The Republican., 1896-06-11
cuRFEw FOR cHILoRek
Spread of the Idea Throughout tbD West
How 1T Operates

The curfew ordinance, designed to
| keep children off the streets at night,
with which the children of this state
are now threatened, and against which
they are organizing protest, has come
to be accepted as a matter of course in
| the smaller cities and towns of almost
every state west of the Mississippi
river. Perhaps no movement ID recent
years has spread so widely in the west
and met with such general appfobation
as this curfew law. 1t was first intro
duced in Minnesota town year and a
half or so ago. In the past six months
curfew ordinances have been adopted
i'll various towns in Oregon, Washing
ton, Idaho, South Dakota, Nebraska,
Kansas, Minnesota, Michigan, Missouri,
Indiana and Georgia. The idea does not
appear to have been generally taken up
in any eastern or southern State, al
though isolated cases have been noted
of the passage of the curfew ordinance
in the south. But in the west the cur
few idea is spreading at such rate that
it is likely to be adopted universally
soon in the states west of the Afississip-
pi. Heretofore the large cities have
not thought it best to adopt such a
law, although in many cities it has been
brought up for consideration and IN
some cities a curfew ordinance has
passed the city council by a5fmall ma
jority and been vetoed by : se ecpayor.
The other day, however, Il 81. - Web,
adopted the ordinance bya unanimous
vote of the city council. Eincoln and
South Omaha already have such an
! ordinance, and so generally isl approval
of the idea spreading that, with Omaha S
example, it seems probable that even
the big cities of the west will before
long revive the curfew for the purpose
of regulating the habits and morals of
the rising generation.
An effort was made recently to bring
the subject to the attention of the lep-
islature Of this state and to get it to
take some action in the way either OF
the enactment of a state law or of an
expression of approval of the curfew
principle. Nothing definite resulted at
the time, but the news that a curfew
ordinance was proposed spread among
the children of the state, and various
protests from societies of young people
have reached the Legislature and the ex-
ecutiye.
The general principle of the curfew
ordinances is the same wherever they
have been adopted, but the ordinances
in, of &c fn
vide that children under a certain age,
varying in different towns from 13
down to Is years, shall not be on the
streets of the town after stated time,
ranging from 1880 p. m. to nine p. IN,
unless accompanied by lawful guard
ian. The penalty for violation of the
ordinance also varies in different towns,
but as a rule it is provided that the Of
fender shall be taken home by the po-
lice for the first offense and be pun
ished by fine or Imprisonment or both
for the second and subsequent offenses.
When the curfew idea first began to
spread the suggestion of passing such
an ordinance was in many casAs re-
ceived with ridicule. It was denq- Iced
as paternalism in its worst for, be
cause it delegated to the munich ty
duties which belonged SOLELY n<Lk- :
rents. This argument was mel by the
statement that the ordinance was di-
rected against the young hoodlums
that exist in every town, who congre-
gate on street corners and in public
places after nightfall to the discomfort
and annoyance of many people and to
their own detriment, to say the least,
and often to the danger of the COM
munity. This argument usually was
convincing to the opposition. 1t was
also urged that the hoodiums exercised
considerable influence i'll causing Or
dinarily well-behaved children to be-
come unruly, and that good children
were very apt to be influenced to re-
main on the streets after the time they
should be at home. Another advantage
set forth was that the law would be
of great assistance TO parents who,
under ordinary circumstances, failed
toexercise proper supervision over their
children. The curfew ordinance and
1US pclltllliCS COulu Dt uScu as d lllllu
threat to enforce obedience in the mat
ter of being at home nights.
All these arguments have been re-
iterated in the various towns where the
curfew ordinance has been introduced,
and very much information as to the
working of the ordinance has been ad-
duced. Usually, when it has been pro-
posed to institute the curfew, the town
officials have written to the authorities
i'll places where the idea has already
been in force some time for information
as to its results, and the information
obtained has been made public for the
benefit of those interested. All the tes-
timony gathered from every town
where the curfew has been instituted
appears to be in favor of the law, and
1t seems everywhere to have proved sue
cessful and gained general public favor
Even the children are said to be pleased
with the law. 1t is not enforced in an
oppressive manner, and good deal OF
latitude is allowed in it's enforcement
| N. Y. Sun.
| Summer Waists.