The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1907-05-07


great playground, and even eXacts GER
/ tain home conditions of its members.
The Chicago Newsboys Protective as
sociation is a notable factor in civic
improvement. Only a few weeks ago
several thousand children in New York
sat for over three hours hearing talks
on universal peace and took steps to
form a league of their own for that
purpose
Twenty-Five years ago the BOYS club
was formed in New York, and was
the first of its kind in the world.
! They met first in a whitewashed tene
ment. with a few college men 10 di-
rect them in their games and their
studies. Today its membership is five
! thousand and it is elf-governing still.
/ On the heels of this have come other
! clubs, clubs for the children of the
! poor. and of the rich, for the American
! and for the foreigner who wishes 10
! become future citizen, for the boot
black and the newsboy, and the influ.
ence has always been found good and
helpful.
a preacher in q big city complained
some years ago TO the police that chill
dren playing in the streets disturbed
his congregation when at prayer, and
asked that the nuisance be abated.
The curt reply from the police captain
was: "They have no other place TO
play; better pray for sense TO help
them get one - The minister then
went down in the slums and played
and prayed and sang with the children
in tho streets, and the public awoke
10 the fact that children must play.
I They turned schoolhouse Easements
and roofs into Fairgrounds; they made
gardens for the children on vacant
lots. they made room for them on the
piers, and set aside special parts Of
the parks for them.
Thirty years ago bIg-heartcd pas
tor in Pennsylvania village told ms
flock of the wan. old-faced children of
tho slums who had never seen grass. or
flowers or trees, and when he had fn-
ishcd there were sturdy farmers wait
ing. wetcyed. TO offer their homes for
summer outings. In week the first
frcsh-aIr party in America went out
to the farms under the minister s
care, That band of nine wistful chill
dren has grown into an army many
thousand strong, that frcsh-aIr funds,
aid societies, Improvement leagues.
King Daughters, newspapers, and prl-
vatc charities are sending every sum
mcr into the woods and fields beyond
the heat and glare and smell of the
big cities.
If parent neglccts his child, the
duty of its support dcvolves on society,
/ and provision for its care must be
made some way. II was Il long while
before tins country found some good
( way, and too often the little waif
grew MP III any fashion If could. The
New York Childrcns Aid society,
formed in 1853. undertook TO place
orphans and halforphans in good farm
homes, rather than in The charitable
institutions. where individualism is
necessarily stifed and the inmate
made little machine. 1t placed
forty-siX that year, and since then
New York and Pennsylvania have tried
the plan with their State wards, and
found ii good.
The first hearing child had in the
courts of tho United States WAS under
the act projecting dumb brutcs. and
/ her pitiful complaint was filed on the
| form used for dogs. Jacob Riis tells
! the story Of this little Mary Ellon. how
/ her SCARED body was released from its
/ horse blanket cover that a weeping
! jury and whitcfaced spectators could
see Just how brutal father could be-
and how from that incident there
sprang Il sentiment That has made the
| protection of children law on the
| stathtc books Of the State. Societies
with the State in the enforcement of
this law, and help protect and educate
the Younger citizens of the great me-
tropolis,
The child criminal. ihc pitiful
| product of a careless state of society.
, had no chances nine wears ago. lie
was tried, convicted and thrust amoug
older offenders, making of him a COM
l,t. i,ge 30, Ia.
State. and n menace 10 it's happiness.
Chicago WAS the first to meet this need
and IN 1899 became the pioneer IN tho
establishment of juvenile courts, The
preceding year has seen l07S Juvenile
offenders in her jails In 1909 there
were seventy. Of rs children parolcd
by the courts of that city in 1901,
only forty were ever brought again
before tho bar of Justice. The others had
''madc good, the spirit Of latent cIti-
I zeuship had been awakened. and they
were saved for the upbuilding of the
Nation Twenty-Five States now have
some form of legislation for Juvenile
offenders and thir weight cities have
juvenile court laws in VARYING degrees
of efficiency. Canada. Australia Eng
land and Ireland arc following the lead
Of the United States in this matter.
test of government and a
probation system for juvenile offenders
was made twelve Years ago. when that
unique establishment, the George
Junior Republic, came into existence.
1t was an altruistie attempt to help Il
boy make n good citizen of himself,
stimulated by the encouragement Of
society. Tho dcLnqucuis who camc out
under parole made tho laws. elected
the officers and controlled the rcpnblic.
They made the farm pay, they learned
trades that fitted them for citizenship,
and wen, back among their people
with clean record. and with ideals
that meant AN effort toward right liv.
ing.
The ,iudergartncr and graded school
teacher and moving picture man have
invaded the Sunday-Schools. and the
children of today are given a moro
practical enjoyable doctrine than The
one learned in the siilr pcws of the
old catechism days. The crippled and
blind arc being cared for in hospitals
and bomcS that Ipt -hn