The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-08-13
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORM ALTON
BUREAU
FREDERIC J. HASKIN. Director.
Washington. D. c.
CHILDREN AND THE WAR
u-Juyenile Delinquency Abroad.
Washington. D. c.

the rapid spread of crime and disorder
| among the young, which almost IN
eVitably follows an extensive war. In
all of the European countries, which
have been in the war since 1914. the
increase of juvenile delinquency has
been so alarming as to have called
forth extensive Investigations on the
parts of the governments concerned
As yet the spread of Juvenile deln-
quency has not been palpable in the
| United States, but reports from sew
eral large cities indicate that violations
| of law and discipline by boys and girls
| under 6 are daily growing more COM
mon.
Conscious that unless immediate
measure of prevention are taken, the
, growth of juvenile delinquency may,
as the war goes on, parallel the pro-
| portions it has cttaiEed in Great Brit
| ain, France, Russia and the central
! empires. the children's bureau of the
| department of labor is making an in
telligent study of conditions in these
| countries. A report of this investiga-
ton has just been submitted to Score
| tary Wilson.
| Revealed in the report is the fact
| that during the first year of war in
England tho number of children un-
| der 16 arrested for larceny, was in
creased by more than SO per cent.
| Similar increases were shown in
charges of assault, gambling, wanton
destruction of property. and offenses
against the education act. Where
such records are available, large in
crease is shown in the number OF
children committed to reformatories
and similar institutions, and in the
number of children placed under the
supervision of court officers.
It is true that in normal times the
rate of Juvenile delinquency often
| rises inexplicably; but seldom or new
er is the rise so great. Its relation
| to the war, direct or indirect, must be
taken as an accepted force, and with
the discovery Of the relation opens a
probing for causes. The assigned
causes for child crime in England are
| many and varied, yet tangibly con-
| nected. First there is the departure
of ever SO many fathers to the front,
and of even more mothers to the NUM-
tons factories, thus reducing the pow
er of parental discipline. Then schools
have been overcrowded and school
hours curtailed, the result of the gov
ernment's action in taking over more
than 1900 school buildings for hos
pitals. Instructors have been drawn
into the army from Sunday schools
and clubs, and parks and Fairgrounds
have been closed as part of the pro-
gram of economy. Also the prospect
of high wages has brought many chill
dren into employment, and the extra
ordinary demand for labor has in a
great measure Intensified the sense of
freedom always possessed by the wage
| earning child.
The sport of the -ritish committee
on juvenile education in relation TO
employment after the war mentions
laxity of behavior and of morals
4 among young persons as the result of
| excessive war work. Unrest, says
, | the report, sis evident in almost every
home, and depredations in the dark
ened streets are committed frequently
! and with impunity by children" Child
welfare agencies in Great Britain are
carrying on their work under in
creased difficulties. This is due partly
to lack of funds and partly to. lack
of workers, many of whom have been
carried into the war. Reform schools
have been seriously handicapped.
; Manual training classes have virtual
ly disappeared from these schools be-
cause of the lack of instructors. There
is tendency on the part of the Eng
l1sh courts to administer punishment
to child offenders by fIogging-an ex-
pedient- often proved to have harmful
results.
Tho facts have been somewhat
harder to obtain, conditions in regard
to Juvenile delinquency in France
parallel somewhat those of Great
t Britain. Relaxation of parental dis
cipline has also appeared and arrests
of boys and girls under 16 have grown
much more frequent since the war.
Il The problo m in France has been
4 neglected to even a greater degree
: than in Great Britain, but recently the
authorities have been startled into
I turning a great deal of attention to it
s Last October the Academic des Sci
i ences, Morales ct PolitiQueS, recon-.
: mended that all incorrigib1y perverted
children should be sent to corrective
: | asylums. This included victims OF
= Ills. etc. Victims of "evil environ.
ment," said to include more than &
= third of all French child delinquents
y should be placed under a guardianship
: controlled by the courts. Recently the
French senate passed a bill to pro.
vide guardianship for all children
e orphaned by the war.
= In Russia, asylurns for delinquent:
are being OVERLOADED, and officers o,
juvenile courts are being severely
overworked. War orphans, chilt
f refugees and child volunteers have
= helped to swell the prisons. Child vol
unteers returning from the from
found their way into groups of trans
S ported prisoners. One prison con
= timed sixty of these children all be
Il tween IL and Is; they were mingled
with adult prisoners of all types
u Equally serious was the case of tn
IS refugees. Thousands of young girl
n poured into Moscow from the wa,
n zone, and when the authorities coul'
- not provide adequate care or them
o they became the easy victims of pro
n curers Many of these girls, who hat
g already been corrupted. were enticinl
" younger children to follow their ex
g ample.
e
e Vagrancy among children has be
- come very common in Russia. Man.
thousands of children, refusing t.
e work, roam wildly over the country
=. Sometimes when the cold weathe
st comes, they seek refuge in asylums
| hut a. ri
ing is given them. In metropolitan
p centers such as Moscow, Petrograt
/ and Kiev, crowds of children\ o
n tender age are found os the street
after midnight and in the lower typ
of tea houses. Whisky is sold il
IS these esta blishments and often the,
% are filled with prostitutes.
l., Court records published in Berlil