Evening star., 1920-09-14
Child DELINQUENCY
BLAMEDONM MOVIES
| ANDPOOR HOUSING
Catholic Charities Meeting
Hears Expert on Big
Problem.

| Delinquency among children was
mornings meeting of the sixth bien-
NAL session of the National Confer
ence of Catholic Charities. which is
being held at Catholic University
More than 1000 delegates are attend
| ing the conference. which will close
| Thursday.
| Much of the delinquency of ju-
veniles was blamed on poor housing
by Rev. DR.. J. W. r. Mcguire of St.
| Viator College. Bourbonnais. ILL.,, who
is one of the best known social work
| ers in the country and an expert on
the subject of child delinquency.
| Landlords and "grasping corpora
guire as being partly responsible for
inadequate housing facilities. AS a
| result of poor home conditions. he
said. thousands ofr children are forced
INTO the gutter" making "gangsters'
OF them.
Also Blame Movies.
Dr. Mcguire blamed moving pic
| lures as contributory cause of de-
iinquency among children, and said
| that the dime novel of generation
ago was less harmful than the movie
'thrillers" of today
| The speakers declared that the
regulation of amuSements should be
the function of every community in
| the country in order to prevent the
growth of juvenile delinquency.
| No school-public, private or paro-
chiai-should be erected without pro-
playground for the children, he said.
Other Addresses Given.
! Other addresses and papers were
! delivered hv John 4 nCnppnr of
Pittsburgh. John J. Gascoyne, New
ark. n. j.; Bernard j. Fagan, New
York: Miss Regina Kelley, Phila-
/ delphia; Miss Mary c. Delaney. state
z Meade. Boston. Mass: Walter E.
iO'Leary. New York, and David A. Nc
Cabe, professor of political economy,
Princeton University
Meetings of the Society of ST. Vim
cent de Paul were held this afternoon
in a~5oint meeting with the chaplains
of penal and correctional institutions.
The committee on women's activities,
with Mrs. w. J. O'Toole of St. Paul
presiding, also held a meeting. To-
to discussion of the disappearance
of young girls in large cities. and the
work of the police womens depart
ments in various cities.
Warning against the increase of the
power of the state under the guise
of social legislation was sounded at
yesterdays session by Robert Biggs,
president of the Society of st. Vim
cent de Paul of Baltimore. He urged
his audience to stand for the rights of
the individual
Must Maintain Right.
THE right of the parent to the Gus
tody and control of the children" said
Mr. Biggs, lis primary natural right
in the parent which cannot be invaded
or abridged by the state, except in
those cases where the parent by his
own vigorous conduct or habitual neg
lect of the child jeopardizes its future
welfare, or where the state in the
exercise of it's police power enacts
general legislation for the protection
| of public health, public safety. pub
lie morals or the good of society as a
| whole Any efforts on the part of the
state to abridge the natural rights of
the parent are subject to judicial con-
troll.
while We may congratulate our
selves. on the safeguards which the
courts may furnish, wish to remind
you that we are face to face with a
new order of things which is creating
a distinct tendency in the direction
of increasing the power of the state
at the expense of the individual un-
der the guise of so-called social
Legislation"