The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-05-05
REPORT OF THE HoY,s CLUB,
Read at the United Workers' Meeting
 Yesterday.

Yesterday.
 The monthly meeting of the United Workers was held yesterday forenoon
 at the Organized Charities building, No
 200 Orange street. Mrs Bernadotte
 Perrin, treasurer of the Workers, who
 Is acting chairman of the executive
 committee in the absence in Washing ton of Mrs. Francis G. Beach, read the
 annual reports which had been submit ted by William G. McCann, superinten-
 dent of the Boys club and by Chaun-
 cey M Crawford, instructor of the join
 CT class. MT. McCann's report was as follows:
 l There has been a slight falling off in I the attendance on account of the warm
 weather. The average attendance is
 eight less than for the preceding month.
 The total attendance for April was 1,6l6,
 average 65 largest attendance on any
 night 1O7, smallest attendance on any
 night 8. The smallest attendance oc-
 cured on the Saturday before Easter.
 The second lowest attendance was AZ.
 The second highest was 90; that gives a better idea of the attendance than the extremes.
 | The bathroom has been in constant
 use and it does not accommodate all who want to take baths. The average
 is eight per night. The efficiency Of the
 baths would be greatly increased if the | bathtub could be replaced by shower bath. St. Bartholomew Boys club of | New York has such bathroom, into which about twenty boys go at once. There have been 54 arrests of minors during the month, with 60 charges against them, distributed as follows:
 Breach of peace 25, vagrancy 10, theft 9, reform school complaint 4, of which 2
 were committed, drunk 3, trespass on | cars 8, carrying concealed weapons 7, placing Instructions on railroad Z, re- sisting officer l. evading railroad fare l. One fact observable In the arrests is that the greatest number of charges were for breach of the peace. 25 out Of Q total of 60 Here is the sphere of the Boys club Some of the breach of the peace cases were for fights, but the ma
 jority were for general disturbances, caused by the natural overflow of boy ish enthusiasm which disturbed the peace of the residents, who have forgot ten that boys simply cannot be qulet The sphere of the Boys club is to take account of this surplus energy and di- rect it. A recent study of New York boys clubs has thrown light on this problem. There they seek to find out what boy, or a group of boys, want to do and then help them to do that It may be to form a baseball club, dra- matlc club, literary club or football team Whatever it may be, they seek to make it legitimate They give such a band of self-organized energy place to meet by themselves; they give them a director whose advice may be sought by the boys.
 Soon our police records will show that lot of boys have been arrested for playing ball on the street or for disturb ing the quiet of the residents in the neighborhood of a vacant lot. The Unl- versity settlement and the Neighbor- hood House, New York, organize such enthusiasm, and the result is lot of wholesome fun and manly boys instead of rowdyism and culprits, and class of citizens who hate law and policemen. Three gangs of boys, members of the United Workers Boys club, have | formed little clubs of their own, with dues and meeting places. But they | were short-lived. One met in cellar, | another in a shed in a back yard and | the third composed of larger boys, had | a room on East Chapel street. Their | efforts were looked upon as outcomes of | the United Workers Boys club and | which reached beyond its influence. But | tl ho cida in Now York | do this very same thing and the work CTS then invite such self-organized. bod | ies to their rooms and offer them a | meeting place, helping them to perfect their own plans
 Here Is a problem of our city life which only the United Workers Boys | club can do. A strictly religious organ- ization cannot accomplish 1t. The idea is to help each one to be his own best | self without allowing creed or sect to come in to divide Here Protestant and Catholic Jew and Gentie meet togeth- CT and learn that there is common | bond that binds all together. Here is meeting place.
 Mir Crawford's report was as follows!
 The interest of the boys has betn uIt usually good during the last month. In I the first class there has been but one change in enrolment, In the second class no change. The present enroll- ment is eighteen for each class. For the first class the total attendance has 1 been 1892 average attendance IS. For the second class, total attendance TIT, average IA 12.
 For the year the total attendance in both classes has been 175S, average IA 1-2. About 150 pieces of work have been finished, of which 15 are boats, re- luiring about two months of steady work and nearly as many others are equally difficult. In proportion to the number of nights the boys have worked, 'ewer pieces have been finished this year than last, but the work of this year is more difficult, more practical md far superior in workmanship At he same time the percentage of boys who have been steady in attendance lnd persevering in their work Is decid- ally larger than last year. This i'm has been largely due to the ivalry between the two classes.
 The annual exhibition will be held on evening, May ', from to g