Evening star., 1921-11-05
JUVENILE SOCIETY
TOLD OF D. c. NEEDS
Secretary Emphasizes Lack
of Home for Feeble Minded
and School Regulation.

Need of q home for the feeble
minded, better recreation facilities,
more strict school attendance law and
comprehensive legislation regarding
motion picture attendance were empha-
sized In an address by Mrs. Edna X.
Bushee, executive secretary, at the
fifth annual meeting Of the Juvenile
Protective Association last night at
the Shoreham Hotel. The report in
cludes the work of the association for
the past year ending October 81.
Mrs. BuShee stated that home for
the feeble-minded in the District of
Columbia has been for a long time an
outstanding necessity, and that the
lack of such home allowed the dell
cient 2hiiiren to grow up and become
a menace to the community.
During the last year." Mrs. Bushee
said, '.forty-six persons have been
diagnosed as mentally deficient. and
only five of them were adults. In six
teen other families mental deficiency
is suspected. No provision is made
for these children. many of whom are
SO defective that they cannot be kept
in the schools"
Includes Home ms Well.
In her request for better recreation
facilities. Mrs. Bushee stated that this
did not only include the Fairgrounds.
but the home as well. Lack of recrea-
tion is the underlying cause of ninety
two cases out of 800 we have inveSti-
gated" Mrs. Bushee stated. land in a
still larger number the lack of recrea-
tion is q contributing cause"
She stated that in 800 families un-
der the care of the association during
the past year 110 were due to broken
homes. Eighty girls and 142 boys
have committed offenses more or less
serious. and that eighty-five need
school adjustment. Mrs. Bushee stated
that there was need of a better school
attendance law, and expressed the
hope that the pending compulsory
school attendance bill be speedily
passed.
Attention was called by the execu-
tive nrnh,seS secretary tar to the motion picture
films being shown at the local thea
fers had improved since the agitation
last lasts summsr nnnsIa Children e under sixteen
companied by parents or elders in
going to the motion pictures" she said
Legislation to this effect exists in
other places and should be adopted in
Washington"
Kramer Talks on Schools.
Stephen E. Kramer. assistant super
mtendsnt Of the public schools. spoke
on The School and the Child" He
stated that the child leaves the school
because he loses interest in it, THE
scnool must be made a combination
OF teacher classroom and home. so
that the child'S interest may be, e,main-
tained.' he said.
Closer cooperation of the church
and the child was urged by Rev Dr.
James Freeman of the Church of the
Epiphany. who spoke on the Church
and the Child" He stated that the
church in general had been delin-
quent in it's attitude to the child He
advocated the instruction and care Of
the child along the right lines would
cbviate the necessity of building war
ships for defense. I'VE should build
institutions to protect us from enc
mics from within and we will need
no extensive ornaments to protect US
from the enemies without" he added.
Praises Aid to Children.
Praise of the aid given children by
Judge Kathryn Sellers of the Juvenile
Court was given in an address by
Mrs. Whitman Cross, president of the
association. who presided The work
OF the association, she said, is a pre-
Tentive one with children. who are
not in the class to be tried by the
Juvenile Court. The association now
has 500 active members and is aided
by 152 voluntary ones. This is a great
increase over previous years. The
volunteers have visited $500 families
during the past year.
New members elected to the board
of directors included Frank B. Glib
son. Mr.. and Mrs. Warren Gard, Miss
Louise King, president of the Junior
League: Henry Brawner, Nine. Hauge
of the New Netherlands legation:
Mrs. Carl H. Carson and Mgr. Thomas
of st. Patrick'S Church.