The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1916-03-04
THE NECESSITY OF PARENTAL
RESPONSIBILITY.
Important Matter Deserving Of Espe.
cial Emphasis.
Its Vital Connection with the Pre-.
ventton Of Vice.


ventton Of Vice.
In our public prints and in our
many recent vice Investigations, pov.
erty and the lures of the white
slaver' have been proclaimed as the
principal causes. of the downfall of
young girls at the present day. That
these two factors have played prom.
inent part in the ruination of many
women cannot at all be doubted. It
can be readily understood that a girl
working for miserably low wages, al
lowing to her not even the bare neces-
sites of life, much less many of the
little luxuries which she Graves, eking
out her existence in distressing fash
ion, would be weakened amid the whirl
and pressure of daily life. 1t can also
be realized how girl fallen at one
time would be likely to yield to
sense of despair and consider the rest
of her life as lost to normal, decent
existence.
But beyond and beneath these fac
tors, which it must be said have been
greatly overstressed, there are other
fundamental considerations which
play great part in our modern life
in the weakening of the moral fiber Of
our youths and maidens. Perhaps the
most important one of all is the less
ened feeling of responsibility on the
part of parents. "The age of obedi-
ent parents" has our time been called.
The age of neglectful parents, it might
likewise be named. Our people in
great numbers seek today to avoid
the obligations of parenthood in the
first place by the limitation of Off
spring and then by paying but slight
attention to the training of those chill
dren which are theirs. To shirk re-
sponsibility is the predominant char
acteristic of the time.
AS strikingly illustrative of this i'm
portant fact, the testimony of a keep
er of public dance hall before the
Illinois Senate Vice Committee is de-
serving of quotation. 1t appears on
page $50 of that Committees report.
The Chairman of the Committee put
to the witness the following question:
els 1t your opinion that low wages
have anything to do with the vice
problem?' His answer was: Eyes,
sure, l think so, but that isn't all.
The trouble is that it is the folks at
home that ought to keep that girl un.
der supervision until she is at least
eighteen years old. But the trouble
is nowadays that it is the high living
that 80 per cent of the people want.
They want something that is just q
little bit spicy. They don't probably
allow, lot of them don't want very
much, but they want to see it. A lot
of these girls if they got new dress,
they feel that they can go little fur
Their than they used to go with their
small wages"
And then the important point is en-
phasized. "And," he continued, there
is another line; it is great deal of
trouble to cater in hall to girls that
have been brought up in the wrong
light. You take today, look at the
young girls that associate with boys
that are wiser than they were in my
time when l went to school. There
is one thing we ought to do in this
country: to have some means of in
ducing families to take care of chill
dren."
That is an eloquent statement:
that what we need is "some means
of inducing families to take care of
children" 1t strikes the important
point very emphatically and effective
| ly. Parents must realize the duty
which is theirs to watch over their
children's conduct and to carefully SUI
pervise the choice of their children's
companions. That this can be car
ried to an unreasonable extreme will
of course readily be granted. But
there is very little danger of the ex-
istence of this extreme in our country
at the present day. The danger, q
most important one, lies entirely in
the opposite way: that our parents. by
their own selfishness and love of in
ordinate pleasure, by the ease with
which they dissolve the family tie,
and by their utter neglect of their of
spring, prepare the way for that
offspring's moral ruination.
Surely it is time that something be
done in this regard. Surely it is time
that our men in public life should EN-
phasize the necessity Of return to
a sense of responsibility. And the
basic fact which will lead to this phe
nomenon is the return Of religion tc
the people. Without it they are drift
ing into perilous ways. With it they
will be able to meet in the proper
manner the complex problems of oul
modern life, not the least of which
is the problem of widespread sexua
vice. G. B. OF G. V.
la BLOW TO THE MISSIONARY
CAUSE.