Los Angeles herald., 1907-08-04
CHILD IDLENEsS

Thomas Speed Mosby, under the title
OF child idleness, which bids fair tc
challenge wide attention. Mr.. Mosby
Is the pardon attorney for the state OF
Missouri, and in the North American
Review says:
The unanimity of public opinion as
TO the folly of wearing away the lives
OF children by long hours of toll In
mines and factories practically assures
the speedy solution of the child labor
problem, but, looming ominously be-
yond 1t is the portentous problem of
child fdleness. The American criminal
OF either sex is not the product of the
trades, of the workshop or the factory.
AS to the number of children reared
in idleness we have, unfortunately, no
other or better guides than the records
OF reformatories and penitentiaries af-
ford us.
These records indicate that the age
of greatest criminality is somewhere
between the ages of 20 and 25 and that
from so to 70 per cent of felons are
entirely unskilled in any trade or pro-
fession. The United States census of
1890 showed that of 52S94 convicts
81, ,426 were ignorant of any kind of
trade. French statistics covering a
period of over fifty years reveal the
following number of indictments per
100 900 of each of the classes named
Agriculture, s: liberal professions and
proprietors, 8; factory laborers. IA;
commerce, 1S; domestic service, 29;
without regular trade or occupation,
405.
In the reformatories, where the pris-
oner by reason of his youth has had
less time in which to acquire a trade,
the percentage Of the unskilled is
necessarily much greater than in the
penitentiaries. The writer had occasion
to discuss this subject with the super
intendent of an institution of this kind
which has upon its records the names
of(3154 boys whom it has received dur
ing period of several years. The
ages of the boys, at the periods of
reception and discharge, ranged be-
tween 10 and 21 years, thus covering
the entire period between childhood
and manhood.
How many of these boys had ever
been apprenticed before reaching your
institution" the superintendent was
asked.
None" was the reply.
How many had knowledge Of
trade?"
To the last question the very prompt
and positive answer was this: "Abso-
lutely none; if they had. they would
never nave come mere.
In the reformatory to which refer
ence is here made every boy is taught
a trade, and it is very seldom that one
of them is again heard of as violator
of the laws.
In the largest penitentiary in the
United States, where more than 1000
convicts are constantly confined, about
65 per cent are without knowledge of
any occupation when received. In some
penitentiaries the percentage is even
greater. In this prison the factory
system prevails, all are taught some
trade, and only about IA per cent ever
return to crime.
If the habits formed in youth may
be regarded as in any sense an index
or forecast of the character of the
adult, then, in the light of the criminal
statistics the problem of child idleness
may justly lay claim to some measure
of the dignity and Importance so freely
accorded to the much-mooted problem
of child labor; and before making it
for the youth to acquire
practical (as we'll as theoretically
knowledge of gainful pursuits, we
should reckon the latent dangers that
lurk within the possibilities of gen.
Grafton brought up without effective
knowledge of useful work
Judge Lindsey of Denver. the most
successful solver of the trying problem
of the child criminal. unconsciously
vet powerfully indorses these views
by demanding work for his charges;
and by the dictum that can idle boy is
certain to be bad boy"
In the homes of the laboring masses,
where children are plentiful and daily
bread a constant. problem, these teach
ings have weight, because of the peren-
nial poverty of the household purse,
and the need of auxiliary child help to
fill it.
In the homes of wealth, where the
great problem is that of conserving
moral character in youth, this doctrine
must find favor. In all the rank his
tory of rich mems sons lives known
to police authorities the name of work
is not known. Among the unemployed
men now in California hundreds are
college graduates or schooled past the
stage of manual labor and helplessly
seek employment where the field calls
for trained muscle rather than brain.
In view of these attested facts, and
granting the demoralizing effects of
coal mines, sweat shops and like curses,
does not the happy medium of tech
nicaI education fit into the child prob,
lem? In short, ought not our public
schools to teach the hand as well as
the brain? The nation is now raising
an army of educated tramps, intellec-
tual vagabonds, aimless and helpless
in the battle of life, and millions of
money are being poured into colleges
to increase the output.
The recent session of the National
Educational association did great good
for the science of pedagogy, but if it
had there been decided not only TO
teach the child to conjugate the verb
"to do" but to exemplify it's meaning
in practical work at some useful trade
what a revolution would come in our
school rooms, and, later on, in our
social system.
It is certain that the problem Of
child idleness is slated for thorough
and deserved analysis, and the sooner
results can be had the better for the