Evening journal., 1915-05-26
INSTITUTIONAL CARE

INSTITUTIONAL CARE
FOR MICRO GJRLs
To the Editor of THE EVENING
JOURNAL:
Sir: The editorial suggestion re-
garding the use of the old building
OF the Delaware Industrial School fer
Girls at Twenty-ffth and Market
streets is very timely. II says thcre
are three uses to which the building
could be put, namely: First-As an
institution for the feeble-minded
second-An institution for the physi-
Cally defective; and third-An insti-
tuition for housing the ilicorrigi0le
colored girls. Each of these three
classes certainly needs proper provi-
sion being made for its care, but it
seems to me that the most pressing
of the three at this time is the latter.
Delaware is the only state, 50 far
as J can find, in the eastern part of
these United States that does not
make some provision, either public or
private, for its incorrigible and de-
pendent colored girls Many persons
v ho are not familiar with conditions
wonder why so many OF our colored
girls are so disoc3orly They crit.-
ciso the authorities severely for not
stopping this disorder. when as a mat
ter of fact, there is very little that
can be done with a colorod girl who
viii not respond to he probation
: treatment.
The girls and women OF any race
are one of the most important. If not
the most important. asset of the ma
tion. If these girls and women arc
allowed to have improper relations
with men of all classes if they are
allowed to live with men as their
| common-law wives and to change
their consorts as often as they see
fit, can we expect much of such a
race? Can we expect race of this
kind to ascend or descend the moral
scale? The answer is self-evident.
Garfield once said. "If you expect
to make or save man you must be-
/ gin when he IS a boy" Then, GER
tainly, - you expect to make anything
of a woman you must begin while she
is a girl. This rule applies equally
to the colored girl and the white girl.
! We have provided fairly well for the
errant colored boy. Let us do the
same for the colored girl who needs
custodial care.
There are so many colored girls un-
der is years of age in our city, liy-
ing under immoral conditions. added
to the incorrigible ones. that the
building at Twenty-ffth and Market
streets. II devoted to their care would
be inadequate after eight or ten years
to meet the needs of Wilmington
alone. BY that time the organization
will have so demonstrated its USE
fulness that there is no question but
what the Legislature could be pre-
vailed upon to make adequate provi-
sion for this important part OF its
social service
Let me close by giving one of the
many illustrations that have come
under my notice since being chiei
probation officer. We Will call this
girl Mary Mary was brS ught to my
notice November s. 1912. The teach.
ers at No. 16, Howard School, charg
ed this girl with being q persisten
truant After Intellectual efforts upo'
my part to have her attend regular
. ly, she was brought into the Juvenil
Court. Former Judge Lattomus plac
ed her on probation. We succeede
hin keeping her in school until afte
her fourteenth birthday Then sh
quit, because she knew there wa
no law TO compel her to 90 longel
Y Her conduct for time was all righ
Eventually she was released from Pre-
bation
After one and a half years. start
y ing about April, 1915, complaints be
gan to come TO my Office about he
: disorderly conduct. Repeated warn
ings seemed to have no effect Apr
IA. 1915. | again had her in tho JuN
: emile Court. this time charged wit
larceny. Judge Prickett. who ha
;, taken the bench again placed her o
probation This time when she wa
in court. although sne WIS only
4 years old, she had with her her two
= months old baby. This girl coul
!, very possibly have been saved froi
a life of shame and becjme a cred
= to the community if she could hay
u had institutional care about the frs
of the year 1914 AS it is. every il
dication points TO her being a menac
!, to society and a charge to the Stat
= for the future
Was this girl, and the other score
. Of colored girls. just like her, wort
saving? / think so. The Juvenil
: Court did what it could, but she kne'