Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-05-07

Ger Heaney is without a rival in the
National Capital. Environment. disap-
pointment, i'll health, and a thousan nd
and one other kink causes receive the
attention of the hard-w orking official
1t is no Sinecure being a probation
officer for the bad boys of Washington
Mr.. Heaney takes no personal credit for
the success that has crowned his eff
forts toward unfortunate offenders
against the laws and regulations of the
District. He says that the success is
due to the probation system that is
rapidly coming into its own in Wash
ington and which is in operation at the
present time in forty-four states.
Heaney believes absolutely in the grea
national system of probation, of which
he is one of the cogs.
Mr.. Heaney is studying the give-the
fellow another-chance question very
closely. He is behind the scenes. His
information is received first hand and
should be accurate. In four months he
has had sufficient time to find out if n
probation officer was hgurehead or a
MIXTURE. He gets the real story. not
the fake. Men start to fool the little
man with the big heart. They do not
get far. He believes in fairy stories
for children. but not for big. bad boys
One rapid-fire question hitting the
crux of the case ends forever a desire
for fame in the field of fiction on the
part of the embryonic yarn teller with
tendency toward romanticism.
When l first undertook my work
here in Washington" Mr.. Heaney said.
in speaking of his problem. Il had not
decided whether poverty made the sot
or the sot made poverty. After sew
eral months working among the per
sons who get inIo trouble on account
of drinking l have come to the con-
clusion that poverty makes the sot.
Most of the drinking done. in the large
industrial centers is what l call mis-
ery drinking Bad economic condi-
tions in general. small pay. general
disgust with life and no prospect OF
eventual improvement drive many men
to excessive drinking and the folly
that follows.
I'm Washington, however, there is a
different state of affairs, | think. y
large percentage of the drinking in
this city is what might he called lux
ury drinking. Sociability causes the
downfall of many who come to call on
me- Just the other day | in an
English paper that two Londoners were
each fined e. for treating. There is
much good in that law.
Every day here adds to my enthu-
siasm and enjoyment of a position that
many a man would not anticipate with
much keenness. I come in contact with
man al the psychological moment. |
am the man on the middle of the see
saw of life. who can force the man on
the plank up or down. l try to shoot
him skyward and keep him off the
earth. Sometimes ii is easy to lift
man, at other times | have to exert
all my mental strength to force him to
better himself.
II have met only one man who did
not want to take a chance after being
sent out here by the judge. He said
he did not want to stop drinking and
preferred to pay the penalty of his
trouble with the police instead of
fooling me with a broken promise. ]
admired him. He was honest. I shook
his hand and sent him back for the
court sentence. I wish he would have
given me a chance. He was a man.
Most of the men who help me prove
that the probation system Is no longer
an experiment are between the ages