Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-10-23
WILD YOUTH

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Superintendent Richardson, Of the
House of Detention, in speaking Of a fifteen
year old Collingswood boy who Is charged
with forging checks for $1,000 and sprinkling
the money like rajah Of the story books in
the hotels and cabarets and theatres of
broadway. "He is quiet and refined But
he could not resist the craving to spend
money! V
And because little Charley Hoffman
couldn't resist the craving to spend money
that didn't belong to him. psychologist has
been summoned to look into his mind. His
case is indeed remarkable. And 1t is sig
nlicant in more ways than one. 1t sheds
some light on the extraordinarily deficient
system of relationships which exists between
society at large and Charleys in general.
a time was, not very long ago, when this
Juvenile bounder would not be left to the
mercies OF gentle and sympathetic psy-
choogist He would have been summoned
to the woodshcd for glorious whaling with
barrel stave-a whaling that would have
stood out in later years as one of the mo-
mentous episodes of his life. And in those
days youths of fifteen were not in the habit
OF forging checks and stealing automobiles
and playing hide and seek with the police.
DIR. Charles X. Mills, of this city, who
knows as much as any man alive about the
origin OF human impulses, normal and alb
normal, said yesterday that war psychology
Is largely responsible for the increase of
violent crimes. This is undoubtedly true.
In the war years multitudes of young men
became familiar for the first time with fire.
arms and they learned too, rough and
adventurous way of life. But it will not do
to assume that no other causes exist for the
growing habit of youth to run wild and get
into trouble.
1t has been plain for years that boys and
girls and young men and even young women
are disposed to be free of the restraints
established by the old fashioned home. the
old fashioned school and the old fashioned
church. 1t is difficult to maintain any de-
pendable system of ethics without founda-
tion Of moral teaching: or indeed, to i'm
agine the one without the other.
The rising generation does not 20 readily
to church. 1t seeks recreation and diversion
away from home. 1t is the young who are
growing blase and bored nowadays MANY
parents, teachers and clergymcn alike have
felt for long time that the children were
getting out of hand. And it is only neces-
sary to read the newspapers to see that they
were not mistaken. Ten years ago the
country would have opened its eyes in
speechless amaZement il it heard of a move
ment TO compel dress reform at children's
parties and to provide new codes for sub
debs. who, innocently following an accepted
fashion. go forth piteously in clothes copied
by frantic dressmakers from the costumes
of the stage vamp Now such news is &C.
cepted as matter Of course.
Because of laxity somewhere and because
of habit of cynicism that seems to have
penetrated even into the schools and colleges
the boys and girls of today look lightly at
the agencies established for the promulpa-
tion of Christian ethics. Only a small mi
nority Of them ever see the inside of n
church or listen to those who might inform
them of the practical value of mental and
spiritual restraint.
Meanwhile. the modern cities stimulate
and excite youthful minds in thousand
ways. New desires Of a sort unknown n
generation ago are created and life for the
young is swiftly becoming u competition of
idle and unwholesome vanities And it is
odd to observe that in time when moral
restraints are most needed the agencies es-
tablished for that end are somehow losing
their grip. That unquestionably is one of
the reasons why n fifteen. year old boy is
under arrest for forgery and why college
student twenty years of age is being hunted
by the police, who charge him with murder
a professional psychologist isn't needed to
tell us what Is wrong in such instances.
The parental rod is out of style. 1t ought
to be re- established in general esteem. meta
phorically anyway, as an instrument of ex-
traordinary value to society.
When the Democrats and the Republicans
have ceased to talk of the remedies which
they have devised for national salvation,
when wars are temporarily ended and when
the militant femnists are weary of their new
agitation, the country may have time to
consider the complex problem which is fatty
presented to it by a new generation with a
stubborn distaste for discipline and a dis
position to ignore the examples and counsels
Of its elders. The state of the country as
it Is reflected in the news from the political
camps, from Washington, from the borders
where rum smugglers work and from the
police stations shows plainly that some re-
formers are too ready to start things which
they have not the energy to finish. They
are overwhelmed with uncompleted tasks
Each new generation is the greatest asset
of any land. We cannot be content to
allow the youth Of America to grow in many
instances like the weeds Of the field