The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-06-13

ization, social, religious, state and pri- vate, and where none existed new ones were located; to help save and train the children, and overlooked the most patent factor of all fin an agency which has been always on hand, viz: The public schools
 At the present in many cities there are school inspectors who look to the proper cleanliness and dress of the children; school physicians who make weekly ex- aminations; school nurses who follow the sick child into the home. There are im- provement societies who furnish whole some food at lunch hour, and in the case of a child suffering from malnutri- ton visitors who go into the home to see what the child gets to eat and how it is prepared. These agencies will prove of incalculable value in reducing the sum total of need and sickness among the most ignorant and poor classes and con- tribute much to the better living con- ditions among the masses, both in this and the coming generations. In this pub lie school connection it Is seen that the defective child will be found and cared for; that the truant will be dealt with. that the abnormal and subnormal child will be discovered very early and thus the problems of child delinquency will be reduced to minimum
 It is the general sense of the workers that much of the burden, both of state and private Institutions for the reforma- tion of delinquent boys and girls could be minimized and certainly reduced by close supervision of the young child in the home. Find out and remove the so- cial causes of dependency neglect and child delinquency before the agency of the court is needed.
 The effect of the great White House conference on children last January, called by President Roosevelt, is evident every- where here, the most noteworthy fact being that the heads of great institutions are building along different lines than heretofore. The institutions for simply dependent and neglected children are be- coming clearing houses. Where the child is detained just long enough to adjust it's affairs according to legal requirements and be placed into home somewhere.
 In the case of the Catholic Protectory in New York, which has 2500 inmates they are in addition operating well ordered placing g-out system, establishing agricultural colonies, which will accom- modate small groups of boys, and where a normal home life will supplant the in stitutional system.
 Some idea of the attention given to children's affairs by the state itself can be drawn from the fact that in 1908 tic state of Massachusetts alone made a con- tribution of $600,000 to the. care of it's de- pendent children. This does not include the cost of maintenance of defective, ab- normal and delinquents In state and pri- vate institutions. of which there are more to every county than are in the whole state of Alabama. In Ohio, Illinois, Mich igan, Indiana, Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey the state has taken hold on the preventive side of the children's work and bringing the necessary reforma- tive measures to a plane wehere educa- tion instead of reformation is the watch word.
 The large institution with large dormi- tories is thing of the past and the in- stitution heads are foremost in line with the change.