The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1912-07-18
He Urges Taking Boys Off
the Streets and AWaV
From Temptation.

BY THOMAS R. MARSHALL. Governor
of Indiana.
"HE home, if proper one, is the
place for the boy. There he
can obtain mental and moral ed
ucation, observe ideals and de-
velop ideas. It rarely happens that
boy in home deliberately goes wrong.
1t is perhaps necessary, however, that
I should define home. The grade Of
its material surroundings, if Clearly,
counts but little. If it is place where
the father returns to eat and drink and
sleep and swear it is not a home, no
difference what other advantages it
may possess. If the mother Is anxious
to get rid of the duties and RESPONSE
bilities of motherhood and stays only
because Of necessity and seeks every
opportunity to shift her children on to
the Sunday school or the day school or
the neighbors and is more interested in
the big chappies who watch her along
the avenue than in the little chap who
calls her mother, then the place she
rules is not home.
It may be humble in it's character,
rented from week to week.. narrow in
its quarters and poorly furnished, but
If it IS place where one man and one
woman believe the greatest happiness
on earth to be. if they realize that there
opportunity exists to train up in the
tenets of our most holy faith boy
FIJI nit q to- ~lo
where no sacrifice is too great, where
hope smiles and love sweetens every
duty, then that humble place is an
American home.
Parents In Bondage.
Unfortunately for the good. of the
republic these homes are not numer-
ically increasing in the land. The con-
slant trend of population from the
country to the city, the vast growth Of
manufacturing industries, the high cost
of living and the cost Of high living
are putting the fathers and mothers of
the land in bondage.
Deprived of time and opportunity to
look after their boys, they must needs
let them grow wild. Under such cir
cumstances the boys turn to the streets
and alleys and uninclosed commons Of
our great cities.
Theoretically speaking, the family
and the home have right to their own
boys; Theoretically speaking, the family
and the home are responsible for the
nurture and training of these boys,
and, theoretically speaking, it is no.
body's business whether they turn out
well or i'll, but here again conditions
force our theories down.
Another unfortunate condition of our
present day civilization, induced large
ly by the influx to the cities of our
population and the ever widening
chasm between the immensely rich and
the unutterably poor, is the social life
in many of our churches today. We
cannot say with truth that we Chris
t1ans love each other to the extent that
our churches are units of Christian So
clalism and that the members, without
regard to their social standing, their
educational advantages or their ma
terlal surroundings. meet upon a COM
mon level with a genuinely mutual
feeling that all are the children of the
selfsame God and that each is inter-
ested in the material, social and re-
hgious welfare of the other.
1t may be stated that almost uni
Versally the Jew and the Roman Cath
Ole do look after their own, and many
churches in the various Protestant de-
nominations do as well, but Protestant
churches there are, and in numbers too
great, where those of a certain grade
In society merely meet and go through
religious service.
Her feeling may be wholly unfound-
eel, but the woman in calico dress
does not feel at home in the same pew
with the woman in silk, and the man
with a business suit who walks to
'church shares not fraternal feeling
with the man wearing Prince Albert
and silk hat.
There is either no time or no inclina-
ZION to distribute Christian charity
among the unfortunate of Christ's lit
Tie hook, and the stricken lambs are
taken to the township trustee for as
sistance.
/: ,Paternalism That Is Inimical.
The whole trend of modern c;viliza-
ton is toward the management of all
penal and charitable work by the state.
This inevitably tends to paternalism.
A paternalism which removes respon-
sibility from the home and which less
ems the zeal of the church is distinctly
inimical to the best interests of a peo-
pie.
We face the condition. We cannot
let men go wrong because the home is
not doing it's duty. We cannot let
people suffer because the church has
not seized its opportunity
The state, which is the common par
ent of us all, must assume all these
burdens and responsibilities and must
be answerable in sight of God and
man for the attitude and conduct of
oncoming generations. 1t behooves,
therefore, all thoughtful citizens TO as