The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1907-01-10
COMMON SENSE PRINCIPLES
New York Juvenile Asylum Has Spent
Fifty Years Learning How to Bring
Out the Better Qualities Of
Children.
NEW YORK. January S. l9o7,-It


costs $206 a year to turn a bad boy in,o
a good citizen. At least this Is the la
test figure reported by the New York
Juvenile Asylum. which. for more than
half century, has been engaged in
the work Of Transforming street ur-
chins OF the petropolis into self-re-
specting men.
The price OF reformation like the
price of almost everything else has
gone up. A few years ago the young va
grant or petty thief or all-round rogue
who was sent to the Asylum cost $3.50
annually for food. clothing lodging and
the education by which he was polished
up mentally and morally. But times
have changed. Reform was cheaper
then because methods were different
and less efficient. Not many years ago
Juvenile delinquents were huddled to-
gether like troops in barracks. This
was under the congregate idea. AT
one time when the Asylum occupied a
building in the City. 100 lads were
sheltered under one roof. Now only 20
boys, and boys all about the same age,
live in one Of the fifteen cottages. or
families that comprise the little vii
iage on the Heights between Chauncey
and Dobbs Ferry, some 20 miles out in
the country. This is the segregate idea
which offers better opportunities for
the constant study Of each individual
case and which is as different from tn
old method as the comfortable home is
from the white washed county jail
The number Of children now at Chaun-
cey is 800.
Reformation in these days is con-
Quoted on business basis. The au-
thorities of the Juvenile Asylum can
tell almost to a cent what il costs to
make boy into a good citizen. OF the
s206 the boy costs the Asylum each
year, s145 is contributed by the City,
for with few exceptions the Asylum
boys are committed by the City au-
thoities acting through the Children's
court. The balance of the cost Of ma
king an honest man is contributed by
the Directors of the Asylum and other
friends and champions of the bad boy, |
who sociologisls have discovered. is |
more sinned against than shining. |
Since the Asylum was founded the city |
Of New York has invested in this
work of reformation about 241320o0, /
a sum many times less than the city
has paid out in the same period for pc
licemen, court Officers and Jail war
dens. In the same half century. pri-
vate contributions TO this work in the
promotion Of good citizenship have ag-
gregated $2.60o.000. Thus nearly 81
900, has been spent on bad boys in one
city in so years, and in the pat few
years the annual cost per boy has in
creased about SIS.
Does it pay? The Juvenile Asylum
no r,la rhT, ' E
formation on business principles, have
figures to show that the work is profit
able, The boys who graduate from the
Asylum are generally sent to homes in
the West and it is known that 85 per
cent Of those boys turn out well. A
visitor now in the field has recently
reported favorably on 92 per cent of the
children visited, but this little better
than the average. The question, Does
it pay?" finds answer in numerous
life histories which are brought to the
attention Of the Asylum authorities
A few days ago, they received a letter
from business man in an Iowa town
who announced his election to the Of
fec Of city recorder. He wrote that he
hoped the Asylum officers would be
pleased to hear about him because they
had sent him to Iowa in 1887. Most |
Of ALL" he wrote 81 remember those |
words Of Abraham Lincoln which
81 eeted me in the assembly room
Tell the boys of the New York Juve
nile Asylum, that they must value JUS
tice, truth and humanity if they wish |
LC become useful and honorable men.
have tried to live up to them as Lin
colin wished us to do. / wish the boys
who leave the Asylum would never for
get them. Tell them to come West"
Like all other business men, the au-
.horities Of the Juvenile Asylum study
carefully the raw material from which
hey make finished product that of
rood citizenship. Close study of the
,ad boy problem reveals the fact thatl
he delinquent hailed to the children's y.