The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1915-10-13
D { | | N D u { N 7
GIRLS PRODUCT
Of HERE0l 7 Y
ARE GENERALLY
DRg'Nk SRDS, MOTHERS As
BAD OR WORSE
by Associated Press.)

Oaklsad. Cal, Oct ls.-Dslinauen'
ah.s are prcducts 81 Aeredity and en-
y.Ionment ana majority Of then
can 10 reclaimed FOR society accord
ing to a report which Kenosha ses-
sions, president OF the women's asso-
citation Of tho American Prison Assoc
ciation made today to the convention
Of tie parent body in this city. Prest
dent Sessions, who is superintendent
Of the Indian Girls school at Indian
apoiis, said. in part.
with very tew exceptions we find
the delinquent girl comes Of, either
markedly vicious and immoral par
ents, or of generations Of improy-
ldent, unpurposeful people, who feel
that they have done wen when they
have kept the wolf from the door and
have kept out OF the hands Of the
police; people who feel that the Sec
red duties Of fathernood and mother
hood been fuzzy met when they have
provided food and ralment for their
children during The first twelve or
fourteen years of their lives. The
fathers are often drunken and gross
ly immoral; many times the mothers
are equally bad. In a goodly per
cent Of the cases where the mothers
are not bad they are weak in will
power, helpless in discipline, the
kind OF mothers whose children soon
override their feeble desire for thSm
70 do right
This is the type Of intact home
from which our girls come. The in
tact home, however. is by no means
in the majority. In a large per cent
OF the cases the domestic relations
are disturbed. The father and moth
er are both dead, or one Is dead with
the consequent step-parent with
whom the girl does not agree, or the
parents are separated with one or
both remarked. and. as consequence
the girI may have anywhere from
none to four parents. all either vic
ious or inefficient"
Mentally the report said. at least
fifty per cent OF the girls received
at the indianapolis institutions are.
markedly sub-normal,7 and unable
to pass beyond the fourth grade al
though kept in school Indefinitely
Temperamentally the girls were de-
clared to be anything but stolid
"They are Industrious, willing kind
generous, loving longing for love and
praise, full Of kindly affection for
which there has been no wholesome
outlet the report stated. Al twelve
Or fourteen years Of age girls Of this
stamp, bred in the environment not
ed, we're declared easy prey for that
rarenous beast known as society"
Organized society should have
taken some note OF these girls earlier
when they were babies IN their
mothers arms said Mrs. Sessions
eWhen splendid opportunity for
some good woman, with intelligence,
poise and dignity, to come into ths
life OF the unframed unpurposeful
mother and to teach her the beauty
of womanhood, the tremendous re-
sponsihility and wonderful sacred
ness Of motherhood"
The report then described the
methods BY which the correctional
school inculoates ideals Of right Iv-
ing and thinking and told Of the en-
eouraging per cent" OF girls who have
themselves
The problem of the girls who are
too poorly balanced to grasp the
deals of the training but who must
be turned out Of the school when they
become Of age was then considered. /
7 was suggested that for such gigls 1
independent institutions should be es-
ablished "where they will have the
Of the state as long as
hey live, or at any rate during the
hild-bearing period"
These places. It was pointed out.
ould be made self-supporting
through the work OF the inmates.