The daily sentinel., 1913-12-04
VOTES FOR WOMEN WILL REMEDY
SOCIAL CONDITIONS, SAYS SPEAKER
Mrs. Joseph Bowen Before Sufrdgst Convention Advised Sep
arate Courts For Women and For Boys and Girls.

and untidy as the result of being
without proper toilet accommoda-
tions, and is therefore apt to create
an unfavorable impression. In all
police stations separate rooms or
cells should be provided. with plen-
ty of light and air and sleeping and
toilet accommodations for the wom-
en-
Mrs. Bowen told of what had been
done to meet this situation In Chica-
go by the establishment of the Court
| of Domestic Relations and the Nor
ais Court. The latter hears the
cases of women charged with i'm
proper conduct.
The percentage of mental deficien-
cy is greater among women inmates
of correctional institutions. she said.
than among the men. IF women
/ fall and commit crimes because of
this mental deficiency 1t would
seem more than ever necessary to
have them examined by a psyche
pathic expert and committed-not to
! prisons-but to such reformatories
as Bedford. whose scientific treat
ment and humane care has made it
one of the few hopeful spots in our
wretched prison system"
Mrs. Bowen declared that condi-
tions In the factories and stores that
employ women drove many to life
of shame.
America" she said, has every
reason to be proud of the virtue of
its working women who have SO
bravely withstood the many pitfalls
which industry and commercialized
vice have spread for their unwary
| feet. Women, however. understand
more fully than do men the physique
and the spirit of their own sex. They
do not want to be Obliged to face the
choice of life starved of everything
they consider worth while. or a life
of dishonor. and may we not hope
that when they have the vote they
will realize through this sympathetic
understanding the danger to wage
earning women, and they will then
strive for less fatiguing and shorter
day and minimum wage which will
put in the hands of the working wom-
an very effective weapon of de-
fense.
THE Juvenile Court should be
equipped with physician who would
examine the child carefully and If
possible remedy his physical defects.
He should also be examined by
psychologist who would study his
family history and ascertain how
far his heredity had influenced his
career. His neighborhood and home
environment should be studied and
changed II necessary, and trained
agents should be sent to study the
conditions which brought about his
downfall.
"Overwork and underpay OF pa
rents is responsible for much neglect
of children. Scott Nearing, an au-
thority on wages in this country.
says that three-fourths Of the men
| in American. industry. cannot pro-
vide decently for more than three
children; one-half cannot provide
for more than two children and one
third cannot make adequate provi-
sion for one child.
I'm addition to our Juvenile Court.
we need a court for the Juvenile
adult-that is for the boy between
the ages of II and 21. who 10 too
old for the Juvenile Court. Physi-
clans assert that the boy at this age
| is still in the later adolescent period.
These years are his formative years.
and yet at this time we are SO often
trying reformative and punitive mea-
sures. This court might be called
the noys' court, and have connected
with 1t public dsfsndsr a. well ~