Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-05-09
ERRINC YOUTH A
STATE PROBLEM
Charles Virden, Children's Wis
itation Agent, Speaks at
First M. E. Church.
CRIMINAL EASILY MADE
Carelessness and Brutality of Par
ents Responsible in Many
Instances.

CHoi ASS NIuSH OF SPRING. Stale
agent for the visitation of children,
gave an address at the First Metno-
dist church last evening. He told OF
many sad, cruel cases which had come
under his care. He described the care
lessness and brutality of parents, re-
sulting in some cases in the moral,
physical or mental ruin of the young
Il am a minister of the gospel" Mr.
Virden said. THAT is, am ordained
and preached for many years. Now
am carrying out the gospel of Jesus
Christ, but my work is purely ana
solely the gospel practically applied.
'At the time of the riot in Spring
field, two years ago, a great pail was
cast on the state and it will require
years to lift it, | was standing on a
street corner there when the bowling,
shouting, screeching mob, composed
of the riff-raff, the scum and a few
respectable looking people of the city
formed Thirty minutes later the mob
returned in sections, and l called aside
young boy in pantaloons, not more
than II years Of age, and asked him
where they had been, and he told me,
Up the road to hang a Niger The
facts of the case are well known to all
of you. This mob, led by Abe Ray
mer, a mere youth, had gone to an old
negro's home and, after demanding adj
mittance to the disabled mans home,
brJtally treated him, and then took
him out from his home and hanged
him. This certainly was a sad thing.
The boys in knee pantaloons who
were in the mob are the ones who will
be anarchists when they have reached
mans estate. They are the ones who
will occupy the cells of our peniten-
tiaries or the executioner's chair. In
stead of graduating from the public
schools. where they would be properly
fitted for life. they are graduating from
the school of crimc-the school which !
has no vacation in the summer-the
school from which scores are gradu-
atinG minute.
Caring For Delinquent
Il am not an alarmist nor a pessi-
mist, but 1 am here to sound the alarm.
The question now is. what shall we
do with the dependant and the delin-
quent children? If we are not careful
the question soon will be, what are
they going to do with us? In 1905 a
state law was passed for the appoint
ment of a state agent with assistants
for the visitation of the homes through
out the state, where children were
placed or confined. l was the agent
appointed at the time and the assist
ants which 1 now have under me must
report quarterly to me of the condi-
tons of these homes If We find that
a child has been placed in an improper
place, we remove him and the expense
of removal must be paid by those who
put the child there.
Il want to tell you that 1 place my
stamp of disapproval upon this bust
ness of advertising for homes for these
homeless children. In this respect
your own town needs a cleansing, and
am here to do it. There is one unfit
person here at present who is sending
broadcast throughout the state and
into Iowa a pamphlet and in it she
promises she will place children in nice
homes.
In my work, many interesting as
we'll as sad cases come to my atten- |
ton The case of little Peter Ebenezer
Smith at Peoria was one of my first |
cases after l came into the Office. Lit |
tie Peter was placed into so-called |
home by a county Judge down there. |
The place was owned by woman of |
low mentality and lower morality. The |
boy was forced to carry beer and |
whisky for her. One morning he was |
forced to hoe potatoes for her before |
breakfast. Because he was a little |
slow she took the hoe and beat him |
over the head numerically. Then he |
was forced to wash the dishes, and |
because he cried, she hit him over the |
head with a tack hammer. He ran |
away and was about to jump into the |
river and Grown himself when an old |
fisherman. who proved to be his grand
father, stopped him and took him
home. dressed his wounds and cared |
for him till we placed him in fine
home in the southern part of the state.
We gave old Nancy, the woman who
abused him, what was coming to her.
Drink is Cause.
1.-The majority, in fact, n than
So per cent of the cases un0er our
notice are caused by parents who drink
whisky or beer. One Peoria little girl
was placed in the state industrial
school, which was, in fact, not state
institution. She was badly burned
through an accident there, and in order
to relieve her suffering, the author,
ties there poured sweet oil on her
wounds and then placed cabbage
leaves over them. 1t was five hours
before she was properly cared for.
Another case at Kankakee makes
my blood boil whenever l think of it.
If 1 could do so, 1 would make he'll
look like a Sunday school picnic with
free lemonade and ice cream thrown
in for the father of the little girl, who
was made a hunchback by his brutal
ity. The family lived in filth. When
they found that 1 was after them in
they came to Moline and
finally got the little girl away from
them. She is now at haywood and is
gradually regaining her normal stature.
What we want today is more gen.