The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-09-24
RESCUING THE WAITS
A WeII-Conceived~P Ian to Train Chicago's
l.. Waits for Useful .
Ives

=. Lives.
The public-spirited citizens of Chicago
are about to establish near St. Charles,
ILL.,. a suburb Of Chicago, an institution
which is calculated to render very useful
service to that city. It is called rural
home and school for boys.
Judge Tuthill, presiding over the court
for Juvenile offenders in Chicago, has felt
for a long time the need Of such a haven
for the little waits who are brought before
him for petty +offenses. They are not
criminals, but unfortunates, and while
Chicago has an industrial school, it Is in
the nature of a house of correction. The
St. Charles institution will really be a
home where the, Influences and the in
struction will be calculated to wean the
boys away from the allurements Of city
life, cause them to be interested in rural
pursuits and fit them for success in rural
occupations.
The plan of the school was conceived
and has been worked out by N. w. Nc
Lain, who was for two years director of
the experiment station at st. Anthony
Park. Mr.. McLain has been elected SUI
perintendent Of this school by the trustees.
The trustees are appointed by the gov
ernor of the state. and the institution Is
under state auspices in measure, though
relying chiefly upon, private gifts for its
successful Inauguration. -. =.
Mr.. McLain, in describing the school to
the Chicago Record Herald, says:
The main object of the school and
home is to give the boys a dependable
education and an efficient training for sue
cess in the world. They must be made to
feel that they have some responsibilities
in life, and that it is their duty to be good
citizens. This is not to be reformation
but formation school; in short, a fac
tory for good citizenship with. the rising
generation as it is to be found on the
streets of Chicago as the raw material"
This school will teach mechanical trades,
various branches OF farming; will instruct
in the common branches of an English ed
ucation, and afford the boys committed to
it the opportunity which they do not now
have to fit themselves for useful and hon
orable occupa tons q AS above indicated,
however, the influence of the school will
be exerted to send these young boys into
rural lines Of activity, though nothing will
be done which will disqualify them for
success in urban life, If circumstances
should ultimately send them IN that oil
5rection. -: = 49, r..
Among the contributors to this fnstitu-
ton are John w. Gates, Charles M.
Schwab, Samuel Allerton, H E.. Weaver
and Charles Selfridge. The Chicago Com
mercial Club contributed $4,000, and 1t is
understood that the fund already In hand
aggregates s250;000. =
Inc trustees Have sDOu6Hlf d ldIS0 LIdCL
of land on which they are proceeding now
| to erect cottages; each INTENDED to accom-
modate forty boys. Each cottage will be
a family group within itself, presided over
| by man and his wife, selected with spe-
| cial reference to their fitness to discharge
| the responsibilities and duties Of taking
| care of such a family. '- -. n T.
Mr. McLain is now busily engaged in
erecting buildings, laying out the farm and
grounds, and getting everything ready fol-
the opening Of the school at the earliest
possible date. The establishment Of this
! institution is the result of a conviction
which has taken firm hold in the minds Of
leading Chicago business men that it is
better to educate and train up the waits
of that city for honest, useful lives thar
! it is to provide police protection against
| them and build jails for their incarceration
after they have become members of the
criminal class, into which they generally
and naturally drift.