Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1917-07-25
WAY GIRLS LEAVE HOME
BY DOROTHY DIX
The Worlds Highest Paid Woman
g Writer


Writer
rHE Police of New York City are
being bitterly arraigned because
they 80 dilatorily and hah-heart
edly prosecuted tho search, when she
was first reported missing, Of pretty
little Ruth Cruger, the high school
girl, who went forth from Ter fathers
house to have her skates sharpened
and who was never heard Of again
until her mangled body was found
buried in the cellar Of the shop to
which she had gone.
hold no brief for the police.
Doubtless they deserve all the blame
that is being visited upon their
beads in this particular case. Doubt
less, also, It IL better that the whole
Energy Of the force should be expend.
"a ir tracing down thousand rem
away girls who have merely eloped
nth their sweethearts than that ouc
nbducted girl should remain an'
zyeneRed.
Aeathy % Police
Nevertheless, anyone who has ever
had any practical experience in trac.
fng down the stories Of hundreds cf
Eirls who are yearly reported missing
- every great city, can at least up.
derstand the cynical apathy OF the
police in the matter. For in over 80
ner cent OF the cases the girls are
hot the victims Of foul play but OF
stolen. They have gone Of their oyn
stolen. They have gone Of theid own
accord. And the last thing on earth
hey want is to be found and re.
turned to. the bosom Of the families
they have left.
The prodigal son who. careless OF
the anxiety and misery he caused his
parents, ran away from home IN order
70 SOW his wild oats where he pleased,
Is 4 figure as old as human society.
The prodigal daughter, who likewise
HiRhes TO be free from home res
trnints In order TO follow the desires
81 her eyes and who treads In her
brothers footsteps, Il q newcomer In
our midst, but she IL here In daily
increasing numbers and she II one Of
the great moral problems OF our day.
The question Of why girls leave
home, however, ID one that % not 90
much up TO the police 90 It 10 TO
parents, for Il Is Ear more important
% keep . girl from going than II IL
% discover her after she has left
homo The time to prevent tragedy
= before q happens.
Generally spsaking, fhe reason that
Girls leave home IL because they
oiihor have grinding tyrants or pur.
blind idiots for parents. This ID true
even when the compelling cause OF
the girls going TO q man.
When girl elopes with the sort
% q man 20 whom she could not be.
oeceutly married IN orthodox fashion,
4 Il more often than not her parents'
lault Sometimes the father and
mother have taken high handed at,
t|tude IN the matter than any girl
ol spirit would resent. They have
ontaGonized her until she wrecked her
NE n blind anger that made her un-l
ole 70 see the man 40 he really was.
sometimes they have been the sort Of
parents that never let q girl have a
beau IN peace and comfort at home,
% that she meets the kind Of men
che should not know outside Of her
home.
unsympathetie Parents
Never are they the parents who are
1ympathetic, and helpful, and 20 whom
3 SRI can open her heart and ten
her secrets. Girls with that kind Of
lathers and mothers never run away
With their chauffeurs, or their
1rooms. or married men with whom
they propose to defy conventions. !
Girls leave home because their par.
rnts are erasping and tyrannicaI. In
ne recent white slave Investigation
one Of the men who most successfully
trafficed IN the souls and bodies Of
young girls said that the easiest siri
Il the world TO lure into the life was
The working girl whose parents made
her turn over her pay envelope to
them.
Take Q young girl who works from
carly dawn 20 night who tolls to ex.
heustion every day. and who gets
nothing out of her labor but the few
Cents her mother gives her for spend. !
Ing money, who never has any pretty
clothes because her mother doesn't
believe In wasting money on finery.
NC never has The price Of thea.erI
-cket because her mother thinks ia
5lnfm to spend money on anusernents:
ell this girl you'll put her In the Way
81 making money that she win have
lor ner own, and that she can spenS
g she pleases, and ninety-nine times
f."