The twice-a-week Twin Falls times. (Twin Falls, Idaho) 1916-1918, 1918-02-19
THE HOME IN IT'S RELATION
TO THE COMMUNITY LIFE


it beah a vital relationship? Is the |
home essential or merely incidental i'll
the community life? In comparison |
with other institutions of a community |
is the home more or less important? |
These questions may seem to the |
casual reader to be unnecessary or |
unimportant. But he who would I'M |
derstand society, must understand the
institutions of society, their relative
ship to each other and their relative
Importance. Chief among these and
first in Importance is the home, the
organization and abiding place of the
family. l say organization and abid
ing place, for it takes both to define
the home. The home is not merely
the house in which people live. The
home consists quite as much in the
character and organization of those
who inhabit the house as the house
| itself, or even more. Those who in
habit house must sustain a certain
prescribed relationship to each other.
| The man and the woman, living to-
gether in that relationship wherein
children are born and reared must
| have the sanction of society upon
the method by which they come to
gether. and this we call marriage.
Children born of others than those
having this sanction of society,
though they are not responsible for
| it, bear the stigma of such birth
stigma which is more or less mark
ed according as the standards of a
| given community are high or low,
And parents of such children also
when it is known are more or less
ostracized socially, and rightly so,
since the good af the whole of society
| is dependent upon the sanctity of the
! home. 1t is said that in certain Latin
American countries the home has
been undermined as an institution and
as a consequence, sixty percent of the
! children are born out of wedlock.
1t is needless to argue what will be
! the inevitable effect upon a civiliza-
tion which continues a policy of that
| kind And while | do not think the
| danger is imminent in our own coun-
| try at the present time, there is little
| doubt that there is a serious peril to
EUROPEAN civilization at this very mo-
ment when so many men are being
slaughtered on the battlefield. AL
ready in some of our enemy countries
a propaganda is said to be on foot
to promote increase of population by
any means whatsoever, regardless Of
all social and and religious sanction
of society as a whole. 1t will be a
sad day for everything in civilization
which we hold dear if the basil in
stitution of society is broken down.
If the home goes, there can be no pro-
per safeguard and protection for the
youth Our social workers who have
had most experience in juvenile de-
I, linquency and in the provision for
orphan children are all agreed that
there is no institution which can take
the place of the home as a place for
the education, protection and moral
growth and development of the child.
The same may be said of correctional
institutions for Juvenile delinquents
They undoubtedly are necessary st
our present stage of social develop
ment But when the home is what
it ought to be, there will be fewer
juvenile delinquents-and fewer adj
ult delinquents, for many adult de-
linquents and juvenile delinquents
grown up into manhood and woman
hood.
One of the great evils which has
been rapidly on the increase within
the last few generations and which
threatens the home is divorce. We do
not take the position that there should
never for any reason be a divorce
granted One does not have to take
that position to speak or write on
the evils of divorce. That there are
too many divorces and too many
grounds upon which divorce may be
secured few will question. Whether
we are willing to acknowledge it Or
not, one of the great underlying
causes of divorce is to be found IN
the low standards of the home itself
low standards as to the sacredness OF
the home, the sanctity of the marriage
tie. inadequate training in the home
for the responsibilities of marriage
and home building. 1t ought to DC
regarded in every home and by the
state itself as an essential part oil
the education of the youth that they
should be trained in the essentials
of home building We deem it essen
z tial to educate our children in the
principles of agriculture, in the
fundamental principles of commerce
l and in some of the other vacations
But in the first and greatest business
e of society, its own propagation, VIZ
= do not yet feel the need of training
! We know the principles of building III
r the breed of our flocks and cattle anC
4 horses, how to mate them and care
, for them. But we do not yet know
1 how to direct our young people il
/, the proper selection of life compan
ions and how to help them live pro
!. perly after marriage. When we shal
j have learned the art of living wei
and training the rising generation t
live we'll, we shall have fewer di
vorces, more happy homes, and fewe
delinquencies.
So far we have spoken of the in
stitution and character of the home
and of some evils threatening it. Blu
no discussion of our subject is com
plete that does not take into accoun
= the physical environment of the fam
- ily-the building in which it lives
n premises, and the neighborhood. Al
=, of these act and react upon the home
e We are fully aware that the hous
Il does not in itself and by itself MAX