Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1908-01-09
BOY PROBLEM AN IMPORTANT
ONE

ONE
Bismarck is not the only city in the
state that is worked up over the boy
problem. Last Sunday the Rev. f. E.
Miller of Grand Forks, pastor of the
Baptist church, spoke of the condi-
tons that exist in his city as fol.
lows:
Have you noticed how many scores
| OF youngsters are out on the streets of
the city long after nightfall, visiting
| places of amusement unattended,
wandering into pool rooms and other
loafng places? Observe and study
the situation as l have for little
while and you will be amazed at the
evident laxity of parental control.
The tendency is to make the boy will
full, headstrong, incorrigible, criminal.
He ought to be at home. He is not a
whole human being, he is only a eau.
| didate for humanity He needs to be
! guided in his choices and habits by
the superior intelligence of his par
ents. This is his due. And the parent
who fails to pay this obligation will
get no thanks from the boy later on.
When about the 18th of November.
1907, according to news item in the
local press, the chief of police of this
city put the lid on the pool rooms and
ordered the proprietors to allow no
boys under Is years of age to assem-
BILE in their places he found parents
who resented, actually resented, his
action. They didn't want their bows
hanging around home. They preferred
not to be bothered with them, and
they wanted the police to keep hands
on. Now, what do you think of
that? A splendid citizen, that father.
What creditabIe and considerate
member of society.
If he had followed the stems Of
that boy, studied his habits, watched
his development one wishes to think
he would have felt differently about
the matter. OF course he would not
want his boy arrested or trailed Or or
uered home by the police, but certain.
~ he would have been grateful for
having his attention called to his sons
tastes, companionships, and habits
He would have assumed responsibility
for them at once and in the future.
Do you fathers and mothers know
what your children of from say 10 to
Is years of age are doing eyers day
after school hours and up to say, 10
o'clock at night? Isn't it your bust
ness to know? If not whose is It?
Society must protect itself at some
point. If you wont take care of your
child, the city must. Do you know
what boy hears, says and does in a
gang or a pool room gathering? And
yet, you let your boy go there? You
ought to be hung as a dangnors
character, a menace to the life of the
state. Why, am told by competent
witnesses that the profanity, the
smut, the villainy, the cigarette smok.
ing INDUCED in by youths assembled
In some of our local joints is beyond
belief. If your boy is there, is he no
less liable to be hampered and ruined
for life than scores of other lads who
have been allowed to begin life III that
way? Get him out of it, if you can.
But don't let him get into it. study
him. Work out his problem. Think
about him. Pray about him. Solve him
somehow. Who dare to say You can
not do it if you take the matter up in
time? Talk to him Get him to talk
to you. Reason with him. Be on the
level yourself. He may not rally 70
your touch, but don't let his ruin and
prodigality be your fault"