Daily Kennebec journal., 1911-01-30
Appalling u True.

wears of age are every night drink
| ing more highballs. cocktails. alb
sinthes, benedictincs. and other intoXi-
| eating liquors than boys of the same
age imbibe. This is the state OF az
| fairs said to confront the fathers and
! mothers of Washington. The indlct-
ment is made by members of the Cur
few Club. whose members claim 10
have made a careful investigation.
They declare that when parents be-
lieve them to be at homes of their
friends, at the more select moving pic
ture theatres, or engaging in other
harmless diversions, school girls and
department store girls of good families,
nightly succeed in obtaining intoxi-
eating liquors at various places in the
Capital City.
These revelations are made on the
eve of inaugurating movement
against such conditions. The remedy
which the Curfew Club suggests IS
" I
prevent children remaining on the
streets after an early hour at night
The Rev. Zedd Copp, to whom we
have had occasion to refer. recently,
says "A young girl, when allowed
the freedom of the streets at night.
soon learns to seek adventure. and
there is little or no difficulty expert
enced in the finding of it. Unless
something is done to check such con-
ditions. serious consequences are like
ly to result. The practice is criminal,
and il is the duty of all citizens to
band together to bring to a close what
has become a blot on the fair name
OF Washington.
Warden Mckee of the district Jail.
who is an ardent worker for the inn
provement of conditions. says the in-
fluence exerted by one bad girl on the
street is a dozen times as bad as that
OF an evil-mirded boy. With COM
mendable reasoning. he recommends
going about the matter in the right
way. He says the drinking places
where children may procure liquors
must be cleaned out if the children are
TO be saved. He thinks it is time the
people were aroused from the letharey
which has permitted them to pass
Judge De Lacy. of the juvenile
court. thinks it is the parents that
should be punished rather than the
children. He thinks a curfew law
might be the best way to solve the
problem, but is afraid serious diff
culties might be met in the execution
of it. He says that officers employed
for such work would have to be able
to exercise the utmost judgment III
making arrests. He would prefer
corps of plain clothes officers and for
first offences that children arrested
should be taken to their homes, rath-
er than to the police station. and their
parents warned as we'll as the chill
dren.
If conditions are as bad as reported.
in the National Capital, and the boys
and girls there who are to be the citi-
zenS of tomorrow are in as desperate
need of attention as might be sup
posed from the reading of the dis
patches. it is indeed a matter of
grave Importance, and the sooner the
fathers and mothers, as well as the
officials, awaken to the necessities and
deal promptly and effectively with
the situation. the more respect other
cities will have for the first city in
the land. But ii seems a Sorrowful
eXpedient to place thousands Of boys
and girls of any city within the mark
fine or imprison children who might
outstay the warnings of the curtew
bell, il seems to us would constitute
penalty disproportionate to the public
offence, and the people themselves
would recoil from its enforcement.
The remedy lies not in harsh meas
uses toward the children. according to
our way Of thinking, but in the adop-
ton of prompt and drastic action
against the soulless concerns and the
damnable traffic of those who deal in
the earthly and spiritual lives of those
too young to understand. Most of
these children are incompetent to
grasp the appalling results of a small
beginning that may be brought about
by an uncontrolla BILE spirit of adven-
ture. Young girls do not always stop
to think OF the consequences of their
doings until they have become slaves
to drink and other passions.
All sorts Of remedies are being con-
sidercd by various cities in dealing
with such conditions as are OCCASION
ally brought TO light. Among those
suggested in Washington is a patrol
service of private citizens-"one hum
dred men of good character and in