The times., 1899-05-18
ESTABLISHMENT OF
A JUNIOR REPUBLIC IG
The Subject Discussed at a
Called Meeting.
For the Benefit of Improvident Boys
of This City and Baltimore.
A Delegation of BnItimoreans Pres
ent nj ST. Johns Church-Rcv. Il.
Lawrence Hunts Address.

Alexander Maokay- Smith, large gather
ing was present yesterday afternoon at
O'Clock in the parish hall of ST. Johns
Church, at the corner Of Sixteenth and II
Streets northwest, to discuss plans pro-
posed for the establishment of school for
the incorrigible and improvident boys OF
this city and Baltimore. A committee from
Baltimore was present and the co-opera-
tion of the people of Washington was urg-
ed. Addresses were made by Daniel Muir
ray, S. II. Whiteley, and W. Champlin
Robinson. Gen. Lawrason Riggs, OF Bal
timore, spoke of the progress OF the under
taking in the Monumental City. There had
been 5000 already raised, he said, and the
plan in view was to purchase farm where
the boys of the city could be educated in
the principles of seif-government and
trained to become good and honest cit-
zens. Later on, he said, the plans had
been altered to embrace Washington. The
two cities were close together and there
was no reason why the work should not
be cooperative.
The meeting was then addressed By Rev
E. Lawrence Hunt, formerly chairman of
the board of trustees of the George Junior
Republic. who said: Our streets are fill
ed with boys and young men who lead law
less lives and grow up to fill the prisons
and warehouses. The primary law of civ
ilization is that a man must learn to con-
troll himself. What we want to do is to
take these boys from the sidewalks and
teach them that knowledge is power. 1t
has been done and ii is remarkable what
a change is noticeable in youth who, be-
fore his association with the boys already
in the school, recognized no authority be-
side his own will This idea of the Junior
Republic is no new idea. AT the head of
the movement there must be a man who
loves boys and whose influence over them
is considerable. There are such men and
we can find them
Dr.. Hunt then gave a history and de-
scription of the movement which was start
ed five years ago in New York by William
r. George, with whom the idea was origi-
nal. 1T is simply" said he, "a reproduc-
tion of the United States. 1t is, as its
name designates, Junior Republic, and
the boys who are members are really cit
iZens Of a commonwealth built on small
scale. Conditions which exist among men
in their relations with the State and other
men, exist in the Junior Republic also
A boy is obliged TO work in order to live
but II he would be lazy and go hungry
he can do so, and there are 10 regula-
tions to compel him to be industrious
Only boys between the ages of twelve and
seventeen, are admitted. They can enter
through three methods. Their parents can
arrange for their admission; they can be-
come citizens of the republic through their
own choice, or they can be committed
there by the courts, under suspended SEN
tence. Once there they are allowed TO do
as they please as long as they do not
break the State laws or those which the
citizens have enacted for their own protec-
tion. Crimes are punished by imprison-
ment and fines. The police department is
composed entirely Of boys, the judges are
boys, while citizen under arrest is tried
by jury made up entirely of boys. The
management Of the school never inter-
feres, and should one of the teachers of
whom there are a number, be assaulted
by one of the boys. the matter is reported
TO the police, and when the case is called,
the teacher appears as a witness, as he
would IN a State court. The plan has
worked perfectly. The boys are just in
their decisions and policeman will make
an arrest in spite of the fact that his
prisoner may be his chum. A boy on the
streets of a city under arrest looks upon
the law as compelling him TO submit by
right of might. In the Junior Republic
the boys made their own laws and obey
them without the feeling that they are a
special object Of spite. The laws are made
in a congress, modelled after the National
Government, and the greatest wisdom is
shown in the acts which are passed
This is the plan of the school which We
desire to establish on farm between
Washington and Baltimore" continued the
| speaker. by it boys who would otherwise
be sent to the reform school, from which
they are graduated into the penitentiaries.
are given a chance TO become valuable
members OF society. 1t must be remem-
| bered that these are the boys who will one
| day become the lawmakers of the coun-
! try, and there is great work in teaching
them the value of self control and the
principles Of industry"
Further steps will be taken in the mat
ter by those who have become interested
! in the subject, and it is expected that
plans for the establishment of Junior
Republic will be taken by the promoters
| OF the scheme in Baltimore and a num-
Der of the churches and phi!anthropic So
cieties in this city.