Evening star., 1901-05-11
THE DESTITUTE CHILDREN.
Report of Committee to Conference of
Charities and Correction.

Report of Committee to Conference of
Charities and Correction.
The subject of destitute and neglected
children was discussed by the conference
of charities and correction last evening at
Foundry Church, when the greatest
interest was shown by delegates who
listened to the reading of papers and
Joined in discussing them. There was a re-
view of what has been done and what can
be done to improve the conditions that are
to be found in tenement districts of large
cities.
President John NJ. Glenn, in calling the
meeting to order, stated that an invitation
had been received from the Catholic Uni
Versity for the attendance of the delegates
at the reception to be given Cardinal Marti-
nel1i at the university, from to 6 o'clock
next Monday afternoon. The aSsemblagc
voted unanimously to attend the reception.
Mr.. Amos w. Butler, secretary of the
board of state charities of Indiana, read ii
report from the committee on destitute and
neglected children, of which he is the chair
man This report embodied Il brief review
of methods in past years for caring for
neglected children. 1t stated that aims
houses We're the only public institutions
maintained for the care of destitute chill
dren in 1901.
Hope for Future Improvement.
The report showed the greatest hopeful
ness for the future Improvement of unde-
sirable social conditions and declared:
This century will be one of combat with
the evils of society. The past century was
a struggle for existence by the men and
women of our race. This will be marked
by efforts of individuals and by society for
the best interests of the children. The
present century will be, the children s CEN
tury. In it the most important work will
be the elevation of all childhood the chill
dren of the family the children of the
community, the children of the people"
In reviewing the past and the conditions
in caring for destitute children 100 years
ago the report stated:
In some states the poor were cared for
by families under contract. They were
often let to the lowest bidder. Both adults
and young We're frequently bound out Lit
tie or no attention was paid to neglected
children. The young offender and the
hardened criminal went to the same pris-
on, where they associated together Not
single juvenile reformatory existed in this
land, nor was one thought of for years af-
terward The problems of public depend
ence were not thrust upon the people Save
in the larger cities. instances of want were
few. Elsewhere generally the needy were
helped by their neighbors. The almsho,ise
was the sole institution for all needing
help. Into it were gathered all who needed
care.
The custom of keeping children in aims
houses was one that was hard to get away
the best method of caring for the children
outside of almshouses several different
plans have been tried. The ma jorty of
students have come to believe in the in
StltutlOn temporarily to prepare a child
and home in a good family for it's care.
SO far as | have heard from the members
of this committee they all believe thor
oughly in that practice. We have come to
recognize that the best place for a de-
pendent child is in a good family home.
There it may grow up in the natural way
learning the duties and Responsibilities of
life and breathing the air of independence
Rescue of Neglected Ones.
while many organizations for caring
for destitute children grew up, il was
more recently that such came into being
for the rescue of the neglected little ones
The system Of binding out included neg
lected children, those @ho We're found
begging, or were in vicious homes The
principle that the state is under obliga-
ton to protect a child from wrong or from,
immoral or degrading surroundings came
to be a settled feeling in some states Or
gan1Zatlons for the prevention of cruelty
to children followed such sentiment and
resulted in more advanced laws
"The older idea Of punishment, coming
down from the centuries of the past
is mighty In influence even yet Count
the number of our states in which this
sentiment underlies the existing laws In
all our prisons when the country was
young, there were confined, not only men
and women, but also boys and girls To
a greater or less extent these mingled in
discriminatory together. These disgrace
full conditions of a century ago have not
by any means wholly passed. In many of
our states they are still to be seen
With the separation of children from
the adult prisoners came many prison ira
dtionS and practices 1t was natural the
first employment for inmates should he
contract work. The thought was they
should do something. In time we have
gotten away from that. The present
thought is they should do something II is
not work. but training is. desired. In
many states reform schools receive home
less children and in some they are the
only public institutions receiving these
state wards. This should not he nor
should there be feeling against reform
schools and their inmates. Their charges
are but children Neglected, untrained
wayward boys and girls. They need disci
pline, education training and correct ad
justment to the proper conditions of life
The reform schools are prominent factors
in the work of child saving. They are
the lower dam which catches those NOT
stopped by similar structures higher up the
stream. t-
ChiId-Saving Work.
The same subject was also spoken on bv
Prof Charles r. Henderson of the Uni
versity of Chicago. whose paper was en-
titled The Neglected Child of Neglected
Community"
"Child-saving work has passed through
various stages and has developed various
methods, each of value in it's place" said
Prof. Henderson. individual care in re-
spcnse to direct appeal to sympathy is the