Evening star., 1909-01-26
split IN CONFERENCE
Delegates Divided Over Best
Care for Orphans.
IN HOMES OR ASYLUMS
Question Arouses Prolonged and
Earnest Discussion.
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE
Outcome in Doubt Until Report on
Resolutions Is Made at 4 O'Clock
This Afternoon.

This Afternoon.
The main issue OF the conference on the
care Of dependent children is fast reach
ing either a settlement or heated dis
agreement, and 1t will not be possible to
tell exactly what the outcome of the
conference will be until the committee
on resolutions presents what 1t thinks is
| the sense Of the gathering this after
| noon at o'clock.
The arguments for orphan asylums;
the arguments to do away entirely with
orphan asylums: the arguments to COM
promise, but to reach the desired end of
giving every child a home some day, oc-
cupied over three hours of this morning. .
session, held in the board room of the
District building.
| James West of Washington, RESPONSE
BILE for the calling Of the conference. and
knowing his subject well, on account Of
his own experiences as an orphan and as
a worker in behalf of children, pleaded
with the conference 10 do away with the
institutions entirely. He said that thou
sands or children are imprisoned in n
stltutons, where each child should be CIV
en- a home. He told his hearers that he
had found homes for hundreds of chill
dren. He said that when he announced
that he had siXty-five children for whom
he wanted homes, he received 1900 re-
quests for the orphans. His argument
was that there Is no need of prison like
asylums. when SO many homes are open
| to the children. He put up to the con-
| ference the fact that in his experience
| there are thousands of homes waiting for
orphan children, and institutions crowd
| ed with orphan children, so that if the
question should be studied home might
! be found for every one of them.
Favors Asylum Plan.
The strongest speech in opposition to
the idea advanced by Mr.. West and a ma
jority Of the other speakers was deliver
ed by Richard Crane of the st. Vincent
de Paul Society Of Cincinnati. He IA
vored institutions:
| Their methods are the outgrowth OF
many centuries of experience. They are
directly amenable to the church authori-
ties, who inspect them with a minute
mes: that can be possible only in q
spiritual order"
| Charles w. Birtwell of Boston. general
secretary of the Childrens Aid Society.
| was OF the opinion that there is no need
| whatever for orphan asylums. He made
| very strong speech In favor Of placing
| every orphan in the country in a good
home, and not lose one hour I'm doing so.
Il hear SO much said that the goal Of
all this work Is to get children into the
homes eventually; that there must be Z.
gradual wedding out and developing
process. But l say that the goal is at the
| start. We should take child by the
hand and lead him to a real home, not
an institution with bars and doors and
cells. where the routine of life absolutely
prevents development. Get the philan-
thropic machinery out of your brains
| and get homes for the children
Edwin ID. Solenberger Of Philadelphia
was one of those advocating placing
out" children. but thought that a whole :
| sale movement in that direction should
| not be undertaken until there was more
| money to spend on It,
Adolph Lewisohnk Address.
Probably no question which concerns
the American people is of more i'm
| submitted to the conference by the Presi-
dent" said Adolph Lew.sohn. The chill
dren of today will be the citizens OF to-
| morrow. The care and the treatment
| which we give them will influence their
future. and upon this care will depend
| the fact whether they shall be useful
and worthy citizens OF our republic. or
whether they will eventually help to fill
our jails and our aimshOuses. Cen
orally speaking, the problem of child de-
tendency groups itself under three dis
tinct headings:
"(a) The orphan and half-orphan child
"Cb) The destitute child with both par
ents living. but who. for certain rea-
| sons, are unable to provide for it's sup
port.
/ "G) The child with improper guardian
| ship.
Il think there can be no question that
| where there are no legal ties preventing g
| the placing out for adoption of full-or-
phan children this method is the one
which should be pursued. 1t Is the most
| rational method of caring for full-orphan
children.
80 far as the half-orphan children
are concerned. l think II can be safely
| stated that the predOminating fact which
brings these children to the notice Of
inability Of the mother to maintain her
offspring. The experience of philan-
| throptc societies throughout the United
States is convincing that. If the mothers
were given ample subsidy. there would
be no necessity whatever for placing
these children either in institutions or
in foster homes. For such children as
| have lost their mother temporary board
ing homes would be highly acceptable.
particularly il the father could board
| with them: This would give him the op-
portunity of supervising their education
and training.
so far as I am able to Judge destitute
children could be better taken care OF
tuIOu6u TIC HcuiuHi vi al INSTITUTION
than in any other form. and for this
reason there will be necessity for in
stitution of some form or other for the
| care of a considerable percentage of de-
pendent children in the United States.
ITO summarize, l would say that the
problem of the care of dependent chill
dren be subdivided into three divisions. /:
II. Boarding out or placing out of
children in private homes.
"2. Subsidizing the surviving parent.
particularly the mother. to enable her
to keep her children at home with her
and to preserve the integrity of the fam
lily.
"3. Children's institutions for those who
| cannot be properly provided for i'm either
of the aforementioned manners"
Speak for the Institutions.
Simon Wolf Of Washington. president
and founder of the Hebrew Orphans
Home Of Atlanta, spoke for institutions
by telling the good results of the insti-
tutions in which he is deeply interested
Adolph Lewisohn of the Hebrew Shelter.
ing Guardian Society spoke in favor Of
the orphan asylum. Solomon Lowenstein
Of New York. superintendent of the
Hebrew Orphan Asylum. also voiced the
sentiment Of those in favor Of institus
tions.
Elmer e. Brown. commissioner Of edu-
cation, getting away from the subject
which provoked so much discussion be-
tween the ranks Of the orphan asyiu0