Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1895-10-05
THE CURFEW CRAZE.
It Is Seizing Upon tho People Of
the Northwest.
In Minncsota and tho Dakotas Children
Must Keep on tho strects st Night
-Hevivnl of an Inquisitor-
iRl Custom.

iRl Custom.
In our western states there Is so much
faith in the mysterious power of legis-
lation that not merely commercial adj
vantage and political honesty are or
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 II 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 n revival of the
ourfew custom, which does not seem
| original until one considers that its APP
| plication TO life on the edge of the
twentieth century is in reality making
q new thing OF It, This revival affects
all persons under sixteen years of age,
and Is the device of II Minnesota editor,
who hit upon the discovery TINT chill
dren of evil inclination will change
their natures II they can be kept off the
streets. The plan was first put in opcr-
alton in Saltwater last winter, and has
swept like 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 aud Duluth,
have held back and given reason for
the belief that parents are still entitled
70 the exercise of their Judgment in the
ordering of their home government.
without considering the prerogative
of parents the mnss of the common
councilmcn, preachers and editors of
the state declare the system an excel
lent ono, rs 1t undoubtedly is II 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 1t,
and 1t Is prophesied that by next jan
uary NIL tho towns in both Dalsotas (the
same that were carried for prohibition
will put 1t 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 womRnhood 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 children.
Tl,ax, ,,,I,s l., l.,
ly enforced, stern search and chase
after children Is begun. They are pur-
sued along the streets, and barns and
sheds are runsacked for them. The
police lurk near their haunts, and, no
matter how innocently they may be
spending their time, they are caught
and warned and dragged OF to the sta
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
'slear In its declaration that the hour,
and not the notice of Its arrival, shall
be needed. No boy or girl can escape
arrest by reason OF deafness or the
bare assertion that he or she did not
hear tho alarm. This custom has
not spread In this way without the ac-
compartment of protest. Men have
declared in print and In emphatic
speech that the curfew ordinance is not
only unconstitutional, but that it is
productive OF worse conditions than
those 1t seeks to cure. They have
shown that it Is born of q population
wherein some other element-whether
Scandinavian or whatcver-is stronger
than the Anglo-Saxon with It's unalter-
able love of individual liberty. They
have argued that 1t Is as un-American
rs It is unprogressivc. The essence of
the now rule has been shown to be
this: That II child roams the street at
night he is In danger OF becoming a
criminal, and in order that this narrow
view shall triumph the law slips in and
makes him criminal by arresting him
and locking him up In the company of
hardened characters and with a stain
upon his reputation. But these protests
have made no impression upon any
| common council because the now idea
has been adopted with enthusiasm, cs-
pecinlly by the half million foreign
born persons in the Minnesota popula-
tion. what II it Is unconstitutional"
they nslr land this question is repeated
editorially in the country press) 1T is
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