Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-07-14
NATIONAL JUNIOR REPUBLIC
THE ANNUAL MEETING OF SUBSCRIBE
ERS AND ELECTION.
A Visitors View of the Miniature
COmmOnwenlth-Passed His Expec-
tatiOns-The Young Judge.

The National Junior Republic at Annap
oils Junction, Nd, has over twenty-five
boys at present making up it's active citi-
zenship Recently a meeting of the sub
scribers to the republic in Baltimore and
Washington was held at the farm and the
trustees for the year were elected. Practi-
cally the old board was reelected, and this
board subsequently reelected the old Of
ficers. The republic has been in successful
operation for about year, and the people
interested in 1t believe that it is past the
experimental stage and has already proven
its success in the reclamation of street
waits. The trustees are calling the atten-
ton of those interested in such matters to
the needs of the miniature republic in the
way of financial assistance and donations
of useful articles. A new building is very
greatly needed at the republic, as is an
additional number of annual subscribers to
provide the necessary running expenses.
A Visitors View.
One of Washingtons well-known physi-
clans visited the republic the Fourth of
July, and in writing about 1t afterward had
the following to say:
No better way of spending the glorious
Fourth presented itself to me than a trip
to the famous National Junior Republic on
the Willie Newbold Farm near Annapolis
Junction, Md My vague anticipations were
not fully realized. l expected to find mob
of young toughs, boys just on the verge of
the reform SchoOl-not yet entitled to that
distinction, but fast getting there. 1t seem
ed more like boarding school for boys.
Mr.. Rogers assured me that the newcom-
ers their first arrival would come up to
my idea, but one week of regular meals.
comfortable beds and kindness at all times
made a complete change in the worst cases
they had.
Not boy on the farm has any desire to
go back to his past either in Washing on
or Baltimore. In my presence a boy was
offered a furlough for "a few days if he
wanted to go back with his mother to Bal
timore. He settled that notion by an en-
phatic NO, nam! don't want to go back
but want my mother to stay here 1t would
do her good And agreed with him.
The Republic may be a paradise for that
kind of boy, but he has to work out his own
salvation 1t is in no sense a penal institu-
ton, but the motto of the Republic is, No
work, no eat The citizens elect their town
commissioners, judge, attorney, constableS,
&c, &c, make their own laws and break
them, are arrested by their own const a bIe
found guilty by their peers and sentenced
by a boy judge. who. by the way, will make
his mark when he gets out in the world.
Said to have been incorrigibe at home
while on the farm he is among the most
valued citizens of the Republic, not only by
those in authority, but by his felow-citi-
zens. / came home feeling that l had wit
messed a marvellous exhibition of the power
of love Twenty-seven boys turned from
the evil of their ways: children, perhaps in
all cases, OF parents incompetent to get the
best out of their children, either through
ignorance or environment given the best
chance to develop the best characteristics
of citizenship in the greater republic am
told that some of the best people OF Wash
ington and Baltimore are at the back of
this Junior Republic; from what | saw l
was convinced they never gave their time
and money to a more promising enterprise
Full of promise. not only to the boys
brought under the training of kind disci-
pine, but to be of greater benefit in the
saving of our boys The Junior Republic
has passed beyond the experimental stage
has come to stay and will be an indispen-
sable adjunct Of every large city having
boys not bad enough for the reform school
and too bad to be kept at home"