Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1915-12-18
CROSBY DELIGHTS
CLUB WITH TALK
Noted l. VI. E. A. Worker Speaks On
big Brother Movement Before
Broadway Men.
FISH DINNER IL ENJOYED
Maintains That Every Community
Should Be Interested Because
Of Existing Conditions.

4 large audience Of interested men
heard the address by F. A. Crosby Of
Chicago last night on the big Broth
. ct" movement at the meeting Of the
Broadway Presbyterian Mems club
Many visitors were present. represent
ing various organizations which are
interested in the boy problem
The fish dinner which preceded the
program proved a real treat and the
supper committee was the recipient Of
many compliments on its work.
Mr. Crosby, in beginning his re-
marks, spoke of the peculiar coinci-
dence of his trip to Rock Island at
The present time, to speak about the
big brother work as be has within the
last few weeks been engaged in the
effort to organize a Big Brother league
in Chicago The effort has succeeded,
and paid secretary has been put on
the field, TO work in connection with
representatives of the various church
! es and fraternities of that city in the
attempt 10 help boys who need help.
THE big brother movement" said
Mr. Crosby is nothing for any city
to be proud Of. The movement in itself
is a fine thing, hut no city should be
proud of permitting the conditions
which make this work necessary. The
big brother movement is an e9resence
growing out OF the wrong aud abnor-
NAL condition Of modern city life. and
the best kind of big brother work that
any city or group Of men can do is to
remove the causes which produce boys
who need to be helped in this way.
Every community needs to be big
brothered. Illinois needs a big broth
er, and so does Chicago, and so does
Rock Island, to set them right and to
4 correct wrong conditions. The man
who goes to the polls regularly and
! votes inteligently for the best things
lis the best kind of big brother for a
community to have.
we talk of big brothering the had
boy. but let US not forget that we
were all bad boys once, and if we had
been surrounded with as many police
men and as little play space as the
boys Of today have probably we would
have been worse than these boys that
we call bad The bad boy is not a bad
boy at all. He is a victim Of unfortu-
nate circumstances. If you business
men will get together to remove the
/ causes which lead boys astray, you
will be doing the biggest piece of big
brother work that can be done.
Boy Easily Moulded.
There are certain important char
acteristics about the boy which need
to be understood in order to make pos
sible any intelligent work for him. He
is, first Of all made of plastic material
like plaster of paris which is exceed
ingly plastic at first, but quickly har-
dens under your hand and can then
be changed only by violence The boy
is easily moulded, but the man is hard
to change Then the boy needs an in
terpreter, for the boy is an alien in our
cities The boys land is the land Of
0utdo0rs-the land OF the swimming
hole and the sliding hill, with trees
to climb and rabbits to chase. d land of
dreams and visions and activity. But
/ a boy can't find any such surroundings
as these in the modern city lie needs
someone to help him interpret himself
to the life and people about him.
THE boy is hero worshipper, and
he will admire a bad hero if he does
mot find a good one He needs a big
brother who can be to him a sort OF
hero. The boy is a playful animal and
needs someone to help him play His
play is his work. and he will work
harder al playing than at anything else
IA tue world. He is more playful than
a pup or cat, and he can't be tied up,
Or kept in kennel. He can never at
tain to normal manhood without play
for il is by play that he learns to live
and work. He needs play space and
play leaders.
The causes which lead boys astray
exist in every town. The only differ
lence between Rock Island and Chicago
is = difference in degree. The tempta-
tons are practically the same. The
real work Of the big brother is to catch
! the boy before he goes wrong, and help
him TO keep right.
The causes which make boys go
wrong are not the fault of the boy, but
are the fault of our economic and So
cial system. Thus the boy himself is
the fault OF society We are to blame
and we ought to set things right
Here are some of the causes which
lead TO delinquency on the part Of the
boys:
/ First. it is being out Of school, and
this is the fault OF our educational sys-
TEN. Our compulsory education laws
require the boy to stay in school I'm
til he is IA, while he is not permitted
Ito go to work, except under restric-
tions. until he is 16. Multitudes of boys
drop out of school as soon as the law
allows, and then Loaf much of the time
for the two years until they are Is and
can regularly go 10 work. Nine-tenths
Of the boy trouble IN Chicago results
from this one fact, Of idIeness.
Unemployment is another cause
Two thousand boys tramp the streets
80 6,,,;naers, avor.y dav limiting work