Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1913-10-20
Glenn G. Jackson, Boys Work
er of the Y. m. C. A., Talks
A bout Boys

Not as many people are interested
| in the big boy as most Of MS think.
i A man once stopped at a house to
get drink of water and saw steep
precipice, at the bottom of which
owners attention to 1t and added,
n should think you would put a fence
there" q
oh" he replied, I'VE don't mind
Il; we have lived here for 80 years
and only two of our children have
been drowned there"
Less than a week ago an article APP
peared in a local newspaper relative
to the boys who spend their time on
the wharves. 1t appeared that POI
lice officer had broken up game OF
craps, captured one of the boys, and
dragged him toward a telephone
booth in the wharf, when the young
fellow began to battle for his liberty"
The conclusion of the article issues
the uitinatum, the gang is develop
ing into vicious crowd of pruspec-
tive criminals which defies the law
and laughs at the police"
Glenn e. jackson, director of the
boys extension work at the local
Young Mems Christian Association.
in speaking of this article, and on the
boys of Honolulu IN general. says:
Because this boy, result of
American society's life and methods,
did what any hearty boy would dol
under the circumstances, and resent
ed being dragged, this gang must
be about to develop, we are informed, |
into q vicious crowd Of prospective
crininals just as long as the big
boy Is misunderstood, and just as
long as these methods are in vogue
for correcting hts faults, just as long
win he indeed be an enemy to society
and fit prospect for the criminal
class. 1t is right that men be fore
IDLY compelled to quit their gambling !
most Of them. know better, any
way. But q boy Is a boy and needs !
training, needs a substitute for the /,
lice, and does not need force.
These boys Of the wharf have no.
home training. no school training, no
church training; the only corrective
influence in their lives is their Ka-f
kaako Club. Following the incident
with the officer, the club leader
talked with the vicious young Grim
inaP and he found the boys attitude
to be. first, that he knew it was con-
sidered wrong to play craps. but he
himself could not see the wrong 1t
was to him as If we applied the old
Jewish law to present day society and
held It a criminal offense to carry
a parcel or do anything on the Sab
bath day. Second, he brought forth I
the pertinent question, what else
can we feliers play?' He resisted
the officer because the only training
he had received, the lore of the
street, taught him to tight shy of ON
GERS, for they always break up de
game
"a bright boy rs activity clear
through. These boys earn their liv-
ing at the wharf. That, then, is their
between times. So, do
not be surprised If they play the most
games possible on such a
field Of sport, and do not blame them
il they resist officers, for they do not
comprehend our society.
A big boy, is not criminal by !,
nature, and the wharf rats are no ex-I
ceptions. Moreover. they have q code
or honor, which, II not yours or mine, I
Is nevertheless worked oftener Only
ten days ago the Kakaako Club played
indoor baseball against the Kaulu /
wela Club on the formers home floor.
When the Kakaako captain, one Of ]
the vicious ones Of the wharf Incl. {
dent, noticed that the visiting team
was composed Of boys somewhat /
smaller than those on his own team,
he quietly went to the blackboard.
erased the lineup he had intended to
use, and substituted a younger and
less experienced lot, explaining to the
director that This make game more
FAIR. And on this basis he saw his
club take a licking. How many cap
tains of nofi-vicious and thoroughly
well-uniformed teams
would have done likewise?
But more pertinent still, the boy |
who struck at the officer, was at first
almost unmanageable in his treat
ment of the games at the Kakaako
Club. But the director aTNointed