The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1905-12-29

1905
Home for Girls at Trenton, the State
Home for Boys at Jamesburg and the
Reformatory at Railway They have
been adjudged BY the courts as incor-
rigibles and / have no doubt they are 70
some extent. To have bssn cutled and
kicked about as many Of theae Children
have been. would not have had an i'm
proving effect upon any Of us, and it Is
unfair that they should have been pun
ished for the neglect and cruelty, not to
say crime, of parents. With parental
affection and kindness and cheerful
home, however humble, We should hear
and see less of juvenile incorrigibihty.
The State homes are excellent institu-
tions. beyond question. but institutional
life cannot stake the PLACE Of heme life,
and so far as the younger children are
concerned. | think it would be better to
place them in suitable homes as soon as
practicable after they are received, even
if the State paid for their maintenance
in private families what it costs to sup
port them in the institutions now. OF
course, they should continue under the
fbfA an
dents of the institutions for their own
protection as well as that Of the State
This would reserve the Institutions for
the older and actual ineo.rigibles and
degenerates, of which there are certainly
many.
There is an opinion prevalent among
certain classes of people that the State
will feed, clothe and maintain children in
these State ..omes, give them good COM
mon school education and train them in
some suitable trade without expense or
care to the parents, and | have reason to
believe that the committing authorities
have been deliberately imposed upon in
many instances by parents and others re-
children have been called ineorrigible
simply to relieve parents of their care.
If the cost of commitment to these in
stituticns was placed upon the parents,
and in cases where it clearly estab-
lished that the parents are financially
able the cost of maintenance in whole
or in part was required of them, the
number Of small children in our insttu-
tions would be materially decreased and
the State relieved of burden unjustly
put upon it.
Il cannot urge to0 earnestly The i'm
portauce of keeping strictly separate In
these institutions the unfortunate child
81 drunken 81 disso1IFe parents from thu
wayward or degenerate child Already oh
the high road to criminal life
sThe present mode of feeding the prs
oners is by placing their food in Their
cells. l am advised by persons in other
States, familiar with prison care, that a
common dining-room would mean a-say-
ing one-quarter of the cost of mainte-
nance | make these sugge tons for
what they are worth; it may be that in
them there is a possibility of considera-
bly, reducing the sum of Sill 600. which
the State now pays for prison mainte-
nance in excess of its entire revenue.
After consultation with some Of the
board of inspectors. I have reason to be-
lieye they will make recommendations
along these lines. in which I heartily
concur"
Dir. Wight commends the parole system
of the State. and urges that great care
be taken in the selection of parole OIL
GERS He concludes his document with
a commentator to the officers of the In
stitutions of the State. who have received
him III all instances with cordialisy and
openness.
II a