The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1901-12-28

tinuaI Offenders. In other words, there
were five of these children who had al
ready become, or We're on the road to
become, habitual criminals. In the lesser
number Of the period of 1900-'01 there
were not a smaller number than four
persons of the same type, and looking
into the list or those who mad passed the
age limit, / noticed the names of two
or three other persons who were less
than 19 when the record Of 1867 was
made up. Now looked at rom the most
favorable aspect, presented by these fig
ures, the disposition to commit crime,
to get cut of the pale of the law, is, 10
say the least, shocking.
1t is astonishing to me that it can be
true that there is a body of people with
whom l am identified, comprising but
one-seventh of the population, and yet
that the children of that one-seventh are
committing one-fourth OF the offensca
committed by the young people of the
community
Now, bad as is the showing for the
city of Topeka, the showing for the
state at large is even worse
The total population of the state is
lao $50; the negro population is 81. 0G3-
Or, to speak exactly, one-twenty-eighth
of the populations; or. in round num-
bers, nearly or a little more than one
thirtieth. L communicated with the va
rious superintendent of the several in
dustrial schools and reformatories of
the state. with the following results:
In the r-eformatory at Hutchinson the
total number Of inmates Is $50. OF this
number s., or one-fourth, are black. In
the reform school at Topeka there are
1856 inmates, and of this number 46, or
C~ne-fourth, are black. At the girls re-
form school at Beloit, p of the 107 in
mates, or one-f1fth, are black. The Su-
p-erintendent; Mrs. Perry, advises me.
too, that the colored girls have a
stronger personality for evil than the
white ones, on whom they exercise a
very pernicious influence, and very
-,,-I ~--@ - - ---. ---1-I c..
are the facts as 7 have been able to col
lect them
Now what do they reveal? Account
for it now we may, candor compels US,
one and all, to admit that they show a
marked tendency toward crime on the
part of the youth of ans
Now what is the cause of all this? /
know that the first answer which sug-
geStS itself to this question is lack of
opportunity and insufficient incentive to
well-doing-this insufficient incentive
being mainly chargeable to the attitude
maintained by the dominant elements of
society to the negro social advance
ment- Granted all this: but after all, is
this a sufficient reply to this inquiry? Is
there not a responsibility devolving
upon us which we have not realized
an opportunity to which we have not
rOven ourselves equa12
/ int that a large part of this
criminal disposition is due to careless
ness on the part of the parents in incul-
hearts of the children, the blossom and
fruitage of which is a sound and healthy
character 1t may, perhaps, be alleged
that this is a sin of omission True. but
if there is one sin more disastrous in its
effects than another it is the one of
neglect.
You all remember the old story i'll
which the shoe was lost for the want
of a nail, the horse was lost for want of
a shoe, and for want of a horse the rider
was lost. and all for the want of d
hAaz4zAA-A - - ~ fAAA . ZOO
rad Lange, who, in pacing the floor Of
his cell in a ~lunatics' asylum, constant
ly mumbled to himself, "Once one ~
two; once one is two" For, because he
had made this mistake, a great error
had arisen in his accounts, and because
of the error he was diSgraced, and be-
cause of his disgrace he lost his reason,
and all because in his calculations he
thoughtlessly said, .Once one is two"
But you say, what are some of these
omissions? In what respects are parents
in fostering proper ideals? /
believe that parents are negligent, in
that they do not set forth to children
the dignity, nay h necessity, of labor
in the formation of character, and thus
lay the foundations of a vicious life
Children should early be taught that
there are but two ways of living, an
honest and a dishonest way. Thea are
two ways in which one can live
honorably; either he must earn what
he gets or it must be given to bin. He
can only earn it by labor, or what is
given him must be the fruits of the la
Dor of some one else.
The foundation, then, of an honest
life must be the formation of indus
trious habits For if the child is to live
a life of idlenesS it can only be lived
If his parents are able to perpetualIy
provide for him because they have ac-
cumulated so much of this worlds
goods that when they leave him in the
course of nature he will be left bounti-
fully provided for by the product of
haf~ ofFar%- Tf - o.@ -0oor I'D npn
unable to provide for him then, if hab-
its of labor have not been formed. to
life is the child doomed? And yet
/ have heard parents say, in he pres
ence of their children, that they do not
their children to work as they
worked In talking to a little
the other day I had occasion to ask
her. What about your future?" What
she Intended to do to provide for her
self in after life, and what her father
intended her to do when b had been
educated. h said: My father said
/ would never have>to work SO long
as he lived and could work. Her
fathers intentions were kindly enough, |
but her father is poor. effect
such remark have but to bring la
Dor into contempt in the minds of child
rem? If they, the children, are not to
work as their parents have worked,
then how are they to work. The girl
not work so long as her father |
and works, but when he ceases to
live or becomes disabled, then? Is
the condition of the child different or
to that Of his father? Is the
parent richer now than when the child
was given to him? If not. hen whar
legacy does he leave it but the habit OF
ldleness 1t may be replied that there
is a difference between the parent and
child in the respect that the child has
education, the parent none / may de-
muir to this by saying that there is one
respect in which the child is more ig-
norant than the parent, and that by the
own thoughtless onduc He |
obtained that knowledge by expert
ance- But he has prevented the child
from obtaining that all-important ex-
D~erienee. and has thus bereft him of |