The San Francisco call., 1909-09-19

phan asylum greater than the nne.
swimming tank IN the basement Of the
building. It IL q well made concrete
affair and big enough for so children
to have no end of fun and exercise In
IL at one time. In an adjoining room
there are tubs and convenient to the
tank are plenty of showers; in fact.
shower pipe outlines the entire tank
A gymnasium big enough for q uni
versity Is hne feature of this institu-
tion. It II well equipped for exercise
and has q stage for entertainments. In
hero the band practices, and a good
band 1t Is. ever ready to do its part
On Labor day. headed by Superintend
ent Mauser. it marched and added Its
music to the significant ensemble of
that occasion. All entertainments are
held in the gym" the chapel. being
reverently held for services. which are
conducted by Mr.. Mauser Bible his
tory Is taught weekly In the study
rooms.
And after all has been said OF this
excellent institution and others as we'll
there is still the question and the dis
cussion as to whether or not ,institu-
tions have any place in the solution OF
the great problem of the dependent
child.
The series of which this article is
the fourth, and Of which the introduce
tion was written by Rev. Father d. o.
Crowley. is being given by The Call
because there is no more discussion
provoking issue before the philan-
thropic world today. Father Crowley
takes the middle ground, claiming that
the foster homes and the institutions
must share the responsibility OF the
upbringing Of the waits and that one
is as important as the other Mr..
Mauser of the Hebrew orphanage out
of his big experience of % years.
stands for the normally conducted in
stitution and Its development-the cot
tage system. In part, he says:
II believe In the institutions be-
cause they are logical and stand for
the evolution of the care OF the de-
pendent child. The man or woman
would be insane to say that good
home is not the best for any child.
but speaking from my experience, 1
know the results of earnest endeavor
In any institution. and I can not speak
for the homes have never been able
to place the children I handle in
homes. There has been no demand for
them In the 21 years 1 have been
here I have not had 21 applications
from people wanting to adopt chill
dren. am not speaking in regard to
babies. other provision has been made
for them by allied charities as the old
people are taken care of at the Hebrew
old peoples home in Silver avenue.
My deductions are from children of
age to be handled In such an orphan
age as this.
The orphan asyiums as they stand
warehouses; of the village when the
orphan children were put In with the
panpers- The product of those days
was a combination of the viciousness
of age and the intuition of youth
When, In the village days. there were
but few children to be taken care of
they were not reared In homes. Peo-
pie for the most part then. as now.
wanted only their own children.
As for the placing out of children,
my experience has been that ninety
nine times out of a hundred applica-
tions for half grown children come
from desire for cheap servants. or
II they are wanted for boarders 1t is
because the money. small as it is, is
wanted to eke out an income The
people are too few who want the chill
dren for their own sakes. When little
ones are taken for adoption when they
are very young 1t is quite a different
matter. But for the children such as
i have I'm sure their interests are best
served in an institution conducted on
the broad lines that come out of ex-
perience. There is one great lack at
present, and that is in the matter of
trained workers. The field ought to
attract people, because there is no,
greater work in the world today than
the care of the dependent children.
Another all important question that
comes into this discussion relates to
the children that are not eligible for
! adoption. There are comparatively
few whole orphans, and those whs are
thus bereft have near relatives that
would make the adopting of children
not an altogether satisfactory one for
the people willing to take them. Then
the surviving parent nearly always
wants the child in the institution and
not in any ones home
There are so many complications in
the problem of home finding for larger
children that can not see any solu-
ton for it but the institution. Per-
sonally. my dream is to see the cottage
system adopted where the children will
live In families of 20 and where there
will be a piece of ground about each
home. Barring that l stand for. the
congregate system where the individu-
ality of the child is respected. where
he or she Is educated in the public
schools and where trades are taught"