The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-04-15

lief. If boys under IS, or possibly Is, switch off into misconduct, they can, in nearly every case, be brought back to good behavior without an ar rest, if the right thing is done at the right time. There is no need whatever for the police dealing through an arrest in any form with more than five to ten per cent. of the boys under l5 years of age now ar rested. So far as criminals grow out of boys, there need be few or no criminals"
 The Friends of Boys, a branch of which has been in operation for sev- eral years in this city under the di- rection of MT. Collins, has developed and thoroughly tested his method of regulating the conduct of boys with out an arrest. As a result MT, Collins says that only half as many boys un- der fifteen are now arrested as first offenders in this city as would have been if the number of arrests of such boys had continued in the same ra- tio as form merly. This decrease of fifty per cent or more in this has been found to obtain by comparison with the percentage of boys under fifteen ard sixteen years of age arrested for
 
 MT. Collins who graduated from two departments of Yale University, in the Seventies, is usually accepted as the founder of the mass boys club so-called. having been in charge of nightly gathering of several hundred Toys back in 1874 when a senior at Yale. He reduced the work of this club to a system, in discipline, con- duct-making for boys, and in other ways. He has given, it is said, more years of continuous service to the welfare of American boys than any other man in the country now en- gagged in such work. Following near ly a third of a century of other per sODal and organized work for boys he has been for over 10 years devel- oping the system of the Friends of Boys along definite and practical lines
 There are nearly fifty items in Mr Collins program for keeping the con- duct of boys at par and developing them into good citi-a ms. The sys- tenn. as he describes it, does not mako much use of boys club work, but he uses the best in this work to secure the. best results more economically and for more boys, as he goes among
 
 and elsewhere. He never meddles with them, but corrects their actions as he sees them falling into evil. He protects their rights if an older boy bul1ies them, or an employer attempts to cheat them. or even a policeman or anyone, whoever it may be- tries to give them an unfair deal He helps them to have the best time ever in their sports and games. He believes that much Of what he does with them Is due to what he does for them. He makes parents sit up and pay l. tention who are short" on parental responsibility. He inf1icts a penalty of mild sort when his advice is not taken, increasing this to the door of the police station. if the first or sec end penalty does not have the de- sired effect.
 The one proof of the success of the system MT. Collins conSends is that it gets itself obeyed. He has no police adtb oritv but acts as a friend to the boys in cooperation with their parents and the police. One of his staunchest supporters in this city is Chief of Police Philip T. Smith. who says that nothing could be better in making the boys behave and keeping them out of courts than what he is doing and. he adds, that 1t is economical. MT. Collins is on the best of terms with the boys. A string of them come trudging to his office daily with their disputes and troubles. their joys and sorrows. He Is con stantly averting arrests by settling g their disputes. And the police are H's friends, often seeking his aid as to laws affecting boys, or how best to stop them starting . life Of wrong doing. or to change their environ ment when necessary. MT. Collins long association with the police ha'