The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-11-11
THEY ARE BOTH WRONG.

nnAo' Sohh A. Logan ndS written an article on 'Inhumanity to Children" which Is largely devoted to what she Is pleased to consider the privations of country children which she epito- mixes by saying: They have no re- creation. Their school days are few and far between" M
 Mrs. Logan is brilliant woman, and writes we'll, but she makes the com mon mistake so often made by those who look too closely in one direction. We don't know what kind of country children she has had most acquaintance with, but most readers will doubtless agree with us that her language Is much too strong. But The Washing ton Times, we think. goes just as far the other way in its effort to combat Mrs. Logan's contention and to show that she Is altogether wrong in inti- mating that none but city children .en- joy any of the blessings of life. It says:
 That some country boys and girls are subject to all the disadvantages she names. pitifully enough, is true. Yet, compared to the environment of the poverty ridden swarms that Infest the great cities, that of the country youth is enviable. The city youngster, scion of poverty. lives in an atmOs- phere of moral and physical filth. There is not even air that is fit to breathe. The sunshine, falling only in feeting strips between tall houses. the abodes of misfortune. Is sifted through smoko, and up to meet 1t rises from the pave the invisible evil brood of disease. There are schools within reach, but necessity sends the child to labor early or there may be inability to clothe the boy or girl so as to be presentable. They grow up in the streets, about them every influence debaslng. They do not get enough to eat, and much they do get Is unfit
 This, we repeat. is as far wrong In one direction as Mrs. Logan goes in the other. Possibly the children of the very poor in Washington and some of the other large cities are in the pitia- ble condition spoken of by The Times and the picture 1t paints may be meas urably correct for them, but when 1t uses the word cities 1t draws on Its imagination to describe the prlvations of the boys and girls in many of the smaller cities of the Union. Even the very poorest are rarely doomed to live through such surroundings and privations as our contemporary des- cribes and most of them would be unable to recognize themselves In the portrait painted by The Times.
 But however extreme may be the views of that paper, Mrs. Logan Is no nearer correct in her general descrip- tion of country children, at least in this portion of the world. It is true that most of them have to work. and 1t Is also true that some of them are overworked. badly clothed and fed and otherwise inhumanly treated, but this only applies to a comparatively few. For the most part the children in the country are better off than are those of any city. taking them in the mass. Mrs. Logan should study conditions with more care and broaden her perceptions. If the conditions she describes are really applicable to the country people in the region where she Is best aC- quainted she will do we'll to study other sections and learn her mistake To assert that country boys and girls have no recreation is absurd. There are many recreations enjoyed by children in the cities from which country boys and girls are barred and 1t Is better for them that 1t is so. They are both healthier and better for the denial of some privileges And, in the matter of education they are by no means so badly off as Mrs. Logan intimates. In fact, she is badly astray in her re- marks all through.