The Washington herald., 1921-02-27
By DIR. FRANK H. CAMPBELL

In the wave of crime sweeping the
United States we are paying the penalty
for quarter of century of waliowing in
maudlin sentiment
Juvenile courts. as administered, are do
ing much greater harm than good 1t is
notable that many OF the most startling
crimes OF today are committed by very
young men. These are the boys who ten
years ago were being put on probation, pa
rolled, given suspended sentences and the
like by lot of well meaning, soft hearted
visionaries. Twenty-Five years ago the
amount of serious crime among children
was so small as to be negligible Then
came the moral suasionists. The Black
Death, plague of seven year locusts or
any other of the curses that have fallen
upon mankind at one time or another
would not have left any such frightful con-
sequences in their wake as their doctrine
has left
According to these folks, Solomon, while
reasonably wise in most things, had slipped
a cog with respect to the disciplinng of
children. The parent who believed that
firm discipline in child's formative years
would be more than compensated for by
the inculcation in the mind of the child
OF reasonable consideration for the
rights and feelings of other people, was
gently but firmly rebuked. He was told
that only persuasion should be used in the
punishment, that was absolute savagery-
nothing less That preachmcnt was the
beginning of the breaking down of paren-
tai control of the child. Parents quick to
sieze upon this good excuse for avoiding
the disagreeable duty of controlling and
disciplining their children fell into line hop
ing that perhaps the new scheme would
work out all right.
From the family the moral suasionists
marched on to the courts and legislatures
with the result that saturnalia of crime
exists among children today where it was
practically nonexistent twenty-five years
ago.
The proof of the pudding is in the eating.
Any theory must give way to the facts
From all sides comes testimony of the
frightful increase in Juvenile crime and
the end is not yet.
Any successful movement to check the
crime wave must begin with the Juvenile
courts and radically change the present
conduct of those institutions. There must
be stitfening of disciplinatory action upon
but also, which is far more important, the
parent must be required to do his part in
preventing his Offspring from becoming
public nuisance if not public menace
This can be effected by legislation provid-
ing that fines imposed upon juvenile offend
ers must be paid by the parent unless the
parent makes affidavit that his child is
incorrigible and beyond his control, in
which case the child should be removed
from the custody of the parent.
+ + 4
1t is very plain that a criminal bent upon
highway robbery is not going to let an anti
pistol carrying law deter him from arming
himself. That being so it becomes equally
plain that the law operates, as before stated,
to arm the criminal and disarm the citizen
The mistake that is made in this respect
is in holding the mere preservation of life
to be of primary Importance. The pres
ervation of law and order and the safety
Of the community are of more importance
Thousands of Americas best laid down
their lives in France to establish the su-
premacy of the right. There is no sourd
reason for completely reversing that policy
at home.
At a time when strikes were sweeping
the country and other strikes were threat