Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-03-22
By Mrs. CAROLINE BAYARD ALEXANDER.


~ HE problem of the unfortunate girl
and the dependent child-they are
one and the same--is one that the
State must solve, and very soon. 1t grows
more complicated every year. We have
larger increase yearly in the number oil
children that the State has to support.
For instance, to quote my own State
New Jersey.-we have in one county
Hudson-one hundred more child charges
this year than last. If they are permit
ted to increase at this rate, where Will
the State be ten years hence?
Must we. then, decrease the birth rate?
Not necessarily. We must INCREASE the
marriage rate-and the State can do it.
What is the cause back of the increas.
ing denendency. the refornatories for girls,
the homes for feeble-minded children?
These institutions cost the State many
millions annually, and they do not cure.
An institution is always sign of failure,
not success; an institution steps IN and
takes care Of the offender, but 1t does not
cure the condition that created the or
fender.
The condition and its cause are largely
economic When the State-and / mean
nv state government as a whole-makes
the minimum wage obligatory on the en-
ployer, and by this is meant a marriage
able wage for grown men, then Will we
have a large increase In the number OF
marriages in the laboring class and
great decrease in the number OF iHegiti'
mate babies.
When | started my work among the
unfortunate girls OF New Jersey twenty
five years ago 1t was with determination
TO find the cause first and then the solu
ton. II is not on the knees OF the gods
Il is not in the pocketbooks OF private In
dividuals, but in the hands of the state
itself that deliveTance lies for these girls,
and the state, too. Private philanthropy
can and does lop off the leaves of the
poisonous plant: the State must attack
the roots Private philanthropy can and
does ameliorate the condition after 1t de-
yelops. but the State must make this
condition unnecessary.
In protecting its women, In providing
for it's children. the citizens of the future,
the State will be merely making a good
investment, one that will pay hundred
per cent No man will countenance in his
business a condition that rots his bust
ness integrity or that eats away his
profits He will spend money to cure his
business Ills because 1t pays. Why should
the State countenance condition that
rots its social fabric. that is bound to eat
into its future prOfts2
In the case of founding, the State
has to care for it, has to spend money to
find the mother and care for her in an
institution, has to eXpend money to find
the father, and may have to imprison
him IL he refuses to marry the
mother or pay for the child's support.
Here therefore, may be three unnecessary
charges on the State. And. more than this,
there is always the danger of eventually
having placed in the public life a half
grown boy or girl OF feeble mind. or
worse. This danger is an ever-present one
to those who get down under surface con-
ditions. Few States In this country make
any discrimination between normal and
abnormal men and women as parents. Any
man or woman at large is tacitly consid-
cred worthy of being parent. Such pa
renthood is a crime against the State and
the human race.
Figures are not always to be relied
upon, but It is true that flfty-three uer
cent of the women who break the moral
law professionally are feeble-minded. and
some physicians place the percentage
much higher Sixty-sE per cent of the IL
legitimate children are feeble-minded or
worse, and in the greater number OF
States in the Union, if not confined In
ssylums, they are allowed to have chill
dren. These are in turn idiots, lunatics or
criminals. Consider, therefore, the re-
sponsibility resting on the State that per
mits such a condition when the cure is
attainable This is one human condition
that the law can abolish ! am not refer
ring to the social evil, so called, but to
promiscuous parenthoOd.
The maTriageable wage for the man.
the living wage for the girl, and stringent
marriage laws will do much to keep re-
formatories hospitals and children's
homes empty
Education and training insisted upon by
the State will help solve the problem for
the girl of the future. From the observa-
lions of the past twenty-five years ! should
say that the girl who earns fifteen or eigh-
teen dollars a week or more seldom,
might say never. breaks the moral law I'M
less she wants to; she does not have to
do il in order to live. neither is she in
position where she comes incontact with
the men who traffic in women.
Is the girl. then. who earns a living
wage and more. mere moral than the girl
who earns less than enough to keep body
and soul together? Assuredly not.
Ny experience is that girls are nat
ursIIv moral but the girl earning fifteen
dollars a week is better fed, more warmly
clad and is better housed than her poorer
sister. She has also something left over
h for occasional pleasures, and pleasure is
q great factor in the lives Of all girls. The
Youthful heart turns 10 pleasure and