The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1907-1917, 1916-05-11

tempt, thus making it virtually a
warrant.
Section Is provides, "That the
court shall have power, upon the
hearing of any cause involving any
child, to exclude the general public
from the room wherein the hearing
is held, admitting thereto only such
persons as may have direct interest
in the case; and the records of all
cases may be withheld from indis-
criminate public inspection in the
discretion of the court; but such
records shall be open to inspection of
such child, his parents, guardians,
or his legal representative. The
hearings may be conducted in The
Judges Chambers" The provision
for inspection of the records by "the
child or his parents or his authorized
representative" may mean only a
guardian ad Item appointed by the
court in cases where summons or
notice to parents has been dispensed
with, because section IA directs the
court in that instance to appoint such
guardian, who would usually be a
stranger to the child and might easily
Section 20 provides, ''That the
court. after a hearing, may commit
the child, to any institution, associa-
ton or corporation willing to receive
it within or without the District of
Columbia"
1t is further provided that such
commitment may be till the child at
tains is legal majority, even though
committed in early infancy.
Section % authorizes the court to
take the child from it's parents and
commit it to such institution on the
sole ground that the court deems it
to be under insufficient guardian
ship, parental or otherwise" and to
compel the parents. whether rich or
poor. to pay the institution for it's
maintenance under penalty of 5000
fine or six months Imprisonment or
both Section 20 authorizes the
court "to seek the cooperation of all
societies or organizations, public or
private, having for their object the
protection or aid of children.
Under this cunningly devised
measure, one of whose authors is Of
ficially shown to be the professor Of
sociology in the Catholic University
at Washington City, any child may
be summarily taken into custody and
constrained of it's liberty on the
mere information and belief" of one
who may be an enemy to the child
Or it's parents or who may be ever so
vicious and irresponsible, and the
child so constrained may, without
notice to it's parents or guardian and
without their knowledge, be given a
secret hearing in the chambers of the
judge with none present but the
Judge, the child and the guardian ad
Item appointed then and there by
the judge, the records of such hear
ing may be withheld from all but
the child and such guardian ad Item,
even though the child be of tender
years and totally unable to read or
understand the records or the pro-
ceedings.
Even the writ of Hebeas Corpus,
that precious bulwark of American
liberties, would be virtually abolish
ed, as the parent would have no
means of ascertaining to whose GUS
tody his child had been committed;
and, moreover, any lawyer knows
that, even if the writ were issued,
the commitment of the Juvenile
court would constitute prima facie
a complete answer which could be
met and overcome only, if at all, by
difficult and expensive proceedings
in the higher court, wherein the par
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