The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1914-12-30
HOPKINS DECLARES
PHYSICAL ILLNESS
MAKES CRIMINALS
Says Parents Should Remove
Causes Which Drag Chill
dren Down to Shame and
Degeneracy.
BY r. r. HOPKINS.


Childrens faults may come from
real suffering Shattered nerves and
Eye strain are causes Of bad temper.
Drifting on the turgid tides OF pow
erty in the city streets until caught
by the swift current Of crime, thous-
hnds Of boys and girls are yearly
swept into the police courts or before
the kindly judges Of the house OF
detention.
Branded as incorrigtble by their
parents. Stunned like pariahs, or. IL
they bear the added stigma Of feeble
minded. tainted and driven out into
the streets by those who should pro-
tect them, what must be the end?
The answer is tragically easy, and the
names of all those thousands 90 down
IN the unwritten records Of the ooun-
try as so many wasted opportunities.
SO many young lives are lost through
the lack Of help. For. 80 the psycholo-
gists tell US, more than three-quarters
of that so-called incorrigibility, the
semi-idiocy and the apparent lack of
moral fibre comes from real suffering.
Environment Means Muoh.
DR.. Lightmer of the University Of
Pennsylvania has recently shown how
much u type Of girl may be reincar-
mated into a moral. happy, healthy
woman. once her physical suffering is
removed and environments changed.
There is now a great campaign being
waged in many of our cities to bring
about such reincarnation. Physicians,
nurses, the organization Of the w. G.
y. G., all over the country and the
phllanthropists alike have such work
Va
young folks swept into these danger.
pus currents because most mothers
look upon their babes as young ami
mails; they do not search for the in
hividuality and what lies back of tenn
per and violence. Nor is this mistake
limited to the ignorant. where poverty
adds its quota to the childs suffering;
it is often found in the home where
every luxury is provided for the child
except-understand
The normal boy or girl IL q happy
one; the youngster who broods BY him
self Is suffering somehow, either be-
rause of torpidness or melancholy. 1t
Is the parents or the guardians place
to search for the cause and remove it.
Not Always Disease.
u ls not always bad eyes, enlarged
tonails or adenoids IN the nose. There
pre- more youngsters who have shatter-
ed nerves., wrecked by the thought
lessnys@ Of tho parents by constant
forcing Of some action that they con-
Elder right, until the little child learns
10 dread it. and finally becomes hys-
terical, obstinate, sullen. and the moth
pr declares she can do nothing with 1t,
and the wee lad or girl must be whip
PEG. Perhaps little aching head
makes them fretful; perhaps the strain
In routine life wearies them.
The result is the same. They are
branded a. naughty, so in time they
too are caught in the currents which
make the mothers heart ache and the
mcther's tears flow, and as she cries
or, II did the best" she never real
ICES that it is not mere food, clothing
and education that makes a child into
woman or a man. l don't mean that
the childish ills should be magnif1ed
Ian that every boy and girl should
uN Z, oked upon as an individual should
hc' his or her personal equation TAX
pn ITO consideration, should be judg-
cd jat by deeds, but by what led to
IN, ~. md to eliminate the bad things,
just as the psychologists are endeavor-
ing TO eliminate the bad days Of the
so-called inoorrigibies Of the tene-
ments. who are boys and girls just like
ours and have Municipalities just as
well
etudy individuals.
These Municipalities should be
studied by parents. guardians and
teachers. Unless we make ourselves
capable Of these duties we are not fit
to be the guardian, the parents or
teachers bad example creates bad
Influence: perhaps degenerate is
made to be the parents Of the future
generation. We must teach individual
harmony in the child; this will lead
TO family harmony and IS essential to
national harmony. There is no peace
and happiness in family when Its
various members have discordant de-
sires. feelings and impulses. the indi-
viduals are consequently moulded in
to complete likeness Of the whole, and
will prevent individuals from progress
sion to the individual mind.
Diseases OF the various types, some
of a functional type and some organic,
prevent a true formation of the or
ganization and prevent evil conse-
Quences Happy and good conditions
flow from more fortunately organized
individuals. Fortunately organized in
dividuals are receptacles of wisdom
and knowledge which they are capa-
BILE of imparting TO those Of less for
tunate development, especially to the
children that will be the instructors
OF the races. The waif on the street
under proper environment will make
one Of the great persons Of the race,
as the greater per cent Of greatness
comes through poverty. We have
many writer's and teachers on progress
but IL We go back into the prenatal ex-
istence, and from birth through child
hoods existence and exercise the
proper environments to the young,
this is where progress should begin.