The New York herald., 1922-07-16
Environment BuIks Large
In Life of Children

6AbA OdAxCAL oMAS AdIRc
In Life of Children
"a child literally absorbs environ
ment. 1t is the most susceptible thing
in the world to influence. The life of
child can be practically nodded by
the influences with which it comes in
contact. What can you expect of the
children of the tenements in this
neighborhood? They see the wagons
come and go with their living freights
of wrongdoers from the, police stations
to the Tombs below; they see the
Black Marias depart with the SEN
fenced criminals for the penitentiaries,
and each child is more or less infiu-
enced by the sordidness of 1t all.
They play on the shard and cinder
and do not know the delights of play
ing in their bare feet on the grass.
If they could only go barefooted they
would be closer to nature, love nature
and be more wholesome. So why hold
up our hands in horror and say that
the American boy is rapidly going to
the bow vows when he lives in a
loveless city atmosphere among a
polyglot people. half of whom know
nothing about the other half But he is
not going to the bow vows, he is not
as criminally inclined as the boys of
other cities in proportion to New
York's population. and he is not going
to be.
lin fact said Mr. Banton, my
observation of the American youth
has convinced me that the boy who
has been trained by patience, persis-
tence and wise guidance through his
formative years seldom shows the
tendency to reversion to former an
cestral traits. The boy who is not
guided right is bound to show some
tendency to undesirable characteris-
tics that may shove him into the odd
and superstitious class of No. 13,
which, according to some investiga-
tors, is filled with every thirteenth
boy in New York. In spite of this
you can place the American boy
among the races OF the world and he
Will stand head and shoulders over
every other nationality among normal
children for honesty, fairness. purity.
lovableness, industry, thrift and gen
eral gameness. And he has the least
tendency toward criminality, for the
native born American boy is the epit-
ONE OF freedom and fearlessness. II
there is the percentage of criminals
among the boys of New York that is
claimed then it is due entirely to lack
of proper neutrality-suspicious. If YOU
please-in the formative years of life.
But when we consider the limita-
tons of New York proper as a city,
its cougested housing districts, its un-
natural environment for youth OF tow
ering brick and stone buildings anil
limited Fairgrounds. we should all be
proud of the New York boy and the
fact that only one in thirteen is bad
enough to be classed as incorrigible.
Our School System Provides
Best Hope of Our Boys
I'm our splendid school system lies
the hope for the Juvenile delinquent,
and for the by-products that have
escaped the influences of training we
have solution in psychotherapy made
easy by the number of accessible
laboratories specially designed for psy-
chopathic medical examination. II he
cannot be cured society demands that
the brilliant drifter, the confirmed fall
ure and all the rest of humanity's by
products, from the boy who is hard
to manage to the tramp in the city
parks. If crime is persisted in the de-
linquent must be punished.
Crime is dwindling." said Mr.. Ban
ton. "The calendar presented to the
Grand Jury this year had 400 less
crimes TO consider than last year.
which is really a healthy indication
OF even better things TO come. With
the return OF home life the really in
ccrrigible boy will disappear alto
gether and the Juvenile delinquent be-
come rara avis i'm domestic life"
Mr.. Banton's straightforward talk
on the American boy was the result
of speech made before the Rotary
Club Of New YoTt recently by Francis
VI. Hugo. former Secretary of New
York state. in which he contendcd
American boys were going wrong.