The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-05-13
d0n.
The Recreatiena4 Facts.

The COnVlCLlOn naS D60h 1OECSd upOXl us more deeply all the time as our l investigation has progressed, that | much vice comes from the lack of 1 healthfu1 recreation Like our own, relaxation must follow the strain and stress of labor.
 | We make the following recommend 1 ations:
 i CD In view of the fact that much vice comes from the lack of normal | and healtIlfuI recreation, and as the opportunities for such recreation in Bridgeport are small and totally in- adequate in the present rapid growth of the city, we advise that the mayor and common council appoint a recrea- | ton commission who shall sec that recreationaI survey of the city is made and that they bring in 8 plan for the extension of recreationaI facilities to cover a large group of years. This commission ought to deal with the l dance halls, the cabaI~ts, the school TecreatiOnS, school centers, play grounds, theaters, moving pictuure shows, park amusements and all ath- leticS. (2) After such a commission has reported we would urge that a per- l manent recreation commission be created to take into its power and au- l thority all the public amusements, l shows and recreationS of the city. This 1 commission should have the right to | l it should have the power, police or l otherwise. to enforce its own orders; and it should organize with the help 1 of the various boards and organiza- tfons recreations in schools, parks, l districts and t1heaters, its control over dance halls. cabarets. moving picture shows and theaters should De com plete.
 1 In view of the fact that at the pres ent time our parks are little more than l parades and resting places with only 1 a minimum of police protection. we recommend:
 l (1) That during the warm season the parks be better patroIied by the 1 police to prevent much clandeSt1ne l vice that goes on, especially at night
 (2) That the parks be better lighted l than they now are to protect the large number of persons who would use l them for legitimate purposes but who sTEun them at such times owing to l their unsavory reputation.
 One of the most shocking and alarming situations brought to our at I ltention was the number of children on Sl the border line of puberty who have Ian abnormal knowledge of sex life, frequently in it's most disgusting forms, l or who have gone over into vice itself In practically every case such knowl- ledge or experience came from imper- I feet education in the life of the sex
 
 I street in contact with loose men and I women, and every often in the unfor- tunate life of the home.
 In our judgment, there are four nor mai and satisfactory ways in which ] the facts of the sex function can be taught in the education of child. I They should all be used-the biOlogi- T cal, the physical training, the ethical and the religious methods; they show l in turn the facts, the personal appre- f heTsfons, the moral implications and i the sacredneSs of the sex relation. I We, therefore, make these recom- 4 mendations:
 TO THE SCHOOL BOARD AND TO
 PARENTS.
 I 1, (a) That the school board iI1- l troduce 8 course in biology, open for I all pupils of fourteen years and over. l (b) That in eases where it shall be considered helpful, principals or teachers shall be encouraged to hold lconferences with parents, sfngly or in groups, in order that the responsibility 0r parents for the sexual cIeanness of their children may be impressed upon them, and that they may receive de- zl finite suggestions or facts which shall enable them to deal with their own l children directly.
 (c) That the literature or hygiene associations which is now published in handy and helpful form, be distributed to parents and guardians whenever it shall be deemed wise to do so. {d) We recommend that the ethical value of chastity and purity be care l fully and exactly taught in the deyeI- topment of ideals, in the study of vir- tues, in the examples of literature and
 art and history, and in the study of the practical life.
 TO TEACHERS OF PHYSICAL
 TRAINING. l 2. We recommend increased faciIf- ties for physical training and recrea- tion, under the supervision of we'll equipped attendants and advisors com potent to deal with sex problems.
 TO EMPLOYERS OF LABOR. I We recommend to employers of large groups of men and women, in view of the success of similar methods elsewhere, that they empIoye the ser vice of experts to teach by lectures or conferences the value, economically and physically, or the clean life.
 TO CHURCHES.
 We recommend that the churches aid in the work of education by defin- ite teaching along these hnes-tIle sa- credness of the sex relation, the reIa- ton of purity to character, the relig1- ous sanction as the highest motive
 for the clean life.
 Il TO THE CITY.
 ] We recommend. finally, that the program of sex betternaent should be l worked out in detail by a public mor- aIs commission or d public welfare
 board.
 The Facts of Social Hygiene.
 We are convinced that there is a right and needful publicity necessary with regard to facts of sex and the l dissemination of sexual diseases. The
 success which has attended this kind
 of publicity in Europe, and which has
 fortified virtue and nlodesty instead
 of offending them, makes us feel that
 the medical frate rnity of our city help 1 much in deXising ways and means to