Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-08-13
Children and War
".
JUVENILE DELINQUENCY
BY Frederic ]. Haskin


81 alarming as to have called forth ex-
tensive Investigations on the parts Of tho
governments concerned As yet the spread
Of Juvenile delinquency has not been pal
pablo in the United States, but reports
from several large cities indicate that
violntions Of law and dis cipline 10y boys
and girls under sixteen are daily growing
more comrson.
Conscious that unless imrneslistr rncn-
s,Ircs Of prevention nre taken, the growth
Of juvenile delinquency may, as the war
goes on, parallel the proportions 1t has
attained in Grent Britain, France, Rus
sin and the Central Empires, the Chill
dren's Bureau of the Department of La
Dor is making mn intelligent study Of CON
ditions in these countries. A report Of
this investigation has just been submitted
to Secretary Wilson.
FfFrY PER CENT JUMP.
Revealed in the report is the fact that
during the first year of war in England
the number Of children under rs arrested
for larceny was inueased by more than
50 T,cr cent. Similar increases were shown
in charges Of assault, gambling, wanton
destruction Of property, and offences
against the education act. Where such
records are available, large increase If
shown in the number Of children commit
ted to reformatories ond similar institu-
| tiona and IN the number Of children plac-
ed under the supervision of court officers
II IL true that in normal times the rate
Of Juvenile delinquency often rise IN
| explicably, but seldom or never is the rise
80 great. It's relation 10 the war, direct
or Indirect, must be taken as an accepted
fact, and with the discovery Of the rela-
ton opens probing for causes The assign
ed causes for child crime IN England arc
many and varied, yet tangibly connected.
| First there is the departure Of ever go
many fathers TO the front, and Of even
more mothers 10 the nrstions factories,
thus reducing the power Of parental dis
cipline.
Then schools have been overcrowded
and school hours curtailed, the result Of
| the governments action in taking over
more than 200 school buildings for
| hospitals. Instructors have been drawn
into the army from Sunday schools and
clubs, and parks and Fairgrounds have
been closed as part Of the program Of
economy. Also the prospect Of high
wages has brought many children into
employment, and the extraordinary de-
mand for labor has in q great measure
intensified the sense Of freedom always
possessed by the wage earning child.
ExCEssIvg WAR WORK RESULTS.
The report Of the British Committee on
Juvenile Education in relation TO employ
ment after the war, mentions a laxIty of
behavior and of morals among young
persons as the result of excessive war
work. Unrest, SAYS the report, is
evident IN almost every home, and de-
predations in the darkened streets are
committed frequently and with irnpunity
by children" Child welfare agencies in
Great Britain are carrying on their work
under increased difficulties.
This is due partly 70 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 virtually
disappeared from these schools because
of lack of instructors. There is a tendency
on the par. of the English courts to ad-
minister punishment 10 child offenders by
flogging- expedient often proved to
have harmful results.
Though facts have been somewhat
harder TO obtain, conditions In regard to
Juvenile delinquency In France parallel
somewhat those of Great Britain. Re
taxation of parental discipline mas also
appeared and arrests of boys and girls
under Is have grown much more fre-
quent since the war.
The problem IN France hiss been neg
lected TO even a greater degree than In
Great Britain, but recently the authori-
ties have been startled into turning a
great deal of attention to it. Last October
the Academic des Sciences, Morales ct
Politiques, recommended that all lncor-
rightly perverted children should be sent
10 corrective asylums. This included
victims of hereditary alcoholism, epilep-
sy, syphilis, etc. Victims of ''evil environ
ment, said TO include more than third |
of all French child delinquentS, should be |
by the courts. Recently the French |
senate passed bill to provide guardian |
ship for all children orphaned by the war. |
RUSSIAN AsYLUns oyERCRowDED.
In Russia, asyl ums for delinquents are
being OVERLOADED, and officers OF juvenile |
courts are being severely overworked. |
War orphans, child refugees and child /
volunteers have helped to swell the
prisons. Child volunteers returning from
the front found their way into groups of
transported prisoners. One prison con-
tanned 60 of these children all between
IL and 10; they were mingled with adult
prisoners of all types.
EQlail} serious WAS the case OF the
refugees. Thousands Of young girls pour
ed into Moscow from the war zone and
when the authorities could not provide
adequate care for them, they became the
easy victims of procurero. Many of these
girls, who had already been corrupted,
were enticing younger children to follow
their example.
Vagrancy among children has become
very common in RI4s:la. Many thous-
ands of children, refusing 70 work, roam
wildly over the country. Sometimes when
the cold weather comes, they seek refuge
IN asylums, but run away as soon as warm
clothing is given them. In metropolitan
centers such as Moscow, Petrograd and
klev, crowds of children of tender age
are found on the streets after midnight
and IN the lower type of tea houses.
Whisky is sold In these establishments
and often they are filled with prostitutes.
Court records published in Berlin since
the beginning of the war show that the
enemy, too, has been touched with the
growth of child delinquency Punishable
otienses 10y children of less than 10 years
are much more frequent. This taken into
account only the ottenses punished by the
evil courts, for In many places the war
time courts have complete supervision.
Berlin authorities admit that the war has
greatly swelled the ranks of German
CRIMINALS and prostitutes. In Germany, as
IN the other countries, the break up of
family life has had its bad effect In
Prussia alone more than 5000 men teach
he |