The American issue. [volume] (Westerville, Ohio) 1912-19??, 1922-07-28

lie HSSiSNtSu diu way Wdiu lSd(Hcu
in 1921 their lowest point i'll decade.
The number of delinquent children
was the lowest since 1912 There were
$50 fewer delinquent children on the
police records of 1921 than the aver
age for the seven wet years.
Drunkenness appears to be vanish
ing as present factor in dependency
and neglect of children placed in the
care OF the City Division of Child
Welfare. The average of children
neglected as shown in police records
OF Boston for the seven wet years
was 20o for the two dry years S8, a
decrease of 81 per cent. Of delin-
quent children for the seven wet
years there were 1908; for the two
dry years 1888, decrease of II per
cent.
Drunkenness AS Cause of Neglect
Disappearing
The table presenting the change in
parental drunkenness is worth study
ing. 1t shows that during the wet
years there were OH the average Is
drunken fathers to every 100 depend
ent children coming before the au-
thorities of Boston. In the two dry
years there was barely one drunken
father to 100 children. In 1921 when
hard times evidently brought an ex-
ceptional number of dependent chill
dren,7 drunkenness was recorded of
but two fathers of 282 children, less
than one per cent. There was no
drunkenness of mothers of dependent
children in either 1920 or 1921. In
the wet years three of each 100 chill
dren had drunken mothers. There
were no dependent children in 1919,
1920 sor 1921 with both parents in
temperate.
In the wet years two of each 100
children had drunken father and mo-
ther. Among the neglected children
admitted to the Boston Division of
Child Welfare the disappearance of
the drunkenness factor is still more
marked There was no drunkenness
in fathers in 1920 or in 1921. In the
wet years on the average one child
in every four had drunken father.
There were no drunken mothers in
1920, only one in 1921 No cases were
reported in 1921 in which both par
ents were Incorporate. In the wet
years one child in every seven had
two drunken parents. In Massachu-
sets the average number of neglected
children annually before the lower
courts in the seven wet years was
1.005 and was showing a nearly con-
slant tendency to increase. In 1921
there were but IA cases.
Less Work For Family Welfare
Society
The carefully kept records of the
Boston Family Welfare Society (for-
merly the Associated Charities) re-
veal some impressive facts. The fac
tors in family problems are studied
and recorded in each case. The per-
centage OF cases in which intemper-
ance was a factor fell off about nine
tenths between 1917 and the two Pro-
hibition years 1920 and 1921. In 1917
intemperance appeared as a factor in
about enc family in every four III
per cent? in 192l-lo22 in about one
family in every Is al per cent? The
Family Welfare Society cared for A.,
154 families in the year ending April
80, 1922, which included an entire
year of serious unemployment and
winter when continued business de-
preston had made more demands
than for several years. But in pre-
vious year of unemployment, 1915, the
Society cared for 4,847 families.
Alcoholism Deaths Decreased 81 Per
Cent
Prohibition has resulted in remark
able decrease in deaths from alcohol
ISM The table showing deaths from
alcoholism and certain related causes
in Boston shows an average of 1874
for six wet years, l9l3-l9iS, as COM
pared with so for two dry years 1920
Fl, decrease of O. per cent. (Note:
There is clearly discrepancy be-
tween the deaths for alcoholism re-
ported by the city and by the state
for 1912. As it has been impossible
to discover which figures are correct,
they are included in the table as
printed in the official reports. Nine