Los Angeles herald., 1908-03-16
CLEAR. CRISP AND CLEAN
IMPORTANT CONFERENCE

the National Conference of
X Charities and Corrections, which
- will be held at Richmond, va. IN
May. attention will be called to the
evils that afflict the American society,
are a menace to the country and fill the
best Americans-that is to say the most
thoughtful and conscientious = with
Greading doubts as to the outcome of
the deplorable ills that can hardly be
reached. far less cured. under present
conditions. Unless something is done
to weed out the tares that we. have
been sowing with the wheat, what will
the harvest be? "As we sow, so shall
we reap"
The Conference of Charities is trying
t. find out what ails the land, and to
suggest remedies. One of it's most use
full and unique features is that 1t
brings together on a common platform
officials Of the states and cities, rep
resentatives of all kinds of voluntary
societies and institutions and a host
OF private persons who are actuated
by philanthropy and good citizenship
but have no official positions.
The conference long ago found out
The hollow inefficiency of mere relief
charity. The members recognize the
fact that there is something amiss in
the national social system, and that
that something must be accurately
placed and then reformed out OF the
national social system.
Intemperance has much to do with
o,,5 c+iI moro with crime So
The conference is concerned with the
drink evil But it finds also that drink
is not always a cause of poverty, that
frequently it is an effect. The slum
has been blamed with causing crime
and promoting poverty. But the con-
ference declares upon investigation
Il at the slum is an effect of POVERTY
and cause of distress and crime,
therefore, logically, POVERTY is the
cause of slum- distress and of slum-
crime. 1t finds that undervitalization,
SHIFTLESSNESS and INEFFICIEN-
CY are caused by poor food, impure
air and overcrowding, and that LOW
WAGES are often the cause of both
POVERTY and CRIME.
So, the Investigations of this valu-
able body lead away from the common
assumption that there is something
wong with the poor man, and that the
criminal would have committed his
crime or one like it even if he haG had
his daily bread assured to him every
day in return for his honest work.
Inefficiency leads to all kinds of evil,
therefore the conference is in favor of
EDUCATIONAL REFORM AND A
SQUARE DEAL FOR SCHOOL
CHILDREN. 1t stands for such school
training as shall make every boy and
girl a capable citizen. 1t is far better
that boys and girls should be capable
citizens and that they should, so to
speak, KNOW WHAT THEY ARE
CITIZENIZING ABOUT, than that they
should be able to recite MARY Had a
Little Lamb" in Greek, German and
Latin, or make wax flowers-not that
wax flowers are not all right, in their
way, whatever that may be. Mary S
lamb is all right, too. We have no in
iention of throwing aspersions on that
yenerably youthful creature. But there
are more important interests than the
lamb and wax flowers and many other
subjects which could be named; and
most important of all is to learn how
to live like an American and how to
use the advantages guaranteed by the
constitution and the Declaration.
Child labor is condemned by the
conference, which will probably send a
message to congress about the law that
the Washington wiseacres forgot to
pass. The conference says that child
labor MUST STOP OR THE NATION
CANNOT GO ON, because IAN ex-
plotted child grows up to be a shift
less, useless man." and that is not the
kind of a man that will work to restore
this republic to that undisputed leader
ship among nations which is hers by
right If she will only realize it, and
live up to it,