New-York tribune., 1901-08-03
EDUCATING SLUM CHILDREN.
DIR. KELLOGG's EXPERIMENTS IN PROV
ING THAT ENVIRONMENT Is GREAT
ER THAN HEREDITY.

Err THAN HEREDITY.
An interesting household of twenty-four children
is now under :he OF DR.. and Mrs John H.
Kellogg in Battle Creek Mich. DR.. Kellogg Is a
firm believer in the power of environment to neu-
tralize eradicate hereditary tendencies. ana MS
experiments during the last years with severaI
hundreds of sum children have proved hghy
successful.
The house occupied by the family is commodlous
and we'll equipped with everything that tends TO-
ward the health and happiness of the children ii
stands within grove of forty acres. when mas
been converted into veritable park with herds OF
deer ponies. swimming pool swings and tobog-
gan slides in winter. These grounds are shared
by the children living at the Haskell Home. close
by, which also outgrOwth of DIR. Kelloggs
theories. This latter house shelters 100 walls
of all nationalities taken from the worst districts
in every State in Porto Rico and in Mexico The
enid of the criminal drunkard. if removed from
his evil surroundings aud properly brought up ac-
coIding to Dr. Kellogg, will; prove creditable
citizen who has back of him long line Oh
good ancestors
The statistics of Juvenile offenders" says Dr
Kellogg. have shown that 50 cent of the parents
OF these children who not orphans are utterly
unnt TO give them the training they require, 81 per
cent being drunkards and the remainder being
criminal or disreputabe. According to this show
ing. scarcely one-eighth. not more than l3 per
cent. of the children that to-day found in re-
tormatories and prisons had anything
like fair chance and probably a careful investi-
this small remainder have really enjoyed the ben
eft of proper mental and moral training, for moral
and even Christian. parents often engrOssed
in affairs of business and social life that their
children do receive proper care. and in not a
few instances the influence of parents is almost
altogether cOunteracted by the perncious influence
OF immoral servants. or vicious paymates OF
scnool associates.
If, from the fact above stated-that 50 per cent
of the parents of criminal children themselves
criminals morally delinquent-t be argued tnat
heredity must be the dominant factor in the de-
velopment of criminal character in children, 1t is
only necessary to suggest in reply that environ
ment well heredity is brought to bear upon
the child In each of these cases since morally de
fective parents certainly incapable of sur
rounding their children with the educational at
mosphere necessary to developing good chaTacter
The child who nherits predisposition TO drunk
enness. from Incorporate father, has constant
y before him a parental example calculated to
lead him straight the saloon but certainly hered
as upon the physique. The child's brain resem-
bles that of his father closely do his eyes
his ears or his figure, and his conduct is as likely
TO be like that OF his father as is his gait or ms
mode Of speech. and for precisely the same reason.
The child who has bad heredity as before
suggested is also likely TO have an equally bad
environment whereas ne needs specially faForable
environment. The boy who is born with a small
consumption; his breathing power being defective
his vital resistance will be low, digestion Will
easily become enfeebled. and thus he will become
may be saved from nrensfurS death and NAV de-
velop very considerable degree Of constitutional
vigor by removal. AT sufficiently early to
mountain region. The and pure air found at
altitude of a mile above level MAY success
fully antagonize and even obliterate hereditary
bias. So child with a natural predispositon to
theft may be saved from becoming a criminal and
brought up useful manhood by the elevating
influence of the high moral tendencies OF "A Chris
tian home"
The house at Battle Creek IS filled with in
terestng cases, many of the brightest and healthi
est children having been rescued from the lowest
conditions Of life one of these boys found In
the streets OF Chicago. where hc picked up his lv-
ing from garbage boxes. occasionally from
saloonkeeper- At that time ne had hardly learned
TO talk, although four years old, and a
pitiabe condition physically from long neglect He
is now full OF energy. witty and Or. kellogg
describes him. 'one OF the finest boys OF his age
saw
At the home the children receive a common
school and manual training, and have the bene-
NJ OF a good outdoor gymnasium. They become
hardy and develop strength rapidly. Unlike many
institutions, the children live I'm groups. fami-
lies, at the Haskell Home. each group under the
care OF its mother" having its table At
meals Its dormitory and morning and evening wor-
ship. The food is simple. and meat IS never IN
cluded In the diet.