The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1920-01-15
Judge A. C. Beckus of Mil
waukee Makes Eloquent
Appeal Before Congrega-
tiOnal Mems Club.
ASKS HELP OF FATHE RS
Milwaukee Municipal Judge Tells Ke-
nosha Fathers To Be Pals of Their
Sons Declares Justice Should AL
ways Be Tempered with Mercy.

The cause of the bad boy" and the
"bad girl was eloquently presented
Wednesday evening by the Hon. A. G.
Backus, judge Of the municipal court
Of Milwaukee, in an inspiring address
delivered before the members of the
Congregational Men IS Club IN the par
lors of the church, following the regu-
lar monthly dinner of that organiza-
ton. 'Society's Duty to the Erring"
was the subject taken by the visiting
jurist and in convincing and inter
esting way he showed Kenoshans how
they should help the erring back into
their true place in society.
Just Follow Gods Law
For centuries and centuries,'' said
the jurist, 1--WE have passed laws but
generally overlooked the great remedy
in that we have paid little attention to
the law of God. The admonition Of the
Man of Galilee to love your God with
all your heart and with all your soul
and your neighbor as yourself is the
basic law for society. IF the nations
/ Of the world had but stopped and reck-
oned with that, we would never have
had the great World War. IF men to-
day would stop and reckon with this
law, the industrial unrest which we
now face would all disappear
The speaker dealt particularly with
the eases of boy and girl offenders
against the law and urged that every
opportunity be placed before these to
bring them back to society before they
are branded as criminals. He declared
that in his ten years on the bench he
had paroled 5000, whom he might have
sentenced to warehouses or peniten-
tiaries, and of that number only 81 had
violated their parole
Be Pal of Your Boy.
Judge Backus declared that he had
learned that of the millions who face
the bar Of justice the great majority
are boys, hardly out of their teens with
girls of the same ages. He plead with
Kenosha fathers to become pals and
-chums Of their boys and with mothers
to counsel their girls in order to guide
them safely through the dangerous
period of adolescence.
Even where the father has neglect
ed and the boy comes into court, still
the doors are not closed to this com
radeship," declared the judge. EDO
as the shepherd did who went out in
the wilderness for the lost sheep and
return with great rejoicing
Punishment Not the Only Way.
The judge declared that he had
learned that punishment was not the
only way to protect the community
from crime. He stated that the old
cell system and the dungeon had proved
failures and that society must come
back to humane way Of treating the
offenders. Back to your God and
back to your church, (" he said, twill
be the only thing that will save this
world or this nation.
In closing his address, Judge Backus
made a plea for those children who
have no fathers or no mothers the
child of the institution--and he urged
Kenoshans to do their part in being a
father and mother to the orphaned.
The address was heard by more than
one hundred members of the club and
proved to be one. of the most inspira-
tional of the entire course which is
being presented by the organization
this season.