Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1905-11-09

keep them for single year an inmate
of our elemosynary Institutions. The
Iowa Orphans Home has to say on this
subject:
"'rhe records show that ntre than
10, 900 sluan boys and girls have been
transplanted to country homes by the
New York Children's Aid Society
alone. Not all have been governors,
for the supply would far outrun the
demand. But hundreds would nave
risen to be mayors Of cities superin-
tendents of great enterprises, bank
clerks and bankers, too, while thous-
ands are in all the professions ana
| humber walks of life.
Here is roll of honor OF one time
city waits, some of them personally
known to this writer.
"Ex-L Lieutenant Governor LeweHvn.
of Kansas; Ex-Governor Pennoyer. OF
Oregon; Patrick F. Fitz. ex-county
recorder; an ex-county clerk NUM-
Der of teachers and mothers OF repu-
table families. And we might add a
far longer list of notables and less
notable but none the less honorable"
Does not, then, the work Of saving
unfortunate children pay? Is 1t not
humane and Christian?"
This law provides that no child not
yet having reached its seventeenth
birthday shall be committed to jail or
police station, and when any child
shall be sentenced to imprisonment IN
any institution to which adult conWtcts
are sentenced, it shall be unlawful TO
confine such child in the same yard or
enclosure with such adult convicts, or
to bring such child into any yard or
building in which adult convicts may
be present.
This provision of the law has been
severely crtized and some critics have
gone so far as to say that between the
ages of sixteen and seventeen juven-
lies cannot be punished in any way
for any crime they may commit. l DO
not understand upon what theory such
a construction can be put upon the law
by any stretch of the imagination.
1t nowhere so provides. 1t does
say that the punishment shall not con-
sist of sending child who has not
reached his seventeenth birthday to
JAIL but this is but another form of
saying child under sixteen years, tor
it does not say seventeenth anniver-
sary of his birth and the day OF the
child's birth being his birthday, when
he reaches his seventeenth birthday he
would be sixteen years old and 1t can
bear no other construction. But the
objection is made by learned critic
THAT the provision that Juvenile Of
tenders should not be committed to jail
is absurd"
Let me say that in the opinion of
every one who has given the subject
the least attention, this Is one OF the
wisest provisions of the law and 1t is
incorporated into every Juvenile court
law that has been enacted and most OF
the states of the union now have such
a law All the literature on the Sub
ject is insistent and forcible on this
point. The reasons given are unassail-
able and not controverted by any one
who has studied the communicating
and degrading effect Of jails and pris-
ons upon child. You might as we'll
put a child in the fire and not expect
it to be burned as to cast one into
Jail or prison and not expect 1t to be
contaminated and to do so would coun-
teract any effort made for its refor-
NATION. need only to quote two.
Judge Carter says:
"iThe working of the Juvenile court
thus far has certainly been a great
success over the old method. 1t has
taken the children away from hardened
criminals, in preventing them from be-
ing put in jail when they first strayed
fom the wise path. This fact alone is
sufficient justification for the Juvenile
court. Instead Of sending young boys
~. IN doto INN,
schools and are not brought in contact
with adult criminals"
Rabbi Hirsch said few days ago
with reference to the effect and i1fiu-
ence Of a man, much less a child, by
putting him in jail:
1.-THE Cook county Jail, planned origt-
nally as place Of etention, Is really
high school for crime, and we. rec
ognize the fact by keeping the boys
out of 1t. do not wish to reflect on
the management of the Jail, because
Tailor Whitman has made titanic ef-
forts to bring the institution UP to
higher plane, but SO long as the pres
ent system prevails the Jail will be
! about what 1t is today. To sentence
man to jail for stealing bread for
himself or family is q greater crime
than the theft Of the bread"
And what he says of the Cook coun-
ty Jail is true of many OF the jails in
this state where adults are confined.
The obscene stories, gambling, cigarette
smoking, Kangaroo court, tyrannical
and cruel treatment of the young, are
blghting In their influence.
Another good feature of the law is
to put the child in the hands of a pro-
baton officer ard keep him out of the
hands of a policeman during his de-
ttntion.
Judge Tuthill says: "While enter
tain a high regard for the Chicago
police department, l believe that the
attitude Of the police towards the av-
erage small boy is not an inconsidtr-
able source Of further badness in the
youngsters. The average policeman,
not only in Chicago, but in every city
in the country, has pursued his duties
apparently with the idea that every
offender is to be treated with curse
and a kick The result has been that
the city boy. and especially the city
boy who needs the most care, looks
upon him as his natural enemy A
boy never forgets or forgives an injury.
If mischivous prank results in his
being roughly handled by a policeman,
the boy has been given a kick down.
ward. II a boy runs from a police
man the latter corstrues his action as
an evidence of guilt and acts accord
toto @trN