Worcester morning daily spy., 1898-02-03
JUVENILE WARDS.
Superintendent Carroll Talks to
the Legislators
ON THE CARE OF CHILDREN.
He Believes in a State Children's
Department,
Important Hearing BY Committee on
ON THE CARE OF CHILDREN
Important Hearing BY Committee on
Charities at the State House-Last
Years Fight Resumed.
Special to the spy.)

Special to the Spy0
Boston, Feb. 2.-Superintendent of
Schools Of Worcester Charles F. Carroll
addressed the legislative committee on
public charitable institutions, this morn
ing, on the report of the special com
mission appointed to investigate the
states charitable interests and institu-
tions. Superintendent Carroll confined
his remarks chiefly to the recommend
atoms of the commission relative to the
care of the juvenile wards of the state.
He said in part:
The part of this proposed legislation
that interests every teacher most, re-
lates to the care of the seventeen hum
dred children who are the wards of the
state. Some of them are the offspring
of the mentally deficient. Others, many
of them, are the children of vicious and
squalid, and others represent the I'M
fortunate but respectable poor.
From the standpoint of the state, it
is hard to say which class calls most
strongly for consideration. Without
special care, the first will become bur-
den to the state; the second, both
! terror and a burden; while, for the
| third class, there is always some hope,
| in spite of the neglect they suffer. But
with one accord we demand that these
children Of good parentage and inheri-
ted possibilities shall be nourished and
well cared for.
! |. The question thus stated suggests
several practical questions. What sort
! of net shall we throw out to gather
| in these stranded creatures? In the city
of Worcester, certainly, the plan of Sc
lecting the candidates for the care of
| this board, is most feeble. So far as [
know, those who are best fitted to To-
cate hopeless or worthy cases, are not
consulted. Somebody should be charged
with the duty of organizing some intel
ligent plan Of selection.
| 2. What age limits shall govern or in
fiuence this selection? This is one of the
most important questions to be asked.
| Ii we wait too long, we waste our
money and our pains. l snail not at
tempt to answer it, except to say that
there are data at hand to help an ex-
| pert. If a superintendent of schools of
some experience hesitates at this point
what shall we say of a layman who
claims that ordinary business expert
ence is sufficient.
3. Shall children be separated from
tl7etr mothers? Perhaps that question
is answered in advance and by neces-
| sity. But we should know some facts
before we assent to any fixed rule
Babies may almost as well be thrown
into the Charles river as to be cared
Tor by wholesale. Ninety-six per cent
| OF them viii die under these conditions
4. Shall these children be put to
school and kept at school for time.
| and taught the rudimentS, or shall they
| be Immediately distributed? The right
| answer to this question depends upon
whether We wish to temporarily get
| these children out of sight, or whether
| it is our purpose to take some further
responsibility in trying to make of them
good citizens. 1t may sometimes hap
pen that a child may be Incorporated
into family and become an integral
part of 1t, but the statistics of adopted
children raise some serious doubts on
this question. If a child is adopted into
| a family where there are no other chill
dren, the chances that he viii become a
useful citizen are reasonably good; but
it is certain that the children kept for
several years in a good private school,
such as the state could easily provide
would IN nine cases out of ten develop
into first-class men and women. The
economic bearings of this question need
to be studied from a scientific stand
point.
But. finally. these rather disconnected
statements that have been made lead
us to single conclusion, which is in
brief, that every child stranded i'm the
state should be promptly put into some
helpful surroundings. He is an individ-
ual. and the state becomes responsible
for his physical and moral welfare, It'll
is as important that he should be fed
and clothed and instructed on some in
telligent plan as that members of
United States infantry should be gar
risoned, equipped and drilled for mill
tary duty The citizen represents a
cash value to the state. 1t is not too
much for the profession that ] represent
to claim that, under reasonable condi-
tons, the state can convert waits and
youthful oaupers into sterling citizens
After some decades of much heralded
progress, we should be ashamed to
claim less. On the other hand, we should
claim that bunglerS would in general
succeed as poorly in bringing up chill
dren as in managing battleship or in
conducting any business for which they
mad not received SPECIAL training.
Hon George w. Johnson OF BROOK
field. chairman of the state board of lu-
macy and charity, took a moment to re-
ply to Mr.. CAROLS general remarks in
the line referred to, as they might be
construed to apply to this commons
wealth Mr. Johnson referred to the
fact that when the practice OF sending
young lnhantS 10 IeWkSpuFy Obtained,
the death rate of these children was 80
per cent-between one and three years
Under the present method Of the board,
whereby the children were put out in
good homes as soon as possible, the
death rate among this class of the state
wards had decreased to 9.5 per cent
Mr.. johnson desired to offer this in re-
buttal of the evidence and statements
to show, inferentially if not otherwise,
that the board of lunacy and charity
were accomplishing little good Mr.
Carroll in reply, stated that he was
speaking on the general principles OF
the case and not making any specific
criticisms of the work of the board.
Among the other speakers were
Bishop William Lawrence, Mrs. Alice
Freeman Palmer Judge Almy of Cam
bridge, Or. Bowditch of Harvard, all in
favor of the report of the commission,
for the various charges discussed last
year.