The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-02-11
SCRAMBLE CAUSED BY BILL CREATING
 JUVENILE COURT Feagin and Willows Are Both Being Urged
 for Judge HOW THE FIGHT
 WAS STARTED Willows Says Matter of Judgeship Is Secondary-Important to Get
 Proper Laws for Caring for the Children
BY WALTER HARPER

While the bad boy of Birmingham is playing marbles serenely in the back yards or matching tobacco tags on the streets the politicians. the good ladies and the philanthropic organizations of the city are having pretty scramble over his guardianship s. .r@s
 While these people are making them selves apparently very unhappy in their solicitation for the boy, the said boy is seemingly very happy and satisfied with his condition
 | It all comes about from the effort that is now being made to establish the ju- veEile court of Jefferson county. The bill creating the court has passed the senate of the Alabama legislature and is now in the local legislation committee of the house, of which Representative Judge of Jefferson is chairman
 Here 1t may hang until the close of the present session unless the political waters that have been fnuddied recently are cleared. The office of judge of the prol posed juvenile court Is made appointive by the governor for term of six years. Feagin Is Candidate
 Judge N. B. eFagin of the first division O. the recorders court of Birmingham is an announced candidate for judge of the proposed new court. It has just devel- oped that the officers and ladies con- nected with the Boys club and Child's Aid society of Birmingham, which has been doing the juvenile work which would come under the Jurisdiction of the pro- posed court, have indorsed and seek the appointment of Maurice Willows, at present superintendent of the club and probation officer of Jefferson county, holding commission as such under Judge A. o. Lane.
 Third Man Mentioned
 It was stated yesterday that still an other man is being groomed for the place in the event the bill passes and the pro- posed court is established.
 : The intention of those immediately be- hind the drawing of the bill and most in- terested in the establishment of the court has been to avoid any political scramble or appearance of political ambition. The salary of the judge Is placed at s2OOo, which is only $200 more than Superintend- ent Willows now receives as superintend- ents-and probation officer. The present salary of Judge Feagin' is ssOoo
 ! Iris said that the issue of ultimate judgeship for the new court was forced by the candidacy of Judge Feagin when in an executive session of the officers and directors of the Boys club Mir. Willows was indorsed for the place, but this ac- ton was not made public until yesterday } Mir. Willows Talks
 When seen yesterday Mr. Willows said The officers of the Boys club and Childs Aid society as well as my self regret very much that politics has entered into this matter. We have made long and careful study of the situation In Birmingham and the meth ods employed in other large cities in handling dependent and delinquent chill dren. The law that Is now before the legislature was framed after a care full study of the best laws on the sub ject that could be secured. The pro- posed court will be modelled after the best that have been established and are. now in operation in the United States. .4a
 'The question of who shall be made judge of the court is a secondary mat ter. We want the court established 1lrSL TOT the pTOpST CdTe OI tue uepen- dent children of Jefferson county. The question of presiding officer should not be forced now. It was not. the inten- tion of the advocates of the court to create political job for anybody and 1t is most unfortunate that the issue has been forced.
 ''The court is not intended for the trial of criminals but is intended as a means of saving children from becom- ing criminals and paupers. In other words 1t Is only a means of more eff fectively carrying on the work that is now being done by the Boys club"
 Judge Feagin Talks
 Judge Feagin said: When I was first made judge of the police court of I became interested in the problem of the child delinquent. I made a careful study of child life and child, sociology. to rf
 Soon after I came on this bench the probation idea was evolved. first by a French jurist and was later taken up by one or two judges of American city courts I tried the plan of putting both adult and child delinquents, on proba- ton and found that 1t worked most
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