The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-06-25

llil lllt ldIuA aullpililtH tbhld dtAida whether or not the child should be sent to the state sanitarium?
 I repeat by way of summing up the evidence on this point the state like the proud father and the cruel judge has deserted some of her most unfortunate children. The state, in the attempt to protect some children, has cursed them. The state, under the semblance of pun ishing her wayward sons and daughters and protecting society, has criminalized these children, and further endangered society.
 The Church's Attitude.
 The second charge I make, likewise in the fear of God, is against the church of Christ
 The Son of Man went 10 the hungry, and the hungry came to Him for bread, and got it. He went to the blind and the blind came to Him for sight, and got 1t. He went to the sick and the sick came to Him for healing. and got it. He went to the outcasts of society and such out casts, though possessed with seven devils, came to Him for peace, and got 1t. He went to the lonely stranger and the de- serted wayfarer came to Him for com panionship, and got 1t. He went to the transgressor and the condemned crim- inal came to Him for forgiveness, and got it. And at last when He would strike with one heavy blow at once the deep- est depths of human depravity and self inflicted ignominy. He chose-and had chosen from the foundation of the world as his companions on Calvary two thieves between whom He poured out His life blood. And you remember what he said to one of them, who longed for some manifestation of His great sym pathetic soul when He reached His higher Kingdom? "This day shalt thou have companionship with myself in the Para disc of God"
 The church feeds some of the hungry, clothes some of the naked visits some of the sick and takes the sick to feW of her hospitals. Now and then she takes in the stranger, though by no means as much as the Salvation army-but what is the church of Christ doing for the vast company of people, known as the criminal class? Leaving out few elect souls in the past like John Wesley, George Whitfield. John Howard Elizabeth Fry and Dwight l.. Moody, what has been the relation of the Christian church to Him, who said, T was in prison and ye came unto me-" or "I was in prison and ye came not unto me?" Where will He put you and me, my brethren2
 Why Crime Increases.
 By the erroneous methods of the state and by the cruel neglect of the church, crime has multiplied all over the land.
 Did you know with the single exception of the crime of 1ynching-and God be thanked for this one exception-that there was an actual increase according to re- liable statisticians, of every other crime in 1905 over 1904?
 And did you know that the United States stood out with the greatest num- Der of homcdes of any nation on the globe. in proportion to population? Italy comes second, the United Kingdom third and Germany with the smallest per cent
 Vast Expense of Crime.
 Did you know moreover, in 1900 it cost this country $500 GOO to arrest, try and punish 100000 criminals, or per capita cost of 5000 for that year
 During the same year there were 15'- O0OO00 children in our schools; Cthat is 15O times more than the criminal popula- tion). The entire educational out-lay for 1900 was $165.Ooo.0oo. little more than one fourth of what our criminals cost us.
 But the most startling contrast appears in the per capita cost.
 Each school child cost $11 per year.
 Each criminal cost s6O0O per year, o4' times as much to care for the criminal as to care for the child.
 These amazing statistics will be the more readily accepted when you are toio that the criminal family in Germany cost that government during a period or seV- enty-fve years $l l25O,000. and that the celebrated Julles family of this country according to Mir R. L. Dugdaie, cost this nation for the same period $l,SoS.00O, ol S17. 40 per annum.
 Suppose a wise juvenile protectory had taken in Margaret, the mother Of erlm' inals," seventy-five years ago, now dl1' ferent would have been the history ol this noted family. and what saving to tho countryi
 Our system hitherto has changed way ward children into criminals. No wonder crime is on the increase.
 May God enable both the church and the state to see their share In this lament able conditions of affairs, and to put forth heroic and remedial efforts at once
 That is the way the Master speaks Of them-"My brethren, even these least ones and worst ones in prison.
 Have you read that pathetic poem by Lord Byron, "'The Prisoner of Shii1ong' The father had died at the stake
 For tenets he would not forsake.
 Four children had perished, either on th'
 battle field or at the stake.
 "Three were in a dungeon cast,
 Of whom this wretch is left the last
 After some years in prison Tor the faltf of their fathers the middle brother saw the oldest one pine away. his mighty heart gave up, after being chained so long tc a pillow, beside which he died.
 ''I saw, and could not hold his head, Nor reach his dying hand-nor dead Though hard I strove and strove in vain To rend and gnash my bonds in twain
 Of the youngest he said:
 "Rut he the faVorite and the flower Most cherished since hispnatal hour, His mothers image in fair face,
 The infant love of all hbs race
 His martyred fathers dearest thought My latest care. for whom I sought To hoard my life. that his might be Less wretched now and one day free. He too was struck. and day by day Was wither'd on the stalk away
 Have you ever sounded one note of hope and good cheer to your prison bound brother? To that class. of all others like this wretched prisoner of Shillon who had left hope behind?
 "I asked not why. and reck'd d not where; It was al length the same to me,
 Fettered or fetterless to be,
 I learned to love despair.
 My very chains and I grew friends