The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1910-10-06

oil OUJCCV VI IldUI0u dLO pId1oC, ~ AicAN
served equally as subject for high
sounding theses and the tragedy chap
ter of fiction.
The juvenile reformatory originated
in Ireland. 1t was begotten in grief
it has been reared among the shadows
1t was first established in this country
at Randall's Island, New York, seven
ty five years ago. At that time the
delinquent stood for the criminal, the
institution for the prison, where pun.
ishment could for time be melted
out for the offender and the commun.
ity for the time being protected from
him. Hopeless labor brought finan,
cial gain to the prison support but
little training for citizenship. Def
mite terms of confine nent, suppress
sion, punishment, then a turning
loose professional criminals, coming
out to reap revenue on the very So
ciety whose injustice had made them
such. Such the juvenile reformatory
of nearly a century ago! Ohio was the
first to make the forward movement.
For fifty years there has been q steady
progress toward education and hui
manitarian methods until the insti-
tuition of the present is becoming one
of the great educational movements
of the day, place of development OF
opportunity, a place for training to
usefulness or citizenship.
The delinquent no longer stands for
the criminal, but for victim Of Cir
or defect; through one of
these sources a social misflt. We are
just learning what Plato taught long
ago and Athens sought for, namely
the education and not the punish
ment of the criminal.
Among the social agencies the in
is unpopular; standing on
it's past it deserves its reputation. 1t
is the most expensive of all methods;
through an artificial training it may
become the most dangerous. But
that the institution is a necessity
even the modern reformer must con-
cede. No number of private societies
can meet the need that calls for an
After all the ingenuity
of individual wit and the profound
theories of the legion outdoor and
other societies have failed, all alike
as with faces set toward evil turned
toward the institution.
A phenomenal increase of these pub
lie and private reliefs bespeak the
quickened thought of humanity, but,
this increase means proportionately
difficult problem for the institution.
To the institution is left only the ex-
ceptional case, which refuses to re-
spond to the so-called natural pro-
cesses outside the restraint which the
Institution offers. Can this restraint
be tempered to meet the need of the
human soul? If, in the face of all
modern progress in philanthropic
work, lines converge to meet the in
stitution, there must be working
value in the right kind of an institu-
ton. Must human progress among
philanthropic workers stop short of
the institution? To be sure nowhere
Is tradition so strong as in the insti-
tuition, but even institution tradition
can cease.
Granted then the necessity, how
shall the institution be made to meet
the need? Will it be in the great
barrack housing not homing from 200
to 300 boys and girls; will it be with
costly entrances serving as monu-
ments to ambitious directors. but
whose doors seldom swing open to the
will it be in front halls and
stairways too good for the inmates,
polished floors not to be walked on,
lawns too choice to run over;will it be
in congregate plan where each child
represents not an individuality, but a
unit of whole, all measured, cut
and fitted to one pattern, SO thorough,
oh, so thorough to the deadening of
soul and body, great machine, which
turns out mummy apologies for living
boys and girls? In a highly worked
out nicely of system from the ac-
desk to the bedtime prayer,
the institution may find it's devitaliz-
alton.
The institution should be a moral
every process of training
and exercise to strengthen moral
powers. Will it be in lock step and
line and in an assurance at the end of
the day that the system of daily ma
chinery has suffered no shock in the
skip or spontaneous laugh,
which betrays the fact that for some
unaccountable reason the offender has
momentarily been allowed to forget
OF what manner of creature he is?
Will it be in the holier than thou at
titude OF the institution officer? Will
1T be through punishment and not
education till the soul starve? Will
it be through parade or spectacular
loving public? The greater h e