The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-06-18
THE PROPOSED cURFEW oRDI-
NANCE.

It is probable that the city council
will enact a curfew ordinance, the COM
mittee having the matter under consid~s
Grafton having prepared one. The
hours designated for prohibiting chill
dren being on the streets are from 9
in the evening until 4 in the morning;
the evening hour was changed from
to 9 at the request of Councilman
Wallace. This was done in the inter-
est of those attending certain meet
ings and not in the interest of children
generally. The ordinance is to apply
to children under Is years of age; what
the general provisions are will only be
known when it is reported to the coun-
Gil.
The policy of such ordinances is very
doubtful, indeed. They are certainly in
restraint of liberty, and the child's lib
erty is as precious as the adults. Nor
is that all. Such ordinances undertake
to put public officials in the place of
parents, thing that has never been
successfully done If children under is
years can be arrested and imprisoned
for being on the streets after o'clock
in the evening and before 4 O'Clock in
the morning, why cannot .ney be kept
off the streets after O'Clock in the eve
ming and before o'clock in the morn
ing? Evidently the committee holds
that they can because it fixed the even
ing hour at O'Clock and only changed
it when Councilman Wallace asked to
have it made 3 o'clock.
1t is not desirable that children should
be running around the streets at night
Ghere is no danger that they will get
up before the sun to do it,, but parents
can be relied upon much better than
policemen to see that they do not. And
then boys and girls who are Is years
of age are 20 be allowed on the streets
after the prohibited time. Every one
who has ever given the matter any
serious attention knows that young
boys and girls of Is, Is or II years of
age are much more apt to come to
harm from running the streets than
are children of tenderer years.
There is not a great amount of street.
running by children in this city. Those
who are out in the evening are usually
L
in anything more than playing health
full. innocent games. At least this is
the case so far as we know, and we
have taken some interest in the mat
ter.
If the ordinance is passed it will be
a dead letter. 1t may possibly be en-
forced in few cases, probably in cases
of children who are very rarely allowed
on the streets after dark In the re-
moter parts Of the city it would not be
enforced at all, could not be. Already
there are too many ordinances that are
not enforced. Recently an anti-expec-
toration ordinance was passed; it is
practically a dead letter, for great pools
of tobacco juice are as frequent as ever
on the paved walks. To enact ordi-
nances and laws and not enforce them
is only to bring them into contempt;
and a curfew ordinance will be an I'M
enforced ordinance. Then such ordi-
nances breathe too much of the spirit of
wanting to substitute official for paren-
tai authority. And, finally, it is not
crime for a child to be on the streets
at an hour when some one else may
think he should be in bed A parents
solicitudes for his child's welfare will
always be greater than that of anyone
else.