Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-06-20

fight, why shouldn't Il mother be
given a little help in her efforts to
turn a son into creditable citi-
zen?
The Chapman boy has been in
prison since October; New York
State has been put to the expense
of trying him and unless he is par
doned, will be put to the expense of
having him electrocuted.
When will our law makers be-
come sufficiently intelligent to ap-
| ply the maxim that an ounce of pre-
vention is worth a pound of cure?
| If New York State had been willing
to spend in advance some of the
money that she has lavished after
the harm was done, in sending a
child of sixteen to the electric chair.
there might have been a different
story to tell.
Moshers' Pension Laws
l know nothing of Mothers Pen
sion Laws in the State of New York.
but not long ago I listened for many
weary hours while a group of spe-
cialists discussed them in other
states, and the money given, in some
cases was so meager that I Won
dered if it was worth all the hur-
rahing and applause that greeted
the nisgardly dole.
Our streets are full of boys whose
mothers are at work trying to make
"a half-time home" for them. Is
anything really worth while being
done to help these women? Or
does a sop to our consciences, here
and there, in the shape of play
ground, suffice? We allow these
children to go on till some little
misdeed lands them in one of those
academies of crime that We wrong
ly call reform schools"
The difficulty of conVicting a
pretty woman or a wealthy man of
crime has become proverbial in
this country. In the case of Paul
Chapman public opinion ought to be
as potent as the appeal of beauty
or dollars in returning this boy to
mother-already sinned suffici-
emily against-and giving him an
other chance.
The child suicides in the land of
kultur appalls us, and we do a deal
of talking about civilizing the Hun.
Do the conviction and official kill
ing of a child of sixteen, purely
on circumstantial evidence, appear
J more enlightened than the system
that makes child suicide possible?
Fear of Punishment Does Not Pre-
vent Crime
The public prosecutor of Kings
| county who presented the peoples
case against Paul, has since been
active in addressing meetings, and
has issued a statement explaining his
position by saying: I'VE must make
Brooklyn safe for men and women" !"
To make Brooklyn, or any other
city safe for men, women or chill
dren, we've got to have more pre-
vention and less cure. More play
grounds, more boys clubs, better
laws in regard to mothers pensions,
more remedial and less punitive
legislation in regard to minors
Since this crime has been COM
mitted a group of similar offenses
has followed in the immediate
neighborhood. Paul, was choir
boy in st. Bartholomew Church in
Brooklyn. Since his sentence and
removal to the death house, fell
low choir boy in the same church
has been convicted OF robbery The
fate of the Chapman boy did not
deter him, nor two other boys whose
homes were near the Chapmans.
Twenty centuries ago the Master
said I'm as much as ye do it unto
the least of these We do it unto me-"
When are we going to follow this
receipt?
When are we going to do better
| by our future citizens than allow
them "half-time mothers" and half
| time honest"