The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1916-10-26
GIVE BOY A CHANCE
IS EXHIBITS PLEA
THE City Beautiful Can Never Come
Until Child's Moral and Physical
Health Is Conserved.
SCHOOL FOR FEEBLE-MINDED
Remarkable Display BY Sociological
Congress of the Products Of Min
neeota Institution For the Sub
Normal--Many Other Features

Give us a chance, We are citizens
tomorrow" is the plea in behalf of
the boy. which strikes the keynote in
the demonstration now being held in
the Grays Armory on Seventh Street
by the Southern Sociological Congress.
The bulk Of the exhibit, which covers
and crowds the whole floor of the
armory. seems to have been conceived
for the purpose of impressing upon
society the crying need of more pro-
lection for the weak and helpless, and
emphasizes the fact that The City
Beautiful can never come until the
child's health and morals are so ad-
justed as to produce the best citizen
ship.
The exhibit Is authentic in all Its
features, having been passed on by ex-
perts in every particular, and in
number OF instances being the work
of specialists themselves There are
charts which tell why babies die from
the wrong kind of food. and just at
hand other charts show the kind OF
nour!shment that will make them
strong and well There in creed
which sums up the life of child: II
believe in being happy. in being busy.
in being a boy. Bye and bye III be
man" and the extent of the hap
pness of childhood. the nature Of ac-
tivity that keeps him busy. and the
way he Is permitted to go about be
ing a boy" will measure and determine
his manhood and the kind of citizen
ne will be Statistics. drawn from ex-
perience good and bad. show parents
what course they should pursue. How
hnJ, d1~ child has hnAM
an old problem. for which the con-
gress has found successful solution.
The child's sob in the silence curses
deeper than the strong man in his
wrath" has given men and women,
who have put themselves In touch
with conditions as they exist the cue
10 the formation OF a systematic plan
for the happiness and the welfare of
the homeless child
4 Notable Exhibit,
Another phase OF the big exhibit
has been pronounced one of the most
remarkable displays ever seen In this
city. This is a booth given over to
the products OF the Minnesota School
for the Feeble Minded What to do
with delinauents has for many years
been a great sociological and econom-
icaI problem. for in this country at
the present time there are almost
three hundred thousand feeble mind
ed persons, less than thirty thousand
OF whom have been provided for by
the public These feeble minded lack
IN Judgment and in resistance to evil
influences. scomplicating every social
problem. But. as this exhibit shows,
solution has at last been found,
whereby these people may he turned
from a social burden to an economic
benefit In this booth there is an ar
ray of hand work done in the Min
nesota institution. which experts have
pronounced as perfect in their classes.
Brushes Of all kinds, lace work and
garments Of the finest texture and
workmanship show that great prog
ress can be made with the mentally
deformed If subjected TO special train
ing Some specimens OF book binding
which are said TO be fiawless are on
exhibition. the work Of persons some
twenty-f five years OF age. but whose
mental age is measured at only nine.
They have been so carefully trained
that each year their mentality de-
velops until in numerous cases they
can be brought UP TO a point of al
most normal senses. This Is con-
tribution 10 science and sociology
which will prove highly beneficial as
well as a great economic asset
Other Interesting Displays.
Other displays. OF a religious or
educational nature. are on hand. dem
onstrating the most expedient means
OF advancing society. The Anti-Sa-
loon League has placed a number of
illustrations there. showing plainly and
wildly the destroying effects of liquor.
The Polyglot Petition. containing the
names OF 100000 persons of all ma
tons asks that liquor he abolished.
The old pulpit, used by the eminent
John Whitfield, is preserved for pub
lie inspection. and gives a touch Of
reverence from the days of two CEN
turtles ago, when there arose the dan
gerous tendency toward the thought
that there Is no God
The exhibit Ia the largest ever gath
ered along health and welfare lines
in this country. II consists of three
parts, and a fourth part is still un-
packed, there being no room for its
display, The exhibit travels all
through the South with a staff OF
twelve persons. and forms local or
ganiza tons on its way. Plans are al
most completed for the formation OF
sociological organization in Rich
mond. and this wifi be done within
a few days. II In planned to hold
the next meeting of the Sociological
Congress here, in the event the forma-
ton of the society here IL regarded
as successful