Los Angeles herald., 1909-10-07
SCORES FOES OF
DETENTION HOME
ATTORNEY SAYS 1T SHOULD BE
IN PLEASANT LOCATION
DEMANDS CHANCE FOR CHILDREN
TO REACH HIGHER PLANE
extend Hand of Sympathy Before
Expecting Better Race of Men,"
Farewell Cry of Woman
Lawyer

Attorney Philaletha Nicholson, in a
statement made public yesterday
scores residents of Los Angeles who
are opposing the placing of the pro
nosed detention home in one OF the
better residence sections of the city
She urges that q pleasant ENVIRON
ment is necessary to secure the pes
results in the reformation of the emu
dren sent to the home, and declares
that the institution would not prove
Injurious to the neighborhood In
which it was placed. Inc statement
is, in part, as follows:
Again comes a wall of discomfort
relative to site for the proposed
county juvenile detention home.
1.-The citizens of this county are as
sured that the site at Downey ave-
nue. and Prichard street should moi
be accepted for detention home pur'
poses as a means of protecting the
homes in proximity thereto agalnsl
| undesirable environment which Woulo
| be a menace to the peace, comfort dhC
responsibility of the residents.
ut is evident that persons making
such statements have no conception
| of the worthy principles involved II
! the protecting of juvenile dellnquentS
in our commonwealth, and in the
guiding of them along those paths OF
| uprightness and probity which aHordS
them the opportunity of striking out
for themselves and becoming good, re-
spectacle and useful citizens, nor dc
they seem to comprehend what de-
tention home really is. for nowhere
| would one constitute a menace to the
peace, comfort or respectabllity OF
| residents.
'"Thev Justly merit the contempt o1
all their contemporaries when they un'
hesitatingly charge that the inmate:
| of the county's detention home are
| abandoned and outcast,' and for tha'
reason alone thev should not be giVer
any advantage conducive to theii
wellbeing.
"The child-delinquent of to-day il
treated as such, and not as Grim
| inal. AS reads in part, the Kentucky
| juvenile court law says: The chile
| shall not be considered criminal
but as a child in need of aid, en-
couragement and guidance Such II
precisely the benevolent spirit dlssem
mated throughout the recently en-
acted Juvenile court law of California
But now we are informed that the de
tention home is a virulent spot in ou
body polite, a parasite whose con
tinued existence is hurtful to the bes
interests of the city; one that shoul
be placed in some isolated miasmatl
| swamp where Its contaSlon WOulu ID
harmless. 'Selfishness' seems to b
their slogan. But let it be hoped tha
their efforts to prevent our futur
citizens from emerging from sordit
and communicating environment-no
due wholly to their own modes o
living, but ot adverse social ant
economic conditions-will die of thei
own volition.
"A greater. more beautiful monumen
could not be erected to Los Angelo
than a juvenile detention home sit
uated in a district of refinement ant
pleasantness; one that would meet II
detail the every need of the child
one that would appeal to his aesthe
tic tastes, for surely he finds but lit
tie comfort in the vulgar.
1.-THE perpetuation of conditions a
they exist today should, in the nea
future, be made an impossibility. II
facing the issue as it exists and no
as imagined. lies the only hope o
betterment both for the delinquen
and society.
"Fxtend a hand of sympathy befor'
expecting a better. race of men,"