The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1925-04-14
IAN ALARMING GROWTH
IN INSANITY IS seen
POCKET FLASKS AND SEX
MAGAZINES AMONG BOYS
AND GIRLS ARE BLAMED.
MANY In THE GEORGIA ASYLUM
ienists Aver Same Condition Is Ma
iwide, and Ascribe 1t to Too
Much Jazz. Parents Largely to
Blame in Lack of Discipline.

Records of the state insane asylum
at Milledgeville, Ga, show that an
alarming number of boys and girls
are going crazy, and alienists report
that this same condition is nationwide
and is due largely to too many white
lights, too much jazz and not enough
of the old common sense way of liv-
ing, says Willard Ferguson in copy
right article printed by the Savannah
News
Pocket TASKS, sex magazines, pam
pered children who need liberal doses
OF the back side of hair brush, dane
es, high powered automobiles and too
much speed are given as the reasons
for the increase in the number OF
child lunatics"
An excess of the hectic quality in
business is also offered by DIR. r. c.
Swint. head of the state sanitarium,
as one of the causes why so many
young men end their careers now in
insane asylums. Keen competition and
general speeding up of the wheels
of business wreck the nerves of many,
he finds.
State Sanitarium Statistics.
AT the state sanitarium are over
$500 insane patients, of whom 90 per
cent are under the age of 40. Many
are boys and girls of less than 20.
DR.. H. w. Allen, of Milledgeville,
who has devoted his life to the study
of mental diseases, sums up the in
crease of insanity among young peo-
pie in two words, white lights.
There is too much excitement
now" he said, too much jazz, too
much fast living. People need to quiet
down."
One Atlanta aienist discussing the
increase OF insanity among boys and
girls said
Children need to be disciplined
more to keep them mentally stable.
If they are petted too much, if they
are allowed to break into tantrums OF
anger at the least provocation, if they
are allowed to see movies OF the wrong
sort, go to dances too soon lead a
life of unwholesome excitement the
result is a loss OF mental and emo
tiopal balance.
Thirty years ago children were
taught obedience, either through love
for their parents or frequnt paddlings.
We need to do the same thing now.
Parents then were strict about what
their children read; there was no wild
movies for them to see, and the high
school set didn't go to dances. They
stayed children until they were II or
more. Then they married.
But the children of today, at an
age when they ought to be playing in
nocent games, are seeing movies based
on sex. and reading sensational novels.
Little girls paint and wear silk stock
ings and make pert remarks at which
their parents laugh. Boys learn wild
ways and they taste OF bootleg wills
ky when they ought to be spinning
tops.
Bad Effect on Children.
THE result of this upon children
born with weak nerves is often men
tai breakdown. The personal freedom
permitted children and the excitements
of modern life are largely responsible
for the number of patients committed
to our asylums suffering from demen-
tia praecox.
THE fault lies largely at the door
of the parents jazz parents who go
out to the theater or a party every
night and leave their children alone at
home in dark houses; parents who are
always wrangling; parents, particular
ly mothers, who are threatening their
children with bugabears to make them
behave.
These influences contribute to make
children emotionally morbid, then
modern life reaches out aud grabs
them and the job is finished. The asy-
lum opens its doors.
Had Dorothy Ellingson's mother
padded her a few times when she
began to show signs of wilful anger
it is probable that the child never
would have reached the state where
she slew her mother.
There are many potential Dorothy
Ellingsons and Loebs and Leopolds
among us now. What they need is
discipline at home"