The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1913-12-25
SEE GREAT AID FOR THE BOYS
Mayor Head Is One of Five Hundred
Municipal Leaders Asked to Join in
Nationwide Campaign to Secure
Better Conditions For the Boys.

Mayor Dan O. Head this morning re-
ceived a letter asking him to join with
the mayor Of five hundred other cities
in the United States in an effort to Sc
cure closer relations between fathers
and sons. The movement is known as
1.-THE Father and Son Movement and
lit had its inception in the mind of
Mayor Newton d. Baker of Cleveland,
Ohio. The plan includes the issuance
Of a proclamation on New Years day
by the mayor with a view of showing
that municipal officials are interested
in this big movement to solve one of
the most troublesome problems Of the
American family.
Mayor Head has not as yet given his
full consent to the plan, but he is tax
ing the matter up with other officials
and it is possible that Kenosha will be
one of the cities to be included in the
nation wide movement. The plan in
cludes lot Of cooperation from
churches and other organizations in an
effort to bring about the desired re
suit.
In speaking of the matter Mayor
Head said: 1.-THE movement is one that
is certainly worthy Of the consideration
of every father, but | am not sure that
it is the right plan for the city to have
charge of such movement. | am 60
ing to take the matter up with leaders
among fathers in Kenosha before the
proclamation is issued.
The proclamation as proposed is as
follows:
Custom does not require of the
mayor a proclamation with regard to
New Years day, but at the beginning
of the New Year it seems Appropriate
that our attention should be directed
with special force to those simple rela-
tionships and virtues upon which the
soundness Of all social organization
must depend In our intricate indus
trial and commercial organization the
Importance of the factory and the
workshop, the hours of labor and the
|
concern as to over-shadow the more
fundamental and primary relation of
life. A wholesome society rests upon
a sound family relation, and neither
wages nor hours of labor, nor the cost
of living, can long matter much unless
those who are to work and are to live
have sympathy and honor and love in
their private lives making them worthy
as citizens. In city life especially the
family tends to be scattered by diver
gent interests, and one great agency for
combating the perils of city life must
be a strengthening of the family rela-
ton. We must draw father and the
son closer together in their hours OF
relaxation, and provide amusement for
the daughter and the mother from a
common and wholesome source.
/, therefore, take great pleasure in
responding to the invitation Of those
who have interested themselves in the
Father and Sons movement and point
ing out to the people of Kenosha the
social value and the high consequences
for sound morality involved in their
undertaking. The very quality of
fatherhood and sonship is such that
both inspiration and restraint flow from
each to the other, and if we can as a
city people begin the new year with the
resolve that our sons shall be more our
companions and our fathers more our
comrades it will add both to the sweet
ness of our private life and to the
value of our citizenship.
(Signed),
Newton ID. Baker, Mayor.