Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1907-01-06

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vagrant or petty thief or all round
rogue who was sent to the asylum cost
$3.50 annually for clothing. food, lodg-
ing and the education by which he was
polished up mentally and morally. But
times have changed. Reform wal
cheaper then because methods were
different and less efficient. Not many
years ago Juvenile delinquents were
huddled together like troops in bar
racks. That was under the eongregate
idea. At one time when the asylum
occupied building In the city 1000
lads were sheltered under one roof.
Now, only 20 boys, and boys all about
the same age, live in one of the IL
cottages or families that comprise the
little village on the heights between
Chauncey and Dobbs Ferry, some
90 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 the old method as the
comfortable home is from the white.
washed county jail. The number of
children at Chauncey is now 800.
Reformation in these days is coz
Quoted on a business basis. The au-
thOrities of the Juvenile Asylum car
tell almost to a cent what il costs to
make boy into a good citizen. OF the
$206 the boy costs the asylum each
year S145 is contributed by the city.
for with few exceptions the asylum
boys are committed by city authorities
acting through the children's court.
The balance of the cost Of making an
honest man is contributed by the di-
rectors of the asylum and other friends
and champions Of the bad boy who, So
biologists have discovered. is more sim
ned against than SHINING. Since the
asylum was founded, the city Of New
York has invested in this work of ref
ormation about s4,132, 900. a sum many
times less than the city has paid out
in the same period for policemen.
court officers and Jail wardens. In
the same half century. private contri-
buttons to this work in the promotion
OF good citizenship have aggregated
81, 1000, 900 Thus nearly 100000 has
been spent on bad boys in the city in
80 years, and in the past few years the
annual cost per boy has increased
about SIS.
Does il pay? The Juvenile Asylum
people, who conduct the work of refOr
nation on business principles, have
figures to show that the work is prof
liable. The boys who graduate from
the asylum are generally sent to homes
in the west and 1t is known that SO
per cent OF these boys turn out well
The question. Does IT pay? finds its
a. hi
which are brought to the attention OF
the asylum authorities. A few days
ago, they received a letter from bus
mess man i'm Iowa who announced his
election to the office of county record
er. He wrote that he hoped the asy-
'lum officers would be interested TO
hear about him because they had sent
him to Iowa in 1887. Most of all" he !
wrote Il remember those words OF
Abraham Lincoln which greeted me III |
the assembly room-'Tell the boys Of |
the New York Juvenile Asylum that !
they must value justice, truth and hui |
manity IL they wish to become useful |
and honorable men, l have Otter |
thought OF those words. l have tried !
to live up to them as Lincoln wished |
US to do. | wish the boys who leave |
the asylum would never forget them. !
Tell them to come west"
Like all other business men. the au- /
thorities of the Juvenile Asylum study |
carefully the raw material from |
which they make the finished product |
that of good citizenship. Close study /
of the bad boy problem reveals the /
fact that the delinquent hailed to the |
children's court is largely the victim /
of circumstances-in this country /
sometimes a very young victim. for
American courts can brand a child a
criminal at the age of six. In Germany /
the criminal age begins between the |
twelfth and eighteenth year and in
England at the end of the sixteenth. In
this city only boys under sixteen are
sent to reformatories. a boy a day
older than sixteen may be sent to jail
for stealing a street railway transfer
check. while a boy a day under sixteen
may commit grand larceny and be sent
to the asylum to repent and reform.
Judges agree that this system is work
ing considerable harm to youthful de-
linquents. and the study OF the ques-
ton made by those interested in the
work of reform will undoubtedly lead
to better things.
In the study of the raw material for
good citizenship. attention is paid TO
details which might at first seem 10
be trivial. The experts in boy train
ing. for example. understand the rela
of teeth to morality Ninety
four per cent of the children sent tn
the Juvenile Asylum have defective
teeth, and a large proportion suffer 4
from eye and skin troubles.
How could they be expected to act 4
normally under the circumstances
asks the experienced and sympathetic i
So one of the first experiences of the
at Chaunccy is that of being
put in good physical condition. and to
many of thse boys the experience is
decided novelty. And as soon as the 1
ounsster begins to feel like a normal.
healthy boy. his schooling begins, and
if he is old enough he spends some cf
his time in one of the shops where \
trades are taught.
The Juvenile Asylum authorities and
people engaged in similar work have
been trying tn find a correct answer 70 III