Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-10-13
TOO MANY BABIES TO COUNT
Perjure Offspring Into Reformatories
to Secure Public Care.
CLEVER WAYS OF DISCRETION
Children's Court Saves Thousands
Next Needed Move is an Insti-
tuition for Parents.
Written for The Star.


With the spread of childrens court legis-
lation from state to state through the coun-
try, the term delinquent child" has become
a pet expression. 1t has rolled on multi
tude of tongues. while delinquent parent"
has scarcely been heard. And yet to him
are the chief sins to be charged. He is a
queer study, this delinquent parent, and
one that deserves a lot of attention. He is
increasing the order of immigration that
is flooding into and further congesting
the already overcrowded alien colonies Of
our great cities is falling.
There is probably greater show place
in the world for the various parental de-
linquencies than the chldrens court Of
New York. Here his helplessness. chiefly
due to ignorance. his atrophied sense of
duty, his cupidity that leads him to en-
courage the children to steal is respon-
sibe for his desire to unload the care of
his children on the state, his follies and
all his numerous deficiencies are daily re-
vealed under the X-ray of judicial investi-
cation. The varieties of his deinquencies
are as diverse the stock of the man
whose boy recently told the court that his
father was dealer in "coalS, eggs, onions
and ice"
The dead weight of ignorance is the most
difficult barrier in dealing with the delin-
quent parent. While adults are never ar
raigned in the children's court of New
York, its wise judges endeavor at all times
to reach the parents well the chill
dren through moral suason. The constant
aim is to save the child without commit
ment, if possible, and to preserve the home.
1t was necessary last year to commit for
indefinite periods almost 1900 children out
of 9,41S arragned, and the fault in the vast
ma jority of cases lay not much with the
children as with the parents. Not that he
redity played such an important part-for
all who have watched the thousands of
boys and girls pass through the children's
court agree that less than one-tenth part Of
the responsibility can be charged to he
redity. The environment is what counts.
The parents choose the environment and
are the central figures in it. Their neg
lect and their example and that of their
ne1ghborS are more potent in forming the
child life than blood. The children are in
formative state, mentally as well as
physically, and with proper influences the
hereditary tendencies can usually be over
come and they can be placed in the way that
leads to useful citizenship The habits Of
the parents, on the other hand, are often
firmly fixed.
Teach Children to Steal.
There is not much to be expected from the
parents who teach their children to steal,
and yet there fathers and mothers of
that class. To cite recent case: 1t de-
veoped at the trial of a skllful boy pick
pocket that the father had been taking
the crowds Their itinerary was planned
to take in excursions and exhibitions, wher-
ever they could find the best dumps
crowds that would afford easy victims.
Nor is much to be looked for from the
fathers and mothers who would perjure
their children into reformatories in order
to lay up few more American dollars.
Instances many where parents have
charged innocent children with serious
crimes in the hope that they would be sent
to college" Any institution, charitable or
reformatory, where their children be
fed, clothed, educated and perhaps taught
trade, all at public expense, is to these
parents college" Many of these parents
have heard all about the American col
lege' before they reached this country.
The trick of trying to rid themselves Of
the maintenance of their children is seldom
attempted because of real poverty. 1t is
due rather to thrift, and when the boys
bread-earning capacity has been increased
they will take him home again.
The thought that stigma may attach to
the child in later years because he has been
committed for an offense against the law
gives such parents little concern, If 1t oc-
ours to them at all Their one thought is
that they will be relieved Of the care and
maintenance of the child during the years
that the law will not permit him to work
and thus add to the family income
The parents of this particular stripe were
at one time confined to one foreign colony,
but the trick was spreading through immi-
grant settlements throughout the city when
an amendment of the law practically killed
it. By this amendment the justices who
in turn sit in the children's court were en-
abled at their discretion to place the father
of any child committed to an institution
under an order to pay wholly or in part
for the child's maintenance while there.
The justices have become skilled in pene-
trating the perjury and subterfuges of par
ents of this class
Culprit Becomes a Jewel.
Now, when such father who is the COM
plainant against his own boy or girl is told
that in event of commitment an order will
be entered against him to pay the city
something toward the child's maintenance,
there is a sudden change in his attitude His
avalanches of charges melt into floods of
virtues-the culprit becomes a jewel
Instances of fathers and mothers leading
their children to corner from which they
could point out the building of the Society
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children,
and then deserving them, are frequent. The
whole pitiful story comes out when the chill
dren apply for shelter. 1t is true that
when the charity or society authorities can
trace out these deserters they bring them to
swift punishment But in such labyrinth
ian city as New York it is often a fruitless
pursuit.
Two forlorn looking youngsters not long
ago sat on the steps Of the Children's Court
building. Their frowZy heads were bent
close together and they We're talking earn
estly. Finally they jumped to the middle Of
the sidewalk and began to pummel each
other like mad. They gave little heed to
the crowd, but they stopped occasionally to
search the windows of the building Final
ly, when they saw faces in the windows,
they sprang at each other again and fought
like furies. An officer drove them away,
but they returned and went at it harder
than ever. They were finally brought into
the building, the nose of the one bloodied
and the shirt of one lacking a sleeve 1t
took lot of questioning before the real
story came out
They came from a Suffolk street tene-
ment Their parents had repeatedly driven
them from the miserable rooms they called
home. The bantam with the blood4 nose
said If he went home he would be knock
ed down kilt" The other told a story of
wretched abuse, and declared he would
never go back. The two little outcasts
were without friend in the world. They
had talked the situation over in their boy
ish way, and finally decided that all that
was left for them to do was to be arrested
and put away" That would at least solve
the problem of shelter, food and clothes.
They finally hit on the original idea of GO
Ing up in front of the Children's Court and
fighting until they got looked"
Scratched His Shaggy Head.
The parent who in open court acknowl-
edges his ignorance to the exact num-
Der and the names of his children is not
particrllarly hopefuI subject m which r.