The Athena press. [volume] (Athena, Umatilla County, Or.) 18??-1942, 1906-07-10
"GETs RID oE THE KID"
Portland oregonian.

Portland Oregon1an.
DR.. A. s. Orne, who has made a
tour of the Western cities recently in
the interests of children and the Juv-
emile Court, is authority for the state
ment that the words "get rid of the
kid" represents the spirit Of the age
in which we live. He does not, as be
might have done, go back into the
methods employed for this purpose,
that have come to be known as race
suicide, but deals with facts concern
ing the lives of myriads Of children
born to thriftless, irresponsible par
ents, whose neglected childhood ap-
peals to humanity for rescue, and
who, little further on, join the ranks
of predatory mischief making boys and
untaught immodest girls. and who,
yet little later, swell the ranks of
youthful criminals.
A tour of personal inspection of the
charities and corrections of this coun-
try, covering period Of ten years.
leaves DR.. Orne in iather discourag-
ed mood, since he asserts with great
positiveness that America is raising
a corp of good -for-nothings and gam
blers, most of whom come from chill
dren who have no home, in the real
sense of the word. Our criminals
have increased rs per cent in the last
ten years, he further declares, while
our population has increased only %
per cent in the same period.
This is truly dark record. If it is
record supported by careful obser-
walton, it certainly behooves the people
to ascertain the cause and provide
remedy. The cause is indeed plainly
shown in the records of the Juvenile
Court in many cities, including Port
land parental irresponisbility in vary
ing degrees, whether it is manifest is
simple carelessness or stolid inatten
tion, or proceeds to the all too common
extreme of "getting rid Of the kid" by
desertion, with as little care for its
futrue as for that of the superfuous
dog purposely "lost," is, without
doubt, the basis of the increase in
juvenile criminality SO sadly noted.
Examples of this kind are common
in every community. Here is wo
man whose husband is in the peniten-
tiary; desiring to marry again, she
throws her little girl of years upon
public charity, because, as she stated
to the Judge of the Juvenile Court,
''the man will not marry me unless
get rid of the kid. There is little
boy, weeping in railway station,
with nowhere to go, explaining in sim
pie words: "My papa put me on a
train and went way; got off here
and am lost.
Again there appears before the
managing board Of the Christians
Home, woman with tear-stained face
asking admission for ner two or three
children, because their father has de-
serted his family. And yet again come
three children, clad in rags, covered
with vermine, and Ill kept, to whom
the authorities of the Boys and Girls
Aid Society are prompt to apply the
practical advice of Mr.. Dick, who,
viewing forlorn, travel-soiled little
David Copperfield, said briefly :"Wash
him" 1t is recorded that the parents /
of these last mentioned children did
not purposely nor willfully neglect
their Children. but thought they were
giving them all the care that was nee
essary that the little tots were healthy
and happy, sun Drowned as we'll as
dirty that they brought the best of |
appetites to the plainest fare, and that
there was no desire on the part of the
parents to get rid of them. The case,
therefore, was rather one OF parental
ignorance than parental Irresponsible
ity--hence its criminal features are,
in sense, lacking.
1t is not of this case that DR.. Orne
speaks, when he says.that 100 per cent of
our increase in criminals come from
homeless children; that of the 3,000,-
900 tralnps who are menace to civil
ization, 80 per cent come from the |
same class of children.
Lost, somewhere in Athena, pack |