The Bemidji daily pioneer., 1914-12-21
I
CHILDLAW SHOULD
Be MADE BETTER
State Board of Control Goes On Re-
cord as FaYoring Revision and
Codification Of Statutes.
QUOTE FROM BEMIDU ADDRESS
Reformatory for Woman is Also Ad-
vised in Recommendation in Bien-
<nial Report to Governor.
QUOTE FROM BEMrDu ADDRESS

The Minnesota board of control has
gone on record, in it's biennial report
to Governor Eberhart, as in full
sympathy with the efforts of socio-
logical workers to obtain an intel
ligent revision and codification Of
laws relating to children. In this
regard the board quotes from the
addrss Of Judge E. F. Waite, deliv-
cred in Bemidji during the session of
the Charities and Correction Judge
Waite is of the Hennepin county
juvenile court.
Some Of Waite's Suggestions.
Judge Waite suggested laws re-
latang to marriage, making provision
for nlegitimate children, and regu-
lating midwives and lying-in hospi-
tails: laws safeguarding the health
of children; penal laws regulating
child labor and Furnishing those who
desert their families or those furnish
ing children with firearms, tobacco,
intoxicants, or obscene literature.
The great gap in the Minnesota
system of correcting delinquents is
the lack If a woman's reformatory.
This is the conclusion reached by the
board and submitted in the report to
Governor Eberhart, advance sheets OF
which were made public Saturday.
Public Guardian Needed.
The board also points out the need
of public guardian and attorney
for those discharged from state in
stitutions, and the need for revising
laws relating to children.
Probation systems cannot solve
the problem said the report. 'The
woman offender needs a physical and
menfa environment suited to her.
Under the present system the woman
habitual offender goes to the work
house or Jail again, and may finally
reach the prison, if her offense is
great enough. There is a growing
number of women offenders in Mime
sofa.
Vice and Crime Spread.
Nothing is being done for them
in the way of reformation, with the
result that misery, vice and crime
are spreading. It would seem time
to aid the female offender, neglect of
whom can only mean a heavier burd-
en- in the increase of the delinquent,
defective and dependent classes
Furnish Legal Advice.
The need of public guardian be-
comes more urgent each year, said
the report. 1t would be the duty of
such an official to investigate all legal
matters relating to the personal af-
fairs of such state charges as by rea-
son of poverty, Indifference of rela-
tives, cannot obtain legal advice
During the biennial period $50 in
vestigations have been made in de-
portation cases and 220 deportations,
effecting saving to the state of
$230,000 on the estimated basis Of
the cost of maintaining state wards
during their average life.
The total appropriations asked for
by the board are $6,34O,933. This
sum is $283,467 less than that asked
for two years ago. The board calls
attention to the fact that the state
should continue the policy of fire.
proofing all buildings, as the state
no longer carries outside insurance
on them.
New Buildings Needed.
To better the service at the state
saaatorium at Walker the report said
certain additional buildings are need