The independent-reporter., 1910-12-22
WAYS IN WHICH MAINE MAY BETTER
HERSELF IN NEXT TEN YEARS
Address Of Prof. Robert J. Sprague, U. Of M
Before Maine Dairymen's Association

an entirely different aspect to the
whole street. 1t can be broken up
with evergreens and shrubbery and
shade trees 80 as to make streets with
poor houses look very attractive. They
;re also protection to the people
from the dust of the road. have seen
streets treated systematically along
he parkways so that one passing
ilong the road would pass through an
venue of hydrangeas, cannas or
! ,pireas with the walks shaded by
crees.
ADVERTISING HORRORS.
| have never yet known Maine
town official to object to the pasting
of any kind of advertising monstrosi-
ties, on the grounds of bad taste, dis
dgurement of the landscape or i'm
moral suggestion. | have no doubt
that this has been done many times,
but as a general practice everything
goes. The result of this freedom Is
the plastering of four towns and high
ways with hideous forms which dis
igure the landscape and make such
! things common in the minds of the
growing generation, so that they re-
gard them as all right or perhaps as
desirable. The young eyes and
minds will feed on the stuff the public
offers them and will develop accord
ingly. Our town governments need
ideals and to become responsible for
the future generation as we'll as for
the tax rates.
CLEARING THE STREETS.
Grocers and other merchants often
ltn nil Of harralC
and other waste beside their build
ings, disfiguring the street and sc.lt-
tering rubbish broadcast Cordwood
is often piled along the village
streets and old burned trees and
debris Is often allowed to lie around
for months or years after a village
fire. Such matters as these can be
taken care of usually by an energetic
town Improvement society, but, if
necessary, the authority of the gov
ernment should be called into action
in the interest of all the property
owners.
Along this same line of action we
need strong hand of the law over
our boys who so easily become fruit
stealers. Fruit stealing by boys in
New England is a considerable han
dicap to horticulture. Again and
again have | heard men declare that
they dared not plant an orchard near
a village because of the stealing of
the apples. One of my own friends
was obliged to abandon entirely an
orchard of hundred trees because
he could not get apples enough to pay
for the work on the trees, losing fully
three-quarters of the crop. Compare
this condition with Germany which
often lines its highways with fruit
trees instead of shade trees, and en-
trusts them to the school boys for
protection and care. There is no
sense in allowing boys to make such
nuisance of themselves and to dis
courage fruit growing, public opinion
should be aroused to support the. law
and protect the boys from bad habits
s well as the owners from robbery.
PREVENTION OF CRIME.
Our people are paying hundreds of
thousands of dollars every year for
the capture and punishment of Grim
inals. They are paying hundreds OF
/ thousands more for the care of pau
,,ers, insane and feeble minded, and
Doth these items in popular expenses
are increasing, with no limit in view.
Now this is to some extent a pre-
ventable situation, but where have we
spent any money or made any effort
10 discover and dry up the sources
rom which these great streams of
degenerates come?
The time has come for modern gov
ernments to take up their great social
/ III TT Ac trtnx ~
/ The cause of the evils and deal with
them on scientific principles. We can
] 40 longer be content with treating
symptoms and trying cures, we must
strike for preventives. We must also
be ready to drop some old traditional
sentimentality and deal with our diff
iculties according to human nature
and science.
Nany of our county jails are full of
men serving short sentences and liv-
/ ing largely in idleness. Probably one
of the worst parts of the system is the
/ Imprisonment of men for drunken
ness under conditions that cause
them to lose respect for themselves
and for society, to get habits OF idle
ness and meet evil companions with
whom they will associate after leav-
ing the Jail. 1t would be difficult to
arrange a plan better suited to ruin
young man and establish him in
criminal tendencies than this one of
idleness, degenerate companions with
whom to eat and talk, and loss of
social respect.
There is another grave fault in deal
ing with small criminals in this
way, viz: We have no means of know
ing how many repeaters in such
crimes we may have. or who they are,
for the jail seems to have no way of
identifying man except by his name,
and they don't know whether he has
been Jailed once or fifty times with
in the State.
You never really know woman un-