The New York herald., 1921-03-06
By JOHN WALKER HARRINGTON.

~ DIFFERENCES in which all the youth
salvage organizations of the city of
New York are concerned will begin
Thursday of this week March 10) to con-
slider what can be done to remove the men
of the idle boy.
So urgent is deemed the need of action
that a special call has been sent for citizens
of all classes and all creeds to train them
selves volunteer workers in great work
of regeneration.
The numerous arrests of boys of tender
years charged with the thefts of bonds and
securities; the capture of bandits in their
teens the return of the days of outlaws like
Jesse James of yore, are all factors of the
problem which in these days beset the
younger generation.
In the home of the Sage Foundation Col.
Ernest X. Coulter, founder of the Big
Brothers, will give the point of view of the
fellowship which has done much to bridge
the gulf between the boys OF the street and
the men of ripe experience who have
achieved success. The Young Mems Chris
tian Association, the Young Mems Hebrew
Association, the Junior knights of Colum-
bus, the Boy Scouts, the boys welfare de-
partments of the Rotary clubs and other
societies will be represented in this socio-
logical forum in the interests of American
youth.
The startling fact has been brought to the
fore that in the metropolis alone there are
about $4,000 boys between the ages of 16
and 1S, neither in school nor in business, who
are derelicts on the back wash of the Euro
pean war. 1t is from the ranks of such as
these. unless vigorous measures are taken,
that more and more criminals will be made
under the urge of idleness and bravado.
This state of affairs Indicated in its
present serious proportions as far back as
last November, although recent utterances
of investigators have drawn it into focus
anew within the last few days.
Idle and Wayward Boys Now
Number in This City $4,000
When the original survey was made on
which the present determined effort to aid
the wayward boy was based there was con-
siderable more employment of minors than
at present The day of the fat kline was still
with us in business. Boys who were scarcely
out of the grammar schools were receiving
the wages of full grown men. Many of
them were spending more In luxuries than
In other times their fathers had been able to
earn in a week. Often the youths employed
on railroads, for instance, received back pay
which enabled them to go on long pleasure
trips. 1t was not so long ago that youthful
spender rode all the way from New York
city to Albany in taxicab, feet out of the
window, just to enjoy the sensation of seeing
the clock add up his constantly mounting
fare.
Even in those flush times however, the
figures culled from the census and from
various official sources indicated that in the
city of New York alone there were $1,000
boys between the ages of 16 and Is who were
neither in school nor in employment. Ac-
cording to the analysis made by William A.
Whiting in the magazine American Youth
these figures were based on the discrepancy
between school figures and the returns of
the State Military Commission.
The Board of Education more than a year
ago made an adjustment of the years of
schooling under which all boys and girls
who were actually graduated from the
schools had to remain under instruction
I'll they were 6. Those who left earlier
than that were still held to the ways of in
struction by being bound to have lessons In
continuation schools in the stores and indus
tries until they had become Is years of
age. This policy was more less an out
growth of the experiences in France and
England, for in those countries II had been
found by bitter experience that boys of so
immature an age were not able to meet the
many demands of life.
According to the studies of Mr.. Whiting
there were last November In the city of New
York $4,000 boys. OF whom 51.5 per cent
were In schools, public and private: 32.1
working and 1914 idle or in college. The
number OF those In college may be consid-
cred as a negligible quantity. for the total
number OF boys graduated from the high
schools is only 5000 year, and the ma
jority OF these do not go to college or the
university.
Major. Edwin w. Dayton, the secretary of
the Boys Work OF the Rotary Club OF
New York. said yesterday that in his opn-
ion. taking into consideration the fewer op-
portunities for employment. there were idle
here at least $4,000 boys. ranging In age
from 16 to Is years.
How are these conditions to be met?
Where lies the remedy? This is indeed a
condition which is giving pause to moralsts
and character builders.
What Shall Be Done to
Better This Perifoas State
Explorations made In the crowded Sec
tions Of the metropolis show many surface
indications of the parlous state into which