Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-03-17

methods in late years in dealing with
criminals. especially Juvenile criminals.
The most vulnerable point of crime is at
its beginnings in children. To solve the
problem heredity and health environment
and economic condition were called upon
| to contribute to the result.
"Oftentinles adenoids or other physical
| ills make the child FESTIVE under the
school discipline so tha4 he seeks relief in
truancy. The necessary operation to re-
move the causes have resulted in improves
| ment in attendance, department and
scholarship.
"Truancy. too. is thought to be prod
uct OF fitting all the children to a set
curriculum instead of making the curric-
ulum fit the children and their idiosyn-
craSies.
"Vagrancy is often the result of nag
ging' in the home or drunkenness or other
immortality on the part of those who
should be light to the growing child.
With vagrancy comes the temptations of
the street to steal and other forms of de-
linquency. The recent laws to compel the
husband and father to provide for his
family cannot but result in rendering the
children less liable to fall into crime"
Other Addresses.
Mrs. School, the president of the con-
gress, described the work of the juvenile
court of Philadelphia in her address:
"Remedies-The Place and Work of Juve-
nile Court and Probation DR.. Robert
N. Wilson of Philadelphia talked Of physi-
cal and moral hygiene for the children
and declared that the boys and girls
should be taught hygiene by the mothers
and fathers. Miss Helen Bennett Of New
York told of the work in hand in
the campaign against child labor and of
the assistance received from many philan-
thropists in all parts of the world who are
interested in the movement.
At the afternoon session Edwin d. Sol
or, hor n
Society of Pennsylvania. talked on "Plac-
ing Out Work for Children" He declared
that a great evil results from placing
children in the county poorhouses and
that the congress of mothers could per-
form great and everlasting good for the
children by aiding and seeing that laws
relative to keeping them out of the insti-
buttons named are carried out to the
letter.
Presents Serious Difficulties.
RelatiYe to the binding or indentur-
ing of children by county and town Of
ficials he continued:
THE placing out of children by county
authorities. either with or without in
denture. presents serious difficulties. 1t
IL often embarrassing to the county Of
f1cer to decide for or against the appli-
cation of people in his own county
He may feel that the home Is not a
proper one If it becomes necessary to
remove the child after 1T is placed. local
jealousies and enmities are aroused, ana
the interest of the child is likely to SUI
fer.
IF the child has vicious or disreput-
able parents or relatives they readily
discover its location and are almost GER
tain to make trouble sooner or later.
If the child remains unmolested by the
parents or relatives the story of their
disrepute often follows the child to
cloud and embitter its later years.
I'm view of these reasons l believe
that in the majority of cases 1t Is best
to remove a homeless or neglected child
from its early environment and to Sc
lect a home at such distance and win
such secrecy as to protect 1t from these
dangers" ,.,
In closing Mr.. Shofenberger discussed
the many institutions for children ana
the good and evil of each class; ne
ornhans: state public school systems:
county chiidren's homes: placing out and
supervision of children by state boards
Of public guardians; the care OF Gnu
kind of children TO be placed out, ano
of the school life Of the child in gen.
eral.
Binding Out" System.
Charles yirden, agent for the Illinois
hoard of public charities, spoke after MI.
Sholenberger Mr.. Virden said that the
system of binding OUT pauper children
was antiouated and he instanced cases
where alleged abuses have been found py
him, He said that some system OF Visi-
tation for children in the care OF the
public should be arranged by law. ana
referred to the Illinois statute as de-
scribed by him in last Sundays Star. he
said that the object is to safeguard the
INDECENT orphan. He referred to the case
made known widely through the newspa-
pers. of the child that was tortured by an
illinois bankers wife. and said the elri
is now under his care in seminary TOT
special training. having been rescued by
means of the visitation law, the guilty
woman having also been punished
If on visiting child placed out In
home from an asylum the infant Is found
to be badly treated or the home not what
1t should be- in the judgment of the agent,
said Mr. Virden, the agent notifies the So
ciety or Judge who placed the child, and
If matters are not remedied within fort
night, the agent removes the child,
charging the expense to the society or
court.
Mr.. Virden then read letter in praise
of his work from Rev. G. T. Mccarthy, |
priest in charge of the st. Mary's Train
ing School. Feenanville, Ill.
Truthfulness Taught.
Miss Lucy NJ. Hurd, principal of the
home school for boys at Fretz. Pa. de-
clared that the efforts of the instructors
under her control are directed to teach
truthfulness to the inmates She said
the boys are taught the ultimate result |
of prevaricating, and cited several in
stances of how numbers of the younger
boys of the school had not seen their
mothers in two Or three years. In two
of the cases she said mothers financially
able to visit their boys did not do so.
Charles Virden. special agent of the
Illinois state board Of charities, told the
members of the congress of the work
his organization has ACCOMPLISHED In
placing out children and seeing that they
were receiving the proper treatment. In
some cases he said the foster parents
had been cruel to the children. and the
little ones were taken away Immediately.
InImI1IMc EnR IEEE nANIS