Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1917-10-28

in the whole auditorium so hopeles.
in his stupidity that he does not know
that these boys brought that problem
to me the more willingly, because
am not only their father, but theil
playmate? II has cost me something
My scholar father was always sir
TO his son; my boys call me old sport
(Applause.) But | would not give W
the real dignity of my intimate fel
lo"ship with them for n thousand
times the superficial dignity that wa:
the fashion 50 years ago.
The point is that you canont hope
for true richness of life among the
children Of your own family il you
viii not give TO them the advantages
of play leadership, Of companionship
with parents, then general democratic
fellowship produced in that most dem
ocratic Of places. the open.air play
ground. Now, this city has made a
beginning, nothing more, and it will
not make much more than beginning
upon the great city that is ahead of
us for all time if 1t does not begin TO
develop play in the modern sense.
Y. VI. {. 4. Good Investment
What shall we say of the institu-
tlons Of play? Well, one of them is a
\. NJ. c. A. 1t is building which,
all things considered, represents a
great many dollars. Now, past this
building there go every day given
number of adults who gave money TO
II. We have trick memories: we can
forget all the money we spend on our
own lndulgences, but we never forget
any of the money we devote TO be-
nevolenceS. As we pass the Y. NJ. c.
A., then. we think that the building
cost Sll5,000 and the equipment S30,l
600. and we spent $4,000 for the site,
and that we have $4,000 put into
more property for il, and We say, IL
wonder If ii is worth it," Well,
don't know; | don't know how much
money is worth in Tulsa. Now and
then have suspected it is worth more
mere than il is anywhere else. But, if
money is not worth more than a thou
and times as much as it is anywhere
else, the money put in the Y NJ c. A.
property of Tulsa is yielding you
greater returns than any oil well in
the state. And yet we equipped it so
badly that though we have 450 boys
IN the boys classes. they have no
building of their own. We believe in
the open air and in the fresh air and
in the sunlight, but we have no out
of f-doorequipment We have a great
class of business men and we do gem
timely serious religious work and we
have beautiful cooperation from the
churches. We have cafeteria. which,
miracle of miracles. has paid from the
day it was opened. But we have not
a branch; not single branch. We
ask the boys and young men whom
we would have use the Y. NJ. c. A.
TO come to it, instead of taking it TO
them. ! think you have observed the
process is reversed in a wet town.
(Applause.) What we need in the Y.
VI. c. A. is room for the educational
classes. more dormitory space for the
boys that are being boarded hither and
yon-mainly yon. We need boys
building; We need open-air play
grounds; we need boys home. We
need fathering for boys of about l6
years who have neither father nor
mother in Tulsa, who are getting
mighty darned lonely. We need the
church cultivation of the boys who are
brought within the sphere of the reli-
gious influence ip the y. NJ. c. A. and
even then we are not through.
Her Greatest Asset.
Tulsa possesses many assets, but
wonder if she possesses any one so
great as $500 boys. There are $500,
Two regiment in the making: and
they are under privileged. They are
not boys like yourself; they are boys
that must work and wreak and strive
and sacrifice to keep alive, to make
headway. Next winter $50 will sleep
in bins, in barrels, in areawayS. here
in Tulsa. They will ferret their way
around like rats, only the foe from
which they run is not single. And in
a little while they will be graduated
out of all this; some into criminals:
some into great men; some into worthy
men; some into the graves of murder
and suicide and utter degradation. Oh,
is 1t that we do not care? A city
needs, as it needs nothing else almost.
the means ana the spirit ana the
money to deal with these 5000 boys.
There are perhaps half as many girls
needing care, too, and the only barom-
eter we have upon the happening
which is coming into their lives is af-
forded by a kind of a wishful county
juvenile court. Over the bar Of this
court there pass every year 250 young
George WaShingtonS in possibility.
And if one of them steals horse col
lar and is taken into that proud in
Stitution you call your city court, the
only thing on earth you can do with
him is to send him to jail. When you
have put him in Jail. he sleeps in a
cell, stained for every other day of
his life and his nearby companion is
negro pickpocket and a forger.
Twenty-four hours of such associa-
tion and he is lost, unless God himself
intervenes through the exceptional
agency to save him. What will we do :?
And after recreation, what? Health,
The impression prevails that the most
unhealthful city in America is Shreve-
port in Louisiana. Il is one of the