Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-08-05

mother explained that the girl
would not obey her, that she was
constantly staying away from
home, and that in the past three
weeks she had stayed away for
three whole nights She wanted her
committed to a home. The judge
heard the case, gave the girl some
good advice, and turned her over to
one of the probation officers. The
mother then began to regret her
hasty action, especially when her
daughter broke down and cried
Now don't cry" she comforted
her, her own chin quivering, sit will
be all right. You will be well taken
care Of; there, dry your eyes, and
I'll go out and buy you some
candy"
You see," said the probation Of
ficer. What can you expect of this
girl when the chief thought in her
mothers mind is to get her some
candy" The officer then talked TO
the mother and told her that she
thought the girl should have anoth-
er chance. Take her home and
keep her for another week" she
said. "Give her an opportunity to
make good, and in the meantime
she knows that we have her under
our observation"
In Three Glasses.
The women of this court, after
years of experience in social work,
are firmly convinced that the ma
jority of girls err because of IN
fortunate home conditions. Rose
Rothenberg, the assistant district
attorney, puts feminine offenders
into three classes. First, she says,
there is the girl who hasn't a good
home. She may have nothing but
abuse and chickering's to come home
to after a hard days work. 1t IS
very easy for that girl to succumo
to temptation. The parents however
rarely appreciate the fact that they
are to blame. They usually immedl-
ately withdraw from her what little
support she had, and SO the girl
drifts from bad to worse.
Then there is the girl who men
tally is not normal. The percent
age is not as large as some phychol-
ogists would have US believe, but
there are undoubtedly many pros
titutes and shoplifters for whom
there is little hope of reform. The
third class is that of the girl VINO
contracts the drink habit. she
drinks to forget some painful ex-
perience in her life, and while
drunk she loses control of her &C
tions.
1t is the girls of the first class
who yield most encouragingly to
the efforts of the probation OFFICERS.
Everything is done to build them
up physically and morally. The
various homes provided by religious
sects for this purpose supply voca-
tional training as well as recrea-
tional facilities. Experience has
taught some valuable lessons in
choosing occupational pursuits for
women. 1t has been found, for eX-
ample. that Italian girls do very
well in artificial flower making, de-
signing, millinery, and anything
else that calls for artistic skill,
whereas Jewesses are most sue
cessful in offices and shops. Neither
make good domestics. 1t is by no
means easy to make a girl come
Dack, DuL Jue prospect VI mdhlAS {"
good living wage is a great induce
ment. The probation officers claim
that during the past year they were
able to reform permanently sixty
six per cent of the women passing
through their hands. Another ten
per cent are getting along moder-
ately well. Thirty per cent are APP
parently hopeless.
The women arrested for soliciting
are at once brought to the court
The policeman or police woman
submits his or her testimony, and
the judge explains to her why she
is held, at the same time advising
/ her to get into communication with
her family or with friends before
she has anything to say. But she
does not have to give her real name
unless she wants to. She is permit
| ted free use of thc telephone in the
| court room, as we'll as the free use
of stationery and stamps. If she Sc
desires, a probation officer will GO
to see her family and relate to them
| the circumstances. In short, she is
given every chance to prove her in