The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-05
THE GREAT UPLFT ::
XH--JuUenile Courts
By Frederic ,. Haskin.

la8M {. i.7aai aNAh s@1' - i rather grave. They had broken into a section tool house, and, taking hand car. had gone out for a journey down the Pere Marquette Railroad just aheao of the through express. Later they had broken into a barn, demolished twontys odd window ,panes. and emptied several barrels of lime down to the second floor. Carefully the. case Is gone over. Just why had they played there? Did they not know 1t was wrong to destroy prop erty? Did they not know they had broken laws? Why did tn ey break the door and go in the section house? The Irish lad indicated the little negro. He climbed in the window. !" "Oliver, why dic you break in the window7' "I didn't break no window; it was al- ready broke. an jes' clumb in !" "You just couldn't resist it. could you, oiiver? says the judge. smiling. Mat ters are sifted, and finally the two boys who had been given parole before and had not made good are committed to reform school, where for half the day, the ilde little hands will be given manual training, and for the other half the idle little brains common. sch ool, studies. It Is Oliver's first offense. and after a lecture by the judge. he is committed to his mothers care. ''Yo' | no place I can send the boy to study workin' with his hands7 He ain't over bright in his head, but he can do things with his hands if he learns" A proba- tion offier takes up the case, and Oli- yer will be put in a trades school. Another little negro, a girl, is brought up to answer why she has not kept her word. gone to school regu- larly and conducted herself as she promised. She argues her own case with the shrewdneSs, of a lawyer, meets every charge with the cleverness Of trained fencer and finally departs un- der a negro probation officer to be. given a trial in another school where the mother and the teachers seem to be on more harmonious terms. Two little boys are charged with taking bicycle. It is the third time one has done such things, though complaint had not been made but once before. The old offender is sent up to the John Worthy school, and the other is re- leased with his name cleared. The father and mother of the convicted one are theres apparently indifferent to the results of the trial, and when the little fellow pulls out bit Of red cot- ton handkerchief and begins to cry 1t. is in the arms of a probation officer that he finds comfort-not those of his parents. If those arms had always been a refuge for him he might never have been brought to the chiidren's court.
 Another boy, working at s5 a week. has been brought in at the instigation of his parents. He had made away with his last weeks wages without their permission. T didn't take but s1.50, judge; needed new hat, and I bought that and a tie. The rest of the money was in my pocket. and when I went to sleep in loft that night the other boy took it." Why didn't you would whip me for spending the $1.50.' sobbed the boy. land they'll tell you now that I took money before. and I never did. They've got so they al- ways make out I steal" The mother stands stolidly by. This child, too. appeals to the judge for sympathy, not to his own people. It is one of the most pathetic cases, yet the child had once before been brought up for this same fault, and because the foun- dations of his future character must be honesty, obedience and dependable-5 ness, he is sent to. the reform school for a year.
 And so 1t 1t goes on through the long busy day. There are parents bringing in children whom they cannot control, officers bringing in little fel- lows who have found mischief more attractt~e-th6n home or school. girls who are about to go astray. and pa- tn etic little children who have been thrown on the county for support by the death or incompstency of parent. In every instance of delinquency there Is the effort to show the child the diff ference between right and wrong, which no one had ever shown him be- fore, the effort to awaken the princi- pies of honor and obedience. and over all is the great friendliness of the court for the boy and girl. the eager ness of even the prosecution to see that the child's rights are preserved. The Chicago Court has not the advantage that Denver has of being able to make parents responsible for the good con- duet of tn cir children. This is one of the wisest laws on the statute books of the State of Colorado.
 The one great aim of the juvenile conrts of the land is to keep the youth full offender from prison or reforma- tory. For this the probation system has been instituted. At the last spe- cial census made for this purpose 1t was found that there were over 23,000 juvenile delinquents in this country. Before the days of childrens courts based criminals in 1penitentiary and work-house and were lost to citizen ship. Today the majority of these can be kept out of institutions of any kind and made into good citizens through edulation, industrial training and a system of supervision in their own homes by trained officers.
 Copyright, 1908, by Frederic J.
 Haskin.)
 TOmOrrOw-The Great UpIift. KILL Clubs for Working Girls.