New-York tribune., 1912-08-12
AIR CURE FOR GANHNS
Country Outings q Powerful An
tidote to GangSter Peril.
CIVIC LESSON TO BOYS
Rights of Others Respected
After Even a Brief Experience
with Community Life.

The gansster and the gang are occd-
pyIng a good deal Of the general pub'c-
attention ~ the present time By
thoughtful people they have long been
recognized a. presenting a social prob
lem OF Importance and many agencies
have directed earnest efforts toward IN"
reclaiming NJ the one and the breaking
~ Of the other For many years the
Tribune Fresh Air Fund has been work
ing IN this direction.
Its opportunity for this work comes
through the influence which may boz cN-
erted on the BOYS who are given outings
al its summer camps The best time 90
reclaim a eanester H. before he s made
Among the thousands OF boys who each
summer come aud 20 AZ the Tribune
camps ale hundreds who are ripe for
matriculatiou in the gang school
In attacking the problem. the Director
Of the Tribune camps have recognized
several causes a tending toward the pro-
duction Of gang members chief among
these r. the constant street life Of the
toys and the lack Of play space which
results in the early growth Of feeling
OF antagonism toward the cops This
cause works most powerfully in the sum
mer when the boy is thrown upon tho
street for the entire day through the
closing OF the schools
Another cause almost a. potent is the
lack Of ideals or. rather. the presence
OF wrong ideals. IN the mind OF the boy
Of the tenement house districts. At Ieast
~ per cent Of these lads admire "a prize
fighter beyond all beings. As one Of them
put It few days ago. Jack Johnson
gets his picture in the papers more times
than Taft and makes more money
Trickery Almost instinct.
Then there il the lack Of community in
terest which grows up among thcsc street
eamins They feel little or no sense Of
proprietorship in the city. Because they
feel that their lot is an unjust one. they
begin TO look upon tho municipality as
a thing to be beaten and tricked wherever
possible.
What the Tribune fund is doing to
make useful citizens instead Of gangsters
OF growing boys may be illustrated by the
life at Ashford Hin. its camp at Ardsley
n Y. Here az elsewhere the principal
object of the Fresh Air outing IL 10 give
the boys the benefit Of two weeks Of play
in healthfu country surroundings But
the pIay itself is made use OF to teach
a civic lesson.
II Is a difficult matter TO make the
average boy see the justice III the cops
refusal to let him play ball In the streets
But II you turn two hundred boys loose
ON two baseball diamonds and supply
Them with apparatus for two games they
will soon arrange matters so that every
bodv will get his chance. and there will
no a very small minority who VIII object
IN Yielding their places when their time
,s m This sort OF thing is done every
,,o,,r of the day at Ashford Hill. Every
body has his rights is the way the boys
,hen,selves state the rule In force. and
.ho, all become "cops' AT times in the
enforcing OF IL.
From the time he arrives AZ ASHFORD
ttu until the time he leaves II. the fact
,baf he il a responsible member OF a
community is impressed upon each toy
entertained there. Camp hfe' where
.snre are four hundred persons TO be
,arod for. is a fairly complex matter.
,rhara must be organization The boys
go therefore counted OF into squads Of
.rantv-fve. each under the leadership Of
go of the superintendents staff Of
helpers. -, 49,, =.
the boys. mind you-a part OF the camp
cork is allotted For instance lhere Is