The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-01-26
JUDGE BROWNS CASE.

Judge Browns refusal to resign from
his. position as Judge Of the juvenile
court is right not because the place is
worth holding for itself under the cir
cumstances, but because the people who
are with him have a right to know just
what motives actuate the request for
his resignation, and who is really re-
sponsible for the request: because he is
trustee for the public. not for the poll
ticians. in matters of great importance
AFFECTING the welfare OF the whole COM
munity. For him to abandon this trust
without better reason than has been ad-
vanced by the Juvenile court commits
sion would be a betrayal OF the men
and women who have every confidence
In him. who know the immense amount
OF good he is accomplishing. who have
given freely Of their time and money 10
aid the work largely because OF their
faith in his ability to administer #
Alright.
In his letter to the commission. the
judge sets forth clearly and accurately
the scope Of the work he has IN hand
court His language is temperate dig
nihed, respectful, but there is no mis-
taking its purport. The ingratitude of
republics proverbial as it is. has an
exact parallel in the ingratitude Of the
Juvenile court commission when it asks
for the retirement of the one man to
whom almost alone is due the creation
OF The court and it's commission; who
aroused the public sentiment which de-
manded the creation Of the court. and
secured the public cooperation which
has made its unquestioned success pos
sibIe.
When Judge Brown came here -hil-
dren were being arraigned for petty Of
lenses in the same dock with hardened
criminals: there was a cell I'm the
filthy. disgraceful city Jail marked for
juveniles.H boys and girls were sent
indiscrfminateiy to the reform school
and branded for life as unfit for good
association when they were not essen
tally wicked or vicious; the percentage
Of the saved was infnitesimaI, the per-
centage OF the permanently damned
was awful In spite Of these conditions.
the public paid little attention to them
or The problem they involved. because
the public was too busy TO think about
them or attempt a remedy.
At the same time these conditions
prevailed. the homeless boys. the boys
with little or no home discipline. those
naturally impatient OF restraint. had no |
escape from themselves once they
transgressed the law. They regarded |
the courts as something to be dreaded
not as a means for their own salvation.
they had no one to reach out a helnino
hand IL they got into trouble. none to |
bring them back to self-respect and
usefulness when they had been dis
kraced by arrest and arrangement. The
result was an unusual degree of hood |
lumism, groups Of boys who went as
far as they dare I'm lawlessness with
out punishment; who smoked cigarettes
and found men to sell cigarettes TO
them. who drank and found men. to sell
liquor to them. who wandered the
streets at night and found none to him
der or teach them the folly Of vagrancy
so long as they committed no grave
crime. The police did the best they
could; they made few arrests because
there was no intermediate stage between
JAN and reform school and freedom. be- |
cause the police. being human, did not |
want to disgrace a boy as the old sys-
tenn disgraced him, unless he had
reached the criminal limit.
This was the situation when Judge
Brown came and began his talks TO the
boys Of the public schools on the cigar |
cite evil and other follies. 1t takes no |
long memory to recall how the boys raj
lied TO his support, nor does II take any
acute observation 20 discover that the
cigarette evil has been almost entirely |
abolished among the boys OF the COM
munity. The sentiment aroused among
the boys spread TO the homes Of those
boys and the parents gladly Joined in