four
or FIVE towns have already adopted it,
and it is prophesied that by next Jan
uary all the towns in both Dalotas fthe
same that were carried for prohibition
by the strength of the Swedish vote)
will put it into effect. Then, as one
enthusiastic Minnesota editor predicts.
"the curfew bell will ring in an order of
things that shall, in the not far distant
future, raise the standard of manhood
and womanhood both morally and
physically and make better citizens of
the rising generation"
In some of the towns and cities the
church bells are rung at the curfew
hour, and in all of them the town bell,
either in the fire tower or the town
hall, rings out the command for the
police to clear the streets of aI4ilslfeuss
Then, where the law is enthusiasfiGa1
" enforced, stern search and chase
after children is begun. They are pur-
sued along the streets, and barns and
sheds are ransacked for them The
police lurk near their haunts, and. no
anatter how innocently they may be
spending their time, they are caught
and warned and dragged off to the stu
tion houses. The ordinances prescribe
the ringing of the hour, which Is nine
O'Clock in some towns and ten
O'clock In others, but the law is usually
clear In its declaration that the hour,
and not the notice of its arrival, shall
be needed. No boy or girl can escape
arrest BY reaaaf 44of deafness or the
bare assertion TINT h. or she did not
hear the alarm. This ciist0Iasis as
not spread in this way without tlie
compartment of protest. Men have
declared in print and in emphatic
speech that the curfew ordinance Is notA
only unconstitutional, but that It Is
productive OF worse conditions than
those 1t seeks to cure. They have
shown that it is born of population
wherein some other element whether
Scandinavian or whatever-is stronger
than the Anglo-Saxon with its unalter-
able love of individual liberty. They
have argued that it is as un-American
as it is unprogressive. The essence of
the new rule has been shown to be
this: That If a child roams the street at
night he is in danger of becoming d
criminal, and in order that this narrow
view shall triumph the law slips III and
makes him a criminal by arresting him
and locking him up In the company Of
hardened characters and with d stain
upon his reputation. But these protests
have made no impression upon any
common council because the new idea
has been adopted with enthusiasm, es-
pecially by the half million forcippsi
born persons in the Minnesota popni
tion. s1Vhat If it is unconstitutionaEsa
they ask (and this question is repeated
editorially in the country press. .'1t ii
not more unconstitutional than many
another statute that graces the law
books, and It is good thing because It
will make good citizens of bad chill
dren."
Paris has eighty thousand registered
dogs, says the .Eleveur, which
means that there is one licensed
dog to every twenty-eight inhab-
itants. Granting that there are
as many unlicensed dogs as there
are licensed ones, thee canine popula.
ton OF Paris is very large one Indeed.
The largest number of dogs lis found iii
the poorest quarters. The estimated
cost of feeding the eighty thousand
logs is two million dollars per annu,n.
and they in turn afford living to
twenty-five manufacturers Of dop col
lars and muzzles, four bakers of doo'a
bread, five factories where dog biscuits.
consisting ofmeat fiber, are made. three
special dog pharmacies, . dozen ii.
hrmaries and two hospitals
Instead Of paying taxes as ordinarv
mortals the sitizensof KIingenhera.on-
the-Main, Germany, received eaeh
khrpa huxIs.n1 .......Fws.